1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:14,005 --> 00:00:17,004 [light dramatic music] 4 00:00:17,006 --> 00:00:24,010 ♪ ♪ 5 00:00:30,003 --> 00:00:31,020 - It's not really fair to ask the question, 6 00:00:31,022 --> 00:00:33,008 "What was Action Park?" 7 00:00:33,010 --> 00:00:35,020 Basically, so it was a waterslide park. 8 00:00:35,022 --> 00:00:40,002 But in truth, it was so much more than a waterslide park. 9 00:00:40,004 --> 00:00:44,019 - Action Park was the chaos summer park 10 00:00:44,021 --> 00:00:47,022 with very little oversight, too much alcohol, 11 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,017 whistles blowing, people screaming, 12 00:00:50,019 --> 00:00:53,005 motors running. 13 00:00:53,007 --> 00:00:54,021 It was an energy, you know? 14 00:00:54,023 --> 00:00:58,003 You knew you were jumping into the firepit. 15 00:00:58,005 --> 00:01:00,003 - The most dangerous theme park of all time. 16 00:01:00,005 --> 00:01:03,017 - There was a waterslide that held one person 17 00:01:03,019 --> 00:01:06,000 that went in a-- like, in a flip. 18 00:01:06,002 --> 00:01:08,011 - It looked like a bunch of kids built it, 19 00:01:08,013 --> 00:01:09,023 because that's what it was. 20 00:01:10,001 --> 00:01:11,013 - We'll be back with more "Headbangers Ball," 21 00:01:11,015 --> 00:01:13,011 coming from Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey, 22 00:01:13,013 --> 00:01:15,015 the biggest water park in the world. 23 00:01:15,017 --> 00:01:18,009 - I think the very reason people were attracted 24 00:01:18,011 --> 00:01:21,011 to Action Park was because they could get hurt. 25 00:01:21,013 --> 00:01:23,000 That was the allure of it. 26 00:01:23,002 --> 00:01:24,018 I mean, who wants to sit on a Ferris wheel? 27 00:01:24,020 --> 00:01:28,004 - It was a place where death was tolerated, 28 00:01:28,006 --> 00:01:32,020 where death was put right into the number situation. 29 00:01:32,022 --> 00:01:35,013 - Every member of my family was injured in that park 30 00:01:35,015 --> 00:01:37,003 at some time or another. 31 00:01:37,005 --> 00:01:38,018 They called it Traction Park. 32 00:01:38,020 --> 00:01:40,006 - Class Action Park. 33 00:01:40,008 --> 00:01:42,004 - Class Action Park, the lawyers called it. 34 00:01:42,006 --> 00:01:45,007 - It starts out with people having fun, 35 00:01:45,009 --> 00:01:46,016 and by the end, 36 00:01:46,018 --> 00:01:48,002 crimes have been committed. 37 00:01:48,004 --> 00:01:49,016 Cover-ups have happened. 38 00:01:49,018 --> 00:01:52,001 The story hasn't been told truthfully. 39 00:01:52,003 --> 00:01:54,021 To me, that's probably the worst thing of all. 40 00:01:54,023 --> 00:02:02,003 ♪ ♪ 41 00:02:22,002 --> 00:02:23,017 male narrator: In order to truly understand 42 00:02:23,019 --> 00:02:25,010 a place like Action Park, 43 00:02:25,012 --> 00:02:29,001 we need to go back to New York in the 1970s. 44 00:02:29,003 --> 00:02:32,016 [light music] 45 00:02:32,018 --> 00:02:37,001 Wall Street. Everything was changing. 46 00:02:37,003 --> 00:02:38,020 Bankers and brokers were transforming 47 00:02:38,022 --> 00:02:42,001 into masters of the universe. 48 00:02:42,003 --> 00:02:44,019 - A ton of money starts to enter the industry. 49 00:02:44,021 --> 00:02:47,005 It is the place to be. 50 00:02:47,007 --> 00:02:49,006 And that is part of what creates the environment 51 00:02:49,008 --> 00:02:52,006 that makes it perfect for someone like Gene Mulvihill. 52 00:02:52,008 --> 00:02:54,007 ♪ ♪ 53 00:02:54,009 --> 00:02:58,005 - Gene Mulvihill was Wall Street in the 1970s. 54 00:02:58,007 --> 00:03:02,006 He was Gordon Gekko before there was a Gordon Gekko. 55 00:03:02,008 --> 00:03:05,012 - He's this mix of P.T. Barnum, Donald Trump. 56 00:03:05,014 --> 00:03:07,006 It's not just that he's a businessman. 57 00:03:07,008 --> 00:03:10,015 It's the personality that he's bringing to it too. 58 00:03:10,017 --> 00:03:12,011 narrator: Gene ran a brokerage firm 59 00:03:12,013 --> 00:03:14,006 called Mayflower Securities, 60 00:03:14,008 --> 00:03:16,007 and every time he'd make a sale, 61 00:03:16,009 --> 00:03:18,013 he'd blast a bugle through the office 62 00:03:18,015 --> 00:03:21,008 while the champagne bottles crack open. 63 00:03:21,010 --> 00:03:24,009 - This was the era of the penny stock, 64 00:03:24,011 --> 00:03:25,022 of the pump-and-dump scheme. 65 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:27,014 - Penny stocks? - Yeah. 66 00:03:27,016 --> 00:03:29,006 narrator: Penny stock scams 67 00:03:29,008 --> 00:03:31,002 are when salesmen take worthless stocks 68 00:03:31,004 --> 00:03:33,017 and trick unsuspecting investors into buying them. 69 00:03:33,019 --> 00:03:36,017 - Come on. Who buys this crap? 70 00:03:36,019 --> 00:03:38,007 - Enters Robert Brennan, 71 00:03:38,009 --> 00:03:41,002 fraudster, penny-stock king, 72 00:03:41,004 --> 00:03:43,017 and best friend of Gene. 73 00:03:43,019 --> 00:03:46,004 Brennan gets his start as a salesman 74 00:03:46,006 --> 00:03:48,014 at Mayflower Securities, working for Gene, 75 00:03:48,016 --> 00:03:49,023 and within a few years, 76 00:03:50,001 --> 00:03:51,022 he's the president of the company. 77 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,004 narrator: Under Gene and Brennan's leadership, 78 00:03:54,006 --> 00:03:55,015 it wasn't long before Mayflower 79 00:03:55,017 --> 00:03:58,007 got suspended by the SEC for doing 80 00:03:58,009 --> 00:03:59,019 what "The New York Times" referred to 81 00:03:59,021 --> 00:04:02,005 as "selling worthless securities 82 00:04:02,007 --> 00:04:04,021 in a bankrupt electronics company." 83 00:04:04,023 --> 00:04:08,007 Gene was effectively kicked off of Wall Street. 84 00:04:08,009 --> 00:04:11,017 So he did what anybody in this situation would do: 85 00:04:11,019 --> 00:04:15,007 buy up two ski resorts in Vernon, New Jersey, 86 00:04:15,009 --> 00:04:18,000 Great Gorge and Vernon Valley. 87 00:04:18,002 --> 00:04:21,008 [lively music] 88 00:04:21,010 --> 00:04:23,019 - Located within the magic 45-mile radius 89 00:04:23,021 --> 00:04:25,018 of metropolitan New York City, 90 00:04:25,020 --> 00:04:27,011 Vernon Township occupies 91 00:04:27,013 --> 00:04:30,011 67.9 square miles of prime land, 92 00:04:30,013 --> 00:04:33,010 with a population of better than 20,000 people. 93 00:04:33,012 --> 00:04:36,017 Also located in Vernon is Wawayanda State Park, 94 00:04:36,019 --> 00:04:39,012 and that's just the beginning. 95 00:04:39,014 --> 00:04:42,011 - So many big, larger-than-life people 96 00:04:42,013 --> 00:04:46,009 looked to Vernon in the '70s, and they saw possibility. 97 00:04:46,011 --> 00:04:49,016 It's got all of this amazing outdoor terrain. 98 00:04:49,018 --> 00:04:51,006 You can ski in the winter. 99 00:04:51,008 --> 00:04:53,000 You can hike or bike in the summer. 100 00:04:53,002 --> 00:04:55,003 - You would never think it was in New Jersey. 101 00:04:55,005 --> 00:04:56,011 For a country boy like me, 102 00:04:56,013 --> 00:04:58,004 it was an amazing place to grow up. 103 00:04:58,006 --> 00:05:00,009 Everybody seemed to know each other. 104 00:05:00,011 --> 00:05:03,019 It was like this little idyllic small town. 105 00:05:03,021 --> 00:05:10,012 ♪ ♪ 106 00:05:11,016 --> 00:05:14,016 narrator: In the early '70s, none other than Hugh Hefner 107 00:05:14,018 --> 00:05:18,013 opened a Playboy Club in the hills of Vernon. 108 00:05:18,015 --> 00:05:21,012 Gambling had just taken over Atlantic City, 109 00:05:21,014 --> 00:05:23,000 and Hef believed it was on its way 110 00:05:23,002 --> 00:05:24,018 up to North Jersey soon. 111 00:05:24,020 --> 00:05:27,013 - And he wanted to build the hopping spot, 112 00:05:27,015 --> 00:05:30,003 the casino that would draw people 113 00:05:30,005 --> 00:05:32,019 from all over to New Jersey. 114 00:05:32,021 --> 00:05:34,018 narrator: Vernon had already been catching the eye 115 00:05:34,020 --> 00:05:36,006 of outside investors, 116 00:05:36,008 --> 00:05:38,007 but the opening of the Playboy Club 117 00:05:38,009 --> 00:05:40,018 took things to a whole new level. 118 00:05:40,020 --> 00:05:43,020 - Every weekend, there was some celebrity coming. 119 00:05:43,022 --> 00:05:47,012 People like Tony Bennett would come to sing, 120 00:05:47,014 --> 00:05:49,006 or Wayne Newton used to come. 121 00:05:49,008 --> 00:05:54,002 - ♪ The love between the two of us was dying ♪ 122 00:05:54,004 --> 00:05:56,017 - And Vernon was absolutely 123 00:05:56,019 --> 00:06:00,017 poised to be the next Orlando, even Vegas. 124 00:06:00,019 --> 00:06:03,021 [Wayne Newton's "Daddy, Don't You Walk So Fast"] 125 00:06:03,023 --> 00:06:11,003 ♪ ♪ 126 00:06:12,009 --> 00:06:14,006 narrator: Since he couldn't negotiate 127 00:06:14,008 --> 00:06:16,019 with New Jersey weather and its short ski season, 128 00:06:16,021 --> 00:06:20,009 Gene became a pioneer in artificial snow. 129 00:06:20,011 --> 00:06:22,001 He went so far as to construct 130 00:06:22,003 --> 00:06:24,012 the world's largest snowmaking machine 131 00:06:24,014 --> 00:06:26,009 out of a jet engine. 132 00:06:26,011 --> 00:06:29,011 [jet engine roaring] 133 00:06:29,013 --> 00:06:31,012 - So the thing with Gene's ski resort is, 134 00:06:31,014 --> 00:06:32,022 there were summer months. 135 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,013 He had downtime. So what do you do? 136 00:06:35,015 --> 00:06:37,022 Well, Gene started building rides. 137 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,011 - So he was looking for something to do with it 138 00:06:39,013 --> 00:06:40,017 in the summer, and he got the idea 139 00:06:40,019 --> 00:06:41,022 of starting an amusement park, 140 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,015 but he wanted to kind of take 141 00:06:43,017 --> 00:06:45,004 the idea of where you get on your skis 142 00:06:45,006 --> 00:06:46,020 and you go down and you control how fast 143 00:06:46,022 --> 00:06:49,023 and where you go to the amusement park. 144 00:06:50,001 --> 00:06:52,015 male announcer: And we reflect on the sounds and sights 145 00:06:52,017 --> 00:06:55,005 of children's joy at Action Park. 146 00:06:55,007 --> 00:06:59,008 Everything here is strictly do-it-yourself. 147 00:06:59,010 --> 00:07:02,010 [light dramatic music] 148 00:07:02,012 --> 00:07:05,012 ♪ ♪ 149 00:07:05,014 --> 00:07:07,003 narrator: To get his park built, 150 00:07:07,005 --> 00:07:09,019 Gene turned to his old buddy Bob Brennan, 151 00:07:09,021 --> 00:07:12,010 always there to find cash or investors 152 00:07:12,012 --> 00:07:15,012 anytime Gene had a wild new idea. 153 00:07:15,014 --> 00:07:17,016 - They were saying that New Jersey could compete 154 00:07:17,018 --> 00:07:20,004 with Orlando as a theme park destination, 155 00:07:20,006 --> 00:07:22,017 and that's not that crazy. 156 00:07:28,006 --> 00:07:29,023 narrator: Enough people were sold on the vision, 157 00:07:30,001 --> 00:07:31,021 and things started to take off. 158 00:07:31,023 --> 00:07:34,014 ♪ ♪ 159 00:07:34,016 --> 00:07:36,009 - Action Park was one of the very first 160 00:07:36,011 --> 00:07:39,004 modern water parks in the country--in the world. 161 00:07:39,006 --> 00:07:41,004 Nobody knew what a water park really was. 162 00:07:41,006 --> 00:07:42,011 They had to invent it. 163 00:07:42,013 --> 00:07:44,004 - Build it higher. Make it faster. 164 00:07:44,006 --> 00:07:46,016 Do something that nobody's ever seen before. 165 00:07:46,018 --> 00:07:49,006 That was what my father was all about. 166 00:07:49,008 --> 00:07:51,001 narrator: They were designing it on the fly, 167 00:07:51,003 --> 00:07:52,021 essentially throwing ideas at the wall 168 00:07:52,023 --> 00:07:54,005 and seeing what stuck. 169 00:07:54,007 --> 00:07:56,005 Some worked okay. 170 00:07:56,007 --> 00:07:58,007 Others not so much. 171 00:07:58,009 --> 00:08:00,021 ♪ ♪ 172 00:08:00,023 --> 00:08:02,023 And in 1978, 173 00:08:03,001 --> 00:08:06,008 Action Park was born. 174 00:08:06,010 --> 00:08:09,016 - ♪ Baby, let me take you where the action's hot ♪ 175 00:08:09,018 --> 00:08:11,020 - ♪ Action, Action Park ♪ 176 00:08:11,022 --> 00:08:13,015 - ♪ We can ride the excitement ♪ 177 00:08:13,017 --> 00:08:16,000 ♪ And feel the park rock ♪ 178 00:08:16,002 --> 00:08:18,008 - ♪ Action, Action Park ♪ 179 00:08:18,010 --> 00:08:23,002 ♪ The action never stops at Action Park ♪ 180 00:08:23,004 --> 00:08:26,002 [exciting music] 181 00:08:26,004 --> 00:08:28,003 ♪ ♪ 182 00:08:28,005 --> 00:08:30,008 - When we would all pile into the car 183 00:08:30,010 --> 00:08:33,014 to go to Action Park, it was always a little manic, 184 00:08:33,016 --> 00:08:35,023 everyone just kind of on the edge of their seat, 185 00:08:36,001 --> 00:08:37,017 just all jacked up 186 00:08:37,019 --> 00:08:40,022 about the excitement that was about to ensue. 187 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,006 - Like, older teenagers would take you. 188 00:08:43,008 --> 00:08:45,004 So that right there is already dangerous, 189 00:08:45,006 --> 00:08:47,008 because they're just gonna make you do things that they, 190 00:08:47,010 --> 00:08:49,018 as 17- and 18-year-olds, feel comfortable doing. 191 00:08:49,020 --> 00:08:51,018 - I remember my parents did not want me 192 00:08:51,020 --> 00:08:53,004 to go to Action Park, 193 00:08:53,006 --> 00:08:56,023 but we got lucky because there was this family, 194 00:08:57,001 --> 00:08:58,014 they grew up up the street from us, 195 00:08:58,016 --> 00:09:01,022 and their dad brought them to Action Park. 196 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:03,011 I think my parents were like, 197 00:09:03,013 --> 00:09:05,014 "Fuck, someone else is offering it for free." 198 00:09:05,016 --> 00:09:10,015 And these kids, classic '80s, children of divorce, 199 00:09:10,017 --> 00:09:13,018 they don't live with their dad, and my parents knew, 200 00:09:13,020 --> 00:09:15,019 "We can't say no. We can't say no." 201 00:09:15,021 --> 00:09:18,008 I remember my parents both, on my way out the door, 202 00:09:18,010 --> 00:09:21,002 being like, "Please be smart. 203 00:09:21,004 --> 00:09:24,010 Like, please be really careful and use your best judgment." 204 00:09:24,012 --> 00:09:27,010 [mellow music] 205 00:09:27,012 --> 00:09:28,020 ♪ ♪ 206 00:09:28,022 --> 00:09:30,004 narrator: Action Park was divided 207 00:09:30,006 --> 00:09:31,023 into three main sections. 208 00:09:32,001 --> 00:09:35,017 You had Alpine Center, home of the Alpine slide; 209 00:09:35,019 --> 00:09:39,010 Water World, filled with fantastical waterslides; 210 00:09:39,012 --> 00:09:41,018 and Motor World, an area dedicated 211 00:09:41,020 --> 00:09:44,016 to exhaust-spewing engines and go-karts. 212 00:09:44,018 --> 00:09:47,001 And, of course, splitting the park down the middle 213 00:09:47,003 --> 00:09:49,002 was a major highway, Route 94. 214 00:09:49,004 --> 00:09:50,008 - One of the first things you saw 215 00:09:50,010 --> 00:09:51,021 when you walked into Action Park 216 00:09:51,023 --> 00:09:54,000 was the infamous Cannonball Loop, 217 00:09:54,002 --> 00:09:57,011 which for years, it was like a myth 218 00:09:57,013 --> 00:09:59,021 that the thing had ever been open. 219 00:09:59,023 --> 00:10:04,013 - Cannonball Loop was an enclosed tube waterslide, 220 00:10:04,015 --> 00:10:08,014 and you would climb to the top of a series of stairs, 221 00:10:08,016 --> 00:10:10,014 and you would ride down the enclosed tube, 222 00:10:10,016 --> 00:10:14,002 and at the very end, the tube would go into a huge loop. 223 00:10:14,004 --> 00:10:15,020 - I mean, you looked at the thing, 224 00:10:15,022 --> 00:10:17,012 and it looked like it was something out of, like, 225 00:10:17,014 --> 00:10:19,003 a Bugs Bunny or a Road Runner cartoon, 226 00:10:19,005 --> 00:10:20,021 where they just made a loop and said, 227 00:10:20,023 --> 00:10:22,009 "Yeah, there's our ride." 228 00:10:22,011 --> 00:10:24,004 - Some lunatic clearly just was like, 229 00:10:24,006 --> 00:10:26,003 "Build me a slide that's like that." 230 00:10:26,005 --> 00:10:27,018 And then they didn't consult anybody 231 00:10:27,020 --> 00:10:29,010 who had a background in engineering. 232 00:10:29,012 --> 00:10:31,003 - So the story is, they build the loop, 233 00:10:31,005 --> 00:10:33,000 and they throw some test dummies down. 234 00:10:33,002 --> 00:10:35,017 Come out dismembered, missing a head, missing arms. 235 00:10:35,019 --> 00:10:37,010 "Okay, let's tinker with things. 236 00:10:37,012 --> 00:10:38,020 "Change the height. Change the angle. 237 00:10:38,022 --> 00:10:40,009 "Change the water pressure. 238 00:10:40,011 --> 00:10:43,010 "Next step, let's put some humans in this thing. 239 00:10:43,012 --> 00:10:44,017 "Who we got? 240 00:10:44,019 --> 00:10:46,019 How about these teenage employees?" 241 00:10:46,021 --> 00:10:49,017 So Gene's just waving $100 bills in the air. 242 00:10:49,019 --> 00:10:51,013 Any teenager gutsy enough 243 00:10:51,015 --> 00:10:53,004 to go down this thing will get one. 244 00:10:53,006 --> 00:10:55,003 100 bucks, that's real money. 245 00:10:55,005 --> 00:10:58,009 - I'm $100 richer because Uncle Gene-- 246 00:10:58,011 --> 00:10:59,021 we always called him Uncle Gene-- 247 00:10:59,023 --> 00:11:02,016 gave $100 for an employee 248 00:11:02,018 --> 00:11:04,006 to test the Cannonball Loop. 249 00:11:04,008 --> 00:11:06,005 - And I can remember looking, staring down 250 00:11:06,007 --> 00:11:09,002 into this black tube and looking at the loop 251 00:11:09,004 --> 00:11:12,009 and being like, "There's no way that I would go on this thing." 252 00:11:12,011 --> 00:11:14,003 - So you look down the Cannonball Loop, 253 00:11:14,005 --> 00:11:16,010 and all you see is pitch black. 254 00:11:16,012 --> 00:11:17,016 It's darkness. 255 00:11:17,018 --> 00:11:19,020 - There's the water flow at the top of it 256 00:11:19,022 --> 00:11:22,014 that gets you mo--you know, 'cause you got to have water 257 00:11:22,016 --> 00:11:24,014 to get, you know-- it's a waterslide. 258 00:11:24,016 --> 00:11:27,001 You know, somehow it's a waterslide. 259 00:11:27,003 --> 00:11:30,000 And it's just way too steep. 260 00:11:30,002 --> 00:11:32,010 - So they spray you down with a garden hose, 261 00:11:32,012 --> 00:11:34,002 and you go down, and you're supposed to go down 262 00:11:34,004 --> 00:11:36,017 feetfirst with your arms and legs crossed. 263 00:11:36,019 --> 00:11:40,015 - And then as soon as you, like, kind of scoot forward, 264 00:11:40,017 --> 00:11:42,008 it just takes you. 265 00:11:42,010 --> 00:11:44,008 All of a sudden, you're going really, really fast. 266 00:11:44,010 --> 00:11:46,001 I'm like, "I'm gonna shit my pants." 267 00:11:46,003 --> 00:11:47,013 It was absolutely terrifying. 268 00:11:47,015 --> 00:11:48,023 And then you feel-- 269 00:11:49,001 --> 00:11:50,019 all of a sudden, you feel your feet go up. 270 00:11:50,021 --> 00:11:52,015 And then as I go up, 271 00:11:52,017 --> 00:11:55,010 you kind of lose contact with the loop for a second. 272 00:11:55,012 --> 00:11:57,007 It just kind of-- gravity just takes you. 273 00:11:57,009 --> 00:12:00,015 You just...[slaps hands] Kind of flop. 274 00:12:00,017 --> 00:12:02,011 The catch pond, wherever you landed, 275 00:12:02,013 --> 00:12:03,022 was way too short. 276 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:05,013 You got to the bottom, and I'm like, 277 00:12:05,015 --> 00:12:07,013 "Shit, I did it. I made it." 278 00:12:07,015 --> 00:12:09,021 The loop was fun, and yes, it hurt. 279 00:12:09,023 --> 00:12:11,007 You know, going through the loop 280 00:12:11,009 --> 00:12:13,006 and having your nuts get smashed on a-- 281 00:12:13,008 --> 00:12:15,012 you know, a fiberglass tube was not fun. 282 00:12:15,014 --> 00:12:16,022 But then, you know, Uncle Gene's standing there, 283 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,022 and he hands you 100 bucks. 284 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:20,019 - The first couple people that came in came out, 285 00:12:20,021 --> 00:12:22,013 and their mouths were all bloody, 286 00:12:22,015 --> 00:12:24,011 and that was before they had put sufficient padding 287 00:12:24,013 --> 00:12:26,006 in the top; there was a little bit. 288 00:12:26,008 --> 00:12:27,021 So they sent a couple other people down, 289 00:12:27,023 --> 00:12:29,008 and when those people came down, 290 00:12:29,010 --> 00:12:31,000 they came down with lacerations. 291 00:12:31,002 --> 00:12:32,022 They couldn't figure out why these people 292 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,010 had lacerations from a giant loop. 293 00:12:35,012 --> 00:12:37,011 Then they took the loop apart and they found teeth 294 00:12:37,013 --> 00:12:39,012 stuck in the padding from the first couple people 295 00:12:39,014 --> 00:12:41,000 that went down the slide. 296 00:12:41,002 --> 00:12:42,011 They had gotten their teeth knocked out. 297 00:12:42,013 --> 00:12:43,020 And these other people 298 00:12:43,022 --> 00:12:45,015 were just going up and ripping into it. 299 00:12:45,017 --> 00:12:47,004 narrator: After Action Park test pilots 300 00:12:47,006 --> 00:12:49,012 came out woozy and unable to stand, 301 00:12:49,014 --> 00:12:51,006 Gene brought in a navy physician 302 00:12:51,008 --> 00:12:53,000 to measure the slide's effects. 303 00:12:53,002 --> 00:12:54,013 - Let me put it this way. 304 00:12:54,015 --> 00:12:56,008 There's two places that you can experience 305 00:12:56,010 --> 00:12:58,000 nine Gs as a civilian. 306 00:12:58,002 --> 00:13:00,004 One is the back seat of an F-14, 307 00:13:00,006 --> 00:13:02,010 and the other one is at Action Park. 308 00:13:03,007 --> 00:13:04,022 - You couldn't go down the Cannonball Loop 309 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:06,008 if you were too small. 310 00:13:06,010 --> 00:13:07,013 You couldn't go down the Cannonball Loop 311 00:13:07,015 --> 00:13:08,022 if you were too big. 312 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:10,008 Too big, you'd get stuck. 313 00:13:10,010 --> 00:13:11,016 Too small, you wouldn't get up 314 00:13:11,018 --> 00:13:13,011 enough momentum to make the loop. 315 00:13:13,013 --> 00:13:16,002 There was a trapdoor at the top that they-- 316 00:13:16,004 --> 00:13:18,017 that's how they would extricate people from the loop 317 00:13:18,019 --> 00:13:20,001 if they got stuck. 318 00:13:20,003 --> 00:13:22,016 - So as you entered the park, 319 00:13:22,018 --> 00:13:25,001 you saw this thing. 320 00:13:25,003 --> 00:13:26,015 It was one of the things that, you know, 321 00:13:26,017 --> 00:13:28,012 you had kind of heard whispers about. 322 00:13:28,014 --> 00:13:30,003 So right away, you walk in, you're like, 323 00:13:30,005 --> 00:13:32,009 "Well, that's real. This shit's real." 324 00:13:32,011 --> 00:13:35,005 [upbeat music] 325 00:13:35,007 --> 00:13:37,003 I did get hurt on a ride 326 00:13:37,005 --> 00:13:39,009 that was called Cannonball Falls. 327 00:13:39,011 --> 00:13:41,009 And it looked like a pretty normal waterslide. 328 00:13:41,011 --> 00:13:43,011 You'd sit down. You'd go down the waterslide. 329 00:13:43,013 --> 00:13:45,016 What is not discernible from the top 330 00:13:45,018 --> 00:13:47,008 is that at some point, you come around a corner, 331 00:13:47,010 --> 00:13:50,005 and there's this big black tunnel. 332 00:13:50,007 --> 00:13:51,013 You feel like, all of a sudden, 333 00:13:51,015 --> 00:13:52,021 you're just going faster as well. 334 00:13:52,023 --> 00:13:54,006 And I'll never forget. 335 00:13:54,008 --> 00:13:56,000 I'm going down this waterslide. 336 00:13:56,002 --> 00:13:58,004 I enter the tunnel, and you just hear people, "Oh, no!" 337 00:13:58,006 --> 00:13:59,023 Ahead of you-- "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no!" 338 00:14:00,001 --> 00:14:02,010 So you're like, "What-- what's going on here?" 339 00:14:02,012 --> 00:14:05,002 And then you'd see this little piece of light 340 00:14:05,004 --> 00:14:06,014 at the bottom of the tunnel, 341 00:14:06,016 --> 00:14:08,011 and then you'd just get shot out. 342 00:14:08,013 --> 00:14:10,018 And you'd just be there in the middle of, like, the air. 343 00:14:10,020 --> 00:14:12,010 And I'm not kidding when I say 344 00:14:12,012 --> 00:14:15,017 you're, at minimum, ten feet in the air. 345 00:14:15,019 --> 00:14:18,010 It shoots you out the side of a mountain, 346 00:14:18,012 --> 00:14:21,002 and you're just, like, in the sky. 347 00:14:21,004 --> 00:14:23,010 You think you're getting on a waterslide, 348 00:14:23,012 --> 00:14:26,021 and the next thing you know, you're in the fucking sky, man! 349 00:14:26,023 --> 00:14:28,015 - And yes, you were over water, 350 00:14:28,017 --> 00:14:30,007 but there was a few seconds where you'd be like, 351 00:14:30,009 --> 00:14:32,011 "I'm gonna fucking die. What am I doing?" 352 00:14:32,013 --> 00:14:34,002 And you just look around, 353 00:14:34,004 --> 00:14:35,022 and then gravity would take you down into the water. 354 00:14:36,001 --> 00:14:39,000 - And you're in ice-cold water, 17 feet deep, 355 00:14:39,002 --> 00:14:41,018 so people were constantly getting pulled out of there 356 00:14:41,020 --> 00:14:44,011 for, you know, being unable to swim 357 00:14:44,013 --> 00:14:47,008 or just landing wrong and being disoriented. 358 00:14:47,010 --> 00:14:49,023 - There's nothing in the world like Action Park. 359 00:14:50,001 --> 00:14:52,014 [screams and laughter] 360 00:14:52,016 --> 00:14:54,022 - The rides that got built at Action Park 361 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,001 would often come to Gene 362 00:14:57,003 --> 00:15:00,003 through people who just had a wild hair 363 00:15:00,005 --> 00:15:03,009 and wanted to build this crazy idea that they had. 364 00:15:03,011 --> 00:15:05,018 - A certain number of the Action Park rides 365 00:15:05,020 --> 00:15:09,011 were more or less designed in-house 366 00:15:09,013 --> 00:15:12,005 by people without engineering degrees, 367 00:15:12,007 --> 00:15:14,005 and I was certainly one of them. 368 00:15:14,007 --> 00:15:15,014 - The people who were kind of 369 00:15:15,016 --> 00:15:17,015 on the fringes of the ride-design world, 370 00:15:17,017 --> 00:15:21,011 people who Six Flags or Disney wanted nothing to do with, 371 00:15:21,013 --> 00:15:24,015 these guys would literally track Gene down 372 00:15:24,017 --> 00:15:27,006 at amusement industry conventions. 373 00:15:27,008 --> 00:15:29,012 - You could tell these guys went and did bumps of coke, 374 00:15:29,014 --> 00:15:31,008 and were like, "Let's fucking-- let's drill a slide 375 00:15:31,010 --> 00:15:33,004 "right through the fucking middle of a mountain, 376 00:15:33,006 --> 00:15:35,012 and it'll shoot them 20 feet in the fucking air!" 377 00:15:35,014 --> 00:15:37,015 You just couldn't trust anything there. 378 00:15:37,017 --> 00:15:39,012 - Guys would come to us, and no matter 379 00:15:39,014 --> 00:15:42,012 what the idea was, my father would try it. 380 00:15:42,014 --> 00:15:45,014 - And then when each of these rides went into construction, 381 00:15:45,016 --> 00:15:49,015 Gene would change them drastically. 382 00:15:49,017 --> 00:15:51,023 narrator: Action Park's most prolific ride designer 383 00:15:52,001 --> 00:15:54,009 was none other than Gene himself. 384 00:15:54,011 --> 00:15:56,020 After designs came in, he would almost always 385 00:15:56,022 --> 00:15:59,000 tinker with them during construction, 386 00:15:59,002 --> 00:16:03,000 making them bigger, badder, more extreme. 387 00:16:03,002 --> 00:16:04,015 And the Cannonball Loop? 388 00:16:04,017 --> 00:16:06,005 Its design actually came about 389 00:16:06,007 --> 00:16:08,019 when Gene drew a circle on a cocktail napkin 390 00:16:08,021 --> 00:16:12,017 and hired some local welders to put it all together. 391 00:16:12,019 --> 00:16:14,017 - Many of the rides were experimental, 392 00:16:14,019 --> 00:16:16,017 and on paper, the design looked good. 393 00:16:16,019 --> 00:16:19,005 But in reality, once the ride was turned on, 394 00:16:19,007 --> 00:16:22,009 it was not fit for a safe ride 395 00:16:22,011 --> 00:16:24,022 by the average person in public. 396 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:26,008 - One of those rides was 397 00:16:26,010 --> 00:16:28,002 the Man in the Ball in the Ball. 398 00:16:28,004 --> 00:16:29,019 The Man in the Ball in the Ball 399 00:16:29,021 --> 00:16:32,010 was this giant ball that we had 400 00:16:32,012 --> 00:16:34,018 with ball bearings inside it with another ball, 401 00:16:34,020 --> 00:16:36,001 and you would open up two doors 402 00:16:36,003 --> 00:16:37,009 and get in the ball 403 00:16:37,011 --> 00:16:38,018 to go down the mountain. 404 00:16:38,020 --> 00:16:40,011 And what he did is, the guy built it 405 00:16:40,013 --> 00:16:43,016 with PVC pipe all the way down the mountain. 406 00:16:43,018 --> 00:16:45,009 - Like, it's a great idea; you can see how someone 407 00:16:45,011 --> 00:16:47,002 would think that'd be a lot of fun, 408 00:16:47,004 --> 00:16:49,011 and I think it might work and be relatively safe. 409 00:16:49,013 --> 00:16:52,010 It turned out, you know, there were limitations to it. 410 00:16:52,012 --> 00:16:54,021 - It's a crazy concept. 411 00:16:54,023 --> 00:16:58,003 I mean, it's so big and so heavy and so unwieldy 412 00:16:58,005 --> 00:17:00,014 that there's no way it's gonna stay in any kind of track. 413 00:17:00,016 --> 00:17:03,005 - The day that we were gonna put a live man in it, 414 00:17:03,007 --> 00:17:04,018 it got really hot, 415 00:17:04,020 --> 00:17:06,020 and he didn't realize that PVC expanded. 416 00:17:06,022 --> 00:17:09,004 So when we put the live man in the ball 417 00:17:09,006 --> 00:17:11,012 and tested it to go down the mountain, 418 00:17:11,014 --> 00:17:13,004 the ride just fell apart. 419 00:17:13,006 --> 00:17:15,004 And the guy ended up going down the ski slope, 420 00:17:15,006 --> 00:17:18,004 right over 94, into the swamp down below. 421 00:17:18,006 --> 00:17:21,004 It was unbelievable. 422 00:17:21,006 --> 00:17:23,004 narrator: Another prototype waterslide 423 00:17:23,006 --> 00:17:26,012 was inspired by zero-gravity airplanes. 424 00:17:26,014 --> 00:17:30,008 Gene's vision: riders would actually take flight 425 00:17:30,010 --> 00:17:32,005 as they plummeted downhill. 426 00:17:32,007 --> 00:17:35,012 - We built this, and we tested several versions of it, 427 00:17:35,014 --> 00:17:38,011 and we started sending employees off of it. 428 00:17:38,013 --> 00:17:40,014 And it was working perfect. 429 00:17:40,016 --> 00:17:42,005 narrator: But unfortunately, 430 00:17:42,007 --> 00:17:44,008 after dozens of successful test flights, 431 00:17:44,010 --> 00:17:46,009 one went horribly wrong. 432 00:17:46,011 --> 00:17:50,006 - This one kid went down, and I don't know how he did it, 433 00:17:50,008 --> 00:17:52,011 but he got himself going way faster 434 00:17:52,013 --> 00:17:54,006 than anybody else had. 435 00:17:54,008 --> 00:17:56,010 He went way high in the air 436 00:17:56,012 --> 00:17:58,014 and completely missed the landing. 437 00:17:58,016 --> 00:18:01,016 He had to be backboarded off of the ride. 438 00:18:01,018 --> 00:18:04,004 He's gone on to lead a normal life, 439 00:18:04,006 --> 00:18:05,020 but he was hurt that day, 440 00:18:05,022 --> 00:18:08,023 and that was the end of that ride. 441 00:18:09,001 --> 00:18:10,013 narrator: While some rides never made it 442 00:18:10,015 --> 00:18:11,023 past the testing phase, 443 00:18:12,001 --> 00:18:15,007 dozens of other questionable ideas did. 444 00:18:15,009 --> 00:18:17,000 - Right here, that's called the Speed Slide. 445 00:18:17,002 --> 00:18:18,008 It's over seven stories. 446 00:18:18,010 --> 00:18:20,009 They tell me that you go over 60 miles an hour. 447 00:18:20,011 --> 00:18:21,021 So tell me, any preparations 448 00:18:21,023 --> 00:18:23,020 as we're about to embark on the Speed Slide? 449 00:18:23,022 --> 00:18:25,004 - Yeah, Preparation H. 450 00:18:25,006 --> 00:18:27,020 [soft music] 451 00:18:27,022 --> 00:18:30,012 - There was a canopy around the first 20 feet or so 452 00:18:30,014 --> 00:18:32,003 in case you flew off. 453 00:18:32,005 --> 00:18:34,010 The idea was that it would bounce you back in. 454 00:18:34,012 --> 00:18:36,005 You had a bar you had to hold on to 455 00:18:36,007 --> 00:18:38,015 and lower yourself to vertical... 456 00:18:38,017 --> 00:18:40,004 - And you just drop. 457 00:18:40,006 --> 00:18:41,020 And you've got to be free-falling 458 00:18:41,022 --> 00:18:42,020 for a few seconds, 459 00:18:42,022 --> 00:18:44,002 and then you actually 460 00:18:44,004 --> 00:18:45,021 make contact with the waterslide, 461 00:18:45,023 --> 00:18:46,020 and you go down. 462 00:18:46,022 --> 00:18:48,011 - Tops would come off. 463 00:18:48,013 --> 00:18:51,004 Bottoms would be up around their shoulders. 464 00:18:51,006 --> 00:18:52,021 People would be all disoriented. 465 00:18:52,023 --> 00:18:54,009 Not the most pleasant experience. 466 00:18:54,011 --> 00:18:56,006 - What did you think about the Speed Slide? 467 00:18:56,008 --> 00:18:58,013 - I'm feeling kind of juicy right now. 468 00:18:58,015 --> 00:19:01,003 - It puts more fluids 469 00:19:01,005 --> 00:19:02,018 through your system, that's-- 470 00:19:02,020 --> 00:19:04,005 I'm trying to think of a nice way to say it. 471 00:19:04,007 --> 00:19:05,009 What would you say? 472 00:19:05,011 --> 00:19:07,006 - I'd say my fig is puckered. 473 00:19:07,008 --> 00:19:09,003 - I think the Super Speed Slide was the one 474 00:19:09,005 --> 00:19:11,009 that a lot of people would say that it would just sort of, 475 00:19:11,011 --> 00:19:13,023 like, shoot water straight up their assholes, 476 00:19:14,001 --> 00:19:17,017 that it was designed in a way where you just-- 477 00:19:17,019 --> 00:19:19,009 you got your first colonic for free 478 00:19:19,011 --> 00:19:20,021 courtesy of Action Park. 479 00:19:20,023 --> 00:19:23,011 - Everybody that got off that ride walked funny. 480 00:19:23,013 --> 00:19:25,008 Yeah, whether you're a guy or a girl, you know, 481 00:19:25,010 --> 00:19:27,001 you were not just getting off and walking away. 482 00:19:27,003 --> 00:19:29,001 You were, you know, picking and prodding 483 00:19:29,003 --> 00:19:30,022 and hopping and poking for quite a while 484 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,004 after you got off that ride. 485 00:19:32,006 --> 00:19:34,015 ♪ ♪ 486 00:19:34,017 --> 00:19:36,013 narrator: Questionable design decisions 487 00:19:36,015 --> 00:19:38,007 weren't limited to the rides. 488 00:19:38,009 --> 00:19:41,013 The construction and layout of Action Park itself 489 00:19:41,015 --> 00:19:44,005 had its own way of leaving a mark. 490 00:19:44,007 --> 00:19:46,014 - All the park was, like, paved in asphalt. 491 00:19:46,016 --> 00:19:49,015 So everywhere you went, you had to walk around 492 00:19:49,017 --> 00:19:53,016 on, like, dark, you know, highway-grade type asphalt 493 00:19:53,018 --> 00:19:54,023 that was absorbing heat 494 00:19:55,001 --> 00:19:56,018 and reflecting it back on you all day. 495 00:19:56,020 --> 00:19:58,021 - So if you don't bring your own flip-flops 496 00:19:58,023 --> 00:20:00,013 or those water shoes, 497 00:20:00,015 --> 00:20:02,007 you are going to suffer 498 00:20:02,009 --> 00:20:06,002 from the notorious ailment known as chopped-meat feet. 499 00:20:06,004 --> 00:20:08,018 Everybody's, like, limping around from running around 500 00:20:08,020 --> 00:20:12,010 on fucking jagged and poorly paved asphalt. 501 00:20:12,012 --> 00:20:13,023 ♪ ♪ 502 00:20:14,001 --> 00:20:16,019 - There was a great ride called the Aqua Skoot, 503 00:20:16,021 --> 00:20:19,015 which was essentially warehouse rollers 504 00:20:19,017 --> 00:20:21,015 built on an angle like a ski jump. 505 00:20:21,017 --> 00:20:23,007 You rode a plastic sled, and then you would see 506 00:20:23,009 --> 00:20:24,023 how far you could skim across the water, 507 00:20:25,001 --> 00:20:27,008 like a stone skipping across the water. 508 00:20:27,010 --> 00:20:29,003 - People didn't sit back on the ride 509 00:20:29,005 --> 00:20:30,023 and they'd lean too far forward, 510 00:20:31,001 --> 00:20:33,010 they would face-plant into the water. 511 00:20:33,012 --> 00:20:35,005 narrator: Unbeknownst to most patrons, 512 00:20:35,007 --> 00:20:38,012 the Aqua Skoot was also home to a thriving bee nest. 513 00:20:38,014 --> 00:20:42,014 Guests who lingered too long were likely to be stung. 514 00:20:42,016 --> 00:20:44,005 - I'll tell you something about the Aqua Skoot. 515 00:20:44,007 --> 00:20:45,022 Took one look at that thing, I said, 516 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:47,019 "No fucking way. No way, man." 517 00:20:47,021 --> 00:20:49,007 That just looked like a thing where you'd get 518 00:20:49,009 --> 00:20:50,020 your fucking toes or your balls 519 00:20:50,022 --> 00:20:52,016 get caught in those-- Aqua Skoot. 520 00:20:52,018 --> 00:20:54,016 I'm gonna Aqua Skoot the fuck away from this thing, 521 00:20:54,018 --> 00:20:55,021 that was my instinct. 522 00:20:55,023 --> 00:20:58,018 [upbeat music] 523 00:20:58,020 --> 00:21:00,018 The culture, the atmosphere at Action Park, 524 00:21:00,020 --> 00:21:04,008 it's most summed up by the Tarzan Swing. 525 00:21:04,010 --> 00:21:07,004 Everybody wanted to go on the Tarzan Swing. 526 00:21:07,006 --> 00:21:10,011 That was, like, number one childhood 527 00:21:10,013 --> 00:21:13,000 test your mettle, prove you got some guts, 528 00:21:13,002 --> 00:21:14,020 go on the Tarzan Swing. 529 00:21:14,022 --> 00:21:18,002 - The idea was that you would, you know, swing and release. 530 00:21:18,004 --> 00:21:19,019 The problem was, 531 00:21:19,021 --> 00:21:21,013 people couldn't hold their body weight. 532 00:21:21,015 --> 00:21:24,002 They would lean out like they were gonna swing 533 00:21:24,004 --> 00:21:26,000 and then just do a total face-plant 534 00:21:26,002 --> 00:21:29,002 from 10, 12 feet up into the water. 535 00:21:29,004 --> 00:21:31,000 - People would think on a 90-degree day 536 00:21:31,002 --> 00:21:33,001 that they were gonna be jumping into pool water. 537 00:21:33,003 --> 00:21:34,010 No, no, no. 538 00:21:34,012 --> 00:21:36,006 That's a spring-fed stream 539 00:21:36,008 --> 00:21:38,000 that held native trout in it. 540 00:21:38,002 --> 00:21:41,005 It's cold, and, I mean, people would go into shock. 541 00:21:41,007 --> 00:21:43,021 People would hit and start to scream because of the cold, 542 00:21:43,023 --> 00:21:46,008 and they would actually forget how to swim. 543 00:21:46,010 --> 00:21:48,021 Man, what a shock to the system. 544 00:21:48,023 --> 00:21:50,016 - The Tarzan Swing was cool 545 00:21:50,018 --> 00:21:52,018 because there was kind of, like, an observation deck, 546 00:21:52,020 --> 00:21:54,022 and that's where everybody was waiting on line. 547 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,007 - So you might have, I don't know, 548 00:21:57,009 --> 00:21:59,008 probably over 75, 100 people 549 00:21:59,010 --> 00:22:03,009 at given times that could all see you as you went. 550 00:22:03,011 --> 00:22:04,019 - Go to do it. 551 00:22:04,021 --> 00:22:06,010 Your weight would hit. You'd flip off. 552 00:22:06,012 --> 00:22:07,016 You'd, like, hit the back of your head 553 00:22:07,018 --> 00:22:09,003 on the water. 554 00:22:09,005 --> 00:22:10,017 No lifeguard would jump in to help you. 555 00:22:10,019 --> 00:22:12,001 The water's ice cold. 556 00:22:12,003 --> 00:22:13,003 You come up for air. 557 00:22:13,005 --> 00:22:14,006 You're all shell-shocked. 558 00:22:14,008 --> 00:22:15,022 You're probably concussed. 559 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,020 And you have, like, 150 people from New Jersey 560 00:22:18,022 --> 00:22:20,022 just being like, "Pussy! 561 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:22,022 "You fucking bitch! 562 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,012 You fucking wiped out! Pussy!" 563 00:22:25,014 --> 00:22:27,016 And that's, like, when it's at its classiest. 564 00:22:27,018 --> 00:22:30,011 - It was like, "You fucking pussy, just do it! 565 00:22:30,013 --> 00:22:31,017 This is Jersey!" 566 00:22:31,019 --> 00:22:33,022 - "Oh, you fucking suck! 567 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:35,007 Start swimming, pussy!" 568 00:22:35,009 --> 00:22:36,019 You know, I mean, it was just-- 569 00:22:36,021 --> 00:22:39,006 it was actually-- it was a very demeaning place. 570 00:22:39,008 --> 00:22:40,020 - No one yelled at you. 571 00:22:40,022 --> 00:22:42,011 No lifeguard ever blew a whistle 572 00:22:42,013 --> 00:22:45,012 and was like, "Hey, stop chanting the word 'pussy' 573 00:22:45,014 --> 00:22:47,022 at this injured, bleeding person." 574 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:49,011 Nobody did that. 575 00:22:49,013 --> 00:22:51,005 - They always tell people, 576 00:22:51,007 --> 00:22:54,006 "No inverted jumps, no obscenities," 577 00:22:54,008 --> 00:22:56,010 and people would go up, do backflips. 578 00:22:56,012 --> 00:22:57,020 People were dropping their pants. 579 00:22:57,022 --> 00:22:59,015 - So you got the people who, like, 580 00:22:59,017 --> 00:23:01,011 swing on the Tarzan Swing and just, like, 581 00:23:01,013 --> 00:23:02,019 throw up the middle finger, 582 00:23:02,021 --> 00:23:04,015 and everybody's fucking flipping-- 583 00:23:04,017 --> 00:23:06,006 or people are, like, taking their dick and balls out, 584 00:23:06,008 --> 00:23:08,001 mooning each other. 585 00:23:08,003 --> 00:23:10,004 - Of course, girls in bikinis would go, 586 00:23:10,006 --> 00:23:11,020 they'd hit the water, and, of course, 587 00:23:11,022 --> 00:23:14,011 the bikini top surfaces before the girl does, 588 00:23:14,013 --> 00:23:16,016 and, you know, you get the big round of applause, 589 00:23:16,018 --> 00:23:19,012 and you see the girl get to the top, and... 590 00:23:19,014 --> 00:23:21,000 That happened all the time. 591 00:23:21,002 --> 00:23:24,001 [light music] 592 00:23:24,003 --> 00:23:25,017 ♪ ♪ 593 00:23:25,019 --> 00:23:27,011 - Action Park felt, in some ways, 594 00:23:27,013 --> 00:23:29,021 like a strange social experiment. 595 00:23:29,023 --> 00:23:32,019 What happens when you take a bunch of riled-up teenagers, 596 00:23:32,021 --> 00:23:36,003 a bunch of alcohol, bunch of dangerous rides, 597 00:23:36,005 --> 00:23:38,006 and you put them into a place where there are no rules? 598 00:23:38,008 --> 00:23:40,003 - Yo, come on. Follow me. 599 00:23:40,005 --> 00:23:41,007 - [laughs] 600 00:23:41,009 --> 00:23:42,013 - Action Park was run by kids. 601 00:23:42,015 --> 00:23:44,004 - Hell yeah! - Oh, my God. 602 00:23:44,006 --> 00:23:46,008 - You know, the second you turn 14, 603 00:23:46,010 --> 00:23:48,001 you got your working papers, 604 00:23:48,003 --> 00:23:50,003 and then you went to work at Action Park. 605 00:23:50,005 --> 00:23:53,015 You know, even the people in the lead supervisor positions, 606 00:23:53,017 --> 00:23:55,000 it's like, "Oh, you've been here for two years. 607 00:23:55,002 --> 00:23:56,017 Here's a radio. You're in charge." 608 00:23:56,019 --> 00:23:59,017 - You had 16-year-old, 17-year-old kids 609 00:23:59,019 --> 00:24:02,014 with no prior management experience whatsoever 610 00:24:02,016 --> 00:24:05,001 literally managing a third of the park. 611 00:24:05,003 --> 00:24:08,006 Hazing became a rite of passage 612 00:24:08,008 --> 00:24:09,010 at Action Park. 613 00:24:09,012 --> 00:24:11,012 [indistinct chatter, laughter] 614 00:24:11,014 --> 00:24:14,010 It wouldn't be uncommon to use a new recruit 615 00:24:14,012 --> 00:24:16,020 as a victim in a drowning. 616 00:24:16,022 --> 00:24:19,017 In the water, we would spin the new employee over 617 00:24:19,019 --> 00:24:21,005 and put him on a backboard, 618 00:24:21,007 --> 00:24:24,001 strap him down real tight while in the water, 619 00:24:24,003 --> 00:24:26,005 and just leave him be. 620 00:24:26,007 --> 00:24:28,009 There are certainly things that happened at Action Park 621 00:24:28,011 --> 00:24:30,009 that are never spoken about. 622 00:24:30,011 --> 00:24:31,016 We lived through it, 623 00:24:31,018 --> 00:24:33,001 we regretted some of the things we did, 624 00:24:33,003 --> 00:24:34,023 but we don't talk about it. 625 00:24:35,001 --> 00:24:36,015 - I was probably a security guard 626 00:24:36,017 --> 00:24:38,003 for maybe three months, 627 00:24:38,005 --> 00:24:39,021 and then they worked me up to a supervisor 628 00:24:39,023 --> 00:24:42,007 and then assistant and then, eventually, 629 00:24:42,009 --> 00:24:43,018 if you stayed there long enough 630 00:24:43,020 --> 00:24:45,011 and you had anything going for you, 631 00:24:45,013 --> 00:24:46,022 they would make you director of security. 632 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,008 So it's not as impressive as it sounded. 633 00:24:49,010 --> 00:24:51,013 - Somehow I ended up in the kitchen. 634 00:24:51,015 --> 00:24:52,017 Like, all the bread products in there-- 635 00:24:52,019 --> 00:24:53,020 everything was stale. 636 00:24:53,022 --> 00:24:54,022 Everything was out of date. 637 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:56,011 So what they would do is, 638 00:24:56,013 --> 00:24:58,014 they would put the big pot of water on 639 00:24:58,016 --> 00:25:01,000 and put, like, a colander over the water 640 00:25:01,002 --> 00:25:03,006 and then put the hot dog buns in the colander 641 00:25:03,008 --> 00:25:05,018 and cover it with a towel, and in five minutes, 642 00:25:05,020 --> 00:25:07,017 you'd have moist hot dog buns again. 643 00:25:07,019 --> 00:25:09,014 Damn, how did we not kill people? 644 00:25:09,016 --> 00:25:11,014 - I know there were people older than them 645 00:25:11,016 --> 00:25:13,007 who owned it, but you never saw them. 646 00:25:13,009 --> 00:25:15,017 Just literally imagine teenagers you know right now 647 00:25:15,019 --> 00:25:17,004 opening an amusement park. 648 00:25:17,006 --> 00:25:19,003 That's what it was. [chuckles] 649 00:25:19,005 --> 00:25:20,018 - Everybody worked at Action Park 650 00:25:20,020 --> 00:25:22,010 because you knew you'd get hired. 651 00:25:22,012 --> 00:25:24,018 They'd give you as many hours as you wanted. 652 00:25:24,020 --> 00:25:26,004 But, you know, 653 00:25:26,006 --> 00:25:28,010 Action Park didn't care about, like, labor laws. 654 00:25:28,012 --> 00:25:31,008 It was like, "Yeah, I just worked 46 hours. 655 00:25:31,010 --> 00:25:32,019 Yeah, I'm 16." 656 00:25:32,021 --> 00:25:34,007 narrator: According to New Jersey law, 657 00:25:34,009 --> 00:25:35,023 employees had to be 16 years old 658 00:25:36,001 --> 00:25:37,017 in order to operate rides. 659 00:25:37,019 --> 00:25:40,019 According to local newspapers, kids as young as 14 660 00:25:40,021 --> 00:25:43,005 were, in fact, working in these roles. 661 00:25:43,007 --> 00:25:46,004 - They were kids. They were teenagers. 662 00:25:46,006 --> 00:25:49,003 So I'm sure their priorities were on, like, hooking up 663 00:25:49,005 --> 00:25:50,011 and getting fucked up. 664 00:25:50,013 --> 00:25:52,018 - There was romance between everybody. 665 00:25:52,020 --> 00:25:56,002 They were teenagers, horny teenagers. 666 00:25:56,004 --> 00:25:57,019 - At the top of the Alpine Slide, 667 00:25:57,021 --> 00:25:59,014 we had a shack, like, where we kept 668 00:25:59,016 --> 00:26:00,023 our employee carts, 669 00:26:01,001 --> 00:26:02,015 where you would put your backpacks, 670 00:26:02,017 --> 00:26:03,022 where you kept your water. 671 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:05,003 People would go in the shed 672 00:26:05,005 --> 00:26:06,015 to smoke weed and have sex. 673 00:26:06,017 --> 00:26:08,015 That's what they would do in that shed. 674 00:26:08,017 --> 00:26:11,010 Why anybody would want to have sex in there, I can't fathom, 675 00:26:11,012 --> 00:26:15,009 because it was always, like, 95,000 degrees in that thing. 676 00:26:15,011 --> 00:26:18,016 And it always stunk like dirty backpacks, 677 00:26:18,018 --> 00:26:21,014 feet, weed, and just ball sweat. 678 00:26:21,016 --> 00:26:24,001 - There are definitely people who worked at Action Park 679 00:26:24,003 --> 00:26:25,023 who have stories about that's the first time they fingered 680 00:26:26,001 --> 00:26:27,013 and/or got fingered. 681 00:26:27,015 --> 00:26:29,000 Like, clearly, a lot of fingering 682 00:26:29,002 --> 00:26:30,013 going on after hours, I would imagine. 683 00:26:30,015 --> 00:26:32,003 There's a child who was conceived 684 00:26:32,005 --> 00:26:33,015 at Action Park, right? 685 00:26:33,017 --> 00:26:35,000 There's some kid who's, like-- 686 00:26:35,002 --> 00:26:36,015 you know, his name's Adam Peter 687 00:26:36,017 --> 00:26:38,018 'cause his initials are AP 'cause he got conceived 688 00:26:38,020 --> 00:26:41,021 down behind the bumper boats on one hot summer eve. 689 00:26:41,023 --> 00:26:45,008 - Now, I was a good girl, so I wasn't really involved 690 00:26:45,010 --> 00:26:48,016 in much of the shenanigans that took place. 691 00:26:48,018 --> 00:26:53,012 But there were parties that I heard about. 692 00:26:53,014 --> 00:26:55,023 I may have attended one. 693 00:26:56,001 --> 00:26:57,019 narrator: The Action Park employee parties 694 00:26:57,021 --> 00:27:00,015 became the stuff of New Jersey legend. 695 00:27:00,017 --> 00:27:02,001 - [shouts] 696 00:27:02,003 --> 00:27:03,017 - We would save all the money we found 697 00:27:03,019 --> 00:27:06,002 in the pools over the course of the summer, 698 00:27:06,004 --> 00:27:07,017 and at the end of the summer, 699 00:27:07,019 --> 00:27:10,015 one huge all-night bash right up in Water World 700 00:27:10,017 --> 00:27:13,004 called the kamanawanalea party. 701 00:27:13,006 --> 00:27:15,022 - Everyone stayed over, so no one was driving, 702 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:17,013 but that was back in the days 703 00:27:17,015 --> 00:27:19,013 when you could get away with stuff like that. 704 00:27:19,015 --> 00:27:22,002 - You'd find anyplace you could find to sleep-- 705 00:27:22,004 --> 00:27:24,008 on the mats, under the umbrellas, 706 00:27:24,010 --> 00:27:25,023 on the picnic tables. 707 00:27:26,001 --> 00:27:28,009 Some days, we'd wake up after the kamanawanalea party, 708 00:27:28,011 --> 00:27:29,021 we'd put our shorts on, 709 00:27:29,023 --> 00:27:31,008 put the whistle round our neck, 710 00:27:31,010 --> 00:27:33,001 and find our way to the lifeguard chair 711 00:27:33,003 --> 00:27:34,016 as soon as we could. 712 00:27:34,018 --> 00:27:38,020 [soft music] 713 00:27:38,022 --> 00:27:41,016 narrator: Of course, leadership comes from the top. 714 00:27:41,018 --> 00:27:44,001 And Action Park's free-for-all atmosphere 715 00:27:44,003 --> 00:27:46,019 was inspired by Gene Mulvihill's disdain 716 00:27:46,021 --> 00:27:49,014 for rules of any kind. 717 00:27:49,016 --> 00:27:51,008 - We called him Uncle Gene 718 00:27:51,010 --> 00:27:55,001 because he actually did have a lot of endearing qualities. 719 00:27:55,003 --> 00:27:58,006 I mean, he was always out and around in the park. 720 00:27:58,008 --> 00:28:01,021 You know, he was a very personable guy to talk to. 721 00:28:01,023 --> 00:28:04,005 - So I go in his office one day for a meeting, 722 00:28:04,007 --> 00:28:05,022 and he has a cattle prod. 723 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,002 And he goes, "Joe, I can't do this anymore." 724 00:28:09,004 --> 00:28:11,007 And he takes the cattle prod. 725 00:28:11,009 --> 00:28:13,016 He puts it to his chest, 726 00:28:13,018 --> 00:28:16,006 and he hits the button, and the thing goes boom! 727 00:28:16,008 --> 00:28:20,006 And I get so freaked out that I'm like, "Oh, my God." 728 00:28:20,008 --> 00:28:22,012 He starts laughing hysterically, 729 00:28:22,014 --> 00:28:24,015 and at that point, he basically goes, like, 730 00:28:24,017 --> 00:28:26,017 "Don't get nervous. It's fake." 731 00:28:26,019 --> 00:28:29,006 And then he pitches me an idea. 732 00:28:29,008 --> 00:28:31,011 "Joe, the people sneak on the lift. 733 00:28:31,013 --> 00:28:33,006 "And they go on the lift without tickets, 734 00:28:33,008 --> 00:28:35,011 "and we want to make sure they all have tickets. 735 00:28:35,013 --> 00:28:39,004 "So what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna get the cattle prod, 736 00:28:39,006 --> 00:28:40,023 "and I'm gonna stand by the lift. 737 00:28:41,001 --> 00:28:43,003 "We got to get one of those real dirty-looking kids 738 00:28:43,005 --> 00:28:44,017 "that work down in the train park. 739 00:28:44,019 --> 00:28:45,022 "I'll be working the lift, 740 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:47,003 "and when they come up, I'll go, 741 00:28:47,005 --> 00:28:48,015 "'Hey, where's your ticket?' 742 00:28:48,017 --> 00:28:50,009 "And they'll say, 'I don't have a ticket.' 743 00:28:50,011 --> 00:28:53,011 "I'll take out the cattle prod, I'll hit him, 744 00:28:53,013 --> 00:28:55,019 "he'll pass out like he's dead, 745 00:28:55,021 --> 00:28:58,007 "and then we'll have patrol come drag him away, 746 00:28:58,009 --> 00:28:59,016 "and then everyone will know 747 00:28:59,018 --> 00:29:01,006 not to come here without a ticket." 748 00:29:01,008 --> 00:29:04,018 I laughed like, "Gene, that's some idea." 749 00:29:04,020 --> 00:29:07,002 While I was out of town, I get a phone call 750 00:29:07,004 --> 00:29:09,014 from the person who runs guest services to say, 751 00:29:09,016 --> 00:29:11,004 "We have an issue. 752 00:29:11,006 --> 00:29:13,005 "We have hundreds of parents who are calling 753 00:29:13,007 --> 00:29:14,023 "who are very upset 754 00:29:15,001 --> 00:29:18,004 "because they saw someone who works lift today kill someone 755 00:29:18,006 --> 00:29:20,012 because they didn't have a lift pass." 756 00:29:20,014 --> 00:29:22,013 - I had a friend of mine that had worked there 757 00:29:22,015 --> 00:29:25,005 for couple seasons, and he had told me 758 00:29:25,007 --> 00:29:28,012 that Gene Mulvihill had a MAC-10 machine gun 759 00:29:28,014 --> 00:29:30,019 that he kept in his office drawer. 760 00:29:30,021 --> 00:29:32,008 ♪ ♪ 761 00:29:32,010 --> 00:29:34,013 - He was far and away 762 00:29:34,015 --> 00:29:37,008 the most unique character I've met in my lifetime. 763 00:29:37,010 --> 00:29:41,012 He was big and loud and full of ideas. 764 00:29:41,014 --> 00:29:45,008 Probably 90% of those ideas were just so crazy 765 00:29:45,010 --> 00:29:47,011 and off the wall that nobody would get near him, 766 00:29:47,013 --> 00:29:50,002 and the other 10% were pretty close to that. 767 00:29:50,004 --> 00:29:54,000 And we actually made a lot of those ideas happen. 768 00:29:54,002 --> 00:29:55,017 narrator: Gene's rule-bending antics 769 00:29:55,019 --> 00:29:57,015 may have been common on Wall Street, 770 00:29:57,017 --> 00:29:59,004 but in this small town, 771 00:29:59,006 --> 00:30:01,001 the locals had no idea how to handle him. 772 00:30:01,003 --> 00:30:03,008 - Well, they obviously didn't know 773 00:30:03,010 --> 00:30:06,023 Gene Mulvihill's personality until they got to know him. 774 00:30:07,001 --> 00:30:10,009 But Vernon is a little bit of a mixed bag. 775 00:30:10,011 --> 00:30:12,021 There were those who embraced 776 00:30:12,023 --> 00:30:15,006 someone like Gene Mulvihill with open arms, 777 00:30:15,008 --> 00:30:17,004 and there were those who hated him 778 00:30:17,006 --> 00:30:21,008 because they see him as having destroyed 779 00:30:21,010 --> 00:30:26,017 our beautiful, bucolic, sleepy little town with his resorts. 780 00:31:09,009 --> 00:31:11,010 - The man could wear a suit in 90-degree heat. 781 00:31:11,012 --> 00:31:12,020 I had no idea how he did that. 782 00:31:12,022 --> 00:31:14,013 He just was a-- he was a cool dude. 783 00:31:14,015 --> 00:31:17,005 - I think he was a piece of shit. 784 00:31:18,006 --> 00:31:20,002 narrator: Action Park's growing reputation 785 00:31:20,004 --> 00:31:21,022 posed an important question: 786 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:23,022 what insurance company would dare cover 787 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,015 this creatively designed park? 788 00:31:26,017 --> 00:31:29,006 - Gene didn't believe in the concept of insurance. 789 00:31:29,008 --> 00:31:31,019 He thought if you got hurt, you should be responsible. 790 00:31:31,021 --> 00:31:33,014 He shouldn't have to pay an insurance company. 791 00:31:33,016 --> 00:31:36,005 However, he needed insurance to stay in business. 792 00:31:36,007 --> 00:31:38,003 It was part of the terms of his lease. 793 00:31:38,005 --> 00:31:39,019 So he had a work-around. 794 00:31:39,021 --> 00:31:42,001 narrator: He created his own fake insurance company 795 00:31:42,003 --> 00:31:43,016 based in the Cayman Islands. 796 00:31:43,018 --> 00:31:45,004 Its name? 797 00:31:45,006 --> 00:31:47,004 The very real and very legitimate-sounding 798 00:31:47,006 --> 00:31:49,019 London and World Assurance. 799 00:31:49,021 --> 00:31:53,014 - This company's documents were very, very homemade. 800 00:31:53,016 --> 00:31:56,008 They looked like they were ginned up in a basement. 801 00:31:56,010 --> 00:31:58,001 The letterhead was not official. 802 00:31:58,003 --> 00:32:00,004 Might as well have been on napkins. 803 00:32:00,006 --> 00:32:01,021 narrator: Gene was, if nothing else, 804 00:32:01,023 --> 00:32:03,012 efficient with his schemes. 805 00:32:03,014 --> 00:32:05,008 And so his fake insurance company 806 00:32:05,010 --> 00:32:07,020 wasn't just used to avoid paying for insurance. 807 00:32:07,022 --> 00:32:11,014 It also became a vessel for him to launder money. 808 00:32:11,016 --> 00:32:13,020 - I said, "We can't do that." 809 00:32:13,022 --> 00:32:16,004 And he said, "Why can't we do that?" 810 00:32:16,006 --> 00:32:18,010 And I said, "Because the state says we can't do that." 811 00:32:18,012 --> 00:32:20,006 And he goes, "Well, who the hell are they? 812 00:32:20,008 --> 00:32:21,019 They can't shut us down." 813 00:32:21,021 --> 00:32:24,014 And I said, "Well, actually, yes, yes, they can." 814 00:32:24,016 --> 00:32:26,008 narrator: These crimes would attract 815 00:32:26,010 --> 00:32:27,019 the attention of the state and eventually lead 816 00:32:27,021 --> 00:32:29,012 to a large-scale investigation, 817 00:32:29,014 --> 00:32:33,000 three-day hearing, and a 110-count indictment. 818 00:32:33,002 --> 00:32:34,010 - Top officials 819 00:32:34,012 --> 00:32:36,004 from the Vernon Valley Recreation Association 820 00:32:36,006 --> 00:32:37,016 today refused to testify 821 00:32:37,018 --> 00:32:39,012 before the State Commission of Investigation. 822 00:32:39,014 --> 00:32:43,010 Gene Mulvihill did not appear, citing client privilege. 823 00:32:43,012 --> 00:32:45,005 narrator: The outcome? 824 00:32:45,007 --> 00:32:47,017 Gene pled guilty to counts of fraud, 825 00:32:47,019 --> 00:32:49,018 theft, and conspiracy 826 00:32:49,020 --> 00:32:52,005 and was ordered to give up control of Action Park, 827 00:32:52,007 --> 00:32:54,009 which was partially on state land. 828 00:32:54,011 --> 00:32:57,015 But to Gene, that would not do. 829 00:32:57,017 --> 00:32:59,019 So he came up with yet another scheme. 830 00:32:59,021 --> 00:33:03,000 He decided to become the worst tenant he could. 831 00:33:03,002 --> 00:33:05,016 He stopped paying bills and filing paperwork. 832 00:33:05,018 --> 00:33:08,001 He basically did everything he could 833 00:33:08,003 --> 00:33:10,020 to antagonize his landlord state. 834 00:33:10,022 --> 00:33:13,000 - The SCI accusing Vernon Valley 835 00:33:13,002 --> 00:33:16,012 of "arrogantly violating its agreement with the state 836 00:33:16,014 --> 00:33:18,009 to lease land for the ski resort." 837 00:33:18,011 --> 00:33:20,009 Vernon Valley allegedly diverted funds 838 00:33:20,011 --> 00:33:21,018 to avoid paying the state 839 00:33:21,020 --> 00:33:24,009 several hundred thousand dollars in rent. 840 00:33:24,011 --> 00:33:27,004 The SCI probe also disclosed Vernon Valley 841 00:33:27,006 --> 00:33:29,003 created a phony insurance company 842 00:33:29,005 --> 00:33:30,020 to avoid premium payments 843 00:33:30,022 --> 00:33:33,000 and changed the terrain of the ski resort 844 00:33:33,002 --> 00:33:34,016 without obtaining permission. 845 00:33:34,018 --> 00:33:36,004 narrator: And it worked. 846 00:33:36,006 --> 00:33:38,008 New Jersey got so fed up with Gene 847 00:33:38,010 --> 00:33:40,006 that they decided to sell him the land 848 00:33:40,008 --> 00:33:42,018 for just over $800,000 849 00:33:42,020 --> 00:33:45,001 just to get him off their backs. 850 00:33:45,003 --> 00:33:48,008 Gene was free from the pesky state of New Jersey. 851 00:33:48,010 --> 00:33:51,021 And so Action Park continued to expand and grow. 852 00:33:51,023 --> 00:33:54,014 And anytime Gene needed cash for a new ride, 853 00:33:54,016 --> 00:33:57,007 his buddy Bob Brennan was waiting in the wings 854 00:33:57,009 --> 00:33:59,023 to support Gene's wild ideas. 855 00:34:00,001 --> 00:34:02,003 - Excellence always succeeds. 856 00:34:02,005 --> 00:34:03,014 When you have an excellent facility 857 00:34:03,016 --> 00:34:05,014 run by extraordinary people, 858 00:34:05,016 --> 00:34:07,019 you're able to bring out the fans, 859 00:34:07,021 --> 00:34:09,017 and the facility does well. 860 00:34:09,019 --> 00:34:12,004 [rock music] 861 00:34:12,006 --> 00:34:13,023 narrator: But things really started to take off 862 00:34:14,001 --> 00:34:16,014 when Gene started running TV ads 863 00:34:16,016 --> 00:34:18,003 created by his daughter 864 00:34:18,005 --> 00:34:20,007 and starring the park's teenage employees. 865 00:34:20,009 --> 00:34:23,020 - Just go to Action Park. There's no other park like it. 866 00:34:23,022 --> 00:34:25,018 - When it's hot out, this is a great place 867 00:34:25,020 --> 00:34:27,013 to spend the day with your family. 868 00:34:27,015 --> 00:34:30,006 - Race like a pro. It's great. 869 00:34:30,008 --> 00:34:32,010 - These are the most amazing rides in the world. 870 00:34:32,012 --> 00:34:33,022 I love it here. 871 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,006 - ♪ There's nothing in the world ♪ 872 00:34:35,008 --> 00:34:37,016 ♪ Like Action Park ♪ 873 00:34:37,018 --> 00:34:39,020 It's absolutely insane! 874 00:34:39,022 --> 00:34:42,021 [upbeat music] 875 00:34:42,023 --> 00:34:44,009 ♪ ♪ 876 00:34:44,011 --> 00:34:46,005 narrator: A lot of Gene's ride ideas 877 00:34:46,007 --> 00:34:48,002 took inspiration from natural settings 878 00:34:48,004 --> 00:34:51,004 and environments that he grew up playing in. 879 00:34:51,006 --> 00:34:53,017 His thinking was, if kids couldn't make it 880 00:34:53,019 --> 00:34:56,018 to real nature, he'd create the next best thing. 881 00:34:56,020 --> 00:34:59,001 How else to explain an amusement park 882 00:34:59,003 --> 00:35:03,008 that lets six-year-olds jump off a 20-foot cliff? 883 00:35:03,010 --> 00:35:10,004 ♪ ♪ 884 00:35:10,006 --> 00:35:13,007 - They also had a slide you could slide off 885 00:35:13,009 --> 00:35:14,021 of the same cliff into that water. 886 00:35:14,023 --> 00:35:16,019 - So the slide version of the Cliff Dive, 887 00:35:16,021 --> 00:35:19,004 I think, was also really good for people 888 00:35:19,006 --> 00:35:22,003 who wanted to treat it like a ride mentally 889 00:35:22,005 --> 00:35:23,016 and didn't want to know the feeling 890 00:35:23,018 --> 00:35:25,009 of committing suicide. 891 00:35:25,011 --> 00:35:27,020 - I remember being on the diving cliff looking down, 892 00:35:27,022 --> 00:35:30,011 being scared out of my life, and to add to that, 893 00:35:30,013 --> 00:35:32,005 there were people right down below, 894 00:35:32,007 --> 00:35:35,023 and they had no idea you were about to jump. 895 00:35:36,001 --> 00:35:38,009 - Conceivably, if you just wanted to chill out 896 00:35:38,011 --> 00:35:41,007 for a minute from all the action of Action Park, 897 00:35:41,009 --> 00:35:43,006 you could just hang out there. 898 00:35:43,008 --> 00:35:44,023 You could be minding your own business, 899 00:35:45,001 --> 00:35:46,022 and somebody could land right on top of you 900 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,014 without any warning. 901 00:35:48,016 --> 00:35:50,018 So it was not actually a chill-out area at all. 902 00:35:50,020 --> 00:35:53,014 - You could do it safely, but people didn't. 903 00:35:53,016 --> 00:35:55,017 You know, people just didn't listen. 904 00:35:55,019 --> 00:35:58,003 They would jump stupidly. They would slip and fall. 905 00:35:58,005 --> 00:36:00,011 - And people would jump, and the lifeguards always told you 906 00:36:00,013 --> 00:36:02,005 to cross your arms over your chest, 907 00:36:02,007 --> 00:36:04,001 but people didn't listen, 908 00:36:04,003 --> 00:36:05,020 and they would land on the water like this, 909 00:36:05,022 --> 00:36:07,011 and their arms would get thrown up, 910 00:36:07,013 --> 00:36:09,006 and they'd dislocate their shoulder. 911 00:36:09,008 --> 00:36:11,010 So you'd see somebody coming out of the water, 912 00:36:11,012 --> 00:36:12,016 and one shoulder's, like, 913 00:36:12,018 --> 00:36:14,022 six inches lower than the other one. 914 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,023 And their arm would just be, like, hanging. 915 00:36:18,001 --> 00:36:19,018 narrator: The floor of the pool below the cliff 916 00:36:19,020 --> 00:36:21,020 was eventually painted white to make it easier 917 00:36:21,022 --> 00:36:25,008 for lifeguards to spot any bodies below. 918 00:36:25,010 --> 00:36:28,019 [exciting music] 919 00:36:28,021 --> 00:36:30,010 And this wasn't the only attraction 920 00:36:30,012 --> 00:36:31,022 that was to feature cliffs. 921 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,020 The original concept for Surf Hill, 922 00:36:33,022 --> 00:36:36,016 which was basically a giant Slip 'N Slide on a mountain, 923 00:36:36,018 --> 00:36:38,023 was to have guests jump off a cliff 924 00:36:39,001 --> 00:36:40,017 before the mat would catch them. 925 00:36:40,019 --> 00:36:44,005 This idea was abandoned due to space limitations. 926 00:36:44,007 --> 00:36:47,009 - Staff members started building up the jump 927 00:36:47,011 --> 00:36:49,005 by sliding the mats underneath, 928 00:36:49,007 --> 00:36:51,005 making it bigger and bigger and bigger, 929 00:36:51,007 --> 00:36:54,006 until eventually one of the guests got seriously injured. 930 00:36:54,008 --> 00:36:56,019 We had been told the person broke his neck. 931 00:36:56,021 --> 00:36:58,011 [cheers and laughter] 932 00:36:58,013 --> 00:37:00,011 [indistinct shouting] 933 00:37:00,013 --> 00:37:03,019 [people cheering and whistling] 934 00:37:06,002 --> 00:37:08,007 narrator: Roaring Springs was an expansive collection 935 00:37:08,009 --> 00:37:11,014 of tube rides designed to mimic the experience 936 00:37:11,016 --> 00:37:13,018 of a mountain swimming hole. 937 00:37:13,020 --> 00:37:16,003 - I remember this guy coming up behind me. 938 00:37:16,005 --> 00:37:19,008 He hit my tube right before the tunnel, 939 00:37:19,010 --> 00:37:20,023 and I went off to the side, 940 00:37:21,001 --> 00:37:24,022 and I slammed my head into the center of this tube 941 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,000 that you were meant to go through. 942 00:37:27,002 --> 00:37:30,003 - Some of the padding had got torn away and exposed a bolt, 943 00:37:30,005 --> 00:37:32,003 and one of the guests came down, 944 00:37:32,005 --> 00:37:33,021 and they basically got impaled on the bolt, 945 00:37:33,023 --> 00:37:36,013 and it tore a nice gash through their midsection, 946 00:37:36,015 --> 00:37:39,007 and they had to be evacuated off the ride. 947 00:37:39,009 --> 00:37:41,002 - Those ride attendants, 948 00:37:41,004 --> 00:37:44,002 they spent their time twisting their whistles 949 00:37:44,004 --> 00:37:48,011 and then just going, "Go, go, go." 950 00:37:48,013 --> 00:37:52,007 And a lot of the time, those tubes would bunch up. 951 00:37:52,009 --> 00:37:54,009 And then what happens when you get to the bottom 952 00:37:54,011 --> 00:37:56,009 when you have to squeeze into a particular area? 953 00:37:56,011 --> 00:37:57,020 People were crashing into each other, 954 00:37:57,022 --> 00:37:59,008 slamming on top of each other. 955 00:37:59,010 --> 00:38:00,013 One person would be in the water. 956 00:38:00,015 --> 00:38:02,004 The next person coming down 957 00:38:02,006 --> 00:38:04,001 would then dunk the next person and go under. 958 00:38:04,003 --> 00:38:06,016 And if you couldn't swim well, yikes. 959 00:38:06,018 --> 00:38:08,021 - [laughs] 960 00:38:08,023 --> 00:38:11,010 CFS stood for "can't fucking swim." 961 00:38:11,012 --> 00:38:14,011 - Security guys, lifeguards, they carried Sharpies. 962 00:38:14,013 --> 00:38:16,005 Action Park gave out daily wristbands, 963 00:38:16,007 --> 00:38:19,020 and they would write "CFS" on the wristband. 964 00:38:19,022 --> 00:38:21,016 If someone had CFS on their wristband, 965 00:38:21,018 --> 00:38:24,000 that means they probably had gotten saved already 966 00:38:24,002 --> 00:38:25,015 at some point in the day, 967 00:38:25,017 --> 00:38:28,021 and it was a warning to other people. 968 00:38:28,023 --> 00:38:30,012 Like, if CFS was on your wristband 969 00:38:30,014 --> 00:38:32,009 and you knew you couldn't swim, 970 00:38:32,011 --> 00:38:34,013 what the hell are you doing jumping off a 20-foot cliff 971 00:38:34,015 --> 00:38:36,015 into a deep pool of water? 972 00:38:36,017 --> 00:38:38,021 But people just--you know, they thought, like, 973 00:38:38,023 --> 00:38:41,000 this was some magical place where all of a sudden, 974 00:38:41,002 --> 00:38:43,011 they would have the ability to swim. 975 00:38:43,013 --> 00:38:44,021 - We should talk about that other ride 976 00:38:44,023 --> 00:38:46,006 that's right near there, 977 00:38:46,008 --> 00:38:49,000 the Colorado River Ride. 978 00:38:49,002 --> 00:38:51,000 Holy shit, dude. 979 00:38:51,002 --> 00:38:54,009 I will say everybody talks about Tarzan Swing. 980 00:38:54,011 --> 00:38:57,012 Cliff Dive, Cannonball Falls, you hear about those. 981 00:38:57,014 --> 00:38:59,010 Colorado River Ride may have been 982 00:38:59,012 --> 00:39:01,009 the most underrated dangerous ride. 983 00:39:01,011 --> 00:39:03,017 - You would load in, and they would just let 984 00:39:03,019 --> 00:39:05,022 the laws of physics take over from there, 985 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,020 which sometimes meant that you would fly really fast 986 00:39:08,022 --> 00:39:12,002 and also sometimes meant that you would get stuck 987 00:39:12,004 --> 00:39:13,016 at certain points of the ride 988 00:39:13,018 --> 00:39:15,018 that they hadn't designed all that well, 989 00:39:15,020 --> 00:39:19,005 and then you would get punted by another tube. 990 00:39:19,007 --> 00:39:21,018 - That thing was just a fucking whiplash machine. 991 00:39:21,020 --> 00:39:23,008 You're going up on the side. 992 00:39:23,010 --> 00:39:25,016 Your raft is getting stuck on the wall. 993 00:39:25,018 --> 00:39:28,003 You have to all team up and push off the wall, 994 00:39:28,005 --> 00:39:29,011 and now you're going backwards. 995 00:39:29,013 --> 00:39:30,021 Like, this is clearly not-- 996 00:39:30,023 --> 00:39:34,006 there's no rhyme or reason in this. 997 00:39:34,008 --> 00:39:36,006 narrator: The Colorado River Ride 998 00:39:36,008 --> 00:39:38,020 actually began life as a lazy-river ride. 999 00:39:38,022 --> 00:39:41,007 But during construction, Gene decided 1000 00:39:41,009 --> 00:39:44,023 he wanted a realistic simulation of Class IV rapids. 1001 00:39:45,001 --> 00:39:48,019 Early test pilots reportedly came out unconscious, 1002 00:39:48,021 --> 00:39:52,005 forcing him to turn down the ride's intensity. 1003 00:39:52,007 --> 00:39:56,001 - There was one section where tubes tended to go 1004 00:39:56,003 --> 00:39:57,020 right up an embankment, 1005 00:39:57,022 --> 00:40:00,003 and everyone was looking at it expectantly, 1006 00:40:00,005 --> 00:40:03,003 waiting for them to fly over the side. 1007 00:40:03,005 --> 00:40:07,011 You would hear people audibly go, "Oh...aw," 1008 00:40:07,013 --> 00:40:10,001 when they didn't actually fall to their doom. 1009 00:40:10,003 --> 00:40:13,001 - I mean, we're holding on, getting slammed into stuff, 1010 00:40:13,003 --> 00:40:14,015 the thing's getting stuck, we have to kind of 1011 00:40:14,017 --> 00:40:16,005 stick our own legs out and push our way off, 1012 00:40:16,007 --> 00:40:18,012 and then we go past a lifeguard chair that, 1013 00:40:18,014 --> 00:40:21,003 you guessed it, is empty. 1014 00:40:21,005 --> 00:40:24,008 Nobody there keeping an eye on anything. 1015 00:40:24,010 --> 00:40:27,003 - Gene got involved during the construction process, 1016 00:40:27,005 --> 00:40:29,011 and he said...[as Gene] "Look, when you go down 1017 00:40:29,013 --> 00:40:31,003 "the Colorado River in a raft, 1018 00:40:31,005 --> 00:40:33,009 "there's not some guy in a lifeguard shirt 1019 00:40:33,011 --> 00:40:35,016 pushing your raft down the river." 1020 00:40:35,018 --> 00:40:37,012 [normally] And I said, "Look, Gene, 1021 00:40:37,014 --> 00:40:39,005 "this is not the Colorado River. 1022 00:40:39,007 --> 00:40:40,015 It's a water park." 1023 00:40:40,017 --> 00:40:43,013 [indistinct shouting] 1024 00:40:43,015 --> 00:40:45,019 - A lot of fights on the Colorado River Ride 1025 00:40:45,021 --> 00:40:47,009 for the dumbest thing ever-- 1026 00:40:47,011 --> 00:40:49,019 you know, rafts bumping into each other. 1027 00:40:49,021 --> 00:40:52,020 And then people would get out and just start having at it. 1028 00:40:52,022 --> 00:40:55,005 Some of the worst fights we had were people standing 1029 00:40:55,007 --> 00:40:57,020 in the Colorado River Ride punching each other. 1030 00:40:57,022 --> 00:40:59,008 It was just dumb. 1031 00:40:59,010 --> 00:41:00,020 You would be like, "Really? Why here?" 1032 00:41:00,022 --> 00:41:02,021 - There's morons in the pool with us, 1033 00:41:02,023 --> 00:41:04,014 morons in the pool with us. 1034 00:41:04,016 --> 00:41:07,005 narrator: Action Park was like the movie "The Purge." 1035 00:41:07,007 --> 00:41:09,012 Thousands of kids with pent-up aggression 1036 00:41:09,014 --> 00:41:12,007 and a healthy dose of alcohol were given a space 1037 00:41:12,009 --> 00:41:15,008 where they could do whatever they wanted. 1038 00:41:15,010 --> 00:41:17,020 - You know when you were at pool parties or things 1039 00:41:17,022 --> 00:41:20,002 when you were a kid and there was always those idiots 1040 00:41:20,004 --> 00:41:22,013 who were like, "Let's jump in the pool off the roof! 1041 00:41:22,015 --> 00:41:23,020 "No, let's get higher! 1042 00:41:23,022 --> 00:41:25,015 Let's do the second-story roof!" 1043 00:41:25,017 --> 00:41:27,019 And you're always--you know, you're kind of on board for it, 1044 00:41:27,021 --> 00:41:29,008 but then at one point, you're like, 1045 00:41:29,010 --> 00:41:30,021 "Ah, I got to pull out at this point. 1046 00:41:30,023 --> 00:41:32,012 This is where it's getting too dangerous." 1047 00:41:32,014 --> 00:41:34,018 It was all those kids in one park with no rules. 1048 00:41:34,020 --> 00:41:36,002 There were no rules. 1049 00:41:36,004 --> 00:41:39,007 And for a lot of kids, that was heaven. 1050 00:41:39,009 --> 00:41:41,019 - Action Park was basically the only water park 1051 00:41:41,021 --> 00:41:44,005 within the New York City area. 1052 00:41:44,007 --> 00:41:47,000 And it was a place that filled a void for people 1053 00:41:47,002 --> 00:41:48,013 who weren't spending 1054 00:41:48,015 --> 00:41:50,001 their summer vacation at a beach house. 1055 00:41:50,003 --> 00:41:51,018 They weren't going to Cape Cod. 1056 00:41:51,020 --> 00:41:53,002 They weren't going to Florida. 1057 00:41:53,004 --> 00:41:55,000 They were going to Action Park. 1058 00:41:55,002 --> 00:41:57,013 And I think because of that, it might've attracted 1059 00:41:57,015 --> 00:42:02,006 a more, say, working-class clientele. 1060 00:42:02,008 --> 00:42:05,022 [soft music] 1061 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:07,019 narrator: The more news reports warned people 1062 00:42:07,021 --> 00:42:10,000 about Action Park's potential danger, 1063 00:42:10,002 --> 00:42:13,017 the more adrenaline-fueled teenagers flocked to it. 1064 00:42:13,019 --> 00:42:16,018 It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. 1065 00:42:16,020 --> 00:42:19,014 In a world filled with people telling you no, 1066 00:42:19,016 --> 00:42:24,010 Action Park became known as the land of yes. 1067 00:42:24,012 --> 00:42:26,000 - I'd work the front of the lot 1068 00:42:26,002 --> 00:42:27,017 to let people know the lot was full. 1069 00:42:27,019 --> 00:42:29,016 And what would happen is, people would come 1070 00:42:29,018 --> 00:42:31,020 to try to get in the lot after it was full. 1071 00:42:31,022 --> 00:42:34,016 And one of the ways they would try to get in is, they'd say, 1072 00:42:34,018 --> 00:42:37,009 "Hey, I'm from New York City." 1073 00:42:37,011 --> 00:42:39,011 And I don't know what they meant by that, 1074 00:42:39,013 --> 00:42:42,000 but I think they didn't realize 1075 00:42:42,002 --> 00:42:44,015 that everyone here was from New York City. 1076 00:42:44,017 --> 00:42:47,017 So as a 14-year-old, I'd say, "Oh, my God. 1077 00:42:47,019 --> 00:42:49,005 "Are there big buildings? 1078 00:42:49,007 --> 00:42:50,020 "What is it like there? 1079 00:42:50,022 --> 00:42:53,015 You think one day, I can go there?" 1080 00:42:53,017 --> 00:42:55,015 - There were a lot of people that came up there, 1081 00:42:55,017 --> 00:42:58,023 usually younger guys, that were just coming up there 1082 00:42:59,001 --> 00:43:01,001 for the idea of starting trouble. 1083 00:43:01,003 --> 00:43:03,013 - It didn't always bring the best. 1084 00:43:03,015 --> 00:43:06,008 It did bring sometimes a criminal element. 1085 00:43:06,010 --> 00:43:09,004 I once heard a police officer tell me 1086 00:43:09,006 --> 00:43:12,008 the majority of their calls during the day 1087 00:43:12,010 --> 00:43:14,013 were for Action Park. 1088 00:43:14,015 --> 00:43:16,011 - There were a lot of fights at Action Park. 1089 00:43:16,013 --> 00:43:20,015 You know, hot, in the sun, lots of places to buy alcohol, 1090 00:43:20,017 --> 00:43:22,012 people that don't know any restraint. 1091 00:43:22,014 --> 00:43:24,010 - Trying to start fights with each other, 1092 00:43:24,012 --> 00:43:27,009 trying to start fights with the ride attendants, 1093 00:43:27,011 --> 00:43:30,021 pulling the ride attendants into the rides themselves. 1094 00:43:30,023 --> 00:43:32,016 - We used to call it a Code Brown. 1095 00:43:32,018 --> 00:43:36,008 That was the code for "somebody shit in the pool." 1096 00:43:36,010 --> 00:43:38,015 How angry do you have to be on vacation 1097 00:43:38,017 --> 00:43:40,016 to just shit in a pool? 1098 00:43:40,018 --> 00:43:44,013 - The average customer at Action Park was just insane. 1099 00:43:44,015 --> 00:43:46,008 And they just didn't care half the time, 1100 00:43:46,010 --> 00:43:48,014 and, you know, combine that with liquor, and anything goes. 1101 00:43:48,016 --> 00:43:51,017 [indistinct chatter and shouting] 1102 00:43:51,019 --> 00:43:53,013 - I lived through it, man, I lived through it. 1103 00:43:53,015 --> 00:43:56,006 [indistinct chatter] 1104 00:43:56,008 --> 00:43:58,006 [lively polka music playing] 1105 00:43:58,008 --> 00:44:00,003 - There was a big fest tent. 1106 00:44:00,005 --> 00:44:02,000 That's where the beer used to be. 1107 00:44:02,002 --> 00:44:04,021 And they would have, like, Summerfest, Oktoberfest. 1108 00:44:04,023 --> 00:44:07,015 - My father was crazy for that kind of stuff. 1109 00:44:07,017 --> 00:44:09,019 I mean, we had a German brewer. 1110 00:44:09,021 --> 00:44:12,012 We had a German baker. We had German bands. 1111 00:44:12,014 --> 00:44:14,017 - And I remember them doing a big Polish festival, 1112 00:44:14,019 --> 00:44:16,017 Irish festival, German festival. 1113 00:44:16,019 --> 00:44:20,002 - Anything you could put the word "fest" on the end of it, 1114 00:44:20,004 --> 00:44:21,014 Action Park did it. 1115 00:44:21,016 --> 00:44:23,009 And they were kind of free-for-alls. 1116 00:44:23,011 --> 00:44:27,012 - Jump, jump, jump, jump! Come on, jump, jump! 1117 00:44:27,014 --> 00:44:30,007 narrator: Gene took this stuff seriously. 1118 00:44:30,009 --> 00:44:32,001 He went so far as to literally 1119 00:44:32,003 --> 00:44:34,014 dismantle an entire brewery from Germany 1120 00:44:34,016 --> 00:44:38,002 and have it sent to New Jersey. 1121 00:44:38,004 --> 00:44:39,018 And during festivals, 1122 00:44:39,020 --> 00:44:42,018 such as Action Park's famed Oktoberfest celebration, 1123 00:44:42,020 --> 00:44:44,019 Gene would be front and center, 1124 00:44:44,021 --> 00:44:48,010 wearing lederhosen and dancing to polka music. 1125 00:44:48,012 --> 00:44:51,011 [upbeat rock music] 1126 00:44:51,013 --> 00:44:54,018 ♪ ♪ 1127 00:44:54,020 --> 00:44:58,010 - Now, anyone who worked at Action Park knew 1128 00:44:58,012 --> 00:45:00,018 Water World was for the daytime, 1129 00:45:00,020 --> 00:45:04,007 and then at some point around 4:00 or 5:00, 1130 00:45:04,009 --> 00:45:08,022 the adults would have a little fun in the bar area, 1131 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:13,003 and then they'd make their way over to Motor World. 1132 00:45:13,005 --> 00:45:14,016 One side of the highway-- 1133 00:45:14,018 --> 00:45:16,020 you have 94 that runs through the middle, 1134 00:45:16,022 --> 00:45:19,002 and you have Water World on one side 1135 00:45:19,004 --> 00:45:21,004 and Motor World on the other side, 1136 00:45:21,006 --> 00:45:23,022 with all the racing cars, the racing boats. 1137 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:27,004 And that was usually after they had a few drinks. 1138 00:45:27,006 --> 00:45:30,005 [steady rock music] 1139 00:45:30,007 --> 00:45:33,013 ♪ ♪ 1140 00:45:33,015 --> 00:45:36,011 - The design was flawed because the Grand Prix cars 1141 00:45:36,013 --> 00:45:37,023 were right next to the beer tent. 1142 00:45:38,001 --> 00:45:40,003 - So at 5:00, guys would come up. 1143 00:45:40,005 --> 00:45:41,019 They'd get a bunch of beers in them. 1144 00:45:41,021 --> 00:45:44,002 They'd go down to Motor World to drive the cars. 1145 00:45:44,004 --> 00:45:45,019 - Out of all the rides, 1146 00:45:45,021 --> 00:45:47,016 my opinion, that's the craziest one 1147 00:45:47,018 --> 00:45:50,007 because it's not the ride attendant's fault, you know? 1148 00:45:50,009 --> 00:45:52,004 You can't always tell if someone's been drinking, 1149 00:45:52,006 --> 00:45:53,015 and if you didn't stink like booze, 1150 00:45:53,017 --> 00:45:55,005 they would never know. 1151 00:45:55,007 --> 00:45:56,019 - Gene said to me one day... 1152 00:45:56,021 --> 00:45:58,010 [as Gene] "You know what we need here? 1153 00:45:58,012 --> 00:46:00,019 "When somebody comes in under 55 seconds, 1154 00:46:00,021 --> 00:46:03,020 "we got to have these girls in bikinis come running out 1155 00:46:03,022 --> 00:46:06,018 "and a huge champagne bottle that pops the top off 1156 00:46:06,020 --> 00:46:09,016 and shoots champagne up in the air." 1157 00:46:09,018 --> 00:46:11,020 [normally] And I was laughing when he said it. 1158 00:46:11,022 --> 00:46:13,020 And I looked at him, and he had a straight face. 1159 00:46:13,022 --> 00:46:16,022 He was dead serious about doing that. 1160 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:18,020 - Occasionally with the LOLA cars, 1161 00:46:18,022 --> 00:46:20,018 we would get a guest that, 1162 00:46:20,020 --> 00:46:22,013 instead of following the course, 1163 00:46:22,015 --> 00:46:24,005 would decide he wanted to make his own course, 1164 00:46:24,007 --> 00:46:26,010 that he would just start driving around on the course, 1165 00:46:26,012 --> 00:46:27,019 drive off the course. 1166 00:46:27,021 --> 00:46:29,013 - I watched a guy go off the track 1167 00:46:29,015 --> 00:46:32,015 and start chasing one of my employees around in the field 1168 00:46:32,017 --> 00:46:34,000 with a LOLA car. 1169 00:46:34,002 --> 00:46:35,013 And so this kid was running around 1170 00:46:35,015 --> 00:46:37,003 kind of like a bullfighter, 1171 00:46:37,005 --> 00:46:38,021 like, trying to make tighter turns 1172 00:46:38,023 --> 00:46:41,012 than the car could make so the car couldn't run him over. 1173 00:46:41,014 --> 00:46:43,000 - I'd heard the employees figured out 1174 00:46:43,002 --> 00:46:45,006 how to override the speed governor 1175 00:46:45,008 --> 00:46:46,017 so that the go-karts could go 1176 00:46:46,019 --> 00:46:48,021 as fast as 50 or 60 miles an hour. 1177 00:46:48,023 --> 00:46:51,016 And I'd heard that they would then take those go-karts 1178 00:46:51,018 --> 00:46:54,007 on the highway that ran through the middle of the park. 1179 00:46:54,009 --> 00:46:57,012 - Yeah, I took a LOLA car on 94. 1180 00:46:57,014 --> 00:46:59,021 It has a top speed of over 60 miles an hour. 1181 00:46:59,023 --> 00:47:02,003 It was worth it. 1182 00:47:02,005 --> 00:47:05,001 [engines roaring, people screaming] 1183 00:47:06,011 --> 00:47:08,021 narrator: Many amusement parks feature bumper boats. 1184 00:47:08,023 --> 00:47:12,011 Action Park had full-on "Miami Vice"-grade speedboats, 1185 00:47:12,013 --> 00:47:15,005 where riders regularly tempted fate 1186 00:47:15,007 --> 00:47:17,000 by treating them like bumper boats, 1187 00:47:17,002 --> 00:47:19,009 a common action that would send many a guest 1188 00:47:19,011 --> 00:47:23,006 tumbling into a pond murky from leaked gas and oil 1189 00:47:23,008 --> 00:47:27,022 and known by employees to be infested with snakes. 1190 00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:29,012 - Like, you'd be driving a power boat, 1191 00:47:29,014 --> 00:47:31,002 and you'd see something slither out 1192 00:47:31,004 --> 00:47:33,002 from, like, in the high grass. 1193 00:47:33,004 --> 00:47:35,006 - Oh, yeah, there were big black snakes. 1194 00:47:35,008 --> 00:47:38,002 Motor World had lagoons and swamp, 1195 00:47:38,004 --> 00:47:39,017 and there must've been four-foot snakes. 1196 00:47:39,019 --> 00:47:42,009 Used to scare the hell out of the New Yorkers. 1197 00:47:42,011 --> 00:47:46,014 - The things would flip, I mean, on a regular basis. 1198 00:47:46,016 --> 00:47:48,006 If I stood there for an hour, 1199 00:47:48,008 --> 00:47:50,005 I could almost guarantee I was gonna see one flip. 1200 00:47:50,007 --> 00:47:52,018 - Well, if you were a lifeguard in Motor World, 1201 00:47:52,020 --> 00:47:54,022 you were being punished for something, for the most part, 1202 00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,005 or you were somebody who didn't know anybody. 1203 00:47:57,007 --> 00:47:59,009 You know, it was not the place you wanted to be. 1204 00:47:59,011 --> 00:48:01,012 - I worked at Speedboats, 1205 00:48:01,014 --> 00:48:04,011 and everyone would get three times around this pond, 1206 00:48:04,013 --> 00:48:08,003 this gas, oily pond... 1207 00:48:08,005 --> 00:48:10,022 [chuckles] That was just loaded with dead fish. 1208 00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:12,010 I remember that. 1209 00:48:12,012 --> 00:48:14,014 One day, we had a group of people. 1210 00:48:14,016 --> 00:48:18,012 I think you had about eight boats going at the same time, 1211 00:48:18,014 --> 00:48:20,010 and they did their three times around, 1212 00:48:20,012 --> 00:48:22,012 and they would throw a red flag. 1213 00:48:22,014 --> 00:48:26,006 And this one gentleman is coming toward the dock, 1214 00:48:26,008 --> 00:48:29,005 and he comes up, flies forward, 1215 00:48:29,007 --> 00:48:31,009 up and over the small dock, 1216 00:48:31,011 --> 00:48:34,019 and on top of this other boat. 1217 00:48:34,021 --> 00:48:37,000 I thought this gentleman was decapitated. 1218 00:48:37,002 --> 00:48:40,016 And I walk over, and I see that he's-- 1219 00:48:40,018 --> 00:48:43,020 you know, he's stuck forward and his neck is bleeding, 1220 00:48:43,022 --> 00:48:45,006 but he's breathing. 1221 00:48:45,008 --> 00:48:49,020 I'm shocked, and I'm afraid that this guy 1222 00:48:49,022 --> 00:48:53,020 is going to get his hair pulled into the prop. 1223 00:48:53,022 --> 00:48:56,006 I remember taking my rod 1224 00:48:56,008 --> 00:48:58,006 and slamming on top of the boat 1225 00:48:58,008 --> 00:49:00,004 to get the guy to let go of the throttle, 1226 00:49:00,006 --> 00:49:02,012 for--you know, for God's sake. 1227 00:49:02,014 --> 00:49:05,015 And the gentleman who was on top of the boat 1228 00:49:05,017 --> 00:49:09,003 just jumps off the ride and just heads to the monorail 1229 00:49:09,005 --> 00:49:11,015 like--as if he hadn't done anything wrong. 1230 00:49:11,017 --> 00:49:13,023 [rock music] 1231 00:49:14,001 --> 00:49:16,003 - One of the coolest attractions 1232 00:49:16,005 --> 00:49:18,019 I've never seen anywhere else, the Battle Tanks, 1233 00:49:18,021 --> 00:49:20,021 you know, kind of homebuilt tanks where you drove around 1234 00:49:20,023 --> 00:49:23,014 and shot tennis balls at each other. 1235 00:49:23,016 --> 00:49:25,014 And if it hit a target on the tank, 1236 00:49:25,016 --> 00:49:27,005 it would be disabled and spin in a circle. 1237 00:49:27,007 --> 00:49:29,001 - I got a call down there one time, 1238 00:49:29,003 --> 00:49:31,000 and one of the guests had gotten hold 1239 00:49:31,002 --> 00:49:34,021 of one of the gas cans, and he poured gasoline 1240 00:49:34,023 --> 00:49:37,011 on his tennis balls and was putting them 1241 00:49:37,013 --> 00:49:40,000 into the air cannon, lighting the balls on fire, 1242 00:49:40,002 --> 00:49:42,011 and was shooting them at the tanks. 1243 00:49:42,013 --> 00:49:45,013 So he wound up getting ejected from the park. 1244 00:49:45,015 --> 00:49:48,014 [serious rock music] 1245 00:49:48,016 --> 00:49:53,015 ♪ ♪ 1246 00:49:53,017 --> 00:49:57,002 - At Action Park, the most dangerous ride, probably, 1247 00:49:57,004 --> 00:50:00,003 from sheer amount of injuries, 1248 00:50:00,005 --> 00:50:02,015 would be the Alpine Slide. 1249 00:50:02,017 --> 00:50:06,008 ♪ ♪ 1250 00:50:06,010 --> 00:50:08,000 - People would get on the chairlift, 1251 00:50:08,002 --> 00:50:10,011 and this was crazy, but they would actually take 1252 00:50:10,013 --> 00:50:12,020 the carts that were on their cart and pull them off 1253 00:50:12,022 --> 00:50:14,019 and throw them off the cart and try to hit people 1254 00:50:14,021 --> 00:50:16,022 that were coming down underneath them. 1255 00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:18,018 - With just a little nudge of your elbow, 1256 00:50:18,020 --> 00:50:21,008 it was pretty easy to knock the cart right off the ski lift 1257 00:50:21,010 --> 00:50:24,019 down on to the track where people are riding the ride. 1258 00:50:24,021 --> 00:50:26,001 - There were some times it happened 1259 00:50:26,003 --> 00:50:27,014 a couple times in a day. 1260 00:50:27,016 --> 00:50:29,016 It certainly happened a few times a week. 1261 00:50:29,018 --> 00:50:32,018 narrator: Once they reached the top of the Alpine Slide, 1262 00:50:32,020 --> 00:50:35,005 parkgoers were greeted with signs 1263 00:50:35,007 --> 00:50:37,014 bearing bloody photos of the ride's previous victims, 1264 00:50:37,016 --> 00:50:40,001 a grim warning that what they were about to endure 1265 00:50:40,003 --> 00:50:42,009 was, in fact, truly dangerous. 1266 00:50:42,011 --> 00:50:44,018 ♪ ♪ 1267 00:50:44,020 --> 00:50:47,018 - It had a stick, and, ostensibly, 1268 00:50:47,020 --> 00:50:49,017 you were supposed to be able to pull up on the stick 1269 00:50:49,019 --> 00:50:51,000 as a brake, 1270 00:50:51,002 --> 00:50:53,015 push down on it to go faster. 1271 00:50:53,017 --> 00:50:56,023 But one thing that I learned was very true: 1272 00:50:57,001 --> 00:50:59,011 the sleds were often broken. 1273 00:50:59,013 --> 00:51:01,003 - I didn't know it at the time, 1274 00:51:01,005 --> 00:51:04,011 but the Alpine Slide was made of fiberglass, concrete, 1275 00:51:04,013 --> 00:51:06,010 and mostly asbestos. 1276 00:51:06,012 --> 00:51:08,008 - Cement track. It's summertime. 1277 00:51:08,010 --> 00:51:11,012 People are in bathing suits, and they're flying down 1278 00:51:11,014 --> 00:51:15,007 this path at full speed ahead, and they would just tumble off. 1279 00:51:15,009 --> 00:51:19,010 - I wasn't particularly excited to go on the Alpine Slide. 1280 00:51:19,012 --> 00:51:21,015 I knew it was unsafe. 1281 00:51:21,017 --> 00:51:23,023 - One of the reasons the Alpine Slide was so dangerous 1282 00:51:24,001 --> 00:51:28,003 is because it wasn't designed to keep you on. 1283 00:51:28,005 --> 00:51:30,021 If you didn't touch your brakes in a couple of key spots, 1284 00:51:30,023 --> 00:51:32,018 you were going to fly off. 1285 00:51:32,020 --> 00:51:34,012 ♪ ♪ 1286 00:51:34,014 --> 00:51:37,023 - You'd go up into this lip, and if you didn't know 1287 00:51:38,001 --> 00:51:41,004 how to distribute your weight when you came out 1288 00:51:41,006 --> 00:51:43,010 of that bank turn, the thing would flip on you. 1289 00:51:43,012 --> 00:51:44,015 And when the thing flipped on you, 1290 00:51:44,017 --> 00:51:47,020 that's when it started to hurt. 1291 00:51:47,022 --> 00:51:51,008 - You had kids breaking their collarbones, 1292 00:51:51,010 --> 00:51:53,010 their skin ripped off. 1293 00:51:53,012 --> 00:51:55,000 And when I was in high school, 1294 00:51:55,002 --> 00:51:56,020 you would come back to school in the fall, 1295 00:51:56,022 --> 00:51:59,012 and you'd see all these kids bandaged up. 1296 00:51:59,014 --> 00:52:01,010 And you'd walk in the hallways, and they were like, 1297 00:52:01,012 --> 00:52:03,017 "Yeah, Alpine Slide, huh?" "Yeah." 1298 00:52:03,019 --> 00:52:05,022 - Kid shows up back in the neighborhood, 1299 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:08,021 and, like, he's got a big burn on his thigh and his hip. 1300 00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:11,009 You assume, "Oh, you fall off the Alpine Slide? 1301 00:52:11,011 --> 00:52:12,018 Oh, when did you go to Action Park?" 1302 00:52:12,020 --> 00:52:14,006 Like, that-- He'd have to correct you. 1303 00:52:14,008 --> 00:52:16,005 He'd have to-- "Oh, no, I had surgery." 1304 00:52:16,007 --> 00:52:19,014 [dramatic music] 1305 00:52:19,016 --> 00:52:22,020 - The area around the slides was just rock, 1306 00:52:22,022 --> 00:52:26,015 so, I mean, everything from broken bones 1307 00:52:26,017 --> 00:52:29,001 to concussions. 1308 00:52:29,003 --> 00:52:33,020 On an average day, you would have 50 to 100 people injured. 1309 00:52:33,022 --> 00:52:36,019 On a weekend, you could double that. 1310 00:52:37,017 --> 00:52:39,014 - When I was a kid, I was extremely law-abiding, 1311 00:52:39,016 --> 00:52:42,012 so every single time that I saw a sign 1312 00:52:42,014 --> 00:52:45,007 that said "slow down," I would slow down. 1313 00:52:45,009 --> 00:52:48,009 I hit a bump, and I was sort of airborne, 1314 00:52:48,011 --> 00:52:49,018 and I looked to my side, 1315 00:52:49,020 --> 00:52:52,011 and I saw that the slide that I had been riding on 1316 00:52:52,013 --> 00:52:56,006 was rolling down the hill next to me. 1317 00:52:56,008 --> 00:52:58,005 And I was taken to the infirmary, 1318 00:52:58,007 --> 00:53:00,014 which was this unsettling-looking 1319 00:53:00,016 --> 00:53:02,003 sort of shed. 1320 00:53:02,005 --> 00:53:05,001 They took a look at my wound, and they told me 1321 00:53:05,003 --> 00:53:07,016 that they needed to spray some sort of stuff on it 1322 00:53:07,018 --> 00:53:10,010 so that it would scab over and heal. 1323 00:53:10,012 --> 00:53:12,017 And then, unlike a doctor, 1324 00:53:12,019 --> 00:53:14,016 the person who was administering this stuff 1325 00:53:14,018 --> 00:53:16,022 said to me, "This is gonna hurt." 1326 00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:18,014 - First aid had this spray. 1327 00:53:18,016 --> 00:53:20,014 It was a little squeeze bottle, like a Windex bottle, 1328 00:53:20,016 --> 00:53:22,006 and it had this orange solution in, 1329 00:53:22,008 --> 00:53:24,003 which I've been told years later 1330 00:53:24,005 --> 00:53:26,007 that it was alcohol and iodine. 1331 00:53:26,009 --> 00:53:27,019 I know it was an orange color. 1332 00:53:27,021 --> 00:53:29,023 And they would spray the person with this thing, 1333 00:53:30,001 --> 00:53:31,018 and from the looks of things, 1334 00:53:31,020 --> 00:53:33,019 this was the most incredible pain this person had ever felt. 1335 00:53:33,021 --> 00:53:36,006 I can specifically remember one time where we had this guy 1336 00:53:36,008 --> 00:53:38,000 come in, and this guy was a bodybuilder. 1337 00:53:38,002 --> 00:53:39,013 I mean, this guy was jacked. 1338 00:53:39,015 --> 00:53:42,013 And he had friction burns on his arm and his leg, 1339 00:53:42,015 --> 00:53:44,023 and this guy was in tears. 1340 00:53:45,001 --> 00:53:46,020 We told him, "Okay, now we got to do the leg." 1341 00:53:46,022 --> 00:53:48,007 And he was like, "No." 1342 00:53:48,009 --> 00:53:50,007 We're like, "Dude, this is gonna get infected 1343 00:53:50,009 --> 00:53:51,009 if we don't spray it." 1344 00:53:51,011 --> 00:53:53,002 And he's like, "I don't care. 1345 00:53:53,004 --> 00:53:55,000 I'd rather have an infection than go through that again." 1346 00:53:55,002 --> 00:53:57,007 - They had a circle drawn on the floor 1347 00:53:57,009 --> 00:53:58,023 in the first aid room. 1348 00:53:59,001 --> 00:54:01,009 And while they were cleaning your slide burns, 1349 00:54:01,011 --> 00:54:05,001 if you managed to stay in the circle, you won a prize. 1350 00:54:05,003 --> 00:54:06,023 They said over, like, two or three years, 1351 00:54:07,001 --> 00:54:09,005 only two people actually stayed in the circle, 1352 00:54:09,007 --> 00:54:12,003 and the best they could produce was an Action Park pen. 1353 00:54:12,005 --> 00:54:14,000 - You could walk around Action Park 1354 00:54:14,002 --> 00:54:16,022 and just see the people with the orange spray. 1355 00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:19,013 It was like an Action Park battle scar. 1356 00:54:20,022 --> 00:54:22,023 - Action Park was this litmus test that-- 1357 00:54:23,001 --> 00:54:24,017 it was very clear from the time 1358 00:54:24,019 --> 00:54:26,009 I was eight or nine years old, like, you got to go there, 1359 00:54:26,011 --> 00:54:28,000 and you got to come back with some scars. 1360 00:54:28,002 --> 00:54:29,023 You got to go take your lumps at Action Park 1361 00:54:30,001 --> 00:54:32,009 if you really want to be able to kind of grow up 1362 00:54:32,011 --> 00:54:35,000 and be a young man in this world. 1363 00:54:35,002 --> 00:54:39,000 - After a while, the town couldn't dedicate 1364 00:54:39,002 --> 00:54:40,018 its ambulances to Action Park 1365 00:54:40,020 --> 00:54:43,003 because, you know, Vernon was a small town, 1366 00:54:43,005 --> 00:54:45,003 and we had two volunteer ambulance squads, 1367 00:54:45,005 --> 00:54:48,018 and Action Park would keep them busy all day long. 1368 00:54:48,020 --> 00:54:50,016 So there was a meeting, and, you know, the town said, 1369 00:54:50,018 --> 00:54:52,015 "Look, you got to buy your own ambulance." 1370 00:54:52,017 --> 00:54:55,008 And they did. They had either one or two. 1371 00:54:55,010 --> 00:54:57,023 I think at their height, they might have had two. 1372 00:54:58,001 --> 00:55:01,010 - My wife, she worked-- she was one of the admins. 1373 00:55:01,012 --> 00:55:04,013 One of her jobs, it took her an entire week, 40 hours. 1374 00:55:04,015 --> 00:55:07,014 She made an Excel spreadsheet of all of the injuries 1375 00:55:07,016 --> 00:55:09,013 for one season at the park. 1376 00:55:09,015 --> 00:55:13,001 And it was a lot of dislocated shoulders, 1377 00:55:13,003 --> 00:55:15,014 broken arms, wrists, 1378 00:55:15,016 --> 00:55:18,013 slide abrasions from the Alpine Slide. 1379 00:55:18,015 --> 00:55:21,004 It was just a crazy, crazy amount of injuries 1380 00:55:21,006 --> 00:55:23,000 at this place. 1381 00:55:23,002 --> 00:55:26,007 [solemn music] 1382 00:55:26,009 --> 00:55:28,001 narrator: It's impossible to say 1383 00:55:28,003 --> 00:55:30,021 exactly how many people were injured at Action Park. 1384 00:55:30,023 --> 00:55:32,021 The state only required that they report 1385 00:55:32,023 --> 00:55:34,015 "serious injuries." 1386 00:55:34,017 --> 00:55:36,019 Of course, that left it to Gene to decide 1387 00:55:36,021 --> 00:55:38,022 what he viewed as serious, 1388 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:41,014 meaning that unless you left the park in an ambulance, 1389 00:55:41,016 --> 00:55:45,018 it was almost certainly not going to be reported. 1390 00:55:45,020 --> 00:55:47,012 - If the government doesn't require you 1391 00:55:47,014 --> 00:55:49,018 to report something, there's no way 1392 00:55:49,020 --> 00:55:51,014 that someone could determine 1393 00:55:51,016 --> 00:55:54,020 how many injuries occurred on a daily basis. 1394 00:55:54,022 --> 00:55:57,003 And if Gene wanted to cover that up, 1395 00:55:57,005 --> 00:55:59,011 it'd be very easy to do so. 1396 00:55:59,013 --> 00:56:02,022 [steady music] 1397 00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:05,020 narrator: Amusement parks often embody their creators. 1398 00:56:05,022 --> 00:56:08,015 They are the personification of some individual, 1399 00:56:08,017 --> 00:56:10,021 some auteur's worldview. 1400 00:56:10,023 --> 00:56:12,018 Walt Disney looked at the world 1401 00:56:12,020 --> 00:56:15,006 and wanted it to resemble turn-of-the-century America 1402 00:56:15,008 --> 00:56:17,012 with a hint of fantasy and the Wild West. 1403 00:56:17,014 --> 00:56:19,018 And thus, you have Disneyland. 1404 00:56:19,020 --> 00:56:21,019 Gene Mulvihill had a vision of a place 1405 00:56:21,021 --> 00:56:23,011 where there were no rules, 1406 00:56:23,013 --> 00:56:27,020 something between Ayn Rand and "Lord of the Flies." 1407 00:56:27,022 --> 00:56:30,000 - My father wanted to give people the freedom 1408 00:56:30,002 --> 00:56:32,017 to control the action, to control their speed. 1409 00:56:32,019 --> 00:56:36,020 He loved to have fun, and so the park reflected that. 1410 00:56:36,022 --> 00:56:39,015 - The way things were done in the '80s, 1411 00:56:39,017 --> 00:56:43,008 it seems to me, created this situation. 1412 00:56:43,010 --> 00:56:45,021 You have this sense 1413 00:56:45,023 --> 00:56:49,001 of not being bridled 1414 00:56:49,003 --> 00:56:52,008 by a federal or state or local government 1415 00:56:52,010 --> 00:56:55,007 that's trying to keep you from having fun. 1416 00:56:55,009 --> 00:56:58,016 So Mulvihill created 1417 00:56:58,018 --> 00:57:02,004 a business that allowed people 1418 00:57:02,006 --> 00:57:06,011 to thumb their nose at conventional norms 1419 00:57:06,013 --> 00:57:11,013 and thumb their nose at people who worried about danger, 1420 00:57:11,015 --> 00:57:13,010 and they put themselves 1421 00:57:13,012 --> 00:57:16,016 in the teeth of a dangerous situation. 1422 00:57:16,018 --> 00:57:18,020 [soft dramatic music] 1423 00:57:18,022 --> 00:57:21,008 narrator: And while regulators may have been tough 1424 00:57:21,010 --> 00:57:23,000 on other amusement parks, 1425 00:57:23,002 --> 00:57:24,021 Gene had friends in high places, 1426 00:57:24,023 --> 00:57:26,007 and Action Park suffered 1427 00:57:26,009 --> 00:57:28,016 virtually no fines or citations. 1428 00:57:28,018 --> 00:57:31,006 - In the Reagan years, there was this idea 1429 00:57:31,008 --> 00:57:33,020 that people should govern themselves, 1430 00:57:33,022 --> 00:57:35,020 that red tape got in the way of innovation, 1431 00:57:35,022 --> 00:57:38,002 that American capitalism was at its best 1432 00:57:38,004 --> 00:57:39,019 when it was unregulated. 1433 00:57:39,021 --> 00:57:41,003 And it's in this environment 1434 00:57:41,005 --> 00:57:44,005 that Action Park is allowed to flourish. 1435 00:57:44,007 --> 00:57:46,000 narrator: It turns out that Gene was friends 1436 00:57:46,002 --> 00:57:48,002 with future president Donald Trump. 1437 00:57:48,004 --> 00:57:51,003 According to park employees, Trump was actually very close 1438 00:57:51,005 --> 00:57:53,015 to investing in Action Park at one point 1439 00:57:53,017 --> 00:57:55,021 and even dropped by the park to check things out 1440 00:57:55,023 --> 00:57:57,015 and have a look around. 1441 00:57:57,017 --> 00:58:01,004 When he saw Gene's vision, he realized it was too wild, 1442 00:58:01,006 --> 00:58:03,015 too nuts, even for him. 1443 00:58:03,017 --> 00:58:07,009 - Trump found Gene's vision too unhinged. 1444 00:58:07,011 --> 00:58:09,021 Fuck yeah, dude. Good for Gene. 1445 00:58:09,023 --> 00:58:13,005 narrator: So what would happen if you sued Action Park? 1446 00:58:13,007 --> 00:58:15,017 Well, Gene would refuse to settle. 1447 00:58:15,019 --> 00:58:19,006 He'd force you to trial almost every single time, 1448 00:58:19,008 --> 00:58:23,007 and he'd make that trial as long and painful as possible. 1449 00:58:23,009 --> 00:58:26,007 - Gene's philosophy was, "We fight every case. 1450 00:58:26,009 --> 00:58:27,016 "We don't settle it. 1451 00:58:27,018 --> 00:58:29,014 We bring it all the way to trial." 1452 00:58:29,016 --> 00:58:33,013 And we won 93% of them. 1453 00:58:33,015 --> 00:58:35,008 narrator: Eventually word got around 1454 00:58:35,010 --> 00:58:37,003 that he wouldn't settle, and most lawyers thought it 1455 00:58:37,005 --> 00:58:38,021 too much trouble to even try. 1456 00:58:38,023 --> 00:58:41,002 Even if you went to trial and won, 1457 00:58:41,004 --> 00:58:42,020 Gene would simply refuse to pay 1458 00:58:42,022 --> 00:58:44,022 unless you sent the U.S. Marshals 1459 00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:46,017 to his door to collect, 1460 00:58:46,019 --> 00:58:49,016 something that happened on more than one occasion. 1461 00:58:49,018 --> 00:58:51,015 - The U.S. Marshals, the first time they showed up, 1462 00:58:51,017 --> 00:58:54,020 they surrounded the ticket booth. 1463 00:58:54,022 --> 00:58:57,012 [chuckles] I found my way to them pretty quickly 1464 00:58:57,014 --> 00:59:01,006 and asked them to please not shoot me. 1465 00:59:01,008 --> 00:59:03,002 After the first time, they would just come 1466 00:59:03,004 --> 00:59:05,013 and knock on my office and say, "Yeah, we're here." 1467 00:59:05,015 --> 00:59:07,023 Then we'd go to the general manager's office 1468 00:59:08,001 --> 00:59:10,019 and take care of it. 1469 00:59:10,021 --> 00:59:14,004 [ambient music] 1470 00:59:14,006 --> 00:59:18,019 narrator: Action Park was a product of its time. 1471 00:59:18,021 --> 00:59:20,010 It was like an '80s movie, 1472 00:59:20,012 --> 00:59:23,005 an era of latchkey kids going on adventures, 1473 00:59:23,007 --> 00:59:26,006 far from the worried eyes of attentive parents. 1474 00:59:26,008 --> 00:59:28,019 ♪ ♪ 1475 00:59:28,021 --> 00:59:30,012 - That was probably the last decade 1476 00:59:30,014 --> 00:59:34,004 of unsupervised fun for kids. 1477 00:59:34,006 --> 00:59:35,015 - There was no cell phones. 1478 00:59:35,017 --> 00:59:37,005 You know, it's like, you wanted 1479 00:59:37,007 --> 00:59:38,016 to hang out with your buddy, you called him up, 1480 00:59:38,018 --> 00:59:40,009 and you went over to his house and met him. 1481 00:59:40,011 --> 00:59:42,009 You know, whosever house you were at at lunchtime, 1482 00:59:42,011 --> 00:59:43,021 that's who fed you. 1483 00:59:43,023 --> 00:59:47,004 - We were all kids that climbed trees. 1484 00:59:47,006 --> 00:59:49,015 We didn't come home until after 8:00. 1485 00:59:49,017 --> 00:59:52,012 Our parents weren't even looking for us. 1486 00:59:52,014 --> 00:59:55,022 - The '80s were about outdoing each other, 1487 00:59:56,000 --> 00:59:57,008 about keeping up. 1488 00:59:57,010 --> 00:59:59,019 The '80s were not about, "How are you feeling? 1489 00:59:59,021 --> 01:00:01,008 Are you afraid to do this?" 1490 01:00:01,010 --> 01:00:04,013 - Like, we would try to die for fun. 1491 01:00:04,015 --> 01:00:06,013 We would try to die for fun. 1492 01:00:06,015 --> 01:00:08,017 When I was in high sch-- I've been in at least 1493 01:00:08,019 --> 01:00:11,005 six different abandoned mental hospitals for fun. 1494 01:00:11,007 --> 01:00:14,010 Like, that-- no joke, in high school, 1495 01:00:14,012 --> 01:00:16,017 you can show up to school on Monday and turn around 1496 01:00:16,019 --> 01:00:19,012 and be like, "Hey, what'd you do this weekend?" 1497 01:00:19,014 --> 01:00:21,008 And your buddy could look at you and be like, 1498 01:00:21,010 --> 01:00:22,017 "Oh, yeah, we went and broke into 1499 01:00:22,019 --> 01:00:24,009 "the abandoned mental hospital, 1500 01:00:24,011 --> 01:00:26,015 "and we went in the tunnels underneath. 1501 01:00:26,017 --> 01:00:29,022 "Turned out, there were some fucking skinheads down there. 1502 01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:31,012 "So they came at us, 1503 01:00:31,014 --> 01:00:33,006 so we beat up a Nazi, and we went to a diner." 1504 01:00:33,008 --> 01:00:35,001 And they'd be like, "What'd you do?" 1505 01:00:35,003 --> 01:00:36,013 And you'd be like, "Oh, yeah, 1506 01:00:36,015 --> 01:00:38,012 I went and visited my cousin in Freehold." 1507 01:00:38,014 --> 01:00:42,013 And those were, like, both totally standard things to say. 1508 01:00:42,015 --> 01:00:46,003 - You know, I can remember being 14, 15 years old, 1509 01:00:46,005 --> 01:00:49,011 and we lived about 15 miles from Action Park. 1510 01:00:49,013 --> 01:00:51,008 And I can remember a bunch of us, 1511 01:00:51,010 --> 01:00:52,023 unbeknownst to our parents, 1512 01:00:53,001 --> 01:00:56,001 jumping on our bicycles and riding to Action Park, 1513 01:00:56,003 --> 01:00:59,014 spending the day there, and then riding our bicycles back. 1514 01:00:59,016 --> 01:01:01,005 Parents never know. 1515 01:01:01,007 --> 01:01:03,022 I would beat my kid's ass if I ever found out. [chuckles] 1516 01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:09,015 ♪ ♪ 1517 01:01:09,017 --> 01:01:14,003 - Looking back on Action Park with grown-up eyes, 1518 01:01:14,005 --> 01:01:15,013 Gene wanted to make sure 1519 01:01:15,015 --> 01:01:17,002 everybody was having a good time. 1520 01:01:17,004 --> 01:01:19,020 And it probably wasn't the best idea 1521 01:01:19,022 --> 01:01:24,002 to have, you know, a place where you controlled the action 1522 01:01:24,004 --> 01:01:27,010 and a place where kids were in charge. 1523 01:01:27,012 --> 01:01:30,007 It was scary. It was dangerous. 1524 01:01:31,005 --> 01:01:33,003 - An amusement park is designed 1525 01:01:33,005 --> 01:01:38,010 to look like a kind of place that it isn't. 1526 01:01:38,012 --> 01:01:41,011 It's meant to look dangerous, but it isn't. 1527 01:01:41,013 --> 01:01:44,013 Its artifice is baked into the story, 1528 01:01:44,015 --> 01:01:46,014 and you're told that from when you're very young. 1529 01:01:46,016 --> 01:01:49,001 "Go on the thrill ride. It's a thrill." 1530 01:01:49,003 --> 01:01:51,010 But it's not really going to fall apart. 1531 01:01:51,012 --> 01:01:53,023 It's not really going to kill you. 1532 01:01:54,001 --> 01:01:57,008 But Action Park was truly dangerous. 1533 01:01:57,010 --> 01:02:01,007 ♪ ♪ 1534 01:02:01,009 --> 01:02:02,018 - A lot of places you go to, 1535 01:02:02,020 --> 01:02:04,023 unless the ride catastrophically fails, 1536 01:02:05,001 --> 01:02:07,011 no matter how scared you feel, you're not gonna get hurt. 1537 01:02:07,013 --> 01:02:09,004 Action Park was not like that. 1538 01:02:09,006 --> 01:02:10,023 If you wanted to push the boundaries, 1539 01:02:11,001 --> 01:02:14,015 you could get hurt, and, you know, it certainly became 1540 01:02:14,017 --> 01:02:17,013 a competition between friends to see who could push it 1541 01:02:17,015 --> 01:02:19,006 a little bit more, a little bit more. 1542 01:02:19,008 --> 01:02:21,018 And then if you got hurt, you know, if it wasn't serious, 1543 01:02:21,020 --> 01:02:23,013 it was almost like a battle scar. 1544 01:02:23,015 --> 01:02:25,023 [no audible dialogue] 1545 01:02:26,001 --> 01:02:29,011 - The magic and the horror of Action Park 1546 01:02:29,013 --> 01:02:33,011 is that you can go there expecting a great time, 1547 01:02:33,013 --> 01:02:35,022 expecting fantastic memories, 1548 01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:40,002 and you can leave with those exact things, 1549 01:02:40,004 --> 01:02:43,011 or you can leave in a body bag. 1550 01:02:43,013 --> 01:02:47,010 And you didn't know which it was going to be. 1551 01:02:47,012 --> 01:02:50,015 [dramatic music] 1552 01:02:50,017 --> 01:02:53,019 - I would say probably the most pleasant named ride 1553 01:02:53,021 --> 01:02:56,002 at Action Park, the Kayak Experience. 1554 01:02:56,004 --> 01:02:57,019 But I later came to learn that 1555 01:02:57,021 --> 01:03:01,004 that is the one where someone was electrocuted to death. 1556 01:03:02,006 --> 01:03:05,016 - There were underwater fans that would help push the water 1557 01:03:05,018 --> 01:03:08,022 and created rapids, like you were kayaking. 1558 01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:11,008 And somebody flipped out of one of their kayaks, 1559 01:03:11,010 --> 01:03:13,013 and one of these fans short-circuited, 1560 01:03:13,015 --> 01:03:16,014 and they either touched it or were close enough to it, 1561 01:03:16,016 --> 01:03:19,021 and they got electrocuted. 1562 01:03:19,023 --> 01:03:23,019 - Negligence doesn't begin to even capture 1563 01:03:23,021 --> 01:03:25,007 that particular death. 1564 01:03:25,009 --> 01:03:27,006 Ungrounded electricity in a water park, 1565 01:03:27,008 --> 01:03:29,005 that's the Kayak Experience. 1566 01:03:29,007 --> 01:03:31,018 [chuckles] The Kayak Experience. 1567 01:03:31,020 --> 01:03:38,005 ♪ ♪ 1568 01:03:39,012 --> 01:03:41,016 - I knew better than to go on any rides at Action Park. 1569 01:03:41,018 --> 01:03:44,006 I saw people get hurt on every ride in the park, 1570 01:03:44,008 --> 01:03:47,001 and I was like, "I don't want any part of this." 1571 01:03:47,003 --> 01:03:49,013 I had a stack of comp passes to give out to people 1572 01:03:49,015 --> 01:03:51,001 that was probably six inches thick. 1573 01:03:51,003 --> 01:03:52,019 There were hundreds of them. 1574 01:03:52,021 --> 01:03:54,010 So if something went wrong, somebody got something stolen, 1575 01:03:54,012 --> 01:03:56,002 I would give them complimentary passes. 1576 01:03:56,004 --> 01:03:59,018 I never gave one to a friend. People got hurt there. 1577 01:03:59,020 --> 01:04:02,011 - When shit got real at Action Park, 1578 01:04:02,013 --> 01:04:05,023 the, like, golf cart, Cushman first aid thing 1579 01:04:06,001 --> 01:04:08,004 would roll by, and there'd be somebody, 1580 01:04:08,006 --> 01:04:11,006 like, completely immobilized on that thing, 1581 01:04:11,008 --> 01:04:13,022 you know, with the backboard and the neck brace 1582 01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:16,002 and the pads on the sides of their head. 1583 01:04:16,004 --> 01:04:17,022 And you'd talk to the first aid guys, 1584 01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:20,015 they'd be like, "Oh, yeah, he got medevaced to Morristown. 1585 01:04:20,017 --> 01:04:22,023 "He had a fractured vertebrae 1586 01:04:23,001 --> 01:04:24,023 in his neck from hitting his head." 1587 01:04:25,001 --> 01:04:27,007 I'm like, "Holy shit. Are you kidding?" 1588 01:04:27,009 --> 01:04:30,011 And that's when I started to realize, it's like, 1589 01:04:30,013 --> 01:04:32,002 this place is dangerous. 1590 01:04:32,004 --> 01:04:34,002 [indistinct chatter] 1591 01:04:34,004 --> 01:04:36,020 [serious music] 1592 01:04:36,022 --> 01:04:38,009 - When I think back to the Wave Pool, 1593 01:04:38,011 --> 01:04:40,011 I remember being excited to go in it 1594 01:04:40,013 --> 01:04:42,022 and, even as a young kid, walking up and going, like, 1595 01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:45,019 "Oh, no fucking way. This is nuts. This is"-- 1596 01:04:45,021 --> 01:04:48,011 I mean, shoulder-to-shoulder human beings 1597 01:04:48,013 --> 01:04:52,017 in a wave pool that was far too violent and powerful. 1598 01:04:52,019 --> 01:04:55,007 - If you go to the beach, that water is buoyant. 1599 01:04:55,009 --> 01:04:57,014 So when the waves come in, you go up, 1600 01:04:57,016 --> 01:04:59,018 and when the waves go down, you go down. 1601 01:04:59,020 --> 01:05:02,017 But a freshwater pool doesn't do that. 1602 01:05:02,019 --> 01:05:05,009 - We'd often have people that would jump into the water 1603 01:05:05,011 --> 01:05:06,020 that didn't know how to swim. 1604 01:05:06,022 --> 01:05:08,015 I can't tell you how many times someone 1605 01:05:08,017 --> 01:05:11,000 would come up to me and say, "Sir, how deep is that water?" 1606 01:05:11,002 --> 01:05:12,013 And I wouldn't even tell them how many feet. 1607 01:05:12,015 --> 01:05:13,022 I'd say, "It's over your head." 1608 01:05:14,000 --> 01:05:15,015 I'd turn around, and they would jump in. 1609 01:05:15,017 --> 01:05:17,022 - When people got to shoulder-height depth, 1610 01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:20,021 we called that area "the death zone." 1611 01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:22,013 Panic would set in, 1612 01:05:22,015 --> 01:05:25,008 and they'd grab everybody and anybody around them. 1613 01:05:25,010 --> 01:05:27,011 And I've seen literally families 1614 01:05:27,013 --> 01:05:32,003 of 8, 10, or 12 people taking each other down. 1615 01:05:32,005 --> 01:05:34,013 - The guards at--we used to call it "the grave pool." 1616 01:05:34,015 --> 01:05:36,000 The guards at the grave pool, 1617 01:05:36,002 --> 01:05:38,005 they couldn't relax for a second. 1618 01:05:38,007 --> 01:05:39,020 - To break a new lifeguard in, 1619 01:05:39,022 --> 01:05:42,008 they'd be assigned to the death chair, and that was 1620 01:05:42,010 --> 01:05:45,014 the lifeguard stand that overlooked the death zone 1621 01:05:45,016 --> 01:05:47,005 on the Wave Pool. 1622 01:05:47,007 --> 01:05:49,006 And literally their first 30 minutes to 45 minutes 1623 01:05:49,008 --> 01:05:52,023 sitting in the death chair, that new lifeguard would save 1624 01:05:53,001 --> 01:05:55,000 three to four to five people. 1625 01:05:55,002 --> 01:05:57,022 People thought that drowning at the Action Park Wave Pool 1626 01:05:58,000 --> 01:05:59,007 was part of the ride. 1627 01:05:59,009 --> 01:06:01,003 They thought it was part of the experience. 1628 01:06:01,005 --> 01:06:04,014 They expected to drown at the Action Park Wave Pool. 1629 01:06:05,021 --> 01:06:07,005 narrator: Lifeguards at the Wave Pool 1630 01:06:07,007 --> 01:06:08,022 had their hands full. 1631 01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:10,017 The water was murky enough that bodies often 1632 01:06:10,019 --> 01:06:13,004 couldn't be spotted below the surface. 1633 01:06:13,006 --> 01:06:14,018 The culprit? 1634 01:06:14,020 --> 01:06:17,013 A mixture of muddy runoff from a nearby hill, 1635 01:06:17,015 --> 01:06:20,007 human waste, suntan lotion, 1636 01:06:20,009 --> 01:06:23,001 and gore from open wounds. 1637 01:06:23,003 --> 01:06:25,000 - That was one of the reasons they used to stop the thing 1638 01:06:25,002 --> 01:06:27,003 every so many minutes, so they could scan the bottom 1639 01:06:27,005 --> 01:06:28,016 and make sure there wasn't any bodies there 1640 01:06:28,018 --> 01:06:30,012 that they had missed. 1641 01:06:30,014 --> 01:06:33,002 Those guys did a great job, but it's hard to see. 1642 01:06:33,004 --> 01:06:35,001 And this guy went down, 1643 01:06:35,003 --> 01:06:38,004 and by the time they found him, it was too late. 1644 01:06:41,011 --> 01:06:42,022 - When you're a kid, 1645 01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:45,007 I think you can separate yourself from it, 1646 01:06:45,009 --> 01:06:47,011 because I didn't work in that department. 1647 01:06:47,013 --> 01:06:48,019 [laughs] I thought, 1648 01:06:48,021 --> 01:06:52,012 "That's somebody else's responsibility." 1649 01:06:52,014 --> 01:06:54,009 But it was a common occurrence. 1650 01:06:54,011 --> 01:06:56,018 I don't know how many people died at Action Park, 1651 01:06:56,020 --> 01:06:59,010 but it wasn't just one person. 1652 01:06:59,012 --> 01:07:01,013 - The fact that more than one person 1653 01:07:01,015 --> 01:07:03,011 died in your Wave Pool-- 1654 01:07:03,013 --> 01:07:05,006 who's that second son of a bitch? 1655 01:07:05,008 --> 01:07:07,022 That's who your heart really bleeds for. 1656 01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:09,018 Nobody should ever be 1657 01:07:09,020 --> 01:07:11,018 the second person to die in a wave pool. 1658 01:07:11,020 --> 01:07:13,010 You know why? 'Cause after the first person 1659 01:07:13,012 --> 01:07:17,005 dies in a wave pool, close the fucking wave pool. 1660 01:07:17,007 --> 01:07:20,015 Put up a fucking sign or something, man. 1661 01:07:20,017 --> 01:07:24,002 - It was a place where death was tolerated, 1662 01:07:24,004 --> 01:07:28,002 where death was put right into the number situation. 1663 01:07:28,004 --> 01:07:31,003 "Oh, we've only had this many die." 1664 01:07:31,005 --> 01:07:33,009 One is too many. 1665 01:07:33,011 --> 01:07:36,009 [ambient music] 1666 01:07:36,011 --> 01:07:38,011 ♪ ♪ 1667 01:07:38,013 --> 01:07:42,002 My firstborn was Georgie. 1668 01:07:42,004 --> 01:07:45,017 He was actually born on Christmas night 1669 01:07:45,019 --> 01:07:47,007 in 1960, 1670 01:07:47,009 --> 01:07:50,016 but he was delivered right after midnight, 1671 01:07:50,018 --> 01:07:53,014 so he wasn't the Christmas baby. 1672 01:07:53,016 --> 01:07:56,019 We were just so thrilled to have him. 1673 01:07:56,021 --> 01:08:00,013 Just to look at his little face, it was wonderful. 1674 01:08:00,015 --> 01:08:02,003 And then 11 months later, 1675 01:08:02,005 --> 01:08:04,016 we had our second child, Brian. 1676 01:08:04,018 --> 01:08:07,014 - My brother and I were basically raised as twins. 1677 01:08:07,016 --> 01:08:10,013 My dad would actually say that we were twins 1678 01:08:10,015 --> 01:08:12,014 so we could play on the same football team. 1679 01:08:12,016 --> 01:08:15,023 We did everything together. It didn't matter what we did. 1680 01:08:16,001 --> 01:08:18,019 We were like the kids on "The Sandlot." 1681 01:08:18,021 --> 01:08:21,005 - Georgie was very, very popular. 1682 01:08:21,007 --> 01:08:24,004 He had many, many friends. 1683 01:08:24,006 --> 01:08:26,000 - My brother George was a handsome guy. 1684 01:08:26,002 --> 01:08:28,017 My brother George felt like he was invincible. 1685 01:08:28,019 --> 01:08:31,005 And our whole family thought my brother was invincible 1686 01:08:31,007 --> 01:08:34,019 because of how strong we were. 1687 01:08:34,021 --> 01:08:37,016 On July 8, 1980, my brother George 1688 01:08:37,018 --> 01:08:40,015 was supposed to be working with my dad and I. 1689 01:08:40,017 --> 01:08:43,020 - He wanted to go to Action Park, 1690 01:08:43,022 --> 01:08:46,012 so I loaned him the money in the afternoon, 1691 01:08:46,014 --> 01:08:49,018 and a friend of his went over there to meet him. 1692 01:08:49,020 --> 01:08:53,017 And they were just going to have fun that day. 1693 01:08:53,019 --> 01:08:56,022 - He goes onto the Alpine Slide, 1694 01:08:57,000 --> 01:08:59,007 and he's going down the hillside, 1695 01:08:59,009 --> 01:09:03,008 and the cart brake, I don't believe, was working. 1696 01:09:03,010 --> 01:09:05,004 And he went off the track 1697 01:09:05,006 --> 01:09:09,010 and flipping down the hillside and into some rocks 1698 01:09:09,012 --> 01:09:11,021 and hit his head on rocks. 1699 01:09:11,023 --> 01:09:13,013 - And I had a phone call. 1700 01:09:13,015 --> 01:09:15,017 I'll never forget it. I was sitting at home. 1701 01:09:15,019 --> 01:09:18,000 I was looking forward to watching a movie. 1702 01:09:18,002 --> 01:09:20,001 They said, "Your son has been injured. 1703 01:09:20,003 --> 01:09:21,018 He's in the trauma center." 1704 01:09:21,020 --> 01:09:24,007 And they told me that what I had to do 1705 01:09:24,009 --> 01:09:26,023 was get a neighbor or somebody to bring me, 1706 01:09:27,001 --> 01:09:30,020 because my husband was on a sales call that night. 1707 01:09:30,022 --> 01:09:33,018 - My dad got the phone call while we're working 1708 01:09:33,020 --> 01:09:35,014 about my brother being hurt. 1709 01:09:35,016 --> 01:09:38,018 Stopped working immediately 1710 01:09:38,020 --> 01:09:40,015 and went to go see my brother. 1711 01:09:40,017 --> 01:09:43,007 - I just didn't think it was any big deal 1712 01:09:43,009 --> 01:09:46,014 because he was so athletic. 1713 01:09:46,016 --> 01:09:50,006 And I thought scrapes or bumps or something, 1714 01:09:50,008 --> 01:09:51,017 maybe a cut, 1715 01:09:51,019 --> 01:09:55,010 but I had no idea how awful it was. 1716 01:09:55,012 --> 01:09:57,012 When we got to that hospital, 1717 01:09:57,014 --> 01:10:01,009 he had been moved to another hospital, 1718 01:10:01,011 --> 01:10:03,014 and I saw the bed that he had been in. 1719 01:10:03,016 --> 01:10:06,002 There was blood all over the pillowcase, 1720 01:10:06,004 --> 01:10:07,023 all over everything. 1721 01:10:08,001 --> 01:10:11,000 - When I first saw my brother, I knew he was hurt bad. 1722 01:10:11,002 --> 01:10:13,003 I just knew real bad. [cries softly] 1723 01:10:13,005 --> 01:10:15,011 They were checking for brain waves 1724 01:10:15,013 --> 01:10:19,015 to make--to see if he still had brain waves. 1725 01:10:19,017 --> 01:10:23,002 And not only once, obviously two times or three times-- 1726 01:10:23,004 --> 01:10:25,011 multiple times to make sure, 1727 01:10:25,013 --> 01:10:29,001 to see if he's with it or not with it. 1728 01:10:29,003 --> 01:10:31,015 - There was no sign that he was going to wake up, 1729 01:10:31,017 --> 01:10:33,021 and we just kept talking to him. 1730 01:10:33,023 --> 01:10:38,017 Dr. Houser, who was my brother-in-law's brother, 1731 01:10:38,019 --> 01:10:41,006 came in from Connecticut just to be with us. 1732 01:10:41,008 --> 01:10:43,022 And he checked him out thoroughly too, 1733 01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:46,005 and he said, "No." 1734 01:10:47,009 --> 01:10:52,007 - On July 16, 1980, he passed away. 1735 01:10:52,009 --> 01:10:54,015 - I remember that moment very, very well. 1736 01:10:54,017 --> 01:10:56,015 I went out to the waiting room, 1737 01:10:56,017 --> 01:10:58,004 and my husband was with me, 1738 01:10:58,006 --> 01:11:01,000 and we told our other children that he had died. 1739 01:11:01,002 --> 01:11:04,016 My daughter ran down the hallway screaming, 1740 01:11:04,018 --> 01:11:06,006 and everybody was crying, 1741 01:11:06,008 --> 01:11:09,018 and it was, like, not believable. 1742 01:11:09,020 --> 01:11:12,020 So we went to the rectory that night, 1743 01:11:12,022 --> 01:11:15,010 and then on the way-- I hate to say this-- 1744 01:11:15,012 --> 01:11:20,005 but on the way back to the hospital... 1745 01:11:20,007 --> 01:11:22,012 we were--walked across the street, 1746 01:11:22,014 --> 01:11:26,006 and I deliberately walked out in front of a truck. 1747 01:11:26,008 --> 01:11:29,020 And at that point, my husband pulled me back, 1748 01:11:29,022 --> 01:11:33,001 and he just screamed at me, "What are you thinking?" 1749 01:11:33,003 --> 01:11:36,013 I was thinking I couldn't live with that kind of pain. 1750 01:11:36,015 --> 01:11:39,003 It just hurt so much. 1751 01:11:39,005 --> 01:11:41,014 And here, 39 years later, 1752 01:11:41,016 --> 01:11:45,003 I can still feel that pain. 1753 01:11:45,005 --> 01:11:46,015 - My brother George 1754 01:11:46,017 --> 01:11:49,015 was supposed to be best man at my wedding. 1755 01:11:49,017 --> 01:11:53,001 My wedding was gonna be July 20, 1980. 1756 01:11:53,003 --> 01:11:54,022 He died on the 16th. 1757 01:11:55,000 --> 01:11:58,017 And I had to have my other brother as best man, 1758 01:11:58,019 --> 01:12:02,003 and everything was in a cloud. 1759 01:12:02,005 --> 01:12:05,000 - Gene Mulvihill never called us 1760 01:12:05,002 --> 01:12:07,009 and never called the hospital. 1761 01:12:07,011 --> 01:12:08,018 He had no heart. 1762 01:12:08,020 --> 01:12:13,000 He cared about himself and the almighty dollar. 1763 01:12:13,002 --> 01:12:17,001 - In the investigation of George Larsson's death, 1764 01:12:17,003 --> 01:12:21,002 the spokesperson for the park claims that 1765 01:12:21,004 --> 01:12:24,000 the alpine ride didn't kill him, 1766 01:12:24,002 --> 01:12:27,002 that the rock his head hit killed him, 1767 01:12:27,004 --> 01:12:28,013 and therefore, 1768 01:12:28,015 --> 01:12:31,014 the Alpine ride was safe. 1769 01:12:31,016 --> 01:12:36,006 The newspapers were told that George Larsson was an employee, 1770 01:12:36,008 --> 01:12:39,003 that this happened at night, and that it was raining. 1771 01:12:39,005 --> 01:12:42,020 He wasn't an employee, it wasn't at night, 1772 01:12:42,022 --> 01:12:45,007 and it wasn't raining. 1773 01:12:46,015 --> 01:12:48,002 narrator: The truth was, 1774 01:12:48,004 --> 01:12:49,015 while Larsson worked as a lift operator 1775 01:12:49,017 --> 01:12:51,008 at the park's sister ski resort 1776 01:12:51,010 --> 01:12:52,021 during a prior season, 1777 01:12:52,023 --> 01:12:54,019 he never worked at Action Park 1778 01:12:54,021 --> 01:12:58,018 and indeed entered the park during normal business hours. 1779 01:12:58,020 --> 01:13:00,023 One likely reason for the lie: 1780 01:13:01,001 --> 01:13:04,005 the park never reported his death to the state, 1781 01:13:04,007 --> 01:13:06,015 dubiously claiming they didn't need to 1782 01:13:06,017 --> 01:13:10,021 because he wasn't part of the general public. 1783 01:13:10,023 --> 01:13:12,019 - The state of New Jersey 1784 01:13:12,021 --> 01:13:15,006 had told them that they could not open 1785 01:13:15,008 --> 01:13:17,015 for the Fourth of July. 1786 01:13:17,017 --> 01:13:20,003 And they wanted to open for the Fourth of July, 1787 01:13:20,005 --> 01:13:22,003 but they never removed the rocks 1788 01:13:22,005 --> 01:13:24,004 that they were told to remove. 1789 01:13:24,006 --> 01:13:26,018 And when my son went on that ride, 1790 01:13:26,020 --> 01:13:31,009 the car flipped him off, and his head hit the rocks. 1791 01:13:31,011 --> 01:13:34,015 The newspapers were taking Gene Mulvihill's side. 1792 01:13:34,017 --> 01:13:38,010 They believed his story, and they printed it. 1793 01:13:38,012 --> 01:13:40,019 Gene lied about my son's death 1794 01:13:40,021 --> 01:13:44,000 because he had fake liability insurance 1795 01:13:44,002 --> 01:13:45,008 in the Cayman Islands. 1796 01:13:45,010 --> 01:13:47,020 Fake. It was fake. 1797 01:13:47,022 --> 01:13:49,020 - Anyone that sues the park, 1798 01:13:49,022 --> 01:13:51,014 if there's not proper insurance, 1799 01:13:51,016 --> 01:13:54,012 is gonna walk away with not a whole lot of money. 1800 01:13:54,014 --> 01:13:57,004 That's the bottom line. 1801 01:13:57,006 --> 01:13:59,019 - We never even got to go to court 1802 01:13:59,021 --> 01:14:03,002 because we were told by our attorney 1803 01:14:03,004 --> 01:14:05,020 that a teenager isn't worth much money. 1804 01:14:05,022 --> 01:14:08,001 He's a liability to the family, 1805 01:14:08,003 --> 01:14:12,001 and you can't expect to settle for very much money. 1806 01:14:12,003 --> 01:14:16,001 We eventually settled for $100,000. 1807 01:14:21,020 --> 01:14:24,019 [solemn music] 1808 01:14:24,021 --> 01:14:26,012 ♪ ♪ 1809 01:14:26,014 --> 01:14:30,002 narrator: George Larsson's death happened in 1980. 1810 01:14:30,004 --> 01:14:33,002 He was the first person to lose his life at the park, 1811 01:14:33,004 --> 01:14:35,015 but he would not be the last. 1812 01:14:37,003 --> 01:14:38,018 In July 1982, 1813 01:14:38,020 --> 01:14:42,009 a 15-year-old from Brooklyn drowned in the Wave Pool. 1814 01:14:42,011 --> 01:14:45,021 A week later, a 27-year-old man from Long Island 1815 01:14:45,023 --> 01:14:48,017 was electrocuted on the kayak simulator. 1816 01:14:48,019 --> 01:14:53,014 In 1984, a guest drowned in the Roaring Springs area. 1817 01:14:54,020 --> 01:14:59,009 And in 1987, the Wave Pool claimed yet another life. 1818 01:14:59,011 --> 01:15:03,004 ♪ ♪ 1819 01:15:03,006 --> 01:15:07,004 - The thing about Action Park is, Action Park becomes 1820 01:15:07,006 --> 01:15:10,001 a huge part of the local economy. 1821 01:15:10,003 --> 01:15:15,001 And if Action Park creates revenue taxwise, 1822 01:15:15,003 --> 01:15:19,004 creates revenue for other stores when people come in, 1823 01:15:19,006 --> 01:15:22,005 the city and the folks there 1824 01:15:22,007 --> 01:15:25,005 are gonna take a much more friendly look 1825 01:15:25,007 --> 01:15:27,017 at that operation if it's making money. 1826 01:15:27,019 --> 01:15:30,003 - How many hundreds of people had jobs, you know, 1827 01:15:30,005 --> 01:15:33,012 between, like, those lifeguards and the concession stands 1828 01:15:33,014 --> 01:15:35,016 and the ticket takers and the janitors 1829 01:15:35,018 --> 01:15:37,007 and the support staff? 1830 01:15:37,009 --> 01:15:40,004 Like, that's a few hundred jobs for your town. 1831 01:15:40,006 --> 01:15:43,006 I would think there might have been a town councilman or two 1832 01:15:43,008 --> 01:15:45,002 who was willing to look the other way 1833 01:15:45,004 --> 01:15:47,006 to keep the money faucet turned on. 1834 01:15:47,008 --> 01:15:48,017 - Some of the town officials 1835 01:15:48,019 --> 01:15:50,020 were clearly on Gene's payroll, absolutely. 1836 01:15:50,022 --> 01:15:53,022 They worked in his restaurants, in his bars. 1837 01:15:54,000 --> 01:15:55,014 They worked in Action Park. 1838 01:15:55,016 --> 01:15:58,002 Their children worked for the resort. 1839 01:15:58,004 --> 01:16:02,017 There were elected officials that he bought homes for. 1840 01:16:02,019 --> 01:16:05,022 That there are local town officials, 1841 01:16:06,000 --> 01:16:07,022 chairpersons of our planning boards, 1842 01:16:08,000 --> 01:16:12,012 our zoning boards who had free memberships to the spa, 1843 01:16:12,014 --> 01:16:15,017 free season passes and that type of thing. 1844 01:16:15,019 --> 01:16:18,009 It's not always about being on the payroll. 1845 01:16:18,011 --> 01:16:22,007 I think it was always about, "What could I get from Gene?" 1846 01:16:22,009 --> 01:16:25,005 And Gene knew that, and he played that. 1847 01:16:25,007 --> 01:16:27,020 And that's why Gene Mulvihill got away 1848 01:16:27,022 --> 01:16:30,012 with as much as he got away with. 1849 01:16:32,003 --> 01:16:35,001 - Gene was so much larger than life than you can imagine, 1850 01:16:35,003 --> 01:16:38,016 and there's things about Gene that I will not tell anybody, 1851 01:16:38,018 --> 01:16:40,008 and we'll just leave it at that. 1852 01:16:40,010 --> 01:16:42,008 - When I went back to work for Gene again, 1853 01:16:42,010 --> 01:16:43,021 after years away, 1854 01:16:43,023 --> 01:16:45,019 the first thing he said to me when I saw him was... 1855 01:16:45,021 --> 01:16:47,011 [as Gene] "It's great to have you back. 1856 01:16:47,013 --> 01:16:51,007 I mean, you know where all the bodies are buried." 1857 01:16:51,009 --> 01:16:54,017 - I believe that the people in Vernon 1858 01:16:54,019 --> 01:16:56,013 turned a blind eye to it. 1859 01:16:56,015 --> 01:16:59,012 They didn't want to know anything negative about it. 1860 01:16:59,014 --> 01:17:02,008 I think they thought that there would be 1861 01:17:02,010 --> 01:17:05,007 repercussions from Gene Mulvihill 1862 01:17:05,009 --> 01:17:08,012 or that Gene Mulvihill was telling the truth. 1863 01:17:08,014 --> 01:17:10,012 He's a very good liar. 1864 01:17:10,014 --> 01:17:12,008 - I think he made that very clear, 1865 01:17:12,010 --> 01:17:15,021 especially when he started into a business relationship, 1866 01:17:15,023 --> 01:17:19,002 that crossing him was not a good idea. 1867 01:17:19,004 --> 01:17:21,010 - Let me put it this way: when I got fired 1868 01:17:21,012 --> 01:17:24,002 from the local newspaper as its editor 1869 01:17:24,004 --> 01:17:27,001 because of Gene contacting 1870 01:17:27,003 --> 01:17:29,009 my boss, my publisher, 1871 01:17:29,011 --> 01:17:33,013 he told me point-blank in a phone conversation 1872 01:17:33,015 --> 01:17:36,020 that he was threatened by the local officials 1873 01:17:36,022 --> 01:17:40,014 that if he didn't go to my boss and get me fired, 1874 01:17:40,016 --> 01:17:44,016 they were not going to approve his projects anymore. 1875 01:18:37,016 --> 01:18:40,006 - I have heard a lot of stories 1876 01:18:40,008 --> 01:18:43,015 that Gene was involved with mob associates. 1877 01:18:43,017 --> 01:18:46,001 [somber music] 1878 01:18:46,003 --> 01:18:50,005 Around 1993, I filed a lawsuit 1879 01:18:50,007 --> 01:18:54,006 for defamation and wrongful discharge. 1880 01:18:54,008 --> 01:18:56,012 And I deposed him. 1881 01:18:56,014 --> 01:18:59,015 And he came to the deposition, 1882 01:18:59,017 --> 01:19:02,019 and every answer to every question was, 1883 01:19:02,021 --> 01:19:05,019 "I don't recall. I don't remember." 1884 01:19:05,021 --> 01:19:09,003 He didn't answer one single question. 1885 01:19:09,005 --> 01:19:10,020 And I was so upset with him 1886 01:19:10,022 --> 01:19:14,018 that as we were leaving that deposition, 1887 01:19:14,020 --> 01:19:17,010 I'll never forget what I said to him. 1888 01:19:17,012 --> 01:19:20,018 I said, "You, Gene, are a lowlife." 1889 01:19:20,020 --> 01:19:23,011 I said, "I don't care how much money you have 1890 01:19:23,013 --> 01:19:25,000 "in this lifetime. 1891 01:19:25,002 --> 01:19:29,003 You are a lowlife for what you did to me here today." 1892 01:19:29,005 --> 01:19:30,022 ♪ ♪ 1893 01:19:31,000 --> 01:19:34,014 narrator: By the mid-1990s, things began to change. 1894 01:19:34,016 --> 01:19:36,023 As the bad press and lawsuits mounted, 1895 01:19:37,001 --> 01:19:39,012 attendance dropped, and Gene found it harder 1896 01:19:39,014 --> 01:19:42,001 to move money around and cover the bills. 1897 01:19:42,003 --> 01:19:44,005 The park hit another turning point 1898 01:19:44,007 --> 01:19:46,002 when Gene's friend Bob Brennan 1899 01:19:46,004 --> 01:19:48,016 finally faced a reckoning with the SEC 1900 01:19:48,018 --> 01:19:50,021 after years of committing fraud. 1901 01:19:50,023 --> 01:19:53,017 Soon after that, Brennan was found guilty 1902 01:19:53,019 --> 01:19:56,017 of money laundering and bankruptcy fraud, 1903 01:19:56,019 --> 01:19:59,017 landing him in prison for almost ten years, 1904 01:19:59,019 --> 01:20:02,014 meaning Gene's never-ending spigot of cash 1905 01:20:02,016 --> 01:20:04,021 dried up as well. 1906 01:20:04,023 --> 01:20:08,001 Before long, Action Park's parent company 1907 01:20:08,003 --> 01:20:09,021 had to declare bankruptcy. 1908 01:20:09,023 --> 01:20:11,019 And when the park shut its gates 1909 01:20:11,021 --> 01:20:14,016 at the end of the 1996 summer season, 1910 01:20:14,018 --> 01:20:18,013 it soon became clear that it would be its last. 1911 01:20:18,015 --> 01:20:20,005 - I think it ran its course. 1912 01:20:20,007 --> 01:20:23,016 I think, like anything else, people grew wise to it 1913 01:20:23,018 --> 01:20:26,006 and people grew weary of it and people moved on from it. 1914 01:20:26,008 --> 01:20:28,022 Plus, the whole legal environment did a 180. 1915 01:20:29,000 --> 01:20:30,013 And New Jersey was the Wild West 1916 01:20:30,015 --> 01:20:32,005 when Action Park opened, 1917 01:20:32,007 --> 01:20:33,016 and by the time it closed, 1918 01:20:33,018 --> 01:20:35,018 it was not the Wild West anymore. 1919 01:20:35,020 --> 01:20:37,012 - The people's mindset changed. 1920 01:20:37,014 --> 01:20:41,008 They weren't willing to take the unbridled risks 1921 01:20:41,010 --> 01:20:45,002 associated with the way it was in the '80s. 1922 01:20:45,004 --> 01:20:47,009 That just wasn't acceptable anymore. 1923 01:20:47,011 --> 01:20:50,007 Its time came and went. 1924 01:20:52,005 --> 01:20:55,004 [soft dramatic music] 1925 01:20:55,006 --> 01:21:01,016 ♪ ♪ 1926 01:21:01,018 --> 01:21:04,018 narrator: In 1998, Action Park was purchased 1927 01:21:04,020 --> 01:21:06,015 by resort giant Intrawest, 1928 01:21:06,017 --> 01:21:10,005 the multinational corporation behind Whistler Mountain. 1929 01:21:10,007 --> 01:21:14,003 The new owners stripped out most of the park's attractions 1930 01:21:14,005 --> 01:21:16,011 and renamed it Mountain Creek. 1931 01:21:16,013 --> 01:21:21,004 Gone were the looping tubes and fireball-shooting tanks. 1932 01:21:21,006 --> 01:21:23,005 Without Gene's vision leading the way, 1933 01:21:23,007 --> 01:21:26,021 it became a generic regional water park. 1934 01:21:26,023 --> 01:21:30,005 Action Park as we knew it was gone. 1935 01:21:30,007 --> 01:21:32,015 ♪ ♪ 1936 01:21:32,017 --> 01:21:35,013 - One day after I came home from work, 1937 01:21:35,015 --> 01:21:37,002 I walked into the house, 1938 01:21:37,004 --> 01:21:39,003 and my husband, George, said to me, 1939 01:21:39,005 --> 01:21:42,013 "Esther, get out the best bottle of red wine you have. 1940 01:21:42,015 --> 01:21:44,000 We're gonna celebrate." 1941 01:21:44,002 --> 01:21:45,023 And I said, "What are we going to celebrate?" 1942 01:21:46,001 --> 01:21:48,023 And he said, "Gene Mulvihill died." 1943 01:21:49,001 --> 01:21:50,011 And we did. 1944 01:21:50,013 --> 01:21:53,006 He's the only person that we celebrated his death. 1945 01:21:53,008 --> 01:21:54,013 He deserved to be gone. 1946 01:21:54,015 --> 01:21:56,018 He didn't care about any of the riders, 1947 01:21:56,020 --> 01:21:59,004 any of the people. 1948 01:21:59,006 --> 01:22:03,020 - I would say in the last four or five years of his life, 1949 01:22:03,022 --> 01:22:05,016 we became very close, 1950 01:22:05,018 --> 01:22:08,005 and I talked to him all the time. 1951 01:22:08,007 --> 01:22:11,013 And I learned about a different Gene, 1952 01:22:11,015 --> 01:22:15,022 a very generous, a very benevolent Gene. 1953 01:22:16,000 --> 01:22:19,005 I am not glorifying Gene Mulvihill. 1954 01:22:19,007 --> 01:22:21,004 I am not telling you 1955 01:22:21,006 --> 01:22:25,010 that he was a good, decent, honorable man. 1956 01:22:25,012 --> 01:22:28,011 But I did see a side to Gene Mulvihill 1957 01:22:28,013 --> 01:22:33,004 that was different from what I had always thought about him. 1958 01:22:33,006 --> 01:22:36,005 Was he a villain or a victor? 1959 01:22:36,007 --> 01:22:38,016 I think he was both, 1960 01:22:38,018 --> 01:22:41,012 depending on the circumstances, 1961 01:22:41,014 --> 01:22:43,008 depending on what he could do 1962 01:22:43,010 --> 01:22:45,021 and what he could get away with. 1963 01:22:45,023 --> 01:22:48,021 [soft upbeat music] 1964 01:22:48,023 --> 01:22:52,011 [indistinct chatter] 1965 01:22:52,013 --> 01:22:56,003 - It was so easy to romanticize him 1966 01:22:56,005 --> 01:22:59,000 because he does what a lot of people wish they could do. 1967 01:22:59,002 --> 01:23:01,004 A lot of people wish they could ignore the law. 1968 01:23:01,006 --> 01:23:03,014 A lot of people wish they could ignore rules. 1969 01:23:03,016 --> 01:23:05,010 Gene actually did that. 1970 01:23:05,012 --> 01:23:07,013 - The spirit of Action Park lives on today 1971 01:23:07,015 --> 01:23:09,018 in the Fyre Festival, in Theranos, 1972 01:23:09,020 --> 01:23:11,008 and all these other schemes. 1973 01:23:11,010 --> 01:23:12,023 - The Fyre Festival's bullshit, man. 1974 01:23:13,001 --> 01:23:14,009 He gave them a cheese sandwich. 1975 01:23:14,011 --> 01:23:16,000 Gene gave you everything he fucking promised you. 1976 01:23:16,002 --> 01:23:17,013 He said, "Come to my amusement park. 1977 01:23:17,015 --> 01:23:19,005 "Do whatever the fuck you feel like. 1978 01:23:19,007 --> 01:23:20,017 "You might get hurt, but you're probably 1979 01:23:20,019 --> 01:23:21,022 gonna have a shit ton of fun." 1980 01:23:22,000 --> 01:23:23,000 It was what it said it was. 1981 01:23:23,002 --> 01:23:24,011 But it was fucked up. 1982 01:23:24,013 --> 01:23:27,019 - Even though I was scared to do those rides, 1983 01:23:27,021 --> 01:23:29,011 I fucking did them. 1984 01:23:29,013 --> 01:23:31,013 There's also a part of me that's like, 1985 01:23:31,015 --> 01:23:33,011 "If you can't do them, 1986 01:23:33,013 --> 01:23:35,009 then fucking get out of Jersey." 1987 01:23:35,011 --> 01:23:37,021 ♪ ♪ 1988 01:23:37,023 --> 01:23:41,013 narrator: In 2010, just two years before his death, 1989 01:23:41,015 --> 01:23:43,013 Gene Mulvihill led a group of investors 1990 01:23:43,015 --> 01:23:45,012 to take back control of the park 1991 01:23:45,014 --> 01:23:47,017 he had founded decades earlier. 1992 01:23:47,019 --> 01:23:52,018 In 2014, Gene's son Andy revived the Action Park name 1993 01:23:52,020 --> 01:23:55,004 to cash in on a growing sense of nostalgia 1994 01:23:55,006 --> 01:23:57,001 for the original park. 1995 01:23:57,003 --> 01:24:00,007 The following year, the park announced its intention 1996 01:24:00,009 --> 01:24:03,006 to build an updated version of the Cannonball Loop 1997 01:24:03,008 --> 01:24:05,018 called the Sky Caliber. 1998 01:24:05,020 --> 01:24:08,008 That ride was never built. 1999 01:24:09,023 --> 01:24:11,015 In 2018, the resort, 2000 01:24:11,017 --> 01:24:13,019 once again called Mountain Creek, 2001 01:24:13,021 --> 01:24:16,016 was acquired by Vernon native and onetime teenage 2002 01:24:16,018 --> 01:24:19,021 Action Park employee Joe Hession. 2003 01:24:19,023 --> 01:24:27,003 ♪ ♪ 2004 01:24:30,000 --> 01:24:32,019 - When you look back at Action Park these days, 2005 01:24:32,021 --> 01:24:36,017 I think everybody romanticizes a little bit. 2006 01:24:36,019 --> 01:24:39,003 I remember enough about working at Action Park 2007 01:24:39,005 --> 01:24:41,010 to remember that everybody that worked there hated it 2008 01:24:41,012 --> 01:24:43,022 when they were there, but they always came back, 2009 01:24:44,000 --> 01:24:45,009 and we always kept the friends 2010 01:24:45,011 --> 01:24:47,011 that we made while we were there. 2011 01:24:47,013 --> 01:24:50,003 It's an '80s movie that was real life, 2012 01:24:50,005 --> 01:24:53,006 and it's something that'll never happen again. 2013 01:24:53,008 --> 01:24:56,012 - I hold it so near and dear to my heart. 2014 01:24:56,014 --> 01:24:59,008 I'm so glad that I got to go there. 2015 01:24:59,010 --> 01:25:01,008 I wear it as a point of pride. 2016 01:25:01,010 --> 01:25:03,007 That being said, I think back to the fact 2017 01:25:03,009 --> 01:25:06,015 that I was a child, and I think about the things that I saw 2018 01:25:06,017 --> 01:25:08,019 and that I participated in. 2019 01:25:08,021 --> 01:25:11,016 And even at the age of 39, 2020 01:25:11,018 --> 01:25:13,020 to no small degree, it does scare me 2021 01:25:13,022 --> 01:25:15,009 that that was happening, 2022 01:25:15,011 --> 01:25:17,001 that that was allowed to happen, 2023 01:25:17,003 --> 01:25:20,008 that--that life could be that way. 2024 01:25:20,010 --> 01:25:22,013 - I look back as it was a positive thing. 2025 01:25:22,015 --> 01:25:24,017 You know, be able to, I don't know, 2026 01:25:24,019 --> 01:25:26,023 make your own decisions on how ambitious 2027 01:25:27,001 --> 01:25:29,004 or how adventurous you want to be 2028 01:25:29,006 --> 01:25:31,009 and living with the consequences. 2029 01:25:31,011 --> 01:25:33,013 I think it teaches something. 2030 01:25:33,015 --> 01:25:36,006 - Everything's in your face today, 2031 01:25:36,008 --> 01:25:39,001 and I think we're more fearful, rightfully so. 2032 01:25:39,003 --> 01:25:41,005 I think our parents should've been more afraid, right? 2033 01:25:41,007 --> 01:25:43,021 I think everybody in this room would say... 2034 01:25:43,023 --> 01:25:46,006 [laughs] "My parents should've known what I was doing 2035 01:25:46,008 --> 01:25:47,023 on this day or that day." 2036 01:25:48,001 --> 01:25:49,011 - We live in an era when kids 2037 01:25:49,013 --> 01:25:51,000 don't really go outside as much. 2038 01:25:51,002 --> 01:25:52,012 When they do go outside, 2039 01:25:52,014 --> 01:25:54,006 people are scared they're gonna get hurt. 2040 01:25:54,008 --> 01:25:56,010 In the '80s, kids were running free. 2041 01:25:56,012 --> 01:25:59,005 They were running outdoors. They were scraping their knees. 2042 01:25:59,007 --> 01:26:01,008 They were going to Action Park. 2043 01:26:01,010 --> 01:26:04,005 We look back at our childhoods. 2044 01:26:04,007 --> 01:26:06,001 It's carefree. 2045 01:26:06,003 --> 01:26:07,010 We didn't have jobs. 2046 01:26:07,012 --> 01:26:08,021 We didn't have to answer to anybody. 2047 01:26:08,023 --> 01:26:10,009 We could do what we wanted, right? 2048 01:26:10,011 --> 01:26:13,000 We look at Action Park, and we remember 2049 01:26:13,002 --> 01:26:14,015 this heightened version of this. 2050 01:26:14,017 --> 01:26:16,011 We could do whatever we wanted. 2051 01:26:16,013 --> 01:26:19,003 So when you're nostalgic for Action Park, 2052 01:26:19,005 --> 01:26:20,016 you're nostalgic for childhood. 2053 01:26:20,018 --> 01:26:22,010 You're nostalgic for freedom. 2054 01:26:22,012 --> 01:26:24,010 You're not nostalgic for being hurt. 2055 01:26:24,012 --> 01:26:27,006 You're nostalgic for everything else. 2056 01:26:27,008 --> 01:26:30,002 - When you talk to other people who went there, 2057 01:26:30,004 --> 01:26:33,014 there's a certain shared level of... 2058 01:26:33,016 --> 01:26:36,008 sort of survivor's respect. 2059 01:26:36,010 --> 01:26:39,022 Many of the people you talk to who grew up in New Jersey 2060 01:26:40,000 --> 01:26:41,010 laughing about Action Park, 2061 01:26:41,012 --> 01:26:43,018 if you ask them on a basic level, 2062 01:26:43,020 --> 01:26:45,003 "Do you think the way you grew up 2063 01:26:45,005 --> 01:26:46,013 was healthy for a kid?" 2064 01:26:46,015 --> 01:26:48,016 they'll say, "No." 2065 01:26:48,018 --> 01:26:51,018 We laugh about it, 'cause what else are we gonna do? 2066 01:26:51,020 --> 01:26:54,005 But we don't think it was healthy. 2067 01:26:54,007 --> 01:26:56,016 And those people understand, like, no, it was really-- 2068 01:26:56,018 --> 01:26:58,010 You were swimming in pools 2069 01:26:58,012 --> 01:27:00,005 where the lifeguards weren't paying attention. 2070 01:27:00,007 --> 01:27:02,009 You were going on rides that were poorly designed 2071 01:27:02,011 --> 01:27:04,011 that people got hurt on all the time. 2072 01:27:04,013 --> 01:27:06,010 And we felt like we were on our own. 2073 01:27:06,012 --> 01:27:09,015 We felt like the world was an unsafe place. 2074 01:27:09,017 --> 01:27:13,003 But it's what we got, so fuck you. 2075 01:27:13,005 --> 01:27:15,000 [David Bowie's "All the Madmen"] 2076 01:27:15,002 --> 01:27:18,000 - ♪ Day after day ♪ 2077 01:27:18,002 --> 01:27:21,014 ♪ They send my friends away ♪ 2078 01:27:21,016 --> 01:27:26,015 - We are extraordinarily happy 2079 01:27:26,017 --> 01:27:28,016 that we were able to grow up the way we did 2080 01:27:28,018 --> 01:27:30,020 and, simultaneously, 2081 01:27:30,022 --> 01:27:34,019 so furious that we had to grow up that way. 2082 01:27:34,021 --> 01:27:38,010 ♪ ♪ 2083 01:27:38,012 --> 01:27:41,016 - ♪ Day after day ♪ 2084 01:27:41,018 --> 01:27:43,020 ♪ They tell me I can go ♪ 2085 01:27:43,022 --> 01:27:45,023 - A lot of kids who grew up in the '80s, 2086 01:27:46,001 --> 01:27:48,003 they like to talk shit and tell stories, 2087 01:27:48,005 --> 01:27:49,018 and when they got a couple drinks in them, 2088 01:27:49,020 --> 01:27:52,012 it's about how fucked up and funny it was. 2089 01:27:52,014 --> 01:27:54,012 But when they're with their shrink, 2090 01:27:54,014 --> 01:27:57,010 it's just about how fucked up it was. 2091 01:27:57,012 --> 01:27:59,015 But a lot of things were. 2092 01:27:59,017 --> 01:28:01,013 A lot of things were back then. 2093 01:28:01,015 --> 01:28:05,002 - ♪ I can fly, I will scream ♪ 2094 01:28:05,004 --> 01:28:08,015 ♪ I will break my arm ♪ 2095 01:28:08,017 --> 01:28:11,009 ♪ I will do me harm ♪ 2096 01:28:11,011 --> 01:28:13,020 ♪ ♪ 2097 01:28:13,022 --> 01:28:16,014 ♪ Don't set me free ♪ 2098 01:28:16,016 --> 01:28:20,008 ♪ I'm as heavy as can be ♪ 2099 01:28:20,010 --> 01:28:23,018 ♪ Just my Librium and me ♪ 2100 01:28:23,020 --> 01:28:27,007 ♪ And my EST makes three ♪ 2101 01:28:27,009 --> 01:28:31,003 ♪ 'Cause I'd rather stay here ♪ 2102 01:28:31,005 --> 01:28:34,016 ♪ With all the madmen ♪ 2103 01:28:34,018 --> 01:28:37,023 ♪ Than perish with the sad men ♪ 2104 01:28:38,001 --> 01:28:41,008 ♪ Roaming free ♪ 2105 01:28:41,010 --> 01:28:45,013 ♪ And I'd rather play here ♪ 2106 01:28:45,015 --> 01:28:48,011 ♪ With all the madmen ♪ 2107 01:28:48,013 --> 01:28:51,005 ♪ For I'm quite content ♪ 2108 01:28:51,007 --> 01:28:54,003 ♪ They're all as sane as me ♪ 2109 01:28:54,005 --> 01:29:01,010 ♪ ♪