Remembering Action Park, America's Most Dangerous, Daring Water Park

SI ^ | July 1, 2019 | Jack McCallum

[C19fan]

One must guard against being seduced by the ghosts of Action Park, the gone-but-definitely-not-forgotten adventure oasis in Vernon, N.J., that offered thrills, chills and broken bones in equal measure. Those ghosts, many of them in casts or bandages, will gather you in and tell tales (mostly true) about the bloody noses and the chipped teeth you got on the enclosed water slide called the Cannonball Loop. They'll try to explain the rush of adrenaline you felt when you flew off the Alpine Slide. They'll chuckle as they relate how many moons were flashed on the Tarzan Swing, how many bathing tops were ripped off by the force of the water at Surf Hill.

[pinkandgreenmom]

My grandfather lived in Sussex and we would beg my parents to take us there every time we made the trip up there. They never did.

[The FIGHTIN Illini]

Looks like a bunch of fun. Sure do miss those fun times! The nanny state has made childhood unfun for my grandkids.

[PfromHoGro]

Feigning “apoplecty” at kids playing foursquare without kneepads and helmets is great,… and a little bit not.

[SamAdams76]

That meme captures perfectly growing up in the 1970s - which I was happy to be a part of.

Back in those days, parents were in the background. Not the hovering control-freaks you see today. Every summer, literally, I was kicked out the door in the morning and told to come back when the street lights came on. So my typical summer day was hanging out with my friends and finding things to do, be it exploring the neighborhoods, playing pick-up games of stickball, baseball, etc., or getting in "trouble" by which I mean getting in fights with other kids, exploring abandoned houses or hanging out in one of our clubhouses with a stack of Mad and Penthouse magazines and a stack of comic books. Not the serious kind of trouble but we weren't altar boys either. Well some of us were on Sunday mornings but you know what I mean.

But parents were in the background, just like in those Charlie Brown TV shows. Around lunchtime, some of them would hand sandwiches and Kool-Aid out the window to us. Of course they didn't want us inside messing up their clean floors and furniture. And if I did go home during the day, my mother would stick a broom in my hand and put me to work. So of course, I stayed outside as much as I could!