Game Grumps: Dan's Stories from Action Park

[@TheRealZachHadel]

listening to dan talk about action park feels like listening to a veteran recount tales from the war

[@iivin4233]

Exactly. They're fond memories now. They survived after all. You wouldn't understand. You weren't there. And the sound... that's not quite describable either unless you were there.

[@thecosmicaesthetic]

Dan needs a shirt that says, "I survived Action Park" 😂

[@thguy370]

I opened up the comments to write this god damn it XD

[@smittoria]

i like ur name THKS SPHSMLS LKSSTHKSTLS

[@MisterTwit]

More like "I thrived at Action Park"

[@chandlerbing1800]

Based on the reputation it had both figuratively and literally

[@wellinthatkayce]

THATS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING LMAOOO

[@ZackofSpades]

Man, I can't believe Danny lived through the real life inspiration for Roller Coaster Tycoon. That's crazy.

[@HighQualityLeftover]

"Most people didnt die" could be the legit tagline of the 80s

[@Donttrustthatburger5144]

Dan built the caves too

[@Mateo_173]

These were built by Dan avidan 😏

[@noam1121]

are these the kumron caves you are referring to?

[@srbrant5391]

@@noam1121 Qumran.

[@harrisonmoore3841]

His constant injuries against the stone walls eroded entire caves in the pool, now he's got skin of stone

[@noam1121]

@@srbrant5391 let's ask dan i think he shoveld them

[@theotherjared9824]

My dad went to action park with his family once during one of their summer cross-country trips. He was the youngest, so most of his brothers were already out of the house. He remembers getting multiple bruises but can't remember from what. He later watched that documentary, and all these repressed memories of chaos and screaming and bodies getting launched into the air came flooding back to him.

[@firstnext5482]

The mental image of your dad having 'Nam flashbacks of his vacation to Action Park is fuckin' SENDING me, my man

[@maddieb.4282]

This is among the funniest comments I’ve ever read lmfao

[@zachscarbrough2727]

This sounds like something that would happen in a National Lampoon’s movie.

[@SkilesHasFun]

"It was a New Jersey rite of passage to break your arm at Action Park." - Danny Avidanny

[@mortmortmort8908]

They actually *did* open that water slide with the loop. Apparently they had to add a hatch to save people that got stuck in it, and people started coming out of the slide with cuts and scratches all over them because there were teeth that got stuck in the gaps in the slide.

[@theotherjared9824]

The initial tests were with crash test dummies. The engineers had to keep redesigning the ride because the dummies kept coming out in pieces.

[@steviecopeland]

They closed it after a month because of all the injuries. Shortest lived but most famous attraction

[@lunarumbreon7699]

I’m sorry, teeth? People were getting bit by the slide?

[@steviecopeland]

@@lunarumbreon7699 the force that people experienced (which was apparently like 5 Gs) would knock their head straight into the top and break their teeth. Who would've guessed lol

[@lunarumbreon7699]

@@steviecopeland terrifying

[@lucaswickmansound]

Dan saying he’s in his early 40’s makes me feel old even though I’m literally half his age

[@daisyoverton204]

Him and my mom were born the same year. I’m also in my 20s, it’s very surreal

[@bluelfsuma]

It's a very older generation thing to say something along the lines of "well, yeah, but" when someone points out how dangerous [something they did as a kid] was. Their explanations make sense, but it still gives me the feeling that I was one dumb kid activity away from never being.

[@AtamiskxIx]

Now we need a grump out of Dan reacting to class action park. 😂

[@LifesNeverHumDrum]

“Class Action Park” is a fantastic name

[@dudere]

My comic book guy said he called it "Traction Park". I don't know how he escaped Jersey.

[@kath_23_]

Sometimes I completely forget how old danny is

[@heyodaddio4961]

I almost choked when he said he's in his early forties!

[@skippythealien9627]

it's because Dan looked perpetually 23 for a long ass time. he's finally starting to look his age a bit these days...but he has such youthful energy haha

[@deusprogrammer_thekingofspace]

Listen...40 ain't old.

[@heyodaddio4961]

@TheTrueKingOfSpace no but it is middle aged.

[@shannono8397]

wait I'm younger than him, how?? whaaa??

[@skippythealien9627]

I'm not in my 40s, but i am rapidly approaching them. Could not agree more with what Dan said about how you reach a point in your life when childhood really feels completely distant and how everything culturally, technologically, environmentally feels radically different from when you were younger. I 100% relate to that

[@pontiac_montana]

"There's a reason they called it ' _Action_ Park'." You've accepted the risk, now reap the rewards! (If you survive that is) Surviving Action Park should land you a Civilian Equivalent of a Purple Heart.

[@Metalcherrytree]

So I too went to Action Park in the summers, but when it was under new management and became Mountain Creek Waterpark. And every time I went my parents would be so nervous for me and I never understood why until I learned about Action Park. Totally bizarre.

[@shmerples2960]

Action Park is an east coast legend. My parents told me horror stories but like...fondly? Like they're proud to have survived it. I'm sad I was born too late to experience it.

[@xorinoa]

I love hearing stories about Action Park! I've watched that documentary twice. It's so mind blowing that a place like that ran for so long!

[@gendrawsalot4382]

I’ve worked there recently, still moderately sketchy

[@emeraldchild97]

Its still around, they just rebranded really.

[@loxveronica1203]

From the sound of this, it reminds me of Sun Splash in Cape Coral in Florida... We really all just went to these murderous water parks and remember it fondly huh-

[@migiplayz91]

Ah the good old days when the greatest places for kids was like a training center for survival. When a water park and theme parks is always Final Destination

[@em_the_lion2040]

Ah, action park. I went there after the rebrand and knocked the wind out of myself on the Tarzan Swing attraction when I was 12. Good times :)

[@RaspberryPastry]

I went to a knock off of the knock off Action Park like where they gave you a burlap sack to slide down a HOT metal slide, and I distinctly remember burning the shit out of my arm accidentally losing my baby balance on that thing and sliding it across the metal like "Oh, it burned so fast the nerves died before I could feel it" but that numb feeling was over pretty quick when the blisters showed up a few minutes afterwards

[@TheCrayon]

HOLY SHIT, that's insane. Could you imagine looking at a theme park full of kids on a hot summer's day and saying to yourself, "Let's send them down a really long frying pan."?

[@ShaiXeno]

Growing up, if you lived in the NY metropolitan area, everyone had an older sibling, or a friend with an older sibling that had a summer job at Traction Park.

[@maxdean9205]

Look, explaining action park to someone who has never been is a real fun experience, especially when you bring up all the dangers! My friends had the best reactions when I told them about it.

[@ItsSiebay]

My mom has told me stories about her working at my local Six Flags before it was owned by Six Flags. It was mostly a water park at the time, and while not nearly as dangerous, it does tell of how safety regulations have changed over the years. Also, Dan was in high school the year I was born. The last year that Action Park operated, apparently.

[@lordcrispen]

When that documentary came out recently (3 or 4 years ago maybe?) and it came up in conversation because my friends knew I grew up in Jersey in the 80's/early90s, I felt exactly like Dan in this clip telling my friends about Action Park. Monday mornings in the early spring or late fall, kids would get on the bus in a sling or cast, or have long red road-rash scrapes on their legs and stuff. It was absolutely a rite-of-passage thing for sure, even if now I think it was insane.

[@maddieb.4282]

Late spring or early fall

[@bjhhb3143]

I think people forget how old Danny is. He’s not too old of course. But a lot of times when he doesn’t get newer memes or references or says things that reminds me of things my uncles say, it’s very sweet.

[@TheDrLeviathan]

I remember kids in my class arguing if that water slide loop existed. Im kinda glad it didnt.

[@ItsSiebay]

Oh it definitely did. There’s video footage of it with people riding it.

[@TheDrLeviathan]

@@ItsSiebay oh God, pls no... Lmao

[@L-sillybrained]

It did…just not for long. Basically a concussion machine

[@shibuyadaemon9111]

Im fast approaching my 30s and hearing dan was in highschool the year i was born is wild.

[@NichePlays]

I don't even watch GG anymore and this brought me back lol. I grew up going to Mountain Creek (Action Park under a new name, though I continued going after they changed it back in the 2010s) and it's still a death trap lol. To the point where I'm in the middle of editing my first novel where the characters visit a fictional amusement park/water park combo named Guppy Falls, and it's just a hodgepodge of Six Flags, Action Park and Dorney Park lol

[@Kinsume1]

my comfort media is finding various documentaries covering action park, so when I saw this, I nearly gave myself whiplash, thank you

[@bigtiredpotato]

God I remember going to Action Park as a kid. I'm lucky I never got hurt. Now I live in the same town as the park lol

[@laurencress9651]

My mom’s from Jersey. Any time Dan tells a story about his time in Jersey I ask my mom if experienced that too

[@Ariasam95]

Is it usually accurate? 😂

[@spimbles]

as someone from jersey, i dont know what you actually expect lmfao most of the state is boring nothingness, odds are she hasnt seen the kumran walls that dan shoveled himself

[@laurencress9651]

@@spimbles well that’s probably cuz the Qumran Caves are in Israel 😅

[@Virjunior01]

I mean yeah. Part of the draw though was that Six Flags, Hershey Park and Sesame Place were further, so Traction Park got lots of play... and they did lots of local TV ads, LONG before Six Flags started using the Looney Tunes and dancing old guy. It was a huge Jersey thing.

[@EightThreeEight]

Just for clarification, you're saying NEW Jersey, right? Just Jersey is a British isle.

[@PowerInOne22]

Grew up going to the safer "mountain creek" iteration. Wish we all knew about the crazy action park stories back then haha.

[@emeraldchild97]

"Safer"

[@gilolaes4725]

I was so happy with Arin mentioning this until I realized he wasn't referring to the Defunctland video :(

[@neab.3250]

to be fair the documentary on HBO is also interesting

[@jbischof71]

My god.. Class Action Park was great!! Loved going there as a kid

[@amydaskilewicz9076]

There's nothing in the world like Action Park! I love learning about it, but it's such a treat to get to hear someone's first hand experience

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

Arin: *usually sucks at Sonic* Also Arin: *knows how to save himself by jumping out of a damage animation in mid-air which is a thing exclusively in Heroes, or maybe SA2 also*

[@shiftfire4511]

I can't believe we almost lost Dan before KZbin was a thing...

[@skylarkessler9805]

Wow, Dan was in high school the year I was born. He doesn't really seem *that* much older than me. Either way, I've gotta check out that documentary, sounds like an interesting place!

[@SativaCyborg94]

Reminds me of the time I went to the Sacramento State fair and went on the Zipper from the first time (Farris Wheel from hell for those that don't know) my seat belt broke and I flew out of my seat and ended up underneath the seat and my dad just pointed and laugh. I could've died or ended up paralyzed... thanks dad 😂😂😂😂

[@Gojiro7]

Dan is weirdly in denial over how dangerous that place was, because A kid didn't just died their, 6 people died there and every single day they were sending people to the hospital straight from the park so often, the owner bought the town all new ambulances as part of a settlement with the city. It literally had the energy of a local family attraction that gets like 12 people a day max.....expanded to 1200 a day without a single bump in professionalism or safety concern XD

[@Lionfish5656]

You are correct. I do understand Dan's perspective, though. It would definitely appeal greatly to teenagers, especially teenage boys.

[@Orion_Owlbear]

fun fact about that loop slide: they DID open it! when tehy tested it with test dummies, the dummies came back without their heads, but they opened it. the kids who came out complained of burns and bruises from rubbing against the slide, so they put in padding. THEN the kids came out with bruises. turns out, kids had been losing their teeth and getting them lodged in the padding, so they were scratching the kids who came through the slide. watch defunctlands video on it, it's nuts

[@deathjam278]

I think i actually almost drowned there

[@iamfasterthanyou]

I love the trips back to the pre-2000s listening to Dan’s story. (95 baby)

[@DelTashlin]

My church youth group took us to Traction Park every summer. We lived far enough away that we didn't get the negative media about it. This was from 1986 to 1990? Thereabouts. I know it closed down at one point, got rebranded, closed, opened up again as Action Park, and then closed again.

[@ghostbustersquickresponseu5159]

Ah, Traction Park. I remember it well.

[@supere4nitro]

My mom used to go to action park when she was a kid. Once she scraped herself on one of the concrete slides and started bleeding. That place was a death trap

[@litl_kim]

My uncle was an Alpine Slide road rash victim lol I’m a 2 time survivor 😆

[@IronD-12]

Action park was a crazy death trap...got hurt a few times there...good times

[@xbeccax6975]

If anyone cares, the water park is still open, but it's called "Mountain Creek water park" Most of the stuff they are talking about is still there. Would recommend going

[@astr0ave]

My dad went to action park and I’ve gone to the rebranded water park can confirm that it’s way safer now

[@Steel-101]

Listening to Dan talk about this Action Park kind of reminds me of Six Flags/Waterworld in Houston TX. I live like an hour away from Houston and when I was a kid, every summer I used to go there. I’m 30 now and I still remember the fun times I had in those parks. I was so bummed out when it shut down back in 2005.

[@amethystimagination3332]

My only reference for action park is KZbin videos with titles like “world’s most dangerous theme park.” Hearing someone who actually went there describe it gives me a whole new “oh dear god” feeling.

[@CabiriousPlus]

This reminds me of The Island Water Park in California. They had like 100 foot tall slides called bamboo shoots that would need a stupid foam mat that would slip out from beneath you and leave a big burn on your belly. Then youd smash face first at mach 5 into a pool of water that you pretty much skided across almost hitting the stairs. Wild stuff, I go feet first these days. 😅

[@jayfiggs4656]

When they sent a test dummy into the water tubes and they said parts of the dummy started coming out the other end it terrified me.

[@redvelvetunderground]

honestly surprised it's taken this long for dan to talk about action park, lol.

[@singlecell2498]

Whenever I hear of things like this in ameria I'm like oh wow that's nuts but then I remember things like elan happened and no one has really been punished for it and it all makes a bit more sense

[@ronniemcnuggit9718]

I used to go to action park every yea for m birthday, back when I was 10 in 1995 the teen lifeguard accidentally pressed a inner tube against my neck and pinned me against the wooden pier tha people stepped down into thw water to. It took a dozen people yelling and my mother grabbing the dude to release me. He said "oh damn I'm sorry", no expression on his face.

[@TBustah]

I’ve heard about this place from a theme park tuber. I’m glad that Dan survived!

[@jreelite7149]

Just coasting off of the defunctland algorithm :P

[@procrastinator99]

SAME! Love Defunctland so much.

[@TheRepty818]

Ending the video on "That's a big ole gator" was perfect.

[@Forrest0726]

I went to Mountain Creek last summer as I live in the area. It definitely has been tamed, but one of the rides is still just jumping off of a cliff.

[@dakotasan8719]

Man, My DAD used to go to Action Park

[@ryankelsay5984]

Didn't they actually open the loop and people would scrape their skin on the lodged teeth of previous riders or was that a different ride at Action Park

[@owen3666]

That was during testing but yes

[@buggibii]

i had to re-read this comment SEVERAL times because the sheer horror of what you were saying was so absurd my brain literally couldn't process it 😨

[@Emerald-t7k]

And it needed an escape hatch because they kept getting stuck

[@Krabnut]

The star trek war song killed me

[@joshuajensen2899]

2:33…I believe Mt Olympus in the Dells might have something to say about that. I’m not going to argue one way or the other(that’s what comment engagement is for)but I had the interesting experience that I’m glad I got to experience but also made me appreciate why most of the time parks wouldn’t allow that. The day I went it was sporadically raining hard on and off and I rode the Zeus roller coaster while it was pouring down. I couldn’t see much of the ride but it was decently fun and not extremely rough (compared to some others) although I’m not sure as I couldn’t see the whole time and my skin had the mini needle feeling afterwards. As for the others, they’re all wood coasters and many of them don’t help to change the notion of rough wood coasters. So here’s my 10ish word or less review of them all as of 07/18/2023. Zeus: Lightning Bolt logo fits but couldn’t see. Hades 360: Hell’s not that cruel compared to this. Cyclops: The odd one out as it was fairly tolerable. Pegasus: Spiral Pegasus is gentler than this.

[@XALKEMPORAS]

Meh death builds character

[@Vhaasen]

Oh man "Traction Park".

[@stormtempterf8058]

Does the Johnny Knoxville movie count as a documentary on Action Park?

[@CasualPrince8]

Hearing Dan say he's in his early 40s makes me feel sick. And I'm only going to be 21 in a month.

[@benderbendingrodriguez420]

Still wild that Dan actually expierenced Action Park

[@vincentdeluca4485]

Its still there lol, Just called Mountain Creek and is slightly less dangerous and more regulated (though that also means significantly more lame), Go every summer still.

[@scussrubbish7608]

So Mountain Creek (formerly action park) is still a dangerous shithole. Workers were drunk at Action Park, and I was drunk as a Creek employee. It's a lot "safer", but it's a horrible place to be. Skiing ain't bad if you want to ski in Jersey

[@DaRealCheeseboy]

If I had a Time Machine, one of the things I would most like to experience is to go to Action Park on some crazy summer day just to see the lazy chaos that it must have been. Then, I’d probably kill Hitler or get cast in Star Wars or something, Idk.

[@CaptainSpycrab]

1996 was the year Action Park ran _without insurance coverage_ in a failed att empt to save money.

[@Herowebcomics]

You know there are issues with a place when people say "Well,most people didn't die when they went there!"

[@katlicks]

Dan is right about it being "Not that dangerous", millions of visitors, handfuls of death, you had a like 1/10,000,000,000 chance of actually dying. Most of it was getting banged up, but that's just the world for you, scraping knees, getting bruises.

[@jesusbarrera6916]

the documentary they are talking about is most likely DEFUNCTLAND's here on KZbin fascinating channel, with prime narration and so much well researched info about the history of theme parks, rides and mostly DISNEY, they also do some TV shows

[@boogiefrights]

is it weird i JUST watched the action park documentary and this came up in my recs

[@boogiefrights]

@@jb-zi7cj nah, its on Crave/HBO though

[@Slayer-Wulf]

@@jb-zi7cj Class Action Park

[@Starze]

First day on the internet?

[@paulrus-keaton439]

3:37 It's a football! I chiseled it!

[@moose6667]

I never knew I needed a Game Grumps X Defunctland crossover till now, I’ll give up a kidney, plz make it happen.

[@Some__Guy]

I only heard about Action Park from the Castle Super Beast podcast, but it's fucking crazy.

[@trevoranthony3018]

2:04 He said that so normally 💀 Like I would never forget twisting my ankle, I still remember spraining my ankle

[@noncrediblecase341]

6:19 I know what Arin means when he says he's terrified of Action Park, the first time I ever heard of Action Park was Dark5's video about the five most deadliest theme park accidents that had the creepiest fucking music in the background. Seemed like a nightmarish death trap for me ever since.

[@b1tt3rb33f]

7:30 Vernon Valley! That’s my hometown, that’s where I grew up

[@colesephhh9546]

I still don’t understand how that kid got decapitated on that slide like were there sharp edges or something?

[@Squalidarity]

I think a big thing to consider is how much less accessible information about any random topic was back then? Like, Action Park could never exist today because you’d here “I don’t know, I’ve heard that place is kind of dangerous” and then google it and be hit with 100s of articles about how dangerous it is, and 1,000s of social media posts of teens showing off their gnarly injuries. But back then, that wasn’t a thing. Like, maybe your local paper would have run articles on it at some point, but that’s it. So you had to go a lot more on what the people around you already thought. If you were a kid, and you heard “I hear that place is kind of dangerous”, you’d be excited but probably not scared because, hey, your family or your friend’s family brought you here, and you know on a subconscious level they wouldn’t let you go anywhere that was _actually_ dangerous. And if you were an adult, I’d imagine it’d have been pretty easy to rationalize your fears in other ways: “Well, I’ve heard some rumors about dangerous stuff, but we and everyone we know goes here all the time and hasn’t been seriously injured, and the kids really like it. And, hey, surely, if there was any mortal danger the government would shut them down. Or at least not let them run ads on TV. Right?” “Plus, it’s an amusement park that serves booze.”

[@Jaceblue04]

You hear all the stories people getting hurt at Action Park and it SOUNDS like the park is just Hell on Earth, but when you consider the sheer number of people the park drew in year after year, you realize the ratio of injured guest to non-injured guests is fairly low. That being said, it's still higher than an amusement park should ever have, hence why its considered the most dangerous park in history.

[@toasterofthetown5243]

My dad loved that place when he was a kid

[@Virjunior01]

I went for some reason as a kid... might have been a _class trip._ But I DO remember the concrete present on many of the rides and how rough that shit was. But I've always had pretty decent reflexes and have never broken a bone in my 40 years, so it was fine. And yes, when all the problems are listed together, it sounds worse than it actually _was._ As far as anyone was concerned, it was just another amusement park... and an overwhelming majority of people didn't break anything or die. You might get scraped up a bit, but yeah. Us Jersey Boys and Girls _do_ enjoy an element of danger. That's why so many of us from the northern areas got pissed when Giuliani cleaned everything up. It was neat to hop a train and go to the Times Square area at 16, seeing all the porn shops, staying late and seeing a hooker pick up some John and head off down an unlit street, sit and talk to a heroine addict who'd keep falling asleep and drop his cigarette mid-sentence while waiting for the train home... It was completely different from post 9/11 NYC

[@wryalways985]

Watched Fascinating Horror's doc on Action Park after I watched this vid. I thought Dan was exaggerating. Nope.

[@uncannycerebro]

Dan's star trek theme sounded like Jim Carrey's on cable guy lol

[@iivin4233]

So Action Park is like BPA. "Most people didn't die..."

[@cubeman9766]

i remember the 2006 version good times aside from bruises i survived

[@Emerald-t7k]

I wonder if they were talking about defunctlands action park documentary

[@Lord_Yeetis]

My dad's action park stories were very similar.

[@sapphirewingthefurrycritic985]

Good God, how is he alive?

[@michellewalsh4709]

As one of those teenage kids, can confirm

[@P5YBUCK]

Woo!!! Go Dan!!!❤😂