Andy Mulvihill

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Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America’s Most Dangerous Amusement Park by Andy Mulvihill and Jake Rossen is a memoir of Mr. Mulvihill who is the son of the park’s creator and owner.

s book caught my eye since I grew up in the New Jersey area, and Action Park was always in the background. I haven’t been there many times, but I remember all news it generated.

Action Park by Andy Mulvihill and Jake Rossen is a fascinating and interesting read. Gene Mulvihill, the park’s owner, and the author’s father was a businessman who believed in bending the rules to the point where they start to crack – which makes for a hilarious read. Even though I knew how dangerous Action Park was, and all the laws and regulations it was skirting, I couldn’t help but cheer for Gene many times.

Andy Mulvihill gives the reader an insider look into the workings of the park. He grew up working in it, running some of the attractions, and managing the “lands”. With great humor and wit, he describes the most dangerous aspects of the park, especially concerning/amusing/charming/entertaining are his descriptions of the water rides and pools. Frankly, the fact that they didn’t have a daily death count of drownings is either a miracle or a testament to the lifeguards.
You choose!

Action Park would never be able to operate today. Gene Mulvihill believed that the owner is responsible to operate the park, but it’s up to the patrons to figure out if it’s safe for them to ride. There were no helmets, or protection. A wrong move would scrape your skin off, break teeth, or worse.
And patrons loved it. They loved the freedom and the actual, not perceived danger.

As entertaining as this book it, it’s also a cautionary tale. People cannot be trusted, insurance and regulations exist for a reason (mostly)… (mere)

I grew up on Long Island, maybe two hours from Vernon, NJ, and was in college when Action Park closed. Their commercials were a prominent feature of local TV. I went to Great Adventure and Dorney Park--both further away--but never Action Park, because my mother forbade it. Its reputation preceded it: you went to Action Park to get hurt. Not only were the rides dangerous, the crowds who thronged the park were willing to push the rules.

Andy Mulvihill, the son of the founder of Action Park, is here to tell the behind the scenes story, and it's a good--if horrifying--tale. His father, Gene, wanted one thing: the most thrilling amusement park he could build. In the 1970s, regulations were weak and that suited him just fine. At Action Park, he wanted the thrills to be real. And they were. Formula 1 Lola cars, a slide that could scrape your skin off, a wave pool where people nearly drowned on a daily basis. People got hurt, and sometimes people died. Andy is defensive about the park's operations, but the story tells a tale of a tragic mix: people who were willing to try dangerous things, not understanding just how badly it could go, and an owner who was willing to give them those thrills--and let the buyer beware. The story is much more gruesomely funny than it has a right to be, but how can you not laugh at lines like "And then I saw my first guest shitting on the floor?"

Of course, such a park couldn't last--eventually the law, the insurance companies, and everything else caught up with it. But nothing sums up 1980s New Jersey quite like Action Park.… (mere)