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'''Action Park''' was a popular [[waterpark]]/motor themed park open from 1978 to 1996 in [[Vernon Township, New Jersey|Vernon Township]], [[New Jersey]], on the property of the former Vernon Valley / Great Gorge [[ski area]], today [[Mountain Creek]]. It featured three separate attraction areas — an [[alpine slide]]; Motoworld, where patrons could operate motorized vehicles on land and water and Waterworld, with many water-based attractions such as [[waterslide]]s.
Its popularity, however, went hand in hand with a reputation for poorly-designed, unsafe rides; inattentive, underaged, underpaid and sometimes under-the-influence employees; equally intoxicated and underprepared visitors (i.e. Sepp Dobler) — and the poor safety record that followed from this [[perfect storm]] of circumstances. At least six people are known to have died as a result of mishaps on rides at the park, and it was nicknamed "[[Traction (orthopedics)|Traction]] Park",<ref name="Traction Park">Austin, Joanne; October 2005, "Revisiting Traction ... Er, ''Action'', Park," ''[[Weird NJ]]'', 20-24.</ref> "Accident Park",<ref name="Jersey Ed">Jersey Ed; May 2006; "We Called it Accident Park" in "The Reaction to Traction at Action Park"; ''Weird NJ'', 28.</ref> "Danger Park" and "Death Park" by doctors at nearby [[hospital]]s due to the many severely injured parkgoers they treated. While little action was taken by state regulators despite a history of repeat violations, in its later years [[tort|personal-injury]] lawsuits forced the closure of more and more rides and finally the park itself. The new owner of the ski area has reopened the water attractions as [[Mountain Creek Waterpark]], with a vastly increased emphasis on ride safety.
==History==
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