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[light dramatic music]
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♪ ♪
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- It's not really fairto ask the question,
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"What was Action Park?"
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Basically, so it wasa waterslide park.
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But in truth, it was so muchmore than a waterslide park.
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- Action Park wasthe chaos summer park
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with very little oversight,too much alcohol,
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whistles blowing,people screaming,
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motors running.
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It was an energy, you know?
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You knew you werejumping into the firepit.
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- The most dangeroustheme park of all time.
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- There was a waterslide
that held one person
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that went in a--
like, in a flip.
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- It looked likea bunch of kids built it,
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because that's what it was.
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- We'll be back with more
"Headbangers Ball,"
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coming from Action Park
in Vernon, New Jersey,
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the biggest water park
in the world.
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- I think the very reasonpeople were attracted
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to Action Park was becausethey could get hurt.
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That was the allure of it.
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I mean, who wants to siton a Ferris wheel?
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- It was a placewhere death was tolerated,
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where death was put rightinto the number situation.
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- Every member of my family
was injured in that park
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at some time or another.
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They called itTraction Park.
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- Class Action Park.
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- Class Action Park,
the lawyers called it.
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- It starts out with peoplehaving fun,
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and by the end,
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crimes have been committed.
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Cover-ups have happened.
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The story hasn't been toldtruthfully.
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To me, that's probablythe worst thing of all.
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♪ ♪
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male narrator:In order to truly understand
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a place like Action Park,
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we need to go back to New Yorkin the 1970s.
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[light music]
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Wall Street.Everything was changing.
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Bankers and brokerswere transforming
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into masters of the universe.
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- A ton of money starts
to enter the industry.
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It is the place to be.
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And that is part ofwhat creates the environment
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that makes it perfect forsomeone like Gene Mulvihill.
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♪ ♪
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- Gene Mulvihillwas Wall Street in the 1970s.
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He was Gordon Gekko before
there was a Gordon Gekko.
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- He's this mix ofP.T. Barnum, Donald Trump.
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It's not justthat he's a businessman.
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It's the personality
that he's bringing to it too.
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narrator:Gene ran a brokerage firm
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called Mayflower Securities,
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and every timehe'd make a sale,
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he'd blast a buglethrough the office
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while the champagne bottlescrack open.
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- This was the eraof the penny stock,
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of the pump-and-dump scheme.
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- Penny stocks?
- Yeah.
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narrator:Penny stock scams
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are when salesmentake worthless stocks
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and trick unsuspectinginvestors into buying them.
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- Come on.
Who buys this crap?
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- Enters Robert Brennan,
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fraudster, penny-stock king,
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and best friend of Gene.
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Brennan gets his startas a salesman
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at Mayflower Securities,working for Gene,
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and within a few years,
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he's the presidentof the company.
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narrator: Under Geneand Brennan's leadership,
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it wasn't longbefore Mayflower
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got suspended by the SECfor doing
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what "The New York Times"referred to
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as "sellingworthless securities
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in a bankruptelectronics company."
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Gene was effectivelykicked off of Wall Street.
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So he did what anybodyin this situation would do:
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buy up two ski resortsin Vernon, New Jersey,
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Great Gorge and Vernon Valley.
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[lively music]
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- Located withinthe magic 45-mile radius
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of metropolitan New York City,
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Vernon Township occupies
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67.9 square milesof prime land,
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with a population of betterthan 20,000 people.
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Also located in Vernonis Wawayanda State Park,
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and that's just the beginning.
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- So many big,larger-than-life people
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looked to Vernon in the '70s,and they saw possibility.
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It's got all of thisamazing outdoor terrain.
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You can ski in the winter.
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You can hike or bikein the summer.
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- You would never thinkit was in New Jersey.
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For a country boy like me,
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it was an amazing place
to grow up.
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Everybody seemedto know each other.
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It was like this littleidyllic small town.
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♪ ♪
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narrator: In the early '70s,none other than Hugh Hefner
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opened a Playboy Clubin the hills of Vernon.
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Gambling had just taken overAtlantic City,
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and Hef believedit was on its way
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up to North Jersey soon.
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- And he wanted to buildthe hopping spot,
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the casinothat would draw people
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from all over to New Jersey.
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narrator: Vernon had alreadybeen catching the eye
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of outside investors,
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but the openingof the Playboy Club
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took thingsto a whole new level.
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- Every weekend, there was
some celebrity coming.
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People like Tony Bennettwould come to sing,
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or Wayne Newton used to come.
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- ♪ The love between
the two of us was dying ♪
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- And Vernon was absolutely
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poised to be the next Orlando,even Vegas.
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[Wayne Newton's "Daddy,Don't You Walk So Fast"]
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♪ ♪
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narrator:Since he couldn't negotiate
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with New Jersey weatherand its short ski season,
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Gene became a pioneerin artificial snow.
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He went so far as to construct
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the world's largestsnowmaking machine
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out of a jet engine.
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[jet engine roaring]
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- So the thingwith Gene's ski resort is,
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there were summer months.
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He had downtime.So what do you do?
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Well, Gene started
building rides.
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- So he was looking
for something to do with it
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in the summer,
and he got the idea
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of starting an amusement park,
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but he wanted to kind of take
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the idea of whereyou get on your skis
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and you go downand you control how fast
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and where you goto the amusement park.
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male announcer: And we reflecton the sounds and sights
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of children's joyat Action Park.
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Everything hereis strictly do-it-yourself.
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[light dramatic music]
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♪ ♪
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narrator:To get his park built,
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Gene turned to his old buddyBob Brennan,
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always thereto find cash or investors
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anytime Genehad a wild new idea.
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- They were sayingthat New Jersey could compete
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with Orlandoas a theme park destination,
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and that's not that crazy.
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narrator: Enough peoplewere sold on the vision,
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and things startedto take off.
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♪ ♪
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- Action Park was oneof the very first
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modern water parksin the country--in the world.
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Nobody knew what a water parkreally was.
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They had to invent it.
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- Build it higher.
Make it faster.
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Do something that nobody's
ever seen before.
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That was what my father
was all about.
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narrator: They weredesigning it on the fly,
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essentially throwing ideasat the wall
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and seeing what stuck.
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Some worked okay.
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Others not so much.
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♪ ♪
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And in 1978,
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Action Park was born.
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- ♪ Baby, let me take youwhere the action's hot ♪
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- ♪ Action, Action Park ♪
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- ♪ We can ridethe excitement ♪
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♪ And feel the park rock ♪
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- ♪ Action, Action Park ♪
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♪ The action never stopsat Action Park ♪
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[exciting music]
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♪ ♪
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- When we would all pileinto the car
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to go to Action Park,
it was always a little manic,
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everyone just kind ofon the edge of their seat,
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just all jacked up
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about the excitementthat was about to ensue.
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- Like, older teenagerswould take you.
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So that right there
is already dangerous,
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because they're just gonna
make you do things that they,
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as 17- and 18-year-olds,
feel comfortable doing.
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- I remember my parentsdid not want me
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to go to Action Park,
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but we got lucky
because there was this family,
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they grew up
up the street from us,
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and their dad brought themto Action Park.
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I think my parents were like,
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"Fuck, someone else
is offering it for free."
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And these kids, classic '80s,
children of divorce,
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they don't live with their dad,
and my parents knew,
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"We can't say no.
We can't say no."
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I remember my parents both,
on my way out the door,
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being like, "Please be smart.
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Like, please be really careful
and use your best judgment."
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[mellow music]
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♪ ♪
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narrator:Action Park was divided
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into three main sections.
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You had Alpine Center,home of the Alpine slide;
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Water World, filled withfantastical waterslides;
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and Motor World,an area dedicated
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to exhaust-spewing enginesand go-karts.
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And, of course, splittingthe park down the middle
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was a major highway, Route 94.
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- One of the first thingsyou saw
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when you walked
into Action Park
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was the infamous
Cannonball Loop,
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which for years,
it was like a myth
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that the thing
had ever been open.
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- Cannonball Loop wasan enclosed tube waterslide,
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and you would climb to the topof a series of stairs,
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and you would ride downthe enclosed tube,
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and at the very end, the tube
would go into a huge loop.
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- I mean, you lookedat the thing,
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and it looked like it wassomething out of, like,
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a Bugs Bunnyor a Road Runner cartoon,
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where they just made a loopand said,
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"Yeah, there's our ride."
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- Some lunatic clearlyjust was like,
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"Build me a slide
that's like that."
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And then
they didn't consult anybody
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who had a background
in engineering.
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- So the story is,they build the loop,
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and they throwsome test dummies down.
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Come out dismembered,missing a head, missing arms.
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"Okay, let's tinkerwith things.
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"Change the height.
Change the angle.
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"Change the water pressure.
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"Next step, let's put
some humans in this thing.
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"Who we got?
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How about these
teenage employees?"
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So Gene's just waving$100 bills in the air.
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Any teenager gutsy enough
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to go down this thingwill get one.
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100 bucks, that's real money.
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- I'm $100 richer
because Uncle Gene--
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we always called him
Uncle Gene--
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gave $100 for an employee
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to test the Cannonball Loop.
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- And I can remember looking,
staring down
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into this black tube
and looking at the loop
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and being like, "There's no way
that I would go on this thing."
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- So you look downthe Cannonball Loop,
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and all you seeis pitch black.
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It's darkness.
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- There's the water flow
at the top of it
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that gets you mo--you know,
'cause you got to have water
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to get, you know--
it's a waterslide.
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You know,
somehow it's a waterslide.
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And it's just way too steep.
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- So they spray you downwith a garden hose,
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and you go down,
and you're supposed to go down
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feetfirst with your
arms and legs crossed.
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00:11:36,019 --> 00:11:40,015
- And then as soon as you,
like, kind of scoot forward,
262
00:11:40,017 --> 00:11:42,008
it just takes you.
263
00:11:42,010 --> 00:11:44,008
All of a sudden, you're goingreally, really fast.
264
00:11:44,010 --> 00:11:46,001
I'm like,"I'm gonna shit my pants."
265
00:11:46,003 --> 00:11:47,013
It was absolutely terrifying.
266
00:11:47,015 --> 00:11:48,023
And then you feel--
267
00:11:49,001 --> 00:11:50,019
all of a sudden,
you feel your feet go up.
268
00:11:50,021 --> 00:11:52,015
And then as I go up,
269
00:11:52,017 --> 00:11:55,010
you kind of lose contact
with the loop for a second.
270
00:11:55,012 --> 00:11:57,007
It just kind of--gravity just takes you.
271
00:11:57,009 --> 00:12:00,015
You just...[slaps hands]
Kind of flop.
272
00:12:00,017 --> 00:12:02,011
The catch pond,wherever you landed,
273
00:12:02,013 --> 00:12:03,022
was way too short.
274
00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:05,013
You got to the bottom,and I'm like,
275
00:12:05,015 --> 00:12:07,013
"Shit, I did it.
I made it."
276
00:12:07,015 --> 00:12:09,021
The loop was fun,
and yes, it hurt.
277
00:12:09,023 --> 00:12:11,007
You know,
going through the loop
278
00:12:11,009 --> 00:12:13,006
and having your nuts
get smashed on a--
279
00:12:13,008 --> 00:12:15,012
you know, a fiberglass tube
was not fun.
280
00:12:15,014 --> 00:12:16,022
But then, you know,Uncle Gene's standing there,
281
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,022
and he hands you 100 bucks.
282
00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:20,019
- The first couple peoplethat came in came out,
283
00:12:20,021 --> 00:12:22,013
and their mouthswere all bloody,
284
00:12:22,015 --> 00:12:24,011
and that was before they hadput sufficient padding
285
00:12:24,013 --> 00:12:26,006
in the top;there was a little bit.
286
00:12:26,008 --> 00:12:27,021
So they sent a coupleother people down,
287
00:12:27,023 --> 00:12:29,008
and when those peoplecame down,
288
00:12:29,010 --> 00:12:31,000
they came downwith lacerations.
289
00:12:31,002 --> 00:12:32,022
They couldn't figure outwhy these people
290
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,010
had lacerationsfrom a giant loop.
291
00:12:35,012 --> 00:12:37,011
Then they took the loop apartand they found teeth
292
00:12:37,013 --> 00:12:39,012
stuck in the paddingfrom the first couple people
293
00:12:39,014 --> 00:12:41,000
that went down the slide.
294
00:12:41,002 --> 00:12:42,011
They had gotten their teethknocked out.
295
00:12:42,013 --> 00:12:43,020
And these other people
296
00:12:43,022 --> 00:12:45,015
were just going up
and ripping into it.
297
00:12:45,017 --> 00:12:47,004
narrator: After Action Parktest pilots
298
00:12:47,006 --> 00:12:49,012
came out woozyand unable to stand,
299
00:12:49,014 --> 00:12:51,006
Gene brought ina navy physician
300
00:12:51,008 --> 00:12:53,000
to measurethe slide's effects.
301
00:12:53,002 --> 00:12:54,013
- Let me put it this way.
302
00:12:54,015 --> 00:12:56,008
There's two placesthat you can experience
303
00:12:56,010 --> 00:12:58,000
nine Gs as a civilian.
304
00:12:58,002 --> 00:13:00,004
One is the back seat
of an F-14,
305
00:13:00,006 --> 00:13:02,010
and the other one
is at Action Park.
306
00:13:03,007 --> 00:13:04,022
- You couldn't go downthe Cannonball Loop
307
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:06,008
if you were too small.
308
00:13:06,010 --> 00:13:07,013
You couldn't go down
the Cannonball Loop
309
00:13:07,015 --> 00:13:08,022
if you were too big.
310
00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:10,008
Too big, you'd get stuck.
311
00:13:10,010 --> 00:13:11,016
Too small,
you wouldn't get up
312
00:13:11,018 --> 00:13:13,011
enough momentum
to make the loop.
313
00:13:13,013 --> 00:13:16,002
There was a trapdoor
at the top that they--
314
00:13:16,004 --> 00:13:18,017
that's how they would extricate
people from the loop
315
00:13:18,019 --> 00:13:20,001
if they got stuck.
316
00:13:20,003 --> 00:13:22,016
- So as you entered the park,
317
00:13:22,018 --> 00:13:25,001
you saw this thing.
318
00:13:25,003 --> 00:13:26,015
It was one of the things that,you know,
319
00:13:26,017 --> 00:13:28,012
you had kind of heardwhispers about.
320
00:13:28,014 --> 00:13:30,003
So right away, you walk in,
you're like,
321
00:13:30,005 --> 00:13:32,009
"Well, that's real.
This shit's real."
322
00:13:32,011 --> 00:13:35,005
[upbeat music]
323
00:13:35,007 --> 00:13:37,003
I did get hurt on a ride
324
00:13:37,005 --> 00:13:39,009
that was calledCannonball Falls.
325
00:13:39,011 --> 00:13:41,009
And it looked like
a pretty normal waterslide.
326
00:13:41,011 --> 00:13:43,011
You'd sit down.You'd go down the waterslide.
327
00:13:43,013 --> 00:13:45,016
What is not discernible
from the top
328
00:13:45,018 --> 00:13:47,008
is that at some point,
you come around a corner,
329
00:13:47,010 --> 00:13:50,005
and there'sthis big black tunnel.
330
00:13:50,007 --> 00:13:51,013
You feel like,
all of a sudden,
331
00:13:51,015 --> 00:13:52,021
you're just going faster
as well.
332
00:13:52,023 --> 00:13:54,006
And I'll never forget.
333
00:13:54,008 --> 00:13:56,000
I'm going down this waterslide.
334
00:13:56,002 --> 00:13:58,004
I enter the tunnel, and you
just hear people, "Oh, no!"
335
00:13:58,006 --> 00:13:59,023
Ahead of you--
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no!"
336
00:14:00,001 --> 00:14:02,010
So you're like, "What--
what's going on here?"
337
00:14:02,012 --> 00:14:05,002
And then you'd seethis little piece of light
338
00:14:05,004 --> 00:14:06,014
at the bottom of the tunnel,
339
00:14:06,016 --> 00:14:08,011
and then you'd just getshot out.
340
00:14:08,013 --> 00:14:10,018
And you'd just be there inthe middle of, like, the air.
341
00:14:10,020 --> 00:14:12,010
And I'm not kidding when I say
342
00:14:12,012 --> 00:14:15,017
you're, at minimum,
ten feet in the air.
343
00:14:15,019 --> 00:14:18,010
It shoots you outthe side of a mountain,
344
00:14:18,012 --> 00:14:21,002
and you're just, like,
in the sky.
345
00:14:21,004 --> 00:14:23,010
You think you're getting
on a waterslide,
346
00:14:23,012 --> 00:14:26,021
and the next thing you know,
you're in the fucking sky, man!
347
00:14:26,023 --> 00:14:28,015
- And yes,you were over water,
348
00:14:28,017 --> 00:14:30,007
but there was a few secondswhere you'd be like,
349
00:14:30,009 --> 00:14:32,011
"I'm gonna fucking die.What am I doing?"
350
00:14:32,013 --> 00:14:34,002
And you just look around,
351
00:14:34,004 --> 00:14:35,022
and then gravity would take you
down into the water.
352
00:14:36,001 --> 00:14:39,000
- And you're inice-cold water, 17 feet deep,
353
00:14:39,002 --> 00:14:41,018
so people were constantly
getting pulled out of there
354
00:14:41,020 --> 00:14:44,011
for, you know,
being unable to swim
355
00:14:44,013 --> 00:14:47,008
or just landing wrong
and being disoriented.
356
00:14:47,010 --> 00:14:49,023
- There's nothing in the world
like Action Park.
357
00:14:50,001 --> 00:14:52,014
[screams and laughter]
358
00:14:52,016 --> 00:14:54,022
- The rides that got builtat Action Park
359
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,001
would often come to Gene
360
00:14:57,003 --> 00:15:00,003
through people
who just had a wild hair
361
00:15:00,005 --> 00:15:03,009
and wanted to buildthis crazy idea that they had.
362
00:15:03,011 --> 00:15:05,018
- A certain number
of the Action Park rides
363
00:15:05,020 --> 00:15:09,011
were more or less
designed in-house
364
00:15:09,013 --> 00:15:12,005
by people
without engineering degrees,
365
00:15:12,007 --> 00:15:14,005
and I was certainly
one of them.
366
00:15:14,007 --> 00:15:15,014
- The people who were kind of
367
00:15:15,016 --> 00:15:17,015
on the fringes
of the ride-design world,
368
00:15:17,017 --> 00:15:21,011
people who Six Flags or Disneywanted nothing to do with,
369
00:15:21,013 --> 00:15:24,015
these guys would literallytrack Gene down
370
00:15:24,017 --> 00:15:27,006
at amusement industryconventions.
371
00:15:27,008 --> 00:15:29,012
- You could tell these guys
went and did bumps of coke,
372
00:15:29,014 --> 00:15:31,008
and were like, "Let'sfucking-- let's drill a slide
373
00:15:31,010 --> 00:15:33,004
"right through the fuckingmiddle of a mountain,
374
00:15:33,006 --> 00:15:35,012
and it'll shoot them20 feet in the fucking air!"
375
00:15:35,014 --> 00:15:37,015
You just couldn't
trust anything there.
376
00:15:37,017 --> 00:15:39,012
- Guys would come to us,
and no matter
377
00:15:39,014 --> 00:15:42,012
what the idea was,
my father would try it.
378
00:15:42,014 --> 00:15:45,014
- And then when each of theserides went into construction,
379
00:15:45,016 --> 00:15:49,015
Gene would change them
drastically.
380
00:15:49,017 --> 00:15:51,023
narrator: Action Park'smost prolific ride designer
381
00:15:52,001 --> 00:15:54,009
was none otherthan Gene himself.
382
00:15:54,011 --> 00:15:56,020
After designs came in,he would almost always
383
00:15:56,022 --> 00:15:59,000
tinker with themduring construction,
384
00:15:59,002 --> 00:16:03,000
making them bigger, badder,more extreme.
385
00:16:03,002 --> 00:16:04,015
And the Cannonball Loop?
386
00:16:04,017 --> 00:16:06,005
Its design actually came about
387
00:16:06,007 --> 00:16:08,019
when Gene drew a circleon a cocktail napkin
388
00:16:08,021 --> 00:16:12,017
and hired some local weldersto put it all together.
389
00:16:12,019 --> 00:16:14,017
- Many of the rides
were experimental,
390
00:16:14,019 --> 00:16:16,017
and on paper,
the design looked good.
391
00:16:16,019 --> 00:16:19,005
But in reality,
once the ride was turned on,
392
00:16:19,007 --> 00:16:22,009
it was not fit for a safe ride
393
00:16:22,011 --> 00:16:24,022
by the average person
in public.
394
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:26,008
- One of those rides was
395
00:16:26,010 --> 00:16:28,002
the Man in the Ballin the Ball.
396
00:16:28,004 --> 00:16:29,019
The Man in the Ball
in the Ball
397
00:16:29,021 --> 00:16:32,010
was this giant ball
that we had
398
00:16:32,012 --> 00:16:34,018
with ball bearings inside it
with another ball,
399
00:16:34,020 --> 00:16:36,001
and you would open up two doors
400
00:16:36,003 --> 00:16:37,009
and get in the ball
401
00:16:37,011 --> 00:16:38,018
to go down the mountain.
402
00:16:38,020 --> 00:16:40,011
And what he did is,the guy built it
403
00:16:40,013 --> 00:16:43,016
with PVC pipeall the way down the mountain.
404
00:16:43,018 --> 00:16:45,009
- Like, it's a great idea;you can see how someone
405
00:16:45,011 --> 00:16:47,002
would think that'd bea lot of fun,
406
00:16:47,004 --> 00:16:49,011
and I think it might work
and be relatively safe.
407
00:16:49,013 --> 00:16:52,010
It turned out, you know,
there were limitations to it.
408
00:16:52,012 --> 00:16:54,021
- It's a crazy concept.
409
00:16:54,023 --> 00:16:58,003
I mean, it's so big
and so heavy and so unwieldy
410
00:16:58,005 --> 00:17:00,014
that there's no way it's gonna
stay in any kind of track.
411
00:17:00,016 --> 00:17:03,005
- The day that we were gonnaput a live man in it,
412
00:17:03,007 --> 00:17:04,018
it got really hot,
413
00:17:04,020 --> 00:17:06,020
and he didn't realizethat PVC expanded.
414
00:17:06,022 --> 00:17:09,004
So when we put the live manin the ball
415
00:17:09,006 --> 00:17:11,012
and tested itto go down the mountain,
416
00:17:11,014 --> 00:17:13,004
the ride just fell apart.
417
00:17:13,006 --> 00:17:15,004
And the guy ended upgoing down the ski slope,
418
00:17:15,006 --> 00:17:18,004
right over 94,into the swamp down below.
419
00:17:18,006 --> 00:17:21,004
It was unbelievable.
420
00:17:21,006 --> 00:17:23,004
narrator: Anotherprototype waterslide
421
00:17:23,006 --> 00:17:26,012
was inspiredby zero-gravity airplanes.
422
00:17:26,014 --> 00:17:30,008
Gene's vision: riderswould actually take flight
423
00:17:30,010 --> 00:17:32,005
as they plummeted downhill.
424
00:17:32,007 --> 00:17:35,012
- We built this, and we testedseveral versions of it,
425
00:17:35,014 --> 00:17:38,011
and we started sending
employees off of it.
426
00:17:38,013 --> 00:17:40,014
And it was working perfect.
427
00:17:40,016 --> 00:17:42,005
narrator:But unfortunately,
428
00:17:42,007 --> 00:17:44,008
after dozensof successful test flights,
429
00:17:44,010 --> 00:17:46,009
one went horribly wrong.
430
00:17:46,011 --> 00:17:50,006
- This one kid went down,
and I don't know how he did it,
431
00:17:50,008 --> 00:17:52,011
but he got himself goingway faster
432
00:17:52,013 --> 00:17:54,006
than anybody else had.
433
00:17:54,008 --> 00:17:56,010
He went way high in the air
434
00:17:56,012 --> 00:17:58,014
and completely missedthe landing.
435
00:17:58,016 --> 00:18:01,016
He had to be backboarded
off of the ride.
436
00:18:01,018 --> 00:18:04,004
He's gone on
to lead a normal life,
437
00:18:04,006 --> 00:18:05,020
but he was hurt that day,
438
00:18:05,022 --> 00:18:08,023
and that wasthe end of that ride.
439
00:18:09,001 --> 00:18:10,013
narrator: While some ridesnever made it
440
00:18:10,015 --> 00:18:11,023
past the testing phase,
441
00:18:12,001 --> 00:18:15,007
dozens of otherquestionable ideas did.
442
00:18:15,009 --> 00:18:17,000
- Right here,
that's called the Speed Slide.
443
00:18:17,002 --> 00:18:18,008
It's over seven stories.
444
00:18:18,010 --> 00:18:20,009
They tell me that you go
over 60 miles an hour.
445
00:18:20,011 --> 00:18:21,021
So tell me,
any preparations
446
00:18:21,023 --> 00:18:23,020
as we're about to embark
on the Speed Slide?
447
00:18:23,022 --> 00:18:25,004
- Yeah,
Preparation H.
448
00:18:25,006 --> 00:18:27,020
[soft music]
449
00:18:27,022 --> 00:18:30,012
- There was a canopy aroundthe first 20 feet or so
450
00:18:30,014 --> 00:18:32,003
in case you flew off.
451
00:18:32,005 --> 00:18:34,010
The idea was that it wouldbounce you back in.
452
00:18:34,012 --> 00:18:36,005
You had a bar
you had to hold on to
453
00:18:36,007 --> 00:18:38,015
and lower yourself
to vertical...
454
00:18:38,017 --> 00:18:40,004
- And you just drop.
455
00:18:40,006 --> 00:18:41,020
And you've got to befree-falling
456
00:18:41,022 --> 00:18:42,020
for a few seconds,
457
00:18:42,022 --> 00:18:44,002
and then you actually
458
00:18:44,004 --> 00:18:45,021
make contact
with the waterslide,
459
00:18:45,023 --> 00:18:46,020
and you go down.
460
00:18:46,022 --> 00:18:48,011
- Tops would come off.
461
00:18:48,013 --> 00:18:51,004
Bottoms would be uparound their shoulders.
462
00:18:51,006 --> 00:18:52,021
People would be
all disoriented.
463
00:18:52,023 --> 00:18:54,009
Not the most pleasant
experience.
464
00:18:54,011 --> 00:18:56,006
- What did you think
about the Speed Slide?
465
00:18:56,008 --> 00:18:58,013
- I'm feeling
kind of juicy right now.
466
00:18:58,015 --> 00:19:01,003
- It puts more fluids
467
00:19:01,005 --> 00:19:02,018
through your system, that's--
468
00:19:02,020 --> 00:19:04,005
I'm trying to think
of a nice way to say it.
469
00:19:04,007 --> 00:19:05,009
What would you say?
470
00:19:05,011 --> 00:19:07,006
- I'd say my fig
is puckered.
471
00:19:07,008 --> 00:19:09,003
- I think theSuper Speed Slide was the one
472
00:19:09,005 --> 00:19:11,009
that a lot of people would say
that it would just sort of,
473
00:19:11,011 --> 00:19:13,023
like, shoot water
straight up their assholes,
474
00:19:14,001 --> 00:19:17,017
that it was designed in a way
where you just--
475
00:19:17,019 --> 00:19:19,009
you got your first colonic
for free
476
00:19:19,011 --> 00:19:20,021
courtesy of Action Park.
477
00:19:20,023 --> 00:19:23,011
- Everybody that got offthat ride walked funny.
478
00:19:23,013 --> 00:19:25,008
Yeah, whether you're a guy
or a girl, you know,
479
00:19:25,010 --> 00:19:27,001
you were not just getting off
and walking away.
480
00:19:27,003 --> 00:19:29,001
You were, you know,
picking and prodding
481
00:19:29,003 --> 00:19:30,022
and hopping and poking
for quite a while
482
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,004
after you got off that ride.
483
00:19:32,006 --> 00:19:34,015
♪ ♪
484
00:19:34,017 --> 00:19:36,013
narrator: Questionabledesign decisions
485
00:19:36,015 --> 00:19:38,007
weren't limited to the rides.
486
00:19:38,009 --> 00:19:41,013
The construction and layoutof Action Park itself
487
00:19:41,015 --> 00:19:44,005
had its own wayof leaving a mark.
488
00:19:44,007 --> 00:19:46,014
- All the park was, like,paved in asphalt.
489
00:19:46,016 --> 00:19:49,015
So everywhere you went,you had to walk around
490
00:19:49,017 --> 00:19:53,016
on, like, dark, you know,highway-grade type asphalt
491
00:19:53,018 --> 00:19:54,023
that was absorbing heat
492
00:19:55,001 --> 00:19:56,018
and reflecting it
back on you all day.
493
00:19:56,020 --> 00:19:58,021
- So if you don't bringyour own flip-flops
494
00:19:58,023 --> 00:20:00,013
or those water shoes,
495
00:20:00,015 --> 00:20:02,007
you are going to suffer
496
00:20:02,009 --> 00:20:06,002
from the notorious ailment
known as chopped-meat feet.
497
00:20:06,004 --> 00:20:08,018
Everybody's, like, limping
around from running around
498
00:20:08,020 --> 00:20:12,010
on fucking jaggedand poorly paved asphalt.
499
00:20:12,012 --> 00:20:13,023
♪ ♪
500
00:20:14,001 --> 00:20:16,019
- There was a great ridecalled the Aqua Skoot,
501
00:20:16,021 --> 00:20:19,015
which was essentially
warehouse rollers
502
00:20:19,017 --> 00:20:21,015
built on an angle
like a ski jump.
503
00:20:21,017 --> 00:20:23,007
You rode a plastic sled,and then you would see
504
00:20:23,009 --> 00:20:24,023
how far you could skimacross the water,
505
00:20:25,001 --> 00:20:27,008
like a stone skippingacross the water.
506
00:20:27,010 --> 00:20:29,003
- People didn't sit backon the ride
507
00:20:29,005 --> 00:20:30,023
and they'd leantoo far forward,
508
00:20:31,001 --> 00:20:33,010
they would face-plantinto the water.
509
00:20:33,012 --> 00:20:35,005
narrator:Unbeknownst to most patrons,
510
00:20:35,007 --> 00:20:38,012
the Aqua Skoot was also hometo a thriving bee nest.
511
00:20:38,014 --> 00:20:42,014
Guests who lingered too longwere likely to be stung.
512
00:20:42,016 --> 00:20:44,005
- I'll tell you somethingabout the Aqua Skoot.
513
00:20:44,007 --> 00:20:45,022
Took one look at that thing,
I said,
514
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:47,019
"No fucking way.
No way, man."
515
00:20:47,021 --> 00:20:49,007
That just looked like a thingwhere you'd get
516
00:20:49,009 --> 00:20:50,020
your fucking toesor your balls
517
00:20:50,022 --> 00:20:52,016
get caught in those--Aqua Skoot.
518
00:20:52,018 --> 00:20:54,016
I'm gonna Aqua Skoot
the fuck away from this thing,
519
00:20:54,018 --> 00:20:55,021
that was my instinct.
520
00:20:55,023 --> 00:20:58,018
[upbeat music]
521
00:20:58,020 --> 00:21:00,018
The culture, the atmosphereat Action Park,
522
00:21:00,020 --> 00:21:04,008
it's most summed upby the Tarzan Swing.
523
00:21:04,010 --> 00:21:07,004
Everybody wanted to goon the Tarzan Swing.
524
00:21:07,006 --> 00:21:10,011
That was, like,number one childhood
525
00:21:10,013 --> 00:21:13,000
test your mettle,prove you got some guts,
526
00:21:13,002 --> 00:21:14,020
go on the Tarzan Swing.
527
00:21:14,022 --> 00:21:18,002
- The idea was that you would,
you know, swing and release.
528
00:21:18,004 --> 00:21:19,019
The problem was,
529
00:21:19,021 --> 00:21:21,013
people couldn't holdtheir body weight.
530
00:21:21,015 --> 00:21:24,002
They would lean outlike they were gonna swing
531
00:21:24,004 --> 00:21:26,000
and then just doa total face-plant
532
00:21:26,002 --> 00:21:29,002
from 10, 12 feet upinto the water.
533
00:21:29,004 --> 00:21:31,000
- People would thinkon a 90-degree day
534
00:21:31,002 --> 00:21:33,001
that they were gonna bejumping into pool water.
535
00:21:33,003 --> 00:21:34,010
No, no, no.
536
00:21:34,012 --> 00:21:36,006
That's a spring-fed stream
537
00:21:36,008 --> 00:21:38,000
that held native trout in it.
538
00:21:38,002 --> 00:21:41,005
It's cold, and, I mean,people would go into shock.
539
00:21:41,007 --> 00:21:43,021
People would hit and startto scream because of the cold,
540
00:21:43,023 --> 00:21:46,008
and they would actuallyforget how to swim.
541
00:21:46,010 --> 00:21:48,021
Man, what a shock
to the system.
542
00:21:48,023 --> 00:21:50,016
- The Tarzan Swing was cool
543
00:21:50,018 --> 00:21:52,018
because there was kind of,like, an observation deck,
544
00:21:52,020 --> 00:21:54,022
and that's where everybodywas waiting on line.
545
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,007
- So you might have,I don't know,
546
00:21:57,009 --> 00:21:59,008
probably over 75, 100 people
547
00:21:59,010 --> 00:22:03,009
at given times that could all
see you as you went.
548
00:22:03,011 --> 00:22:04,019
- Go to do it.
549
00:22:04,021 --> 00:22:06,010
Your weight would hit.You'd flip off.
550
00:22:06,012 --> 00:22:07,016
You'd, like,hit the back of your head
551
00:22:07,018 --> 00:22:09,003
on the water.
552
00:22:09,005 --> 00:22:10,017
No lifeguard would jump into help you.
553
00:22:10,019 --> 00:22:12,001
The water's ice cold.
554
00:22:12,003 --> 00:22:13,003
You come up for air.
555
00:22:13,005 --> 00:22:14,006
You're all shell-shocked.
556
00:22:14,008 --> 00:22:15,022
You're probably concussed.
557
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,020
And you have, like,
150 people from New Jersey
558
00:22:18,022 --> 00:22:20,022
just being like, "Pussy!
559
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:22,022
"You fucking bitch!
560
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,012
You fucking wiped out!
Pussy!"
561
00:22:25,014 --> 00:22:27,016
And that's, like,
when it's at its classiest.
562
00:22:27,018 --> 00:22:30,011
- It was like,
"You fucking pussy, just do it!
563
00:22:30,013 --> 00:22:31,017
This is Jersey!"
564
00:22:31,019 --> 00:22:33,022
- "Oh, you fucking suck!
565
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:35,007
Start swimming, pussy!"
566
00:22:35,009 --> 00:22:36,019
You know, I mean, it was just--
567
00:22:36,021 --> 00:22:39,006
it was actually--
it was a very demeaning place.
568
00:22:39,008 --> 00:22:40,020
- No one yelled at you.
569
00:22:40,022 --> 00:22:42,011
No lifeguard
ever blew a whistle
570
00:22:42,013 --> 00:22:45,012
and was like, "Hey,
stop chanting the word 'pussy'
571
00:22:45,014 --> 00:22:47,022
at this injured,
bleeding person."
572
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:49,011
Nobody did that.
573
00:22:49,013 --> 00:22:51,005
- They always tell people,
574
00:22:51,007 --> 00:22:54,006
"No inverted jumps,no obscenities,"
575
00:22:54,008 --> 00:22:56,010
and people would go up,do backflips.
576
00:22:56,012 --> 00:22:57,020
People were dropping
their pants.
577
00:22:57,022 --> 00:22:59,015
- So you got
the people who, like,
578
00:22:59,017 --> 00:23:01,011
swing on the Tarzan Swing
and just, like,
579
00:23:01,013 --> 00:23:02,019
throw up the middle finger,
580
00:23:02,021 --> 00:23:04,015
and everybody's
fucking flipping--
581
00:23:04,017 --> 00:23:06,006
or people are, like, takingtheir dick and balls out,
582
00:23:06,008 --> 00:23:08,001
mooning each other.
583
00:23:08,003 --> 00:23:10,004
- Of course,girls in bikinis would go,
584
00:23:10,006 --> 00:23:11,020
they'd hit the water,and, of course,
585
00:23:11,022 --> 00:23:14,011
the bikini top surfacesbefore the girl does,
586
00:23:14,013 --> 00:23:16,016
and, you know, you getthe big round of applause,
587
00:23:16,018 --> 00:23:19,012
and you see the girl
get to the top, and...
588
00:23:19,014 --> 00:23:21,000
That happened all the time.
589
00:23:21,002 --> 00:23:24,001
[light music]
590
00:23:24,003 --> 00:23:25,017
♪ ♪
591
00:23:25,019 --> 00:23:27,011
- Action Park felt,in some ways,
592
00:23:27,013 --> 00:23:29,021
like a strangesocial experiment.
593
00:23:29,023 --> 00:23:32,019
What happens when you takea bunch of riled-up teenagers,
594
00:23:32,021 --> 00:23:36,003
a bunch of alcohol,bunch of dangerous rides,
595
00:23:36,005 --> 00:23:38,006
and you put them into a place
where there are no rules?
596
00:23:38,008 --> 00:23:40,003
- Yo, come on. Follow me.
597
00:23:40,005 --> 00:23:41,007
- [laughs]
598
00:23:41,009 --> 00:23:42,013
- Action Park was run by kids.
599
00:23:42,015 --> 00:23:44,004
- Hell yeah!
- Oh, my God.
600
00:23:44,006 --> 00:23:46,008
- You know,the second you turn 14,
601
00:23:46,010 --> 00:23:48,001
you got your working papers,
602
00:23:48,003 --> 00:23:50,003
and then you went to workat Action Park.
603
00:23:50,005 --> 00:23:53,015
You know, even the people inthe lead supervisor positions,
604
00:23:53,017 --> 00:23:55,000
it's like, "Oh, you've
been here for two years.
605
00:23:55,002 --> 00:23:56,017
Here's a radio.
You're in charge."
606
00:23:56,019 --> 00:23:59,017
- You had 16-year-old,17-year-old kids
607
00:23:59,019 --> 00:24:02,014
with no prior managementexperience whatsoever
608
00:24:02,016 --> 00:24:05,001
literally managinga third of the park.
609
00:24:05,003 --> 00:24:08,006
Hazing becamea rite of passage
610
00:24:08,008 --> 00:24:09,010
at Action Park.
611
00:24:09,012 --> 00:24:11,012
[indistinct chatter,
laughter]
612
00:24:11,014 --> 00:24:14,010
It wouldn't be uncommonto use a new recruit
613
00:24:14,012 --> 00:24:16,020
as a victim in a drowning.
614
00:24:16,022 --> 00:24:19,017
In the water, we would spinthe new employee over
615
00:24:19,019 --> 00:24:21,005
and put him on a backboard,
616
00:24:21,007 --> 00:24:24,001
strap him down real tight
while in the water,
617
00:24:24,003 --> 00:24:26,005
and just leave him be.
618
00:24:26,007 --> 00:24:28,009
There are certainly thingsthat happened at Action Park
619
00:24:28,011 --> 00:24:30,009
that are never spoken about.
620
00:24:30,011 --> 00:24:31,016
We lived through it,
621
00:24:31,018 --> 00:24:33,001
we regretted some
of the things we did,
622
00:24:33,003 --> 00:24:34,023
but we don't talk about it.
623
00:24:35,001 --> 00:24:36,015
- I was probablya security guard
624
00:24:36,017 --> 00:24:38,003
for maybe three months,
625
00:24:38,005 --> 00:24:39,021
and then they worked me upto a supervisor
626
00:24:39,023 --> 00:24:42,007
and then assistant
and then, eventually,
627
00:24:42,009 --> 00:24:43,018
if you stayed there
long enough
628
00:24:43,020 --> 00:24:45,011
and you had
anything going for you,
629
00:24:45,013 --> 00:24:46,022
they would make you
director of security.
630
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,008
So it's not as impressive
as it sounded.
631
00:24:49,010 --> 00:24:51,013
- Somehow I ended upin the kitchen.
632
00:24:51,015 --> 00:24:52,017
Like, all the bread productsin there--
633
00:24:52,019 --> 00:24:53,020
everything was stale.
634
00:24:53,022 --> 00:24:54,022
Everything was out of date.
635
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:56,011
So what they would do is,
636
00:24:56,013 --> 00:24:58,014
they would put
the big pot of water on
637
00:24:58,016 --> 00:25:01,000
and put, like,
a colander over the water
638
00:25:01,002 --> 00:25:03,006
and then put the hot dog buns
in the colander
639
00:25:03,008 --> 00:25:05,018
and cover it with a towel,
and in five minutes,
640
00:25:05,020 --> 00:25:07,017
you'd havemoist hot dog buns again.
641
00:25:07,019 --> 00:25:09,014
Damn, how did
we not kill people?
642
00:25:09,016 --> 00:25:11,014
- I know there were people
older than them
643
00:25:11,016 --> 00:25:13,007
who owned it,
but you never saw them.
644
00:25:13,009 --> 00:25:15,017
Just literally imagine
teenagers you know right now
645
00:25:15,019 --> 00:25:17,004
opening an amusement park.
646
00:25:17,006 --> 00:25:19,003
That's what it was.
[chuckles]
647
00:25:19,005 --> 00:25:20,018
- Everybody workedat Action Park
648
00:25:20,020 --> 00:25:22,010
because you knewyou'd get hired.
649
00:25:22,012 --> 00:25:24,018
They'd give you as many hoursas you wanted.
650
00:25:24,020 --> 00:25:26,004
But, you know,
651
00:25:26,006 --> 00:25:28,010
Action Park didn't care
about, like, labor laws.
652
00:25:28,012 --> 00:25:31,008
It was like,
"Yeah, I just worked 46 hours.
653
00:25:31,010 --> 00:25:32,019
Yeah, I'm 16."
654
00:25:32,021 --> 00:25:34,007
narrator:According to New Jersey law,
655
00:25:34,009 --> 00:25:35,023
employees had to be16 years old
656
00:25:36,001 --> 00:25:37,017
in order to operate rides.
657
00:25:37,019 --> 00:25:40,019
According to local newspapers,kids as young as 14
658
00:25:40,021 --> 00:25:43,005
were, in fact,working in these roles.
659
00:25:43,007 --> 00:25:46,004
- They were kids.They were teenagers.
660
00:25:46,006 --> 00:25:49,003
So I'm sure their prioritieswere on, like, hooking up
661
00:25:49,005 --> 00:25:50,011
and getting fucked up.
662
00:25:50,013 --> 00:25:52,018
- There was romance
between everybody.
663
00:25:52,020 --> 00:25:56,002
They were teenagers,horny teenagers.
664
00:25:56,004 --> 00:25:57,019
- At the topof the Alpine Slide,
665
00:25:57,021 --> 00:25:59,014
we had a shack,like, where we kept
666
00:25:59,016 --> 00:26:00,023
our employee carts,
667
00:26:01,001 --> 00:26:02,015
where you would putyour backpacks,
668
00:26:02,017 --> 00:26:03,022
where you kept your water.
669
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:05,003
People would go in the shed
670
00:26:05,005 --> 00:26:06,015
to smoke weed and have sex.
671
00:26:06,017 --> 00:26:08,015
That's what they would doin that shed.
672
00:26:08,017 --> 00:26:11,010
Why anybody would want to havesex in there, I can't fathom,
673
00:26:11,012 --> 00:26:15,009
because it was always, like,95,000 degrees in that thing.
674
00:26:15,011 --> 00:26:18,016
And it always stunklike dirty backpacks,
675
00:26:18,018 --> 00:26:21,014
feet, weed,
and just ball sweat.
676
00:26:21,016 --> 00:26:24,001
- There are definitely peoplewho worked at Action Park
677
00:26:24,003 --> 00:26:25,023
who have stories about that'sthe first time they fingered
678
00:26:26,001 --> 00:26:27,013
and/or got fingered.
679
00:26:27,015 --> 00:26:29,000
Like, clearly,
a lot of fingering
680
00:26:29,002 --> 00:26:30,013
going on after hours,
I would imagine.
681
00:26:30,015 --> 00:26:32,003
There's a child
who was conceived
682
00:26:32,005 --> 00:26:33,015
at Action Park, right?
683
00:26:33,017 --> 00:26:35,000
There's some kid who's, like--
684
00:26:35,002 --> 00:26:36,015
you know,
his name's Adam Peter
685
00:26:36,017 --> 00:26:38,018
'cause his initials are AP
'cause he got conceived
686
00:26:38,020 --> 00:26:41,021
down behind the bumper boatson one hot summer eve.
687
00:26:41,023 --> 00:26:45,008
- Now, I was a good girl,so I wasn't really involved
688
00:26:45,010 --> 00:26:48,016
in much of the shenanigansthat took place.
689
00:26:48,018 --> 00:26:53,012
But there were parties
that I heard about.
690
00:26:53,014 --> 00:26:55,023
I may have attended one.
691
00:26:56,001 --> 00:26:57,019
narrator: The Action Parkemployee parties
692
00:26:57,021 --> 00:27:00,015
became the stuffof New Jersey legend.
693
00:27:00,017 --> 00:27:02,001
- [shouts]
694
00:27:02,003 --> 00:27:03,017
- We would saveall the money we found
695
00:27:03,019 --> 00:27:06,002
in the pools over the courseof the summer,
696
00:27:06,004 --> 00:27:07,017
and at the end of the summer,
697
00:27:07,019 --> 00:27:10,015
one huge all-night bash
right up in Water World
698
00:27:10,017 --> 00:27:13,004
called
the kamanawanalea party.
699
00:27:13,006 --> 00:27:15,022
- Everyone stayed over,so no one was driving,
700
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:17,013
but that was back in the days
701
00:27:17,015 --> 00:27:19,013
when you could get awaywith stuff like that.
702
00:27:19,015 --> 00:27:22,002
- You'd find anyplaceyou could find to sleep--
703
00:27:22,004 --> 00:27:24,008
on the mats,under the umbrellas,
704
00:27:24,010 --> 00:27:25,023
on the picnic tables.
705
00:27:26,001 --> 00:27:28,009
Some days, we'd wake up
after the kamanawanalea party,
706
00:27:28,011 --> 00:27:29,021
we'd put our shorts on,
707
00:27:29,023 --> 00:27:31,008
put the whistle
round our neck,
708
00:27:31,010 --> 00:27:33,001
and find our way
to the lifeguard chair
709
00:27:33,003 --> 00:27:34,016
as soon as we could.
710
00:27:34,018 --> 00:27:38,020
[soft music]
711
00:27:38,022 --> 00:27:41,016
narrator: Of course,leadership comes from the top.
712
00:27:41,018 --> 00:27:44,001
And Action Park'sfree-for-all atmosphere
713
00:27:44,003 --> 00:27:46,019
was inspired byGene Mulvihill's disdain
714
00:27:46,021 --> 00:27:49,014
for rules of any kind.
715
00:27:49,016 --> 00:27:51,008
- We called him Uncle Gene
716
00:27:51,010 --> 00:27:55,001
because he actually did have
a lot of endearing qualities.
717
00:27:55,003 --> 00:27:58,006
I mean, he was always out
and around in the park.
718
00:27:58,008 --> 00:28:01,021
You know, he was a verypersonable guy to talk to.
719
00:28:01,023 --> 00:28:04,005
- So I go in his officeone day for a meeting,
720
00:28:04,007 --> 00:28:05,022
and he has a cattle prod.
721
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,002
And he goes,
"Joe, I can't do this anymore."
722
00:28:09,004 --> 00:28:11,007
And he takes the cattle prod.
723
00:28:11,009 --> 00:28:13,016
He puts it to his chest,
724
00:28:13,018 --> 00:28:16,006
and he hits the button,and the thing goes boom!
725
00:28:16,008 --> 00:28:20,006
And I get so freaked out
that I'm like, "Oh, my God."
726
00:28:20,008 --> 00:28:22,012
He starts laughinghysterically,
727
00:28:22,014 --> 00:28:24,015
and at that point,he basically goes, like,
728
00:28:24,017 --> 00:28:26,017
"Don't get nervous.
It's fake."
729
00:28:26,019 --> 00:28:29,006
And then he pitches me an idea.
730
00:28:29,008 --> 00:28:31,011
"Joe, the people sneakon the lift.
731
00:28:31,013 --> 00:28:33,006
"And they go on the liftwithout tickets,
732
00:28:33,008 --> 00:28:35,011
"and we want to make surethey all have tickets.
733
00:28:35,013 --> 00:28:39,004
"So what I'm gonna do is,I'm gonna get the cattle prod,
734
00:28:39,006 --> 00:28:40,023
"and I'm gonnastand by the lift.
735
00:28:41,001 --> 00:28:43,003
"We got to get one of thosereal dirty-looking kids
736
00:28:43,005 --> 00:28:44,017
"that work downin the train park.
737
00:28:44,019 --> 00:28:45,022
"I'll be working the lift,
738
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:47,003
"and when they come up,
I'll go,
739
00:28:47,005 --> 00:28:48,015
"'Hey, where's your ticket?'
740
00:28:48,017 --> 00:28:50,009
"And they'll say,'I don't have a ticket.'
741
00:28:50,011 --> 00:28:53,011
"I'll take out the cattleprod, I'll hit him,
742
00:28:53,013 --> 00:28:55,019
"he'll pass outlike he's dead,
743
00:28:55,021 --> 00:28:58,007
"and then we'll have patrolcome drag him away,
744
00:28:58,009 --> 00:28:59,016
"and then everyone will know
745
00:28:59,018 --> 00:29:01,006
not to come here
without a ticket."
746
00:29:01,008 --> 00:29:04,018
I laughed like,"Gene, that's some idea."
747
00:29:04,020 --> 00:29:07,002
While I was out of town,
I get a phone call
748
00:29:07,004 --> 00:29:09,014
from the person
who runs guest services to say,
749
00:29:09,016 --> 00:29:11,004
"We have an issue.
750
00:29:11,006 --> 00:29:13,005
"We have hundreds of parentswho are calling
751
00:29:13,007 --> 00:29:14,023
"who are very upset
752
00:29:15,001 --> 00:29:18,004
"because they saw someone who
works lift today kill someone
753
00:29:18,006 --> 00:29:20,012
because they didn't have
a lift pass."
754
00:29:20,014 --> 00:29:22,013
- I had a friend of minethat had worked there
755
00:29:22,015 --> 00:29:25,005
for couple seasons,and he had told me
756
00:29:25,007 --> 00:29:28,012
that Gene Mulvihill
had a MAC-10 machine gun
757
00:29:28,014 --> 00:29:30,019
that he keptin his office drawer.
758
00:29:30,021 --> 00:29:32,008
♪ ♪
759
00:29:32,010 --> 00:29:34,013
- He was far and away
760
00:29:34,015 --> 00:29:37,008
the most unique character
I've met in my lifetime.
761
00:29:37,010 --> 00:29:41,012
He was big and loudand full of ideas.
762
00:29:41,014 --> 00:29:45,008
Probably 90% of those ideas
were just so crazy
763
00:29:45,010 --> 00:29:47,011
and off the wall
that nobody would get near him,
764
00:29:47,013 --> 00:29:50,002
and the other 10%
were pretty close to that.
765
00:29:50,004 --> 00:29:54,000
And we actually made
a lot of those ideas happen.
766
00:29:54,002 --> 00:29:55,017
narrator:Gene's rule-bending antics
767
00:29:55,019 --> 00:29:57,015
may have been commonon Wall Street,
768
00:29:57,017 --> 00:29:59,004
but in this small town,
769
00:29:59,006 --> 00:30:01,001
the locals had no ideahow to handle him.
770
00:30:01,003 --> 00:30:03,008
- Well, they obviouslydidn't know
771
00:30:03,010 --> 00:30:06,023
Gene Mulvihill's personalityuntil they got to know him.
772
00:30:07,001 --> 00:30:10,009
But Vernon is a little bitof a mixed bag.
773
00:30:10,011 --> 00:30:12,021
There were those who embraced
774
00:30:12,023 --> 00:30:15,006
someone like Gene Mulvihill
with open arms,
775
00:30:15,008 --> 00:30:17,004
and there were those
who hated him
776
00:30:17,006 --> 00:30:21,008
because they see himas having destroyed
777
00:30:21,010 --> 00:30:26,017
our beautiful, bucolic, sleepy
little town with his resorts.
778
00:31:09,009 --> 00:31:11,010
- The man could wear a suitin 90-degree heat.
779
00:31:11,012 --> 00:31:12,020
I had no idea how he did that.
780
00:31:12,022 --> 00:31:14,013
He just was a--
he was a cool dude.
781
00:31:14,015 --> 00:31:17,005
- I think he was
a piece of shit.
782
00:31:18,006 --> 00:31:20,002
narrator: Action Park'sgrowing reputation
783
00:31:20,004 --> 00:31:21,022
posed an important question:
784
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:23,022
what insurance companywould dare cover
785
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,015
this creatively designed park?
786
00:31:26,017 --> 00:31:29,006
- Gene didn't believe
in the concept of insurance.
787
00:31:29,008 --> 00:31:31,019
He thought if you got hurt,
you should be responsible.
788
00:31:31,021 --> 00:31:33,014
He shouldn't have to pay
an insurance company.
789
00:31:33,016 --> 00:31:36,005
However, he needed insurance
to stay in business.
790
00:31:36,007 --> 00:31:38,003
It was part of the terms
of his lease.
791
00:31:38,005 --> 00:31:39,019
So he had a work-around.
792
00:31:39,021 --> 00:31:42,001
narrator: He createdhis own fake insurance company
793
00:31:42,003 --> 00:31:43,016
based in the Cayman Islands.
794
00:31:43,018 --> 00:31:45,004
Its name?
795
00:31:45,006 --> 00:31:47,004
The very realand very legitimate-sounding
796
00:31:47,006 --> 00:31:49,019
London and World Assurance.
797
00:31:49,021 --> 00:31:53,014
- This company's documentswere very, very homemade.
798
00:31:53,016 --> 00:31:56,008
They looked like they wereginned up in a basement.
799
00:31:56,010 --> 00:31:58,001
The letterhead
was not official.
800
00:31:58,003 --> 00:32:00,004
Might as well have been
on napkins.
801
00:32:00,006 --> 00:32:01,021
narrator: Gene was,if nothing else,
802
00:32:01,023 --> 00:32:03,012
efficient with his schemes.
803
00:32:03,014 --> 00:32:05,008
And so his fakeinsurance company
804
00:32:05,010 --> 00:32:07,020
wasn't just used to avoidpaying for insurance.
805
00:32:07,022 --> 00:32:11,014
It also became a vesselfor him to launder money.
806
00:32:11,016 --> 00:32:13,020
- I said,
"We can't do that."
807
00:32:13,022 --> 00:32:16,004
And he said,
"Why can't we do that?"
808
00:32:16,006 --> 00:32:18,010
And I said, "Because the state
says we can't do that."
809
00:32:18,012 --> 00:32:20,006
And he goes,
"Well, who the hell are they?
810
00:32:20,008 --> 00:32:21,019
They can't shut us down."
811
00:32:21,021 --> 00:32:24,014
And I said, "Well, actually,
yes, yes, they can."
812
00:32:24,016 --> 00:32:26,008
narrator:These crimes would attract
813
00:32:26,010 --> 00:32:27,019
the attention of the stateand eventually lead
814
00:32:27,021 --> 00:32:29,012
to a large-scaleinvestigation,
815
00:32:29,014 --> 00:32:33,000
three-day hearing,and a 110-count indictment.
816
00:32:33,002 --> 00:32:34,010
- Top officials
817
00:32:34,012 --> 00:32:36,004
from the Vernon Valley
Recreation Association
818
00:32:36,006 --> 00:32:37,016
today refused to testify
819
00:32:37,018 --> 00:32:39,012
before the State Commission
of Investigation.
820
00:32:39,014 --> 00:32:43,010
Gene Mulvihill did not appear,citing client privilege.
821
00:32:43,012 --> 00:32:45,005
narrator:The outcome?
822
00:32:45,007 --> 00:32:47,017
Gene pled guiltyto counts of fraud,
823
00:32:47,019 --> 00:32:49,018
theft, and conspiracy
824
00:32:49,020 --> 00:32:52,005
and was ordered to give upcontrol of Action Park,
825
00:32:52,007 --> 00:32:54,009
which was partiallyon state land.
826
00:32:54,011 --> 00:32:57,015
But to Gene,that would not do.
827
00:32:57,017 --> 00:32:59,019
So he came upwith yet another scheme.
828
00:32:59,021 --> 00:33:03,000
He decided to becomethe worst tenant he could.
829
00:33:03,002 --> 00:33:05,016
He stopped paying billsand filing paperwork.
830
00:33:05,018 --> 00:33:08,001
He basically dideverything he could
831
00:33:08,003 --> 00:33:10,020
to antagonizehis landlord state.
832
00:33:10,022 --> 00:33:13,000
- The SCIaccusing Vernon Valley
833
00:33:13,002 --> 00:33:16,012
of "arrogantly violatingits agreement with the state
834
00:33:16,014 --> 00:33:18,009
to lease landfor the ski resort."
835
00:33:18,011 --> 00:33:20,009
Vernon Valleyallegedly diverted funds
836
00:33:20,011 --> 00:33:21,018
to avoid paying the state
837
00:33:21,020 --> 00:33:24,009
several hundred thousanddollars in rent.
838
00:33:24,011 --> 00:33:27,004
The SCI probe also disclosedVernon Valley
839
00:33:27,006 --> 00:33:29,003
created a phonyinsurance company
840
00:33:29,005 --> 00:33:30,020
to avoid premium payments
841
00:33:30,022 --> 00:33:33,000
and changed the terrain
of the ski resort
842
00:33:33,002 --> 00:33:34,016
without obtaining permission.
843
00:33:34,018 --> 00:33:36,004
narrator:And it worked.
844
00:33:36,006 --> 00:33:38,008
New Jersey gotso fed up with Gene
845
00:33:38,010 --> 00:33:40,006
that they decidedto sell him the land
846
00:33:40,008 --> 00:33:42,018
for just over $800,000
847
00:33:42,020 --> 00:33:45,001
just to get himoff their backs.
848
00:33:45,003 --> 00:33:48,008
Gene was free from the peskystate of New Jersey.
849
00:33:48,010 --> 00:33:51,021
And so Action Park continuedto expand and grow.
850
00:33:51,023 --> 00:33:54,014
And anytime Gene needed cashfor a new ride,
851
00:33:54,016 --> 00:33:57,007
his buddy Bob Brennanwas waiting in the wings
852
00:33:57,009 --> 00:33:59,023
to support Gene's wild ideas.
853
00:34:00,001 --> 00:34:02,003
- Excellence always succeeds.
854
00:34:02,005 --> 00:34:03,014
When you have
an excellent facility
855
00:34:03,016 --> 00:34:05,014
run by extraordinary people,
856
00:34:05,016 --> 00:34:07,019
you're able to bring out
the fans,
857
00:34:07,021 --> 00:34:09,017
and the facility does well.
858
00:34:09,019 --> 00:34:12,004
[rock music]
859
00:34:12,006 --> 00:34:13,023
narrator: But thingsreally started to take off
860
00:34:14,001 --> 00:34:16,014
when Gene started runningTV ads
861
00:34:16,016 --> 00:34:18,003
created by his daughter
862
00:34:18,005 --> 00:34:20,007
and starring the park'steenage employees.
863
00:34:20,009 --> 00:34:23,020
- Just go to Action Park.
There's no other park like it.
864
00:34:23,022 --> 00:34:25,018
- When it's hot out,
this is a great place
865
00:34:25,020 --> 00:34:27,013
to spend the day
with your family.
866
00:34:27,015 --> 00:34:30,006
- Race like a pro.
It's great.
867
00:34:30,008 --> 00:34:32,010
- These are the most
amazing rides in the world.
868
00:34:32,012 --> 00:34:33,022
I love it here.
869
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,006
- ♪ There's nothingin the world ♪
870
00:34:35,008 --> 00:34:37,016
♪ Like Action Park ♪
871
00:34:37,018 --> 00:34:39,020
It's absolutely insane!
872
00:34:39,022 --> 00:34:42,021
[upbeat music]
873
00:34:42,023 --> 00:34:44,009
♪ ♪
874
00:34:44,011 --> 00:34:46,005
narrator:A lot of Gene's ride ideas
875
00:34:46,007 --> 00:34:48,002
took inspirationfrom natural settings
876
00:34:48,004 --> 00:34:51,004
and environmentsthat he grew up playing in.
877
00:34:51,006 --> 00:34:53,017
His thinking was,if kids couldn't make it
878
00:34:53,019 --> 00:34:56,018
to real nature, he'd createthe next best thing.
879
00:34:56,020 --> 00:34:59,001
How else to explainan amusement park
880
00:34:59,003 --> 00:35:03,008
that lets six-year-olds jumpoff a 20-foot cliff?
881
00:35:03,010 --> 00:35:10,004
♪ ♪
882
00:35:10,006 --> 00:35:13,007
- They also had a slide
you could slide off
883
00:35:13,009 --> 00:35:14,021
of the same cliff
into that water.
884
00:35:14,023 --> 00:35:16,019
- So the slide versionof the Cliff Dive,
885
00:35:16,021 --> 00:35:19,004
I think, was alsoreally good for people
886
00:35:19,006 --> 00:35:22,003
who wanted to treat it
like a ride mentally
887
00:35:22,005 --> 00:35:23,016
and didn't want to know
the feeling
888
00:35:23,018 --> 00:35:25,009
of committing suicide.
889
00:35:25,011 --> 00:35:27,020
- I remember being on
the diving cliff looking down,
890
00:35:27,022 --> 00:35:30,011
being scared out of my life,
and to add to that,
891
00:35:30,013 --> 00:35:32,005
there were people
right down below,
892
00:35:32,007 --> 00:35:35,023
and they had no ideayou were about to jump.
893
00:35:36,001 --> 00:35:38,009
- Conceivably, if you
just wanted to chill out
894
00:35:38,011 --> 00:35:41,007
for a minute from all
the action of Action Park,
895
00:35:41,009 --> 00:35:43,006
you could just hang out there.
896
00:35:43,008 --> 00:35:44,023
You could be mindingyour own business,
897
00:35:45,001 --> 00:35:46,022
and somebody could landright on top of you
898
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,014
without any warning.
899
00:35:48,016 --> 00:35:50,018
So it was not actually
a chill-out area at all.
900
00:35:50,020 --> 00:35:53,014
- You could do it safely,
but people didn't.
901
00:35:53,016 --> 00:35:55,017
You know,people just didn't listen.
902
00:35:55,019 --> 00:35:58,003
They would jump stupidly.They would slip and fall.
903
00:35:58,005 --> 00:36:00,011
- And people would jump, andthe lifeguards always told you
904
00:36:00,013 --> 00:36:02,005
to cross your armsover your chest,
905
00:36:02,007 --> 00:36:04,001
but people didn't listen,
906
00:36:04,003 --> 00:36:05,020
and they would land
on the water like this,
907
00:36:05,022 --> 00:36:07,011
and their arms
would get thrown up,
908
00:36:07,013 --> 00:36:09,006
and they'd dislocate
their shoulder.
909
00:36:09,008 --> 00:36:11,010
So you'd see somebody
coming out of the water,
910
00:36:11,012 --> 00:36:12,016
and one shoulder's, like,
911
00:36:12,018 --> 00:36:14,022
six inches lower
than the other one.
912
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,023
And their arm would just be,
like, hanging.
913
00:36:18,001 --> 00:36:19,018
narrator: The floorof the pool below the cliff
914
00:36:19,020 --> 00:36:21,020
was eventually painted whiteto make it easier
915
00:36:21,022 --> 00:36:25,008
for lifeguardsto spot any bodies below.
916
00:36:25,010 --> 00:36:28,019
[exciting music]
917
00:36:28,021 --> 00:36:30,010
And this wasn'tthe only attraction
918
00:36:30,012 --> 00:36:31,022
that was to feature cliffs.
919
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,020
The original conceptfor Surf Hill,
920
00:36:33,022 --> 00:36:36,016
which was basically a giantSlip 'N Slide on a mountain,
921
00:36:36,018 --> 00:36:38,023
was to have guestsjump off a cliff
922
00:36:39,001 --> 00:36:40,017
before the matwould catch them.
923
00:36:40,019 --> 00:36:44,005
This idea was abandoneddue to space limitations.
924
00:36:44,007 --> 00:36:47,009
- Staff members startedbuilding up the jump
925
00:36:47,011 --> 00:36:49,005
by sliding the matsunderneath,
926
00:36:49,007 --> 00:36:51,005
making it biggerand bigger and bigger,
927
00:36:51,007 --> 00:36:54,006
until eventually one of the
guests got seriously injured.
928
00:36:54,008 --> 00:36:56,019
We had been toldthe person broke his neck.
929
00:36:56,021 --> 00:36:58,011
[cheers and laughter]
930
00:36:58,013 --> 00:37:00,011
[indistinct shouting]
931
00:37:00,013 --> 00:37:03,019
[people cheering and whistling]
932
00:37:06,002 --> 00:37:08,007
narrator: Roaring Springswas an expansive collection
933
00:37:08,009 --> 00:37:11,014
of tube rides designedto mimic the experience
934
00:37:11,016 --> 00:37:13,018
of a mountain swimming hole.
935
00:37:13,020 --> 00:37:16,003
- I remember this guycoming up behind me.
936
00:37:16,005 --> 00:37:19,008
He hit my tuberight before the tunnel,
937
00:37:19,010 --> 00:37:20,023
and I went off to the side,
938
00:37:21,001 --> 00:37:24,022
and I slammed my head
into the center of this tube
939
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,000
that you were meant
to go through.
940
00:37:27,002 --> 00:37:30,003
- Some of the padding had gottorn away and exposed a bolt,
941
00:37:30,005 --> 00:37:32,003
and one of the guestscame down,
942
00:37:32,005 --> 00:37:33,021
and they basically
got impaled on the bolt,
943
00:37:33,023 --> 00:37:36,013
and it tore a nice gash
through their midsection,
944
00:37:36,015 --> 00:37:39,007
and they had to be evacuated
off the ride.
945
00:37:39,009 --> 00:37:41,002
- Those ride attendants,
946
00:37:41,004 --> 00:37:44,002
they spent their timetwisting their whistles
947
00:37:44,004 --> 00:37:48,011
and then just going,"Go, go, go."
948
00:37:48,013 --> 00:37:52,007
And a lot of the time,
those tubes would bunch up.
949
00:37:52,009 --> 00:37:54,009
And then what happenswhen you get to the bottom
950
00:37:54,011 --> 00:37:56,009
when you have to squeezeinto a particular area?
951
00:37:56,011 --> 00:37:57,020
People were crashinginto each other,
952
00:37:57,022 --> 00:37:59,008
slamming on top of each other.
953
00:37:59,010 --> 00:38:00,013
One person would bein the water.
954
00:38:00,015 --> 00:38:02,004
The next person coming down
955
00:38:02,006 --> 00:38:04,001
would then dunkthe next person and go under.
956
00:38:04,003 --> 00:38:06,016
And if you couldn't swim well,
yikes.
957
00:38:06,018 --> 00:38:08,021
- [laughs]
958
00:38:08,023 --> 00:38:11,010
CFS stood for
"can't fucking swim."
959
00:38:11,012 --> 00:38:14,011
- Security guys, lifeguards,they carried Sharpies.
960
00:38:14,013 --> 00:38:16,005
Action Park gave outdaily wristbands,
961
00:38:16,007 --> 00:38:19,020
and they would write "CFS"on the wristband.
962
00:38:19,022 --> 00:38:21,016
If someone had CFSon their wristband,
963
00:38:21,018 --> 00:38:24,000
that means they probablyhad gotten saved already
964
00:38:24,002 --> 00:38:25,015
at some point in the day,
965
00:38:25,017 --> 00:38:28,021
and it was a warningto other people.
966
00:38:28,023 --> 00:38:30,012
Like, if CFSwas on your wristband
967
00:38:30,014 --> 00:38:32,009
and you knewyou couldn't swim,
968
00:38:32,011 --> 00:38:34,013
what the hell are you doingjumping off a 20-foot cliff
969
00:38:34,015 --> 00:38:36,015
into a deep pool of water?
970
00:38:36,017 --> 00:38:38,021
But people just--you know,
they thought, like,
971
00:38:38,023 --> 00:38:41,000
this was some magical place
where all of a sudden,
972
00:38:41,002 --> 00:38:43,011
they would have
the ability to swim.
973
00:38:43,013 --> 00:38:44,021
- We should talk
about that other ride
974
00:38:44,023 --> 00:38:46,006
that's right near there,
975
00:38:46,008 --> 00:38:49,000
the Colorado River Ride.
976
00:38:49,002 --> 00:38:51,000
Holy shit, dude.
977
00:38:51,002 --> 00:38:54,009
I will say everybody talks
about Tarzan Swing.
978
00:38:54,011 --> 00:38:57,012
Cliff Dive, Cannonball Falls,
you hear about those.
979
00:38:57,014 --> 00:38:59,010
Colorado River Ridemay have been
980
00:38:59,012 --> 00:39:01,009
the most underrateddangerous ride.
981
00:39:01,011 --> 00:39:03,017
- You would load in,and they would just let
982
00:39:03,019 --> 00:39:05,022
the laws of physicstake over from there,
983
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,020
which sometimes meantthat you would fly really fast
984
00:39:08,022 --> 00:39:12,002
and also sometimes meantthat you would get stuck
985
00:39:12,004 --> 00:39:13,016
at certain points of the ride
986
00:39:13,018 --> 00:39:15,018
that they hadn't designedall that well,
987
00:39:15,020 --> 00:39:19,005
and then you would get puntedby another tube.
988
00:39:19,007 --> 00:39:21,018
- That thing was justa fucking whiplash machine.
989
00:39:21,020 --> 00:39:23,008
You're going up on the side.
990
00:39:23,010 --> 00:39:25,016
Your raft is getting stuckon the wall.
991
00:39:25,018 --> 00:39:28,003
You have to all team up
and push off the wall,
992
00:39:28,005 --> 00:39:29,011
and now you're going backwards.
993
00:39:29,013 --> 00:39:30,021
Like, this is clearly not--
994
00:39:30,023 --> 00:39:34,006
there's no rhyme or reason
in this.
995
00:39:34,008 --> 00:39:36,006
narrator:The Colorado River Ride
996
00:39:36,008 --> 00:39:38,020
actually began lifeas a lazy-river ride.
997
00:39:38,022 --> 00:39:41,007
But during construction,Gene decided
998
00:39:41,009 --> 00:39:44,023
he wanted a realisticsimulation of Class IV rapids.
999
00:39:45,001 --> 00:39:48,019
Early test pilots reportedlycame out unconscious,
1000
00:39:48,021 --> 00:39:52,005
forcing him to turn downthe ride's intensity.
1001
00:39:52,007 --> 00:39:56,001
- There was one sectionwhere tubes tended to go
1002
00:39:56,003 --> 00:39:57,020
right up an embankment,
1003
00:39:57,022 --> 00:40:00,003
and everyone waslooking at it expectantly,
1004
00:40:00,005 --> 00:40:03,003
waiting for themto fly over the side.
1005
00:40:03,005 --> 00:40:07,011
You would hear peopleaudibly go, "Oh...aw,"
1006
00:40:07,013 --> 00:40:10,001
when they didn't actually fallto their doom.
1007
00:40:10,003 --> 00:40:13,001
- I mean, we're holding on,
getting slammed into stuff,
1008
00:40:13,003 --> 00:40:14,015
the thing's getting stuck,
we have to kind of
1009
00:40:14,017 --> 00:40:16,005
stick our own legs out
and push our way off,
1010
00:40:16,007 --> 00:40:18,012
and then we go past
a lifeguard chair that,
1011
00:40:18,014 --> 00:40:21,003
you guessed it, is empty.
1012
00:40:21,005 --> 00:40:24,008
Nobody there
keeping an eye on anything.
1013
00:40:24,010 --> 00:40:27,003
- Gene got involved duringthe construction process,
1014
00:40:27,005 --> 00:40:29,011
and he said...[as Gene]
"Look, when you go down
1015
00:40:29,013 --> 00:40:31,003
"the Colorado River in a raft,
1016
00:40:31,005 --> 00:40:33,009
"there's not some guy
in a lifeguard shirt
1017
00:40:33,011 --> 00:40:35,016
pushing your raft
down the river."
1018
00:40:35,018 --> 00:40:37,012
[normally] And I said,
"Look, Gene,
1019
00:40:37,014 --> 00:40:39,005
"this is not
the Colorado River.
1020
00:40:39,007 --> 00:40:40,015
It's a water park."
1021
00:40:40,017 --> 00:40:43,013
[indistinct shouting]
1022
00:40:43,015 --> 00:40:45,019
- A lot of fightson the Colorado River Ride
1023
00:40:45,021 --> 00:40:47,009
for the dumbest thing ever--
1024
00:40:47,011 --> 00:40:49,019
you know,rafts bumping into each other.
1025
00:40:49,021 --> 00:40:52,020
And then people would get out
and just start having at it.
1026
00:40:52,022 --> 00:40:55,005
Some of the worst fights we had
were people standing
1027
00:40:55,007 --> 00:40:57,020
in the Colorado River Ridepunching each other.
1028
00:40:57,022 --> 00:40:59,008
It was just dumb.
1029
00:40:59,010 --> 00:41:00,020
You would be like,"Really? Why here?"
1030
00:41:00,022 --> 00:41:02,021
- There's morons
in the pool with us,
1031
00:41:02,023 --> 00:41:04,014
morons in the pool with us.
1032
00:41:04,016 --> 00:41:07,005
narrator: Action Park was likethe movie "The Purge."
1033
00:41:07,007 --> 00:41:09,012
Thousands of kidswith pent-up aggression
1034
00:41:09,014 --> 00:41:12,007
and a healthy dose of alcoholwere given a space
1035
00:41:12,009 --> 00:41:15,008
where they could dowhatever they wanted.
1036
00:41:15,010 --> 00:41:17,020
- You know when you wereat pool parties or things
1037
00:41:17,022 --> 00:41:20,002
when you were a kid and therewas always those idiots
1038
00:41:20,004 --> 00:41:22,013
who were like, "Let's jump
in the pool off the roof!
1039
00:41:22,015 --> 00:41:23,020
"No, let's get higher!
1040
00:41:23,022 --> 00:41:25,015
Let's do
the second-story roof!"
1041
00:41:25,017 --> 00:41:27,019
And you're always--you know,
you're kind of on board for it,
1042
00:41:27,021 --> 00:41:29,008
but then at one point,
you're like,
1043
00:41:29,010 --> 00:41:30,021
"Ah, I got to pull out
at this point.
1044
00:41:30,023 --> 00:41:32,012
This is where it's getting
too dangerous."
1045
00:41:32,014 --> 00:41:34,018
It was all those kids
in one park with no rules.
1046
00:41:34,020 --> 00:41:36,002
There were no rules.
1047
00:41:36,004 --> 00:41:39,007
And for a lot of kids,
that was heaven.
1048
00:41:39,009 --> 00:41:41,019
- Action Park was basicallythe only water park
1049
00:41:41,021 --> 00:41:44,005
within the New York City area.
1050
00:41:44,007 --> 00:41:47,000
And it was a placethat filled a void for people
1051
00:41:47,002 --> 00:41:48,013
who weren't spending
1052
00:41:48,015 --> 00:41:50,001
their summer vacationat a beach house.
1053
00:41:50,003 --> 00:41:51,018
They weren't goingto Cape Cod.
1054
00:41:51,020 --> 00:41:53,002
They weren't going to Florida.
1055
00:41:53,004 --> 00:41:55,000
They were goingto Action Park.
1056
00:41:55,002 --> 00:41:57,013
And I think because of that,it might've attracted
1057
00:41:57,015 --> 00:42:02,006
a more, say,working-class clientele.
1058
00:42:02,008 --> 00:42:05,022
[soft music]
1059
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:07,019
narrator: The morenews reports warned people
1060
00:42:07,021 --> 00:42:10,000
about Action Park'spotential danger,
1061
00:42:10,002 --> 00:42:13,017
the more adrenaline-fueledteenagers flocked to it.
1062
00:42:13,019 --> 00:42:16,018
It becamea self-fulfilling prophecy.
1063
00:42:16,020 --> 00:42:19,014
In a world filled with peopletelling you no,
1064
00:42:19,016 --> 00:42:24,010
Action Park became knownas the land of yes.
1065
00:42:24,012 --> 00:42:26,000
- I'd work the frontof the lot
1066
00:42:26,002 --> 00:42:27,017
to let people knowthe lot was full.
1067
00:42:27,019 --> 00:42:29,016
And what would happen is,people would come
1068
00:42:29,018 --> 00:42:31,020
to try to get in the lotafter it was full.
1069
00:42:31,022 --> 00:42:34,016
And one of the ways they would
try to get in is, they'd say,
1070
00:42:34,018 --> 00:42:37,009
"Hey, I'm from New York City."
1071
00:42:37,011 --> 00:42:39,011
And I don't know
what they meant by that,
1072
00:42:39,013 --> 00:42:42,000
but I think they didn't realize
1073
00:42:42,002 --> 00:42:44,015
that everyone here
was from New York City.
1074
00:42:44,017 --> 00:42:47,017
So as a 14-year-old, I'd say,
"Oh, my God.
1075
00:42:47,019 --> 00:42:49,005
"Are there big buildings?
1076
00:42:49,007 --> 00:42:50,020
"What is it like there?
1077
00:42:50,022 --> 00:42:53,015
You think one day,
I can go there?"
1078
00:42:53,017 --> 00:42:55,015
- There were a lot of peoplethat came up there,
1079
00:42:55,017 --> 00:42:58,023
usually younger guys,that were just coming up there
1080
00:42:59,001 --> 00:43:01,001
for the ideaof starting trouble.
1081
00:43:01,003 --> 00:43:03,013
- It didn't always bring
the best.
1082
00:43:03,015 --> 00:43:06,008
It did bring sometimes
a criminal element.
1083
00:43:06,010 --> 00:43:09,004
I once hearda police officer tell me
1084
00:43:09,006 --> 00:43:12,008
the majority of their callsduring the day
1085
00:43:12,010 --> 00:43:14,013
were for Action Park.
1086
00:43:14,015 --> 00:43:16,011
- There were a lot of fights
at Action Park.
1087
00:43:16,013 --> 00:43:20,015
You know, hot, in the sun,lots of places to buy alcohol,
1088
00:43:20,017 --> 00:43:22,012
people that don't know
any restraint.
1089
00:43:22,014 --> 00:43:24,010
- Trying to start fightswith each other,
1090
00:43:24,012 --> 00:43:27,009
trying to start fightswith the ride attendants,
1091
00:43:27,011 --> 00:43:30,021
pulling the ride attendantsinto the rides themselves.
1092
00:43:30,023 --> 00:43:32,016
- We used to call ita Code Brown.
1093
00:43:32,018 --> 00:43:36,008
That was the code for"somebody shit in the pool."
1094
00:43:36,010 --> 00:43:38,015
How angry do you have to beon vacation
1095
00:43:38,017 --> 00:43:40,016
to just shit in a pool?
1096
00:43:40,018 --> 00:43:44,013
- The average customer
at Action Park was just insane.
1097
00:43:44,015 --> 00:43:46,008
And they just didn't care
half the time,
1098
00:43:46,010 --> 00:43:48,014
and, you know, combine that
with liquor, and anything goes.
1099
00:43:48,016 --> 00:43:51,017
[indistinct chatter
and shouting]
1100
00:43:51,019 --> 00:43:53,013
- I lived through it, man,I lived through it.
1101
00:43:53,015 --> 00:43:56,006
[indistinct chatter]
1102
00:43:56,008 --> 00:43:58,006
[lively polka music playing]
1103
00:43:58,008 --> 00:44:00,003
- There was a big fest tent.
1104
00:44:00,005 --> 00:44:02,000
That's where the beerused to be.
1105
00:44:02,002 --> 00:44:04,021
And they would have, like,Summerfest, Oktoberfest.
1106
00:44:04,023 --> 00:44:07,015
- My father was crazyfor that kind of stuff.
1107
00:44:07,017 --> 00:44:09,019
I mean, we hada German brewer.
1108
00:44:09,021 --> 00:44:12,012
We had a German baker.
We had German bands.
1109
00:44:12,014 --> 00:44:14,017
- And I remember them doinga big Polish festival,
1110
00:44:14,019 --> 00:44:16,017
Irish festival,German festival.
1111
00:44:16,019 --> 00:44:20,002
- Anything you could put theword "fest" on the end of it,
1112
00:44:20,004 --> 00:44:21,014
Action Park did it.
1113
00:44:21,016 --> 00:44:23,009
And they werekind of free-for-alls.
1114
00:44:23,011 --> 00:44:27,012
- Jump, jump, jump, jump!
Come on, jump, jump!
1115
00:44:27,014 --> 00:44:30,007
narrator: Gene tookthis stuff seriously.
1116
00:44:30,009 --> 00:44:32,001
He went so far as to literally
1117
00:44:32,003 --> 00:44:34,014
dismantle an entire breweryfrom Germany
1118
00:44:34,016 --> 00:44:38,002
and have it sentto New Jersey.
1119
00:44:38,004 --> 00:44:39,018
And during festivals,
1120
00:44:39,020 --> 00:44:42,018
such as Action Park's famedOktoberfest celebration,
1121
00:44:42,020 --> 00:44:44,019
Gene would befront and center,
1122
00:44:44,021 --> 00:44:48,010
wearing lederhosenand dancing to polka music.
1123
00:44:48,012 --> 00:44:51,011
[upbeat rock music]
1124
00:44:51,013 --> 00:44:54,018
♪ ♪
1125
00:44:54,020 --> 00:44:58,010
- Now, anyone who workedat Action Park knew
1126
00:44:58,012 --> 00:45:00,018
Water World
was for the daytime,
1127
00:45:00,020 --> 00:45:04,007
and then at some pointaround 4:00 or 5:00,
1128
00:45:04,009 --> 00:45:08,022
the adults would havea little fun in the bar area,
1129
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:13,003
and then they'd make their wayover to Motor World.
1130
00:45:13,005 --> 00:45:14,016
One side of the highway--
1131
00:45:14,018 --> 00:45:16,020
you have 94 that runsthrough the middle,
1132
00:45:16,022 --> 00:45:19,002
and you have Water Worldon one side
1133
00:45:19,004 --> 00:45:21,004
and Motor Worldon the other side,
1134
00:45:21,006 --> 00:45:23,022
with all the racing cars,the racing boats.
1135
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:27,004
And that was usually
after they had a few drinks.
1136
00:45:27,006 --> 00:45:30,005
[steady rock music]
1137
00:45:30,007 --> 00:45:33,013
♪ ♪
1138
00:45:33,015 --> 00:45:36,011
- The design was flawedbecause the Grand Prix cars
1139
00:45:36,013 --> 00:45:37,023
were right nextto the beer tent.
1140
00:45:38,001 --> 00:45:40,003
- So at 5:00,guys would come up.
1141
00:45:40,005 --> 00:45:41,019
They'd get a bunch
of beers in them.
1142
00:45:41,021 --> 00:45:44,002
They'd go down to Motor World
to drive the cars.
1143
00:45:44,004 --> 00:45:45,019
- Out of all the rides,
1144
00:45:45,021 --> 00:45:47,016
my opinion,that's the craziest one
1145
00:45:47,018 --> 00:45:50,007
because it's not the rideattendant's fault, you know?
1146
00:45:50,009 --> 00:45:52,004
You can't always tellif someone's been drinking,
1147
00:45:52,006 --> 00:45:53,015
and if you didn't stinklike booze,
1148
00:45:53,017 --> 00:45:55,005
they would never know.
1149
00:45:55,007 --> 00:45:56,019
- Gene said to me one day...
1150
00:45:56,021 --> 00:45:58,010
[as Gene]"You know what we need here?
1151
00:45:58,012 --> 00:46:00,019
"When somebody comes in
under 55 seconds,
1152
00:46:00,021 --> 00:46:03,020
"we got to have these girls
in bikinis come running out
1153
00:46:03,022 --> 00:46:06,018
"and a huge champagne bottle
that pops the top off
1154
00:46:06,020 --> 00:46:09,016
and shoots champagne
up in the air."
1155
00:46:09,018 --> 00:46:11,020
[normally] And I was laughing
when he said it.
1156
00:46:11,022 --> 00:46:13,020
And I looked at him,
and he had a straight face.
1157
00:46:13,022 --> 00:46:16,022
He was dead serious
about doing that.
1158
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:18,020
- Occasionallywith the LOLA cars,
1159
00:46:18,022 --> 00:46:20,018
we would get a guest that,
1160
00:46:20,020 --> 00:46:22,013
instead
of following the course,
1161
00:46:22,015 --> 00:46:24,005
would decide he wanted
to make his own course,
1162
00:46:24,007 --> 00:46:26,010
that he would just start
driving around on the course,
1163
00:46:26,012 --> 00:46:27,019
drive off the course.
1164
00:46:27,021 --> 00:46:29,013
- I watched a guy
go off the track
1165
00:46:29,015 --> 00:46:32,015
and start chasing one of my
employees around in the field
1166
00:46:32,017 --> 00:46:34,000
with a LOLA car.
1167
00:46:34,002 --> 00:46:35,013
And so this kid
was running around
1168
00:46:35,015 --> 00:46:37,003
kind of like a bullfighter,
1169
00:46:37,005 --> 00:46:38,021
like, trying
to make tighter turns
1170
00:46:38,023 --> 00:46:41,012
than the car could make so
the car couldn't run him over.
1171
00:46:41,014 --> 00:46:43,000
- I'd heard the employeesfigured out
1172
00:46:43,002 --> 00:46:45,006
how to overridethe speed governor
1173
00:46:45,008 --> 00:46:46,017
so that the go-karts could go
1174
00:46:46,019 --> 00:46:48,021
as fast as 50or 60 miles an hour.
1175
00:46:48,023 --> 00:46:51,016
And I'd heard that they would
then take those go-karts
1176
00:46:51,018 --> 00:46:54,007
on the highway that ran
through the middle of the park.
1177
00:46:54,009 --> 00:46:57,012
- Yeah, I took a LOLA car
on 94.
1178
00:46:57,014 --> 00:46:59,021
It has a top speed
of over 60 miles an hour.
1179
00:46:59,023 --> 00:47:02,003
It was worth it.
1180
00:47:02,005 --> 00:47:05,001
[engines roaring,
people screaming]
1181
00:47:06,011 --> 00:47:08,021
narrator: Many amusement parksfeature bumper boats.
1182
00:47:08,023 --> 00:47:12,011
Action Park had full-on"Miami Vice"-grade speedboats,
1183
00:47:12,013 --> 00:47:15,005
where ridersregularly tempted fate
1184
00:47:15,007 --> 00:47:17,000
by treating themlike bumper boats,
1185
00:47:17,002 --> 00:47:19,009
a common actionthat would send many a guest
1186
00:47:19,011 --> 00:47:23,006
tumbling into a pondmurky from leaked gas and oil
1187
00:47:23,008 --> 00:47:27,022
and known by employeesto be infested with snakes.
1188
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:29,012
- Like, you'd be driving
a power boat,
1189
00:47:29,014 --> 00:47:31,002
and you'd see something
slither out
1190
00:47:31,004 --> 00:47:33,002
from, like, in the high grass.
1191
00:47:33,004 --> 00:47:35,006
- Oh, yeah, there were
big black snakes.
1192
00:47:35,008 --> 00:47:38,002
Motor World had lagoonsand swamp,
1193
00:47:38,004 --> 00:47:39,017
and there must've beenfour-foot snakes.
1194
00:47:39,019 --> 00:47:42,009
Used to scare the hell
out of the New Yorkers.
1195
00:47:42,011 --> 00:47:46,014
- The things would flip,
I mean, on a regular basis.
1196
00:47:46,016 --> 00:47:48,006
If I stood there for an hour,
1197
00:47:48,008 --> 00:47:50,005
I could almost guarantee
I was gonna see one flip.
1198
00:47:50,007 --> 00:47:52,018
- Well, if you were a lifeguard
in Motor World,
1199
00:47:52,020 --> 00:47:54,022
you were being punished forsomething, for the most part,
1200
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,005
or you were somebodywho didn't know anybody.
1201
00:47:57,007 --> 00:47:59,009
You know, it was not the placeyou wanted to be.
1202
00:47:59,011 --> 00:48:01,012
- I worked at Speedboats,
1203
00:48:01,014 --> 00:48:04,011
and everyone would getthree times around this pond,
1204
00:48:04,013 --> 00:48:08,003
this gas, oily pond...
1205
00:48:08,005 --> 00:48:10,022
[chuckles] That was just loaded
with dead fish.
1206
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:12,010
I remember that.
1207
00:48:12,012 --> 00:48:14,014
One day, we hada group of people.
1208
00:48:14,016 --> 00:48:18,012
I think you had about eightboats going at the same time,
1209
00:48:18,014 --> 00:48:20,010
and they didtheir three times around,
1210
00:48:20,012 --> 00:48:22,012
and they would throwa red flag.
1211
00:48:22,014 --> 00:48:26,006
And this one gentlemanis coming toward the dock,
1212
00:48:26,008 --> 00:48:29,005
and he comes up,
flies forward,
1213
00:48:29,007 --> 00:48:31,009
up and over the small dock,
1214
00:48:31,011 --> 00:48:34,019
and on top of this other boat.
1215
00:48:34,021 --> 00:48:37,000
I thought this gentleman
was decapitated.
1216
00:48:37,002 --> 00:48:40,016
And I walk over,and I see that he's--
1217
00:48:40,018 --> 00:48:43,020
you know, he's stuck forward
and his neck is bleeding,
1218
00:48:43,022 --> 00:48:45,006
but he's breathing.
1219
00:48:45,008 --> 00:48:49,020
I'm shocked, and I'm afraid
that this guy
1220
00:48:49,022 --> 00:48:53,020
is going to get his hair
pulled into the prop.
1221
00:48:53,022 --> 00:48:56,006
I remember taking my rod
1222
00:48:56,008 --> 00:48:58,006
and slammingon top of the boat
1223
00:48:58,008 --> 00:49:00,004
to get the guy to let go
of the throttle,
1224
00:49:00,006 --> 00:49:02,012
for--you know, for God's sake.
1225
00:49:02,014 --> 00:49:05,015
And the gentleman
who was on top of the boat
1226
00:49:05,017 --> 00:49:09,003
just jumps off the ride
and just heads to the monorail
1227
00:49:09,005 --> 00:49:11,015
like--as if he hadn't done
anything wrong.
1228
00:49:11,017 --> 00:49:13,023
[rock music]
1229
00:49:14,001 --> 00:49:16,003
- One of the coolestattractions
1230
00:49:16,005 --> 00:49:18,019
I've never seen anywhere else,the Battle Tanks,
1231
00:49:18,021 --> 00:49:20,021
you know, kind of homebuilt
tanks where you drove around
1232
00:49:20,023 --> 00:49:23,014
and shot tennis balls
at each other.
1233
00:49:23,016 --> 00:49:25,014
And if it hit a targeton the tank,
1234
00:49:25,016 --> 00:49:27,005
it would be disabledand spin in a circle.
1235
00:49:27,007 --> 00:49:29,001
- I got a call down thereone time,
1236
00:49:29,003 --> 00:49:31,000
and one of the guests
had gotten hold
1237
00:49:31,002 --> 00:49:34,021
of one of the gas cans,
and he poured gasoline
1238
00:49:34,023 --> 00:49:37,011
on his tennis balls
and was putting them
1239
00:49:37,013 --> 00:49:40,000
into the air cannon,lighting the balls on fire,
1240
00:49:40,002 --> 00:49:42,011
and was shooting themat the tanks.
1241
00:49:42,013 --> 00:49:45,013
So he wound up getting ejected
from the park.
1242
00:49:45,015 --> 00:49:48,014
[serious rock music]
1243
00:49:48,016 --> 00:49:53,015
♪ ♪
1244
00:49:53,017 --> 00:49:57,002
- At Action Park, the most
dangerous ride, probably,
1245
00:49:57,004 --> 00:50:00,003
from sheer amount of injuries,
1246
00:50:00,005 --> 00:50:02,015
would be the Alpine Slide.
1247
00:50:02,017 --> 00:50:06,008
♪ ♪
1248
00:50:06,010 --> 00:50:08,000
- People would geton the chairlift,
1249
00:50:08,002 --> 00:50:10,011
and this was crazy,
but they would actually take
1250
00:50:10,013 --> 00:50:12,020
the carts that were on
their cart and pull them off
1251
00:50:12,022 --> 00:50:14,019
and throw them off the cartand try to hit people
1252
00:50:14,021 --> 00:50:16,022
that were coming downunderneath them.
1253
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:18,018
- With just a little nudge
of your elbow,
1254
00:50:18,020 --> 00:50:21,008
it was pretty easy to knock
the cart right off the ski lift
1255
00:50:21,010 --> 00:50:24,019
down on to the track where
people are riding the ride.
1256
00:50:24,021 --> 00:50:26,001
- There were some timesit happened
1257
00:50:26,003 --> 00:50:27,014
a couple times in a day.
1258
00:50:27,016 --> 00:50:29,016
It certainly happeneda few times a week.
1259
00:50:29,018 --> 00:50:32,018
narrator: Once they reachedthe top of the Alpine Slide,
1260
00:50:32,020 --> 00:50:35,005
parkgoers were greetedwith signs
1261
00:50:35,007 --> 00:50:37,014
bearing bloody photos ofthe ride's previous victims,
1262
00:50:37,016 --> 00:50:40,001
a grim warning that whatthey were about to endure
1263
00:50:40,003 --> 00:50:42,009
was, in fact, truly dangerous.
1264
00:50:42,011 --> 00:50:44,018
♪ ♪
1265
00:50:44,020 --> 00:50:47,018
- It had a stick,and, ostensibly,
1266
00:50:47,020 --> 00:50:49,017
you were supposed to be ableto pull up on the stick
1267
00:50:49,019 --> 00:50:51,000
as a brake,
1268
00:50:51,002 --> 00:50:53,015
push down on it to go faster.
1269
00:50:53,017 --> 00:50:56,023
But one thing that I learned
was very true:
1270
00:50:57,001 --> 00:50:59,011
the sleds were often broken.
1271
00:50:59,013 --> 00:51:01,003
- I didn't know itat the time,
1272
00:51:01,005 --> 00:51:04,011
but the Alpine Slide was made
of fiberglass, concrete,
1273
00:51:04,013 --> 00:51:06,010
and mostly asbestos.
1274
00:51:06,012 --> 00:51:08,008
- Cement track.
It's summertime.
1275
00:51:08,010 --> 00:51:11,012
People are in bathing suits,
and they're flying down
1276
00:51:11,014 --> 00:51:15,007
this path at full speed ahead,
and they would just tumble off.
1277
00:51:15,009 --> 00:51:19,010
- I wasn't particularly excited
to go on the Alpine Slide.
1278
00:51:19,012 --> 00:51:21,015
I knew it was unsafe.
1279
00:51:21,017 --> 00:51:23,023
- One of the reasons theAlpine Slide was so dangerous
1280
00:51:24,001 --> 00:51:28,003
is because it wasn't designedto keep you on.
1281
00:51:28,005 --> 00:51:30,021
If you didn't touch your brakes
in a couple of key spots,
1282
00:51:30,023 --> 00:51:32,018
you were going to fly off.
1283
00:51:32,020 --> 00:51:34,012
♪ ♪
1284
00:51:34,014 --> 00:51:37,023
- You'd go up into this lip,and if you didn't know
1285
00:51:38,001 --> 00:51:41,004
how to distribute your weightwhen you came out
1286
00:51:41,006 --> 00:51:43,010
of that bank turn,the thing would flip on you.
1287
00:51:43,012 --> 00:51:44,015
And when the thing
flipped on you,
1288
00:51:44,017 --> 00:51:47,020
that's when it started to hurt.
1289
00:51:47,022 --> 00:51:51,008
- You had kids breakingtheir collarbones,
1290
00:51:51,010 --> 00:51:53,010
their skin ripped off.
1291
00:51:53,012 --> 00:51:55,000
And when I was in high school,
1292
00:51:55,002 --> 00:51:56,020
you would come back to schoolin the fall,
1293
00:51:56,022 --> 00:51:59,012
and you'd seeall these kids bandaged up.
1294
00:51:59,014 --> 00:52:01,010
And you'd walk in the hallways,
and they were like,
1295
00:52:01,012 --> 00:52:03,017
"Yeah, Alpine Slide, huh?"
"Yeah."
1296
00:52:03,019 --> 00:52:05,022
- Kid shows up back
in the neighborhood,
1297
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:08,021
and, like, he's got a big burn
on his thigh and his hip.
1298
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:11,009
You assume, "Oh, you fall offthe Alpine Slide?
1299
00:52:11,011 --> 00:52:12,018
Oh, when did you goto Action Park?"
1300
00:52:12,020 --> 00:52:14,006
Like, that--
He'd have to correct you.
1301
00:52:14,008 --> 00:52:16,005
He'd have to--
"Oh, no, I had surgery."
1302
00:52:16,007 --> 00:52:19,014
[dramatic music]
1303
00:52:19,016 --> 00:52:22,020
- The area around the slideswas just rock,
1304
00:52:22,022 --> 00:52:26,015
so, I mean,everything from broken bones
1305
00:52:26,017 --> 00:52:29,001
to concussions.
1306
00:52:29,003 --> 00:52:33,020
On an average day, you would
have 50 to 100 people injured.
1307
00:52:33,022 --> 00:52:36,019
On a weekend,you could double that.
1308
00:52:37,017 --> 00:52:39,014
- When I was a kid,I was extremely law-abiding,
1309
00:52:39,016 --> 00:52:42,012
so every single timethat I saw a sign
1310
00:52:42,014 --> 00:52:45,007
that said "slow down,"I would slow down.
1311
00:52:45,009 --> 00:52:48,009
I hit a bump,and I was sort of airborne,
1312
00:52:48,011 --> 00:52:49,018
and I looked to my side,
1313
00:52:49,020 --> 00:52:52,011
and I saw that the slide
that I had been riding on
1314
00:52:52,013 --> 00:52:56,006
was rolling down the hillnext to me.
1315
00:52:56,008 --> 00:52:58,005
And I was takento the infirmary,
1316
00:52:58,007 --> 00:53:00,014
which wasthis unsettling-looking
1317
00:53:00,016 --> 00:53:02,003
sort of shed.
1318
00:53:02,005 --> 00:53:05,001
They took a look at my wound,and they told me
1319
00:53:05,003 --> 00:53:07,016
that they needed to spraysome sort of stuff on it
1320
00:53:07,018 --> 00:53:10,010
so that it would scab overand heal.
1321
00:53:10,012 --> 00:53:12,017
And then, unlike a doctor,
1322
00:53:12,019 --> 00:53:14,016
the person who was
administering this stuff
1323
00:53:14,018 --> 00:53:16,022
said to me,
"This is gonna hurt."
1324
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:18,014
- First aid had this spray.
1325
00:53:18,016 --> 00:53:20,014
It was a little squeeze bottle,
like a Windex bottle,
1326
00:53:20,016 --> 00:53:22,006
and it had
this orange solution in,
1327
00:53:22,008 --> 00:53:24,003
which I've been told
years later
1328
00:53:24,005 --> 00:53:26,007
that it was alcohol and iodine.
1329
00:53:26,009 --> 00:53:27,019
I know it was an orange color.
1330
00:53:27,021 --> 00:53:29,023
And they would spray the person
with this thing,
1331
00:53:30,001 --> 00:53:31,018
and from the looks of things,
1332
00:53:31,020 --> 00:53:33,019
this was the most incredible
pain this person had ever felt.
1333
00:53:33,021 --> 00:53:36,006
I can specifically rememberone time where we had this guy
1334
00:53:36,008 --> 00:53:38,000
come in, and this guywas a bodybuilder.
1335
00:53:38,002 --> 00:53:39,013
I mean, this guy was jacked.
1336
00:53:39,015 --> 00:53:42,013
And he had friction burns
on his arm and his leg,
1337
00:53:42,015 --> 00:53:44,023
and this guy was in tears.
1338
00:53:45,001 --> 00:53:46,020
We told him, "Okay,now we got to do the leg."
1339
00:53:46,022 --> 00:53:48,007
And he was like, "No."
1340
00:53:48,009 --> 00:53:50,007
We're like, "Dude,
this is gonna get infected
1341
00:53:50,009 --> 00:53:51,009
if we don't spray it."
1342
00:53:51,011 --> 00:53:53,002
And he's like, "I don't care.
1343
00:53:53,004 --> 00:53:55,000
I'd rather have an infection
than go through that again."
1344
00:53:55,002 --> 00:53:57,007
- They had a circle drawnon the floor
1345
00:53:57,009 --> 00:53:58,023
in the first aid room.
1346
00:53:59,001 --> 00:54:01,009
And while they were cleaningyour slide burns,
1347
00:54:01,011 --> 00:54:05,001
if you managed to stay inthe circle, you won a prize.
1348
00:54:05,003 --> 00:54:06,023
They said over, like,
two or three years,
1349
00:54:07,001 --> 00:54:09,005
only two people actually stayed
in the circle,
1350
00:54:09,007 --> 00:54:12,003
and the best they could produce
was an Action Park pen.
1351
00:54:12,005 --> 00:54:14,000
- You could walk
around Action Park
1352
00:54:14,002 --> 00:54:16,022
and just see the people
with the orange spray.
1353
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:19,013
It was likean Action Park battle scar.
1354
00:54:20,022 --> 00:54:22,023
- Action Parkwas this litmus test that--
1355
00:54:23,001 --> 00:54:24,017
it was very clearfrom the time
1356
00:54:24,019 --> 00:54:26,009
I was eight or nine years old,
like, you got to go there,
1357
00:54:26,011 --> 00:54:28,000
and you got to come back
with some scars.
1358
00:54:28,002 --> 00:54:29,023
You got to go take your lumps
at Action Park
1359
00:54:30,001 --> 00:54:32,009
if you really want to be able
to kind of grow up
1360
00:54:32,011 --> 00:54:35,000
and be a young man
in this world.
1361
00:54:35,002 --> 00:54:39,000
- After a while,the town couldn't dedicate
1362
00:54:39,002 --> 00:54:40,018
its ambulances to Action Park
1363
00:54:40,020 --> 00:54:43,003
because, you know,Vernon was a small town,
1364
00:54:43,005 --> 00:54:45,003
and we had twovolunteer ambulance squads,
1365
00:54:45,005 --> 00:54:48,018
and Action Park wouldkeep them busy all day long.
1366
00:54:48,020 --> 00:54:50,016
So there was a meeting,and, you know, the town said,
1367
00:54:50,018 --> 00:54:52,015
"Look, you got to buyyour own ambulance."
1368
00:54:52,017 --> 00:54:55,008
And they did.They had either one or two.
1369
00:54:55,010 --> 00:54:57,023
I think at their height,they might have had two.
1370
00:54:58,001 --> 00:55:01,010
- My wife, she worked--
she was one of the admins.
1371
00:55:01,012 --> 00:55:04,013
One of her jobs, it took her
an entire week, 40 hours.
1372
00:55:04,015 --> 00:55:07,014
She made an Excel spreadsheet
of all of the injuries
1373
00:55:07,016 --> 00:55:09,013
for one season at the park.
1374
00:55:09,015 --> 00:55:13,001
And it was a lotof dislocated shoulders,
1375
00:55:13,003 --> 00:55:15,014
broken arms, wrists,
1376
00:55:15,016 --> 00:55:18,013
slide abrasionsfrom the Alpine Slide.
1377
00:55:18,015 --> 00:55:21,004
It was just a crazy,crazy amount of injuries
1378
00:55:21,006 --> 00:55:23,000
at this place.
1379
00:55:23,002 --> 00:55:26,007
[solemn music]
1380
00:55:26,009 --> 00:55:28,001
narrator:It's impossible to say
1381
00:55:28,003 --> 00:55:30,021
exactly how many peoplewere injured at Action Park.
1382
00:55:30,023 --> 00:55:32,021
The state only requiredthat they report
1383
00:55:32,023 --> 00:55:34,015
"serious injuries."
1384
00:55:34,017 --> 00:55:36,019
Of course, that left itto Gene to decide
1385
00:55:36,021 --> 00:55:38,022
what he viewed as serious,
1386
00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:41,014
meaning that unless youleft the park in an ambulance,
1387
00:55:41,016 --> 00:55:45,018
it was almost certainlynot going to be reported.
1388
00:55:45,020 --> 00:55:47,012
- If the government
doesn't require you
1389
00:55:47,014 --> 00:55:49,018
to report something,
there's no way
1390
00:55:49,020 --> 00:55:51,014
that someone could determine
1391
00:55:51,016 --> 00:55:54,020
how many injuries occurred
on a daily basis.
1392
00:55:54,022 --> 00:55:57,003
And if Gene wanted
to cover that up,
1393
00:55:57,005 --> 00:55:59,011
it'd be very easy to do so.
1394
00:55:59,013 --> 00:56:02,022
[steady music]
1395
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:05,020
narrator: Amusement parksoften embody their creators.
1396
00:56:05,022 --> 00:56:08,015
They are the personificationof some individual,
1397
00:56:08,017 --> 00:56:10,021
some auteur's worldview.
1398
00:56:10,023 --> 00:56:12,018
Walt Disney lookedat the world
1399
00:56:12,020 --> 00:56:15,006
and wanted it to resembleturn-of-the-century America
1400
00:56:15,008 --> 00:56:17,012
with a hint of fantasyand the Wild West.
1401
00:56:17,014 --> 00:56:19,018
And thus, you have Disneyland.
1402
00:56:19,020 --> 00:56:21,019
Gene Mulvihill had a visionof a place
1403
00:56:21,021 --> 00:56:23,011
where there were no rules,
1404
00:56:23,013 --> 00:56:27,020
something between Ayn Randand "Lord of the Flies."
1405
00:56:27,022 --> 00:56:30,000
- My father wantedto give people the freedom
1406
00:56:30,002 --> 00:56:32,017
to control the action,to control their speed.
1407
00:56:32,019 --> 00:56:36,020
He loved to have fun,
and so the park reflected that.
1408
00:56:36,022 --> 00:56:39,015
- The way things were donein the '80s,
1409
00:56:39,017 --> 00:56:43,008
it seems to me,created this situation.
1410
00:56:43,010 --> 00:56:45,021
You have this sense
1411
00:56:45,023 --> 00:56:49,001
of not being bridled
1412
00:56:49,003 --> 00:56:52,008
by a federal or state
or local government
1413
00:56:52,010 --> 00:56:55,007
that's trying to keep you
from having fun.
1414
00:56:55,009 --> 00:56:58,016
So Mulvihill created
1415
00:56:58,018 --> 00:57:02,004
a business that allowed people
1416
00:57:02,006 --> 00:57:06,011
to thumb their noseat conventional norms
1417
00:57:06,013 --> 00:57:11,013
and thumb their nose at peoplewho worried about danger,
1418
00:57:11,015 --> 00:57:13,010
and they put themselves
1419
00:57:13,012 --> 00:57:16,016
in the teethof a dangerous situation.
1420
00:57:16,018 --> 00:57:18,020
[soft dramatic music]
1421
00:57:18,022 --> 00:57:21,008
narrator: And while regulatorsmay have been tough
1422
00:57:21,010 --> 00:57:23,000
on other amusement parks,
1423
00:57:23,002 --> 00:57:24,021
Gene had friendsin high places,
1424
00:57:24,023 --> 00:57:26,007
and Action Park suffered
1425
00:57:26,009 --> 00:57:28,016
virtually no finesor citations.
1426
00:57:28,018 --> 00:57:31,006
- In the Reagan years,there was this idea
1427
00:57:31,008 --> 00:57:33,020
that peopleshould govern themselves,
1428
00:57:33,022 --> 00:57:35,020
that red tape got in the wayof innovation,
1429
00:57:35,022 --> 00:57:38,002
that American capitalismwas at its best
1430
00:57:38,004 --> 00:57:39,019
when it was unregulated.
1431
00:57:39,021 --> 00:57:41,003
And it's in this environment
1432
00:57:41,005 --> 00:57:44,005
that Action Park
is allowed to flourish.
1433
00:57:44,007 --> 00:57:46,000
narrator: It turns outthat Gene was friends
1434
00:57:46,002 --> 00:57:48,002
with future presidentDonald Trump.
1435
00:57:48,004 --> 00:57:51,003
According to park employees,Trump was actually very close
1436
00:57:51,005 --> 00:57:53,015
to investing in Action Parkat one point
1437
00:57:53,017 --> 00:57:55,021
and even dropped by the parkto check things out
1438
00:57:55,023 --> 00:57:57,015
and have a look around.
1439
00:57:57,017 --> 00:58:01,004
When he saw Gene's vision,he realized it was too wild,
1440
00:58:01,006 --> 00:58:03,015
too nuts, even for him.
1441
00:58:03,017 --> 00:58:07,009
- Trump found Gene's visiontoo unhinged.
1442
00:58:07,011 --> 00:58:09,021
Fuck yeah, dude.
Good for Gene.
1443
00:58:09,023 --> 00:58:13,005
narrator: So what would happenif you sued Action Park?
1444
00:58:13,007 --> 00:58:15,017
Well, Gene would refuseto settle.
1445
00:58:15,019 --> 00:58:19,006
He'd force you to trialalmost every single time,
1446
00:58:19,008 --> 00:58:23,007
and he'd make that trial aslong and painful as possible.
1447
00:58:23,009 --> 00:58:26,007
- Gene's philosophy was,
"We fight every case.
1448
00:58:26,009 --> 00:58:27,016
"We don't settle it.
1449
00:58:27,018 --> 00:58:29,014
We bring it all the way
to trial."
1450
00:58:29,016 --> 00:58:33,013
And we won 93% of them.
1451
00:58:33,015 --> 00:58:35,008
narrator:Eventually word got around
1452
00:58:35,010 --> 00:58:37,003
that he wouldn't settle,and most lawyers thought it
1453
00:58:37,005 --> 00:58:38,021
too much trouble to even try.
1454
00:58:38,023 --> 00:58:41,002
Even if you went to trialand won,
1455
00:58:41,004 --> 00:58:42,020
Gene would simply refuseto pay
1456
00:58:42,022 --> 00:58:44,022
unless you sentthe U.S. Marshals
1457
00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:46,017
to his door to collect,
1458
00:58:46,019 --> 00:58:49,016
something that happenedon more than one occasion.
1459
00:58:49,018 --> 00:58:51,015
- The U.S. Marshals,
the first time they showed up,
1460
00:58:51,017 --> 00:58:54,020
they surrounded
the ticket booth.
1461
00:58:54,022 --> 00:58:57,012
[chuckles] I found my way
to them pretty quickly
1462
00:58:57,014 --> 00:59:01,006
and asked them
to please not shoot me.
1463
00:59:01,008 --> 00:59:03,002
After the first time,
they would just come
1464
00:59:03,004 --> 00:59:05,013
and knock on my office and say,
"Yeah, we're here."
1465
00:59:05,015 --> 00:59:07,023
Then we'd go
to the general manager's office
1466
00:59:08,001 --> 00:59:10,019
and take care of it.
1467
00:59:10,021 --> 00:59:14,004
[ambient music]
1468
00:59:14,006 --> 00:59:18,019
narrator: Action Parkwas a product of its time.
1469
00:59:18,021 --> 00:59:20,010
It was like an '80s movie,
1470
00:59:20,012 --> 00:59:23,005
an era of latchkey kidsgoing on adventures,
1471
00:59:23,007 --> 00:59:26,006
far from the worried eyesof attentive parents.
1472
00:59:26,008 --> 00:59:28,019
♪ ♪
1473
00:59:28,021 --> 00:59:30,012
- That was probablythe last decade
1474
00:59:30,014 --> 00:59:34,004
of unsupervised fun for kids.
1475
00:59:34,006 --> 00:59:35,015
- There was no cell phones.
1476
00:59:35,017 --> 00:59:37,005
You know, it's like,you wanted
1477
00:59:37,007 --> 00:59:38,016
to hang out with your buddy,
you called him up,
1478
00:59:38,018 --> 00:59:40,009
and you went over
to his house and met him.
1479
00:59:40,011 --> 00:59:42,009
You know, whosever houseyou were at at lunchtime,
1480
00:59:42,011 --> 00:59:43,021
that's who fed you.
1481
00:59:43,023 --> 00:59:47,004
- We were all kidsthat climbed trees.
1482
00:59:47,006 --> 00:59:49,015
We didn't come home
until after 8:00.
1483
00:59:49,017 --> 00:59:52,012
Our parents weren't even
looking for us.
1484
00:59:52,014 --> 00:59:55,022
- The '80s wereabout outdoing each other,
1485
00:59:56,000 --> 00:59:57,008
about keeping up.
1486
00:59:57,010 --> 00:59:59,019
The '80s were not about,
"How are you feeling?
1487
00:59:59,021 --> 01:00:01,008
Are you afraid to do this?"
1488
01:00:01,010 --> 01:00:04,013
- Like, we would tryto die for fun.
1489
01:00:04,015 --> 01:00:06,013
We would try to die for fun.
1490
01:00:06,015 --> 01:00:08,017
When I was in high sch--I've been in at least
1491
01:00:08,019 --> 01:00:11,005
six different abandonedmental hospitals for fun.
1492
01:00:11,007 --> 01:00:14,010
Like, that--no joke, in high school,
1493
01:00:14,012 --> 01:00:16,017
you can show up to school
on Monday and turn around
1494
01:00:16,019 --> 01:00:19,012
and be like, "Hey,
what'd you do this weekend?"
1495
01:00:19,014 --> 01:00:21,008
And your buddy could look
at you and be like,
1496
01:00:21,010 --> 01:00:22,017
"Oh, yeah, we wentand broke into
1497
01:00:22,019 --> 01:00:24,009
"the abandonedmental hospital,
1498
01:00:24,011 --> 01:00:26,015
"and we wentin the tunnels underneath.
1499
01:00:26,017 --> 01:00:29,022
"Turned out, there were somefucking skinheads down there.
1500
01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:31,012
"So they came at us,
1501
01:00:31,014 --> 01:00:33,006
so we beat up a Nazi,and we went to a diner."
1502
01:00:33,008 --> 01:00:35,001
And they'd be like,
"What'd you do?"
1503
01:00:35,003 --> 01:00:36,013
And you'd be like, "Oh, yeah,
1504
01:00:36,015 --> 01:00:38,012
I went and visited my cousin
in Freehold."
1505
01:00:38,014 --> 01:00:42,013
And those were, like, both
totally standard things to say.
1506
01:00:42,015 --> 01:00:46,003
- You know, I can rememberbeing 14, 15 years old,
1507
01:00:46,005 --> 01:00:49,011
and we lived about 15 milesfrom Action Park.
1508
01:00:49,013 --> 01:00:51,008
And I can remember
a bunch of us,
1509
01:00:51,010 --> 01:00:52,023
unbeknownst to our parents,
1510
01:00:53,001 --> 01:00:56,001
jumping on our bicyclesand riding to Action Park,
1511
01:00:56,003 --> 01:00:59,014
spending the day there, andthen riding our bicycles back.
1512
01:00:59,016 --> 01:01:01,005
Parents never know.
1513
01:01:01,007 --> 01:01:03,022
I would beat my kid's ass
if I ever found out. [chuckles]
1514
01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:09,015
♪ ♪
1515
01:01:09,017 --> 01:01:14,003
- Looking back on Action Parkwith grown-up eyes,
1516
01:01:14,005 --> 01:01:15,013
Gene wanted to make sure
1517
01:01:15,015 --> 01:01:17,002
everybody was havinga good time.
1518
01:01:17,004 --> 01:01:19,020
And it probably wasn'tthe best idea
1519
01:01:19,022 --> 01:01:24,002
to have, you know, a place
where you controlled the action
1520
01:01:24,004 --> 01:01:27,010
and a place
where kids were in charge.
1521
01:01:27,012 --> 01:01:30,007
It was scary.It was dangerous.
1522
01:01:31,005 --> 01:01:33,003
- An amusement parkis designed
1523
01:01:33,005 --> 01:01:38,010
to look like a kind of placethat it isn't.
1524
01:01:38,012 --> 01:01:41,011
It's meant to look dangerous,but it isn't.
1525
01:01:41,013 --> 01:01:44,013
Its artifice is bakedinto the story,
1526
01:01:44,015 --> 01:01:46,014
and you're told that
from when you're very young.
1527
01:01:46,016 --> 01:01:49,001
"Go on the thrill ride.
It's a thrill."
1528
01:01:49,003 --> 01:01:51,010
But it's not really going
to fall apart.
1529
01:01:51,012 --> 01:01:53,023
It's not really goingto kill you.
1530
01:01:54,001 --> 01:01:57,008
But Action Parkwas truly dangerous.
1531
01:01:57,010 --> 01:02:01,007
♪ ♪
1532
01:02:01,009 --> 01:02:02,018
- A lot of places you go to,
1533
01:02:02,020 --> 01:02:04,023
unless the ridecatastrophically fails,
1534
01:02:05,001 --> 01:02:07,011
no matter how scared you feel,you're not gonna get hurt.
1535
01:02:07,013 --> 01:02:09,004
Action Park was not like that.
1536
01:02:09,006 --> 01:02:10,023
If you wantedto push the boundaries,
1537
01:02:11,001 --> 01:02:14,015
you could get hurt, and,you know, it certainly became
1538
01:02:14,017 --> 01:02:17,013
a competition between friends
to see who could push it
1539
01:02:17,015 --> 01:02:19,006
a little bit more,
a little bit more.
1540
01:02:19,008 --> 01:02:21,018
And then if you got hurt,
you know, if it wasn't serious,
1541
01:02:21,020 --> 01:02:23,013
it was almost like
a battle scar.
1542
01:02:23,015 --> 01:02:25,023
[no audible dialogue]
1543
01:02:26,001 --> 01:02:29,011
- The magic and the horrorof Action Park
1544
01:02:29,013 --> 01:02:33,011
is that you can go thereexpecting a great time,
1545
01:02:33,013 --> 01:02:35,022
expecting fantastic memories,
1546
01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:40,002
and you can leavewith those exact things,
1547
01:02:40,004 --> 01:02:43,011
or you can leavein a body bag.
1548
01:02:43,013 --> 01:02:47,010
And you didn't knowwhich it was going to be.
1549
01:02:47,012 --> 01:02:50,015
[dramatic music]
1550
01:02:50,017 --> 01:02:53,019
- I would say probablythe most pleasant named ride
1551
01:02:53,021 --> 01:02:56,002
at Action Park,the Kayak Experience.
1552
01:02:56,004 --> 01:02:57,019
But I later came to learn that
1553
01:02:57,021 --> 01:03:01,004
that is the one where someone
was electrocuted to death.
1554
01:03:02,006 --> 01:03:05,016
- There were underwater fansthat would help push the water
1555
01:03:05,018 --> 01:03:08,022
and created rapids,like you were kayaking.
1556
01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:11,008
And somebody flipped
out of one of their kayaks,
1557
01:03:11,010 --> 01:03:13,013
and one of these fansshort-circuited,
1558
01:03:13,015 --> 01:03:16,014
and they either touched itor were close enough to it,
1559
01:03:16,016 --> 01:03:19,021
and they got electrocuted.
1560
01:03:19,023 --> 01:03:23,019
- Negligence doesn't begin
to even capture
1561
01:03:23,021 --> 01:03:25,007
that particular death.
1562
01:03:25,009 --> 01:03:27,006
Ungrounded electricityin a water park,
1563
01:03:27,008 --> 01:03:29,005
that's the Kayak Experience.
1564
01:03:29,007 --> 01:03:31,018
[chuckles]
The Kayak Experience.
1565
01:03:31,020 --> 01:03:38,005
♪ ♪
1566
01:03:39,012 --> 01:03:41,016
- I knew better than to goon any rides at Action Park.
1567
01:03:41,018 --> 01:03:44,006
I saw people get hurton every ride in the park,
1568
01:03:44,008 --> 01:03:47,001
and I was like, "I don'twant any part of this."
1569
01:03:47,003 --> 01:03:49,013
I had a stack of comp passes
to give out to people
1570
01:03:49,015 --> 01:03:51,001
that was probably
six inches thick.
1571
01:03:51,003 --> 01:03:52,019
There were hundreds of them.
1572
01:03:52,021 --> 01:03:54,010
So if something went wrong,
somebody got something stolen,
1573
01:03:54,012 --> 01:03:56,002
I would give them
complimentary passes.
1574
01:03:56,004 --> 01:03:59,018
I never gave one to a friend.
People got hurt there.
1575
01:03:59,020 --> 01:04:02,011
- When shit got realat Action Park,
1576
01:04:02,013 --> 01:04:05,023
the, like, golf cart,Cushman first aid thing
1577
01:04:06,001 --> 01:04:08,004
would roll by,
and there'd be somebody,
1578
01:04:08,006 --> 01:04:11,006
like, completely immobilized
on that thing,
1579
01:04:11,008 --> 01:04:13,022
you know, with the backboard
and the neck brace
1580
01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:16,002
and the pads on the sides
of their head.
1581
01:04:16,004 --> 01:04:17,022
And you'd talk
to the first aid guys,
1582
01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:20,015
they'd be like, "Oh, yeah,
he got medevaced to Morristown.
1583
01:04:20,017 --> 01:04:22,023
"He had a fractured vertebrae
1584
01:04:23,001 --> 01:04:24,023
in his neck
from hitting his head."
1585
01:04:25,001 --> 01:04:27,007
I'm like, "Holy shit.
Are you kidding?"
1586
01:04:27,009 --> 01:04:30,011
And that's when I started
to realize, it's like,
1587
01:04:30,013 --> 01:04:32,002
this place is dangerous.
1588
01:04:32,004 --> 01:04:34,002
[indistinct chatter]
1589
01:04:34,004 --> 01:04:36,020
[serious music]
1590
01:04:36,022 --> 01:04:38,009
- When I think backto the Wave Pool,
1591
01:04:38,011 --> 01:04:40,011
I remember being excitedto go in it
1592
01:04:40,013 --> 01:04:42,022
and, even as a young kid,walking up and going, like,
1593
01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:45,019
"Oh, no fucking way.This is nuts. This is"--
1594
01:04:45,021 --> 01:04:48,011
I mean, shoulder-to-shoulderhuman beings
1595
01:04:48,013 --> 01:04:52,017
in a wave pool that wasfar too violent and powerful.
1596
01:04:52,019 --> 01:04:55,007
- If you go to the beach,that water is buoyant.
1597
01:04:55,009 --> 01:04:57,014
So when the waves come in,you go up,
1598
01:04:57,016 --> 01:04:59,018
and when the waves go down,you go down.
1599
01:04:59,020 --> 01:05:02,017
But a freshwater pooldoesn't do that.
1600
01:05:02,019 --> 01:05:05,009
- We'd often have peoplethat would jump into the water
1601
01:05:05,011 --> 01:05:06,020
that didn't know how to swim.
1602
01:05:06,022 --> 01:05:08,015
I can't tell youhow many times someone
1603
01:05:08,017 --> 01:05:11,000
would come up to me and say,
"Sir, how deep is that water?"
1604
01:05:11,002 --> 01:05:12,013
And I wouldn't even tell them
how many feet.
1605
01:05:12,015 --> 01:05:13,022
I'd say, "It's over your head."
1606
01:05:14,000 --> 01:05:15,015
I'd turn around,
and they would jump in.
1607
01:05:15,017 --> 01:05:17,022
- When people gotto shoulder-height depth,
1608
01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:20,021
we called that area"the death zone."
1609
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:22,013
Panic would set in,
1610
01:05:22,015 --> 01:05:25,008
and they'd grab everybodyand anybody around them.
1611
01:05:25,010 --> 01:05:27,011
And I've seenliterally families
1612
01:05:27,013 --> 01:05:32,003
of 8, 10, or 12 peopletaking each other down.
1613
01:05:32,005 --> 01:05:34,013
- The guards at--we usedto call it "the grave pool."
1614
01:05:34,015 --> 01:05:36,000
The guards at the grave pool,
1615
01:05:36,002 --> 01:05:38,005
they couldn't relaxfor a second.
1616
01:05:38,007 --> 01:05:39,020
- To break a new lifeguard in,
1617
01:05:39,022 --> 01:05:42,008
they'd be assigned to
the death chair, and that was
1618
01:05:42,010 --> 01:05:45,014
the lifeguard stand
that overlooked the death zone
1619
01:05:45,016 --> 01:05:47,005
on the Wave Pool.
1620
01:05:47,007 --> 01:05:49,006
And literally their first30 minutes to 45 minutes
1621
01:05:49,008 --> 01:05:52,023
sitting in the death chair,that new lifeguard would save
1622
01:05:53,001 --> 01:05:55,000
three to four to five people.
1623
01:05:55,002 --> 01:05:57,022
People thought that drowning
at the Action Park Wave Pool
1624
01:05:58,000 --> 01:05:59,007
was part of the ride.
1625
01:05:59,009 --> 01:06:01,003
They thought it was part
of the experience.
1626
01:06:01,005 --> 01:06:04,014
They expected to drownat the Action Park Wave Pool.
1627
01:06:05,021 --> 01:06:07,005
narrator:Lifeguards at the Wave Pool
1628
01:06:07,007 --> 01:06:08,022
had their hands full.
1629
01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:10,017
The water was murky enoughthat bodies often
1630
01:06:10,019 --> 01:06:13,004
couldn't be spottedbelow the surface.
1631
01:06:13,006 --> 01:06:14,018
The culprit?
1632
01:06:14,020 --> 01:06:17,013
A mixture of muddy runofffrom a nearby hill,
1633
01:06:17,015 --> 01:06:20,007
human waste, suntan lotion,
1634
01:06:20,009 --> 01:06:23,001
and gore from open wounds.
1635
01:06:23,003 --> 01:06:25,000
- That was one of the reasonsthey used to stop the thing
1636
01:06:25,002 --> 01:06:27,003
every so many minutes,so they could scan the bottom
1637
01:06:27,005 --> 01:06:28,016
and make sure there wasn'tany bodies there
1638
01:06:28,018 --> 01:06:30,012
that they had missed.
1639
01:06:30,014 --> 01:06:33,002
Those guys did a great job,
but it's hard to see.
1640
01:06:33,004 --> 01:06:35,001
And this guy went down,
1641
01:06:35,003 --> 01:06:38,004
and by the time they found him,
it was too late.
1642
01:06:41,011 --> 01:06:42,022
- When you're a kid,
1643
01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:45,007
I think you can separate
yourself from it,
1644
01:06:45,009 --> 01:06:47,011
because I didn't work
in that department.
1645
01:06:47,013 --> 01:06:48,019
[laughs] I thought,
1646
01:06:48,021 --> 01:06:52,012
"That's somebody else's
responsibility."
1647
01:06:52,014 --> 01:06:54,009
But it was a common occurrence.
1648
01:06:54,011 --> 01:06:56,018
I don't know how many people
died at Action Park,
1649
01:06:56,020 --> 01:06:59,010
but it wasn't just one person.
1650
01:06:59,012 --> 01:07:01,013
- The factthat more than one person
1651
01:07:01,015 --> 01:07:03,011
died in your Wave Pool--
1652
01:07:03,013 --> 01:07:05,006
who's that secondson of a bitch?
1653
01:07:05,008 --> 01:07:07,022
That's who your heartreally bleeds for.
1654
01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:09,018
Nobody should ever be
1655
01:07:09,020 --> 01:07:11,018
the second person to diein a wave pool.
1656
01:07:11,020 --> 01:07:13,010
You know why?'Cause after the first person
1657
01:07:13,012 --> 01:07:17,005
dies in a wave pool,
close the fucking wave pool.
1658
01:07:17,007 --> 01:07:20,015
Put up a fucking sign
or something, man.
1659
01:07:20,017 --> 01:07:24,002
- It was a place
where death was tolerated,
1660
01:07:24,004 --> 01:07:28,002
where death was put right into
the number situation.
1661
01:07:28,004 --> 01:07:31,003
"Oh, we've only had
this many die."
1662
01:07:31,005 --> 01:07:33,009
One is too many.
1663
01:07:33,011 --> 01:07:36,009
[ambient music]
1664
01:07:36,011 --> 01:07:38,011
♪ ♪
1665
01:07:38,013 --> 01:07:42,002
My firstborn was Georgie.
1666
01:07:42,004 --> 01:07:45,017
He was actually born
on Christmas night
1667
01:07:45,019 --> 01:07:47,007
in 1960,
1668
01:07:47,009 --> 01:07:50,016
but he was delivered
right after midnight,
1669
01:07:50,018 --> 01:07:53,014
so he wasn't
the Christmas baby.
1670
01:07:53,016 --> 01:07:56,019
We were just so thrilledto have him.
1671
01:07:56,021 --> 01:08:00,013
Just to look at his littleface, it was wonderful.
1672
01:08:00,015 --> 01:08:02,003
And then 11 months later,
1673
01:08:02,005 --> 01:08:04,016
we had our second child,Brian.
1674
01:08:04,018 --> 01:08:07,014
- My brother and I were
basically raised as twins.
1675
01:08:07,016 --> 01:08:10,013
My dad would actually say
that we were twins
1676
01:08:10,015 --> 01:08:12,014
so we could playon the same football team.
1677
01:08:12,016 --> 01:08:15,023
We did everything together.It didn't matter what we did.
1678
01:08:16,001 --> 01:08:18,019
We were like the kidson "The Sandlot."
1679
01:08:18,021 --> 01:08:21,005
- Georgie wasvery, very popular.
1680
01:08:21,007 --> 01:08:24,004
He had many, many friends.
1681
01:08:24,006 --> 01:08:26,000
- My brother Georgewas a handsome guy.
1682
01:08:26,002 --> 01:08:28,017
My brother George feltlike he was invincible.
1683
01:08:28,019 --> 01:08:31,005
And our whole family thoughtmy brother was invincible
1684
01:08:31,007 --> 01:08:34,019
because of how strong we were.
1685
01:08:34,021 --> 01:08:37,016
On July 8, 1980,my brother George
1686
01:08:37,018 --> 01:08:40,015
was supposed to be workingwith my dad and I.
1687
01:08:40,017 --> 01:08:43,020
- He wanted to go
to Action Park,
1688
01:08:43,022 --> 01:08:46,012
so I loaned him the money
in the afternoon,
1689
01:08:46,014 --> 01:08:49,018
and a friend of his
went over there to meet him.
1690
01:08:49,020 --> 01:08:53,017
And they were just going
to have fun that day.
1691
01:08:53,019 --> 01:08:56,022
- He goesonto the Alpine Slide,
1692
01:08:57,000 --> 01:08:59,007
and he's goingdown the hillside,
1693
01:08:59,009 --> 01:09:03,008
and the cart brake,I don't believe, was working.
1694
01:09:03,010 --> 01:09:05,004
And he went off the track
1695
01:09:05,006 --> 01:09:09,010
and flipping down the hillside
and into some rocks
1696
01:09:09,012 --> 01:09:11,021
and hit his head on rocks.
1697
01:09:11,023 --> 01:09:13,013
- And I had a phone call.
1698
01:09:13,015 --> 01:09:15,017
I'll never forget it.I was sitting at home.
1699
01:09:15,019 --> 01:09:18,000
I was looking forwardto watching a movie.
1700
01:09:18,002 --> 01:09:20,001
They said,
"Your son has been injured.
1701
01:09:20,003 --> 01:09:21,018
He's in the trauma center."
1702
01:09:21,020 --> 01:09:24,007
And they told me
that what I had to do
1703
01:09:24,009 --> 01:09:26,023
was get a neighboror somebody to bring me,
1704
01:09:27,001 --> 01:09:30,020
because my husband wason a sales call that night.
1705
01:09:30,022 --> 01:09:33,018
- My dad got the phone callwhile we're working
1706
01:09:33,020 --> 01:09:35,014
about my brother being hurt.
1707
01:09:35,016 --> 01:09:38,018
Stopped working immediately
1708
01:09:38,020 --> 01:09:40,015
and went to go see my brother.
1709
01:09:40,017 --> 01:09:43,007
- I just didn't think
it was any big deal
1710
01:09:43,009 --> 01:09:46,014
because he was so athletic.
1711
01:09:46,016 --> 01:09:50,006
And I thought scrapesor bumps or something,
1712
01:09:50,008 --> 01:09:51,017
maybe a cut,
1713
01:09:51,019 --> 01:09:55,010
but I had no ideahow awful it was.
1714
01:09:55,012 --> 01:09:57,012
When we got to that hospital,
1715
01:09:57,014 --> 01:10:01,009
he had been moved
to another hospital,
1716
01:10:01,011 --> 01:10:03,014
and I saw the bedthat he had been in.
1717
01:10:03,016 --> 01:10:06,002
There was bloodall over the pillowcase,
1718
01:10:06,004 --> 01:10:07,023
all over everything.
1719
01:10:08,001 --> 01:10:11,000
- When I first saw my brother,
I knew he was hurt bad.
1720
01:10:11,002 --> 01:10:13,003
I just knew real bad.
[cries softly]
1721
01:10:13,005 --> 01:10:15,011
They were checkingfor brain waves
1722
01:10:15,013 --> 01:10:19,015
to make--to seeif he still had brain waves.
1723
01:10:19,017 --> 01:10:23,002
And not only once, obviouslytwo times or three times--
1724
01:10:23,004 --> 01:10:25,011
multiple times to make sure,
1725
01:10:25,013 --> 01:10:29,001
to see if he's with it
or not with it.
1726
01:10:29,003 --> 01:10:31,015
- There was no signthat he was going to wake up,
1727
01:10:31,017 --> 01:10:33,021
and we just kepttalking to him.
1728
01:10:33,023 --> 01:10:38,017
Dr. Houser, who wasmy brother-in-law's brother,
1729
01:10:38,019 --> 01:10:41,006
came in from Connecticutjust to be with us.
1730
01:10:41,008 --> 01:10:43,022
And he checked him out
thoroughly too,
1731
01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:46,005
and he said, "No."
1732
01:10:47,009 --> 01:10:52,007
- On July 16, 1980,he passed away.
1733
01:10:52,009 --> 01:10:54,015
- I remember that momentvery, very well.
1734
01:10:54,017 --> 01:10:56,015
I went outto the waiting room,
1735
01:10:56,017 --> 01:10:58,004
and my husband was with me,
1736
01:10:58,006 --> 01:11:01,000
and we told our other children
that he had died.
1737
01:11:01,002 --> 01:11:04,016
My daughter ran downthe hallway screaming,
1738
01:11:04,018 --> 01:11:06,006
and everybody was crying,
1739
01:11:06,008 --> 01:11:09,018
and it was, like,not believable.
1740
01:11:09,020 --> 01:11:12,020
So we went to the rectory
that night,
1741
01:11:12,022 --> 01:11:15,010
and then on the way--
I hate to say this--
1742
01:11:15,012 --> 01:11:20,005
but on the way back
to the hospital...
1743
01:11:20,007 --> 01:11:22,012
we were--walked
across the street,
1744
01:11:22,014 --> 01:11:26,006
and I deliberately walked out
in front of a truck.
1745
01:11:26,008 --> 01:11:29,020
And at that point,
my husband pulled me back,
1746
01:11:29,022 --> 01:11:33,001
and he just screamed at me,
"What are you thinking?"
1747
01:11:33,003 --> 01:11:36,013
I was thinking I couldn't live
with that kind of pain.
1748
01:11:36,015 --> 01:11:39,003
It just hurt so much.
1749
01:11:39,005 --> 01:11:41,014
And here, 39 years later,
1750
01:11:41,016 --> 01:11:45,003
I can still feel that pain.
1751
01:11:45,005 --> 01:11:46,015
- My brother George
1752
01:11:46,017 --> 01:11:49,015
was supposed to bebest man at my wedding.
1753
01:11:49,017 --> 01:11:53,001
My wedding was gonna be
July 20, 1980.
1754
01:11:53,003 --> 01:11:54,022
He died on the 16th.
1755
01:11:55,000 --> 01:11:58,017
And I had to havemy other brother as best man,
1756
01:11:58,019 --> 01:12:02,003
and everything was in a cloud.
1757
01:12:02,005 --> 01:12:05,000
- Gene Mulvihillnever called us
1758
01:12:05,002 --> 01:12:07,009
and never called the hospital.
1759
01:12:07,011 --> 01:12:08,018
He had no heart.
1760
01:12:08,020 --> 01:12:13,000
He cared about himself
and the almighty dollar.
1761
01:12:13,002 --> 01:12:17,001
- In the investigationof George Larsson's death,
1762
01:12:17,003 --> 01:12:21,002
the spokesperson for the parkclaims that
1763
01:12:21,004 --> 01:12:24,000
the alpine ridedidn't kill him,
1764
01:12:24,002 --> 01:12:27,002
that the rock his head hitkilled him,
1765
01:12:27,004 --> 01:12:28,013
and therefore,
1766
01:12:28,015 --> 01:12:31,014
the Alpine ride was safe.
1767
01:12:31,016 --> 01:12:36,006
The newspapers were told that
George Larsson was an employee,
1768
01:12:36,008 --> 01:12:39,003
that this happened at night,
and that it was raining.
1769
01:12:39,005 --> 01:12:42,020
He wasn't an employee,
it wasn't at night,
1770
01:12:42,022 --> 01:12:45,007
and it wasn't raining.
1771
01:12:46,015 --> 01:12:48,002
narrator:The truth was,
1772
01:12:48,004 --> 01:12:49,015
while Larsson workedas a lift operator
1773
01:12:49,017 --> 01:12:51,008
at the park'ssister ski resort
1774
01:12:51,010 --> 01:12:52,021
during a prior season,
1775
01:12:52,023 --> 01:12:54,019
he never worked at Action Park
1776
01:12:54,021 --> 01:12:58,018
and indeed entered the parkduring normal business hours.
1777
01:12:58,020 --> 01:13:00,023
One likely reasonfor the lie:
1778
01:13:01,001 --> 01:13:04,005
the park never reportedhis death to the state,
1779
01:13:04,007 --> 01:13:06,015
dubiously claimingthey didn't need to
1780
01:13:06,017 --> 01:13:10,021
because he wasn't partof the general public.
1781
01:13:10,023 --> 01:13:12,019
- The state of New Jersey
1782
01:13:12,021 --> 01:13:15,006
had told them
that they could not open
1783
01:13:15,008 --> 01:13:17,015
for the Fourth of July.
1784
01:13:17,017 --> 01:13:20,003
And they wanted to open
for the Fourth of July,
1785
01:13:20,005 --> 01:13:22,003
but they never
removed the rocks
1786
01:13:22,005 --> 01:13:24,004
that they were told to remove.
1787
01:13:24,006 --> 01:13:26,018
And when my son
went on that ride,
1788
01:13:26,020 --> 01:13:31,009
the car flipped him off,
and his head hit the rocks.
1789
01:13:31,011 --> 01:13:34,015
The newspapers were takingGene Mulvihill's side.
1790
01:13:34,017 --> 01:13:38,010
They believed his story,and they printed it.
1791
01:13:38,012 --> 01:13:40,019
Gene lied about my son's death
1792
01:13:40,021 --> 01:13:44,000
because he had
fake liability insurance
1793
01:13:44,002 --> 01:13:45,008
in the Cayman Islands.
1794
01:13:45,010 --> 01:13:47,020
Fake.
It was fake.
1795
01:13:47,022 --> 01:13:49,020
- Anyone that sues the park,
1796
01:13:49,022 --> 01:13:51,014
if there's notproper insurance,
1797
01:13:51,016 --> 01:13:54,012
is gonna walk awaywith not a whole lot of money.
1798
01:13:54,014 --> 01:13:57,004
That's the bottom line.
1799
01:13:57,006 --> 01:13:59,019
- We never even gotto go to court
1800
01:13:59,021 --> 01:14:03,002
because we were toldby our attorney
1801
01:14:03,004 --> 01:14:05,020
that a teenagerisn't worth much money.
1802
01:14:05,022 --> 01:14:08,001
He's a liabilityto the family,
1803
01:14:08,003 --> 01:14:12,001
and you can't expect to settle
for very much money.
1804
01:14:12,003 --> 01:14:16,001
We eventually settledfor $100,000.
1805
01:14:21,020 --> 01:14:24,019
[solemn music]
1806
01:14:24,021 --> 01:14:26,012
♪ ♪
1807
01:14:26,014 --> 01:14:30,002
narrator: George Larsson'sdeath happened in 1980.
1808
01:14:30,004 --> 01:14:33,002
He was the first personto lose his life at the park,
1809
01:14:33,004 --> 01:14:35,015
but he would not be the last.
1810
01:14:37,003 --> 01:14:38,018
In July 1982,
1811
01:14:38,020 --> 01:14:42,009
a 15-year-old from Brooklyndrowned in the Wave Pool.
1812
01:14:42,011 --> 01:14:45,021
A week later, a 27-year-oldman from Long Island
1813
01:14:45,023 --> 01:14:48,017
was electrocutedon the kayak simulator.
1814
01:14:48,019 --> 01:14:53,014
In 1984, a guest drownedin the Roaring Springs area.
1815
01:14:54,020 --> 01:14:59,009
And in 1987, the Wave Poolclaimed yet another life.
1816
01:14:59,011 --> 01:15:03,004
♪ ♪
1817
01:15:03,006 --> 01:15:07,004
- The thing about Action Parkis, Action Park becomes
1818
01:15:07,006 --> 01:15:10,001
a huge part
of the local economy.
1819
01:15:10,003 --> 01:15:15,001
And if Action Parkcreates revenue taxwise,
1820
01:15:15,003 --> 01:15:19,004
creates revenue for other
stores when people come in,
1821
01:15:19,006 --> 01:15:22,005
the city and the folks there
1822
01:15:22,007 --> 01:15:25,005
are gonna take
a much more friendly look
1823
01:15:25,007 --> 01:15:27,017
at that operation
if it's making money.
1824
01:15:27,019 --> 01:15:30,003
- How many hundreds of people
had jobs, you know,
1825
01:15:30,005 --> 01:15:33,012
between, like, those lifeguards
and the concession stands
1826
01:15:33,014 --> 01:15:35,016
and the ticket takersand the janitors
1827
01:15:35,018 --> 01:15:37,007
and the support staff?
1828
01:15:37,009 --> 01:15:40,004
Like, that's a few hundredjobs for your town.
1829
01:15:40,006 --> 01:15:43,006
I would think there might havebeen a town councilman or two
1830
01:15:43,008 --> 01:15:45,002
who was willingto look the other way
1831
01:15:45,004 --> 01:15:47,006
to keep the money faucetturned on.
1832
01:15:47,008 --> 01:15:48,017
- Some of the town officials
1833
01:15:48,019 --> 01:15:50,020
were clearly on Gene's payroll,
absolutely.
1834
01:15:50,022 --> 01:15:53,022
They worked in his restaurants,
in his bars.
1835
01:15:54,000 --> 01:15:55,014
They worked in Action Park.
1836
01:15:55,016 --> 01:15:58,002
Their children worked
for the resort.
1837
01:15:58,004 --> 01:16:02,017
There were elected officials
that he bought homes for.
1838
01:16:02,019 --> 01:16:05,022
That there arelocal town officials,
1839
01:16:06,000 --> 01:16:07,022
chairpersonsof our planning boards,
1840
01:16:08,000 --> 01:16:12,012
our zoning boards who hadfree memberships to the spa,
1841
01:16:12,014 --> 01:16:15,017
free season passesand that type of thing.
1842
01:16:15,019 --> 01:16:18,009
It's not always about being
on the payroll.
1843
01:16:18,011 --> 01:16:22,007
I think it was always about,
"What could I get from Gene?"
1844
01:16:22,009 --> 01:16:25,005
And Gene knew that,
and he played that.
1845
01:16:25,007 --> 01:16:27,020
And that'swhy Gene Mulvihill got away
1846
01:16:27,022 --> 01:16:30,012
with as muchas he got away with.
1847
01:16:32,003 --> 01:16:35,001
- Gene was so much larger
than life than you can imagine,
1848
01:16:35,003 --> 01:16:38,016
and there's things about Gene
that I will not tell anybody,
1849
01:16:38,018 --> 01:16:40,008
and we'll just leave it
at that.
1850
01:16:40,010 --> 01:16:42,008
- When I went back
to work for Gene again,
1851
01:16:42,010 --> 01:16:43,021
after years away,
1852
01:16:43,023 --> 01:16:45,019
the first thing he said to me
when I saw him was...
1853
01:16:45,021 --> 01:16:47,011
[as Gene]
"It's great to have you back.
1854
01:16:47,013 --> 01:16:51,007
I mean, you know where
all the bodies are buried."
1855
01:16:51,009 --> 01:16:54,017
- I believethat the people in Vernon
1856
01:16:54,019 --> 01:16:56,013
turned a blind eye to it.
1857
01:16:56,015 --> 01:16:59,012
They didn't want to knowanything negative about it.
1858
01:16:59,014 --> 01:17:02,008
I think they thoughtthat there would be
1859
01:17:02,010 --> 01:17:05,007
repercussionsfrom Gene Mulvihill
1860
01:17:05,009 --> 01:17:08,012
or that Gene Mulvihill
was telling the truth.
1861
01:17:08,014 --> 01:17:10,012
He's a very good liar.
1862
01:17:10,014 --> 01:17:12,008
- I think he made that
very clear,
1863
01:17:12,010 --> 01:17:15,021
especially when he started
into a business relationship,
1864
01:17:15,023 --> 01:17:19,002
that crossing him
was not a good idea.
1865
01:17:19,004 --> 01:17:21,010
- Let me put it this way:when I got fired
1866
01:17:21,012 --> 01:17:24,002
from the local newspaperas its editor
1867
01:17:24,004 --> 01:17:27,001
because of Gene contacting
1868
01:17:27,003 --> 01:17:29,009
my boss, my publisher,
1869
01:17:29,011 --> 01:17:33,013
he told me point-blank
in a phone conversation
1870
01:17:33,015 --> 01:17:36,020
that he was threatened
by the local officials
1871
01:17:36,022 --> 01:17:40,014
that if he didn't go to my boss
and get me fired,
1872
01:17:40,016 --> 01:17:44,016
they were not going to approve
his projects anymore.
1873
01:18:37,016 --> 01:18:40,006
- I have heard a lot of stories
1874
01:18:40,008 --> 01:18:43,015
that Gene was involvedwith mob associates.
1875
01:18:43,017 --> 01:18:46,001
[somber music]
1876
01:18:46,003 --> 01:18:50,005
Around 1993, I filed a lawsuit
1877
01:18:50,007 --> 01:18:54,006
for defamation
and wrongful discharge.
1878
01:18:54,008 --> 01:18:56,012
And I deposed him.
1879
01:18:56,014 --> 01:18:59,015
And he came to the deposition,
1880
01:18:59,017 --> 01:19:02,019
and every answer
to every question was,
1881
01:19:02,021 --> 01:19:05,019
"I don't recall.
I don't remember."
1882
01:19:05,021 --> 01:19:09,003
He didn't answer
one single question.
1883
01:19:09,005 --> 01:19:10,020
And I was so upset with him
1884
01:19:10,022 --> 01:19:14,018
that as we were leaving
that deposition,
1885
01:19:14,020 --> 01:19:17,010
I'll never forget
what I said to him.
1886
01:19:17,012 --> 01:19:20,018
I said,
"You, Gene, are a lowlife."
1887
01:19:20,020 --> 01:19:23,011
I said, "I don't care
how much money you have
1888
01:19:23,013 --> 01:19:25,000
"in this lifetime.
1889
01:19:25,002 --> 01:19:29,003
You are a lowlife for what
you did to me here today."
1890
01:19:29,005 --> 01:19:30,022
♪ ♪
1891
01:19:31,000 --> 01:19:34,014
narrator: By the mid-1990s,things began to change.
1892
01:19:34,016 --> 01:19:36,023
As the bad pressand lawsuits mounted,
1893
01:19:37,001 --> 01:19:39,012
attendance dropped,and Gene found it harder
1894
01:19:39,014 --> 01:19:42,001
to move money aroundand cover the bills.
1895
01:19:42,003 --> 01:19:44,005
The park hitanother turning point
1896
01:19:44,007 --> 01:19:46,002
when Gene's friend Bob Brennan
1897
01:19:46,004 --> 01:19:48,016
finally faced a reckoningwith the SEC
1898
01:19:48,018 --> 01:19:50,021
after yearsof committing fraud.
1899
01:19:50,023 --> 01:19:53,017
Soon after that,Brennan was found guilty
1900
01:19:53,019 --> 01:19:56,017
of money launderingand bankruptcy fraud,
1901
01:19:56,019 --> 01:19:59,017
landing him in prisonfor almost ten years,
1902
01:19:59,019 --> 01:20:02,014
meaning Gene'snever-ending spigot of cash
1903
01:20:02,016 --> 01:20:04,021
dried up as well.
1904
01:20:04,023 --> 01:20:08,001
Before long, Action Park'sparent company
1905
01:20:08,003 --> 01:20:09,021
had to declare bankruptcy.
1906
01:20:09,023 --> 01:20:11,019
And when the parkshut its gates
1907
01:20:11,021 --> 01:20:14,016
at the end of the 1996summer season,
1908
01:20:14,018 --> 01:20:18,013
it soon became clearthat it would be its last.
1909
01:20:18,015 --> 01:20:20,005
- I think it ran its course.
1910
01:20:20,007 --> 01:20:23,016
I think, like anything else,
people grew wise to it
1911
01:20:23,018 --> 01:20:26,006
and people grew weary of itand people moved on from it.
1912
01:20:26,008 --> 01:20:28,022
Plus, the wholelegal environment did a 180.
1913
01:20:29,000 --> 01:20:30,013
And New Jerseywas the Wild West
1914
01:20:30,015 --> 01:20:32,005
when Action Park opened,
1915
01:20:32,007 --> 01:20:33,016
and by the time it closed,
1916
01:20:33,018 --> 01:20:35,018
it was notthe Wild West anymore.
1917
01:20:35,020 --> 01:20:37,012
- The people's mindsetchanged.
1918
01:20:37,014 --> 01:20:41,008
They weren't willingto take the unbridled risks
1919
01:20:41,010 --> 01:20:45,002
associated with the way it wasin the '80s.
1920
01:20:45,004 --> 01:20:47,009
That just wasn't
acceptable anymore.
1921
01:20:47,011 --> 01:20:50,007
Its time came and went.
1922
01:20:52,005 --> 01:20:55,004
[soft dramatic music]
1923
01:20:55,006 --> 01:21:01,016
♪ ♪
1924
01:21:01,018 --> 01:21:04,018
narrator: In 1998,Action Park was purchased
1925
01:21:04,020 --> 01:21:06,015
by resort giant Intrawest,
1926
01:21:06,017 --> 01:21:10,005
the multinational corporationbehind Whistler Mountain.
1927
01:21:10,007 --> 01:21:14,003
The new owners stripped outmost of the park's attractions
1928
01:21:14,005 --> 01:21:16,011
and renamed it Mountain Creek.
1929
01:21:16,013 --> 01:21:21,004
Gone were the looping tubesand fireball-shooting tanks.
1930
01:21:21,006 --> 01:21:23,005
Without Gene's visionleading the way,
1931
01:21:23,007 --> 01:21:26,021
it became a genericregional water park.
1932
01:21:26,023 --> 01:21:30,005
Action Park as we knew itwas gone.
1933
01:21:30,007 --> 01:21:32,015
♪ ♪
1934
01:21:32,017 --> 01:21:35,013
- One dayafter I came home from work,
1935
01:21:35,015 --> 01:21:37,002
I walked into the house,
1936
01:21:37,004 --> 01:21:39,003
and my husband, George,said to me,
1937
01:21:39,005 --> 01:21:42,013
"Esther, get out the best
bottle of red wine you have.
1938
01:21:42,015 --> 01:21:44,000
We're gonna celebrate."
1939
01:21:44,002 --> 01:21:45,023
And I said, "What are we going
to celebrate?"
1940
01:21:46,001 --> 01:21:48,023
And he said,
"Gene Mulvihill died."
1941
01:21:49,001 --> 01:21:50,011
And we did.
1942
01:21:50,013 --> 01:21:53,006
He's the only person
that we celebrated his death.
1943
01:21:53,008 --> 01:21:54,013
He deserved to be gone.
1944
01:21:54,015 --> 01:21:56,018
He didn't care
about any of the riders,
1945
01:21:56,020 --> 01:21:59,004
any of the people.
1946
01:21:59,006 --> 01:22:03,020
- I would say in the last fouror five years of his life,
1947
01:22:03,022 --> 01:22:05,016
we became very close,
1948
01:22:05,018 --> 01:22:08,005
and I talked to himall the time.
1949
01:22:08,007 --> 01:22:11,013
And I learnedabout a different Gene,
1950
01:22:11,015 --> 01:22:15,022
a very generous,
a very benevolent Gene.
1951
01:22:16,000 --> 01:22:19,005
I am not glorifying
Gene Mulvihill.
1952
01:22:19,007 --> 01:22:21,004
I am not telling you
1953
01:22:21,006 --> 01:22:25,010
that he was a good,
decent, honorable man.
1954
01:22:25,012 --> 01:22:28,011
But I did see a sideto Gene Mulvihill
1955
01:22:28,013 --> 01:22:33,004
that was different from what Ihad always thought about him.
1956
01:22:33,006 --> 01:22:36,005
Was he a villain or a victor?
1957
01:22:36,007 --> 01:22:38,016
I think he was both,
1958
01:22:38,018 --> 01:22:41,012
depending on the circumstances,
1959
01:22:41,014 --> 01:22:43,008
depending on what he could do
1960
01:22:43,010 --> 01:22:45,021
and what
he could get away with.
1961
01:22:45,023 --> 01:22:48,021
[soft upbeat music]
1962
01:22:48,023 --> 01:22:52,011
[indistinct chatter]
1963
01:22:52,013 --> 01:22:56,003
- It was so easyto romanticize him
1964
01:22:56,005 --> 01:22:59,000
because he does what a lot
of people wish they could do.
1965
01:22:59,002 --> 01:23:01,004
A lot of people wish
they could ignore the law.
1966
01:23:01,006 --> 01:23:03,014
A lot of people wishthey could ignore rules.
1967
01:23:03,016 --> 01:23:05,010
Gene actually did that.
1968
01:23:05,012 --> 01:23:07,013
- The spirit of Action Park
lives on today
1969
01:23:07,015 --> 01:23:09,018
in the Fyre Festival,in Theranos,
1970
01:23:09,020 --> 01:23:11,008
and all these other schemes.
1971
01:23:11,010 --> 01:23:12,023
- The Fyre Festival's
bullshit, man.
1972
01:23:13,001 --> 01:23:14,009
He gave them a cheese sandwich.
1973
01:23:14,011 --> 01:23:16,000
Gene gave you everything
he fucking promised you.
1974
01:23:16,002 --> 01:23:17,013
He said,"Come to my amusement park.
1975
01:23:17,015 --> 01:23:19,005
"Do whatever the fuckyou feel like.
1976
01:23:19,007 --> 01:23:20,017
"You might get hurt,but you're probably
1977
01:23:20,019 --> 01:23:21,022
gonna havea shit ton of fun."
1978
01:23:22,000 --> 01:23:23,000
It was what it said it was.
1979
01:23:23,002 --> 01:23:24,011
But it was fucked up.
1980
01:23:24,013 --> 01:23:27,019
- Even though I was scared
to do those rides,
1981
01:23:27,021 --> 01:23:29,011
I fucking did them.
1982
01:23:29,013 --> 01:23:31,013
There's also a part of me
that's like,
1983
01:23:31,015 --> 01:23:33,011
"If you can't do them,
1984
01:23:33,013 --> 01:23:35,009
then fucking get out
of Jersey."
1985
01:23:35,011 --> 01:23:37,021
♪ ♪
1986
01:23:37,023 --> 01:23:41,013
narrator: In 2010, justtwo years before his death,
1987
01:23:41,015 --> 01:23:43,013
Gene Mulvihill leda group of investors
1988
01:23:43,015 --> 01:23:45,012
to take back controlof the park
1989
01:23:45,014 --> 01:23:47,017
he had foundeddecades earlier.
1990
01:23:47,019 --> 01:23:52,018
In 2014, Gene's son Andyrevived the Action Park name
1991
01:23:52,020 --> 01:23:55,004
to cash in on a growing senseof nostalgia
1992
01:23:55,006 --> 01:23:57,001
for the original park.
1993
01:23:57,003 --> 01:24:00,007
The following year, the parkannounced its intention
1994
01:24:00,009 --> 01:24:03,006
to build an updated versionof the Cannonball Loop
1995
01:24:03,008 --> 01:24:05,018
called the Sky Caliber.
1996
01:24:05,020 --> 01:24:08,008
That ride was never built.
1997
01:24:09,023 --> 01:24:11,015
In 2018, the resort,
1998
01:24:11,017 --> 01:24:13,019
once again calledMountain Creek,
1999
01:24:13,021 --> 01:24:16,016
was acquired by Vernon nativeand onetime teenage
2000
01:24:16,018 --> 01:24:19,021
Action Park employeeJoe Hession.
2001
01:24:19,023 --> 01:24:27,003
♪ ♪
2002
01:24:30,000 --> 01:24:32,019
- When you look backat Action Park these days,
2003
01:24:32,021 --> 01:24:36,017
I think everybody romanticizesa little bit.
2004
01:24:36,019 --> 01:24:39,003
I remember enoughabout working at Action Park
2005
01:24:39,005 --> 01:24:41,010
to remember that everybodythat worked there hated it
2006
01:24:41,012 --> 01:24:43,022
when they were there,but they always came back,
2007
01:24:44,000 --> 01:24:45,009
and we always kept the friends
2008
01:24:45,011 --> 01:24:47,011
that we madewhile we were there.
2009
01:24:47,013 --> 01:24:50,003
It's an '80s movie
that was real life,
2010
01:24:50,005 --> 01:24:53,006
and it's something
that'll never happen again.
2011
01:24:53,008 --> 01:24:56,012
- I hold it so near and dearto my heart.
2012
01:24:56,014 --> 01:24:59,008
I'm so gladthat I got to go there.
2013
01:24:59,010 --> 01:25:01,008
I wear it as a point of pride.
2014
01:25:01,010 --> 01:25:03,007
That being said,I think back to the fact
2015
01:25:03,009 --> 01:25:06,015
that I was a child, and I think
about the things that I saw
2016
01:25:06,017 --> 01:25:08,019
and that I participated in.
2017
01:25:08,021 --> 01:25:11,016
And even at the age of 39,
2018
01:25:11,018 --> 01:25:13,020
to no small degree,
it does scare me
2019
01:25:13,022 --> 01:25:15,009
that that was happening,
2020
01:25:15,011 --> 01:25:17,001
that that was allowed
to happen,
2021
01:25:17,003 --> 01:25:20,008
that--that life
could be that way.
2022
01:25:20,010 --> 01:25:22,013
- I look back as it was
a positive thing.
2023
01:25:22,015 --> 01:25:24,017
You know, be able to,I don't know,
2024
01:25:24,019 --> 01:25:26,023
make your own decisionson how ambitious
2025
01:25:27,001 --> 01:25:29,004
or how adventurousyou want to be
2026
01:25:29,006 --> 01:25:31,009
and livingwith the consequences.
2027
01:25:31,011 --> 01:25:33,013
I think it teaches something.
2028
01:25:33,015 --> 01:25:36,006
- Everything'sin your face today,
2029
01:25:36,008 --> 01:25:39,001
and I think we'remore fearful, rightfully so.
2030
01:25:39,003 --> 01:25:41,005
I think our parents should'vebeen more afraid, right?
2031
01:25:41,007 --> 01:25:43,021
I think everybody in this room
would say...
2032
01:25:43,023 --> 01:25:46,006
[laughs] "My parents should've
known what I was doing
2033
01:25:46,008 --> 01:25:47,023
on this day or that day."
2034
01:25:48,001 --> 01:25:49,011
- We live in an erawhen kids
2035
01:25:49,013 --> 01:25:51,000
don't really go outsideas much.
2036
01:25:51,002 --> 01:25:52,012
When they do go outside,
2037
01:25:52,014 --> 01:25:54,006
people are scaredthey're gonna get hurt.
2038
01:25:54,008 --> 01:25:56,010
In the '80s,
kids were running free.
2039
01:25:56,012 --> 01:25:59,005
They were running outdoors.
They were scraping their knees.
2040
01:25:59,007 --> 01:26:01,008
They were going to Action Park.
2041
01:26:01,010 --> 01:26:04,005
We look backat our childhoods.
2042
01:26:04,007 --> 01:26:06,001
It's carefree.
2043
01:26:06,003 --> 01:26:07,010
We didn't have jobs.
2044
01:26:07,012 --> 01:26:08,021
We didn't have to answerto anybody.
2045
01:26:08,023 --> 01:26:10,009
We could do whatwe wanted, right?
2046
01:26:10,011 --> 01:26:13,000
We look at Action Park,and we remember
2047
01:26:13,002 --> 01:26:14,015
this heightened version
of this.
2048
01:26:14,017 --> 01:26:16,011
We could do whatever we wanted.
2049
01:26:16,013 --> 01:26:19,003
So when you're nostalgicfor Action Park,
2050
01:26:19,005 --> 01:26:20,016
you're nostalgicfor childhood.
2051
01:26:20,018 --> 01:26:22,010
You're nostalgic for freedom.
2052
01:26:22,012 --> 01:26:24,010
You're not nostalgicfor being hurt.
2053
01:26:24,012 --> 01:26:27,006
You're nostalgicfor everything else.
2054
01:26:27,008 --> 01:26:30,002
- When you talk to other people
who went there,
2055
01:26:30,004 --> 01:26:33,014
there's a certain
shared level of...
2056
01:26:33,016 --> 01:26:36,008
sort of survivor's respect.
2057
01:26:36,010 --> 01:26:39,022
Many of the people you talk towho grew up in New Jersey
2058
01:26:40,000 --> 01:26:41,010
laughing about Action Park,
2059
01:26:41,012 --> 01:26:43,018
if you ask themon a basic level,
2060
01:26:43,020 --> 01:26:45,003
"Do you think the wayyou grew up
2061
01:26:45,005 --> 01:26:46,013
was healthy for a kid?"
2062
01:26:46,015 --> 01:26:48,016
they'll say, "No."
2063
01:26:48,018 --> 01:26:51,018
We laugh about it, 'causewhat else are we gonna do?
2064
01:26:51,020 --> 01:26:54,005
But we don't thinkit was healthy.
2065
01:26:54,007 --> 01:26:56,016
And those people understand,like, no, it was really--
2066
01:26:56,018 --> 01:26:58,010
You were swimming in pools
2067
01:26:58,012 --> 01:27:00,005
where the lifeguardsweren't paying attention.
2068
01:27:00,007 --> 01:27:02,009
You were going on ridesthat were poorly designed
2069
01:27:02,011 --> 01:27:04,011
that people got hurt onall the time.
2070
01:27:04,013 --> 01:27:06,010
And we felt likewe were on our own.
2071
01:27:06,012 --> 01:27:09,015
We felt like the worldwas an unsafe place.
2072
01:27:09,017 --> 01:27:13,003
But it's what we got,
so fuck you.
2073
01:27:13,005 --> 01:27:15,000
[David Bowie's"All the Madmen"]
2074
01:27:15,002 --> 01:27:18,000
- ♪ Day after day ♪
2075
01:27:18,002 --> 01:27:21,014
♪ They send my friends away ♪
2076
01:27:21,016 --> 01:27:26,015
- We are extraordinarily happy
2077
01:27:26,017 --> 01:27:28,016
that we were able to grow upthe way we did
2078
01:27:28,018 --> 01:27:30,020
and, simultaneously,
2079
01:27:30,022 --> 01:27:34,019
so furious that we had
to grow up that way.
2080
01:27:34,021 --> 01:27:38,010
♪ ♪
2081
01:27:38,012 --> 01:27:41,016
- ♪ Day after day ♪
2082
01:27:41,018 --> 01:27:43,020
♪ They tell me I can go ♪
2083
01:27:43,022 --> 01:27:45,023
- A lot of kidswho grew up in the '80s,
2084
01:27:46,001 --> 01:27:48,003
they like to talk shitand tell stories,
2085
01:27:48,005 --> 01:27:49,018
and when they gota couple drinks in them,
2086
01:27:49,020 --> 01:27:52,012
it's about how fucked upand funny it was.
2087
01:27:52,014 --> 01:27:54,012
But when they'rewith their shrink,
2088
01:27:54,014 --> 01:27:57,010
it's just abouthow fucked up it was.
2089
01:27:57,012 --> 01:27:59,015
But a lot of things were.
2090
01:27:59,017 --> 01:28:01,013
A lot of things wereback then.
2091
01:28:01,015 --> 01:28:05,002
- ♪ I can fly, I will scream ♪
2092
01:28:05,004 --> 01:28:08,015
♪ I will break my arm ♪
2093
01:28:08,017 --> 01:28:11,009
♪ I will do me harm ♪
2094
01:28:11,011 --> 01:28:13,020
♪ ♪
2095
01:28:13,022 --> 01:28:16,014
♪ Don't set me free ♪
2096
01:28:16,016 --> 01:28:20,008
♪ I'm as heavy as can be ♪
2097
01:28:20,010 --> 01:28:23,018
♪ Just my Librium and me ♪
2098
01:28:23,020 --> 01:28:27,007
♪ And my EST makes three ♪
2099
01:28:27,009 --> 01:28:31,003
♪ 'Cause I'd ratherstay here ♪
2100
01:28:31,005 --> 01:28:34,016
♪ With all the madmen ♪
2101
01:28:34,018 --> 01:28:37,023
♪ Than perishwith the sad men ♪
2102
01:28:38,001 --> 01:28:41,008
♪ Roaming free ♪
2103
01:28:41,010 --> 01:28:45,013
♪ And I'd rather play here ♪
2104
01:28:45,015 --> 01:28:48,011
♪ With all the madmen ♪
2105
01:28:48,013 --> 01:28:51,005
♪ For I'm quite content ♪
2106
01:28:51,007 --> 01:28:54,003
♪ They're all as sane as me ♪
2107
01:28:54,005 --> 01:29:01,010
♪ ♪
180217
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