Alaina Urquhart

Now, the relatively limited number of accidents and deaths at parks like Disneyland and Great America is due in large part to really high safety standards.

Yeah, of course.

But in the history of amusement parks and theme parks, there's one name that is so notorious for low standards that the risk of injury associated with the park actually became part of its allure during its 20 years in operation.

I've never heard of this.

Tell me.

This is...

Insane.

What was it called?

Oh, I'm going to tell you.

Okay.

In 1976, New Jersey businessman Eugene Mulvihill was looking for a way to make money during the off-season when his Vernon Township, New Jersey ski resort, Vernon Valley, was closed.

Inspired by the success of parks like Disney and Six Flags, he found a new company called Great American Recreation, and in May 1978, he opened Action Park in Vernon.

Now Mulvihill's son, Andy Mulvihill, said before he opened Action Park, he had no experience of any kind running an amusement park.

He said in contrast to Disney's carefully conceived Fantasylands, my father pieced together a series of ambitious and often ill-advised attractions on the side of a ski mountain in rural New Jersey that he had come to own virtually by accident.

At first, the park amounted to little more than a few go-kart tracks and miniature racing rides, but he quickly expanded to include water rides, boat rides, and musical shows like those at larger parks, but on a smaller budget.

In almost no time at all, Action Park grew from a few hundred visitors in its first season to millions in the year or two that followed.

Andy said we went from selling off brand soda and taking out local newspaper ads to getting a Pepsi sponsorship and seeing our logo on McDonald's tray liners.

Wow.

The key to Action Park's notoriety was in Mulvihill's own theories about American society in the late 20th century.

Andy said my father seized upon the idea that we were all tired of being coddled, of society dictating our behaviors and lecturing us on our vices.