World's Most Dangerous Amusement Park

Today I present to you an

amusement

park

that was so fun it killed people. (laughing) Let's talk about that. ♪ (musical theme) ♪ - Good Morning Míticos. - Spring is just around the corner, - and you know what that means, Link... - Flowers. Amusement

park

time! And flowers. There will also be flowers. People will go to

amusement

parks. Maybe you go during the winter. - I don't know what kind of people you are. - If you want to avoid the lines! Many people start going in spring. But chances are you're going somewhere you'll come out unscathed, right?

You will be unlikely to be injured or killed. - Boo! But that wasn't the case in the '70s, '80s and '90s... - Of course. - …in the little place called Action Park. ♪ (There's nothing in the

world

like Action Park!) ♪ Now, some of you may have heard of this, because there are quite a few videos on the web about this, and there's a really good short documentary... - Okay . - …all about Action Park, since - 2013, link in description. - In the description? - In the description! - Alright. You can go see that. You can also see this.

This was an amusement park located in Vernon, New Jersey, opened in 1978. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Noah, who is not here today, but he is there, would be if he were here. - Yes. I'm pointing at Stevie, who's here. She went to this park, she knew it and she took us to the place. - Yes ok? Or you. - Thank you, Noah, for alerting us to the existence of Action Park. And Link... - He went to this place! - Here is a small sample of what Action Park was like, according to the commercial. ♪ (Baby, we'll take you to Action Park) ♪ ♪ (Action, Action Park!) ♪ ♪ (You can enjoy the thrill and feel the ) ♪ ♪ (Action, Action Park!) ♪ ♪ (The action never stops in Action Park!) ♪ - I love that song! - First observation: catchy song. - Second observation:... - Yes. - Nobody died in the promotional video. - Yes, it looks like a good time of fun!

I bring my kids there, right? - I didn't see anyone bleeding or dying. Well, it looks like fun. And you know what? It's really fun. But it is also the

most

dangerous

amusement park in the

world

. - (laughing) Officially. - Or, well, you know. One of them. - Well. - Okay, this all started in '78 with the owner, Gene Mulvihill. Now, it was his philosophy of what amusement parks should be that led to what Action Park was. -What is his philosophy? -He thought you should have control. You know, when you go to Disney World, it's like... - You're driving a car... - You and the guy next to you will both experience the same thing, right?

Like you're driving a car, but the steering wheel... - (Rhett) You're not actually driving it! - (Link) Like you just, hey, you take your... ...hand off the wheel, and it's like, "Thunk... - In Action Park, you control the speed. - ...thunk, thunk." You controlled whether or not you stayed on the trip. (Both Rhett and Link) Okay. - (laughing) Wow, okay! - (laughing) Okay! And his philosophy was that he would hire you if you had a good idea for traveling. No experience in physics or engineering was necessary. - He says: "Good idea, son!" - "Build it!" That led to things like this. ♪ (jungle music) ♪ - Whaaaaat?! (laughs) - (laughs) Dude, someone's coming out of that! - How... - It's not retouched, man!

What do you mean by Photoshop? It's a video. Or they are not effects! They did that thing! How fast do you have to do a real loop on a water slide? There's no water, that... - Water slide! It's not about the water pressure. It's about you and your weight. But wait. You might think, "Wait. That seems

dangerous

! I've been on some of those water slides that are really steep and..." I think... no, this is what's happening on that. I want a clear tube, because what's happening is there are dead bodies piling up inside this thing, and then they're just... putting other people in coming out the other end. (Rhett) I only leave one.

This is what happened. - It is an illusion. - They opened this in the summer of 1985, and before the ride opened, Gene paid the employees $100 each to volunteer to go down. - (laughing) To prove it. Now, after many head injuries and nosebleeds, they decided, "Hey, let's open this up to the public!" - (laughing) Really. - And that's exactly what they did. A couple of things happen. There were more bloody noses, more head injuries and a rider reportedly got stuck at the top of the loop. - Yes. - And then they had to build a hatch to rescue people, if they got stuck at the top of the loop.

I'm not making this up. - Wow! - It was open for a month, (stuttering) Just send someone else to like it... - (spits) Just push them a little? - ... push them. - It's like Drano: Human Drano. - The advisory council on safety at carnival attractions, which I'm glad exists... - (laughs) - ... closed this after a month. - Oh, wow. Good. - But there was more. How many people are still there today? Well, wait until the end. Well, another attraction was the alpine slide. In fact, I've seen a trip like this before. I've never been to one.

But this is essentially a concrete lead, and you're... - (Link) Oh, yeah. - …on this sled, and you have this brake, right? You can slow down a little, but you're... on something specific, like a sled, right? - (Link) A ditch. Concrete trench. - (Link) Oh wow. - (Rhett) So you may have seen one of these before. In fact, they have these… They have one of these in California. The problem at Action Park was that the carts didn't work properly. And then they had two speeds: very, very slow or no brakes. And what would happen is they would put someone on the track who was going... very, very slow, and then... they would get frustrated. - Let someone go without brakes. - (Link) Oh, behind them. (Rhett laughing) Yeah, and (slap) just crashes into them. - (laughing) - Not to mention the fact that - it was impossible to control yourself... - Do they call it the butt? …you can't drive!

And then people would come out of this with huge burns, all over their bodies. - Yuck! And this actually caused the first death in Action Park. - Oh. -A 19-year-old employee and his car left the tracks and suffered a head injury and died. And then, according to state records, in 1984 and 1985, the alpine slide resulted in 14 fractures and 26 head injuries. Sounds fun to me. But it all gets more fun in the giant wave pool, also known as the tomb pool. - Oooh... Now, this is... you've been to one of those wave pools at Emerald Point, you know, (Southern accent) Emerald Point, Greensboro, North Carolina.

Oh yeah. There's like a (foghorn sound) and then the wave starts coming. - Stevie knows. Yes. - (foghorn sound) - "They're sending greetings!" - These were some of the first guys to make a wave pool and they hadn't figured it out yet. And they were a little too intense. And then there are two things that happen in a wave pool. Number one is the waves. - Check. - Number two is that it's not salt water, so you don't float like you normally would in the ocean. -Ah. - And people don't calculate things well, - and the waves were too big. - MMM.

And what ended up happening was people were there holding on to the ladders for dear life. About 30 or 40 people were crowded around these stairs. - Three people died on this ride. - Oh God. Three people died in the wave pool. - And they just left them there? - (clearing his throat) No, they took them out. They had 12 lifeguards, all teenagers, by the way. There were people working there in the park since they were 14 years old. Attraction operators as young as 14 years old. "Can you sign your name? You can work here." These are some of the things that accumulated here, okay? (Rhett) There were more runs that resulted in more injuries, including broken femurs, collarbones, and noses, and dislocated knees and shoulders.

So many people were taken to the emergency room from Action Park that the park purchased additional ambulances for Vernon Township to keep up. Okay, so there were a total of six deaths, which is a lot of deaths... - Oh, man. - For operating for about 20 years, okay? Yeah, I mean, they better cut their annual pass if... In 1982, two people died within a week of each other. Who will go next week? Who will go the third week? Thousands of people went and continued to go. It was incredibly popular. They had to set up their own insurance company in the Cayman Islands... - (laughter) - ...to be able to insure themselves, - because no one would! - Gene is a businessman, man! (Rhett) And then things got so crazy that they lost the insurance policy they had taken out for themselves and operated for a year without insurance.

Then they went bankrupt because there was too much to handle. - Too many legal problems. - MMM. And they closed in 1996. But when you watch the documentary we'll link to, you'll see: people... - Wow. …I LOVED this thing. And you have to think about it. - (Link stutters) You're in charge. - (Rhett) Most likely you won't die. Chances are you won't die and that's what makes it super fun. Chances are, SOMEONE is. And I'll be here for that. People loved this. If you had the opportunity to loop, wouldn't you do it? If I could go right now and do it, would you do it?

Give me some time to really think about this. No. What if I give you until 2016 when they bring it back? - That? - That's right, Link! In 2014, Action Park reopened. The owner's son is in charge now,-and he says...-Gene, Junior? ...is getting it all back: "Getting back all the emotions and none of the strokes." So it probably won't be as fun as the original Action Park, but they announced it in March 2015. They're bringing back the successor to Cannonball Loop. They call it "Sky Caliber" and it will be open in the summer of 2016. And you have to promise me that you will go there with me. - Oh my God.

That? - It's a... - Forty-five foot drop. - …free fall of forty-five feet. - And then a loop? - A ten meter circuit. - That? - But it's a little different. - You have to ride this thing. - A coffin. They put you… (laughter) They put you in a coffin of water. - That guy looks scared. - And they tie you up. - Oh, wow. - Are you ready? Buy plane tickets. I'll drive there. (hoarse voice) I'll give you $100 to go down first. - We can go on a scooter to New Jersey. - Yes, I'll be on the front of the scooter and you'll be on the front of the...

I think today's water and theme parks could learn something from Action Park: how to have more fun. - Speaking of learning, thanks to our sponsor, lynda.com. who will teach you how to learn some things. Do you want to take better photos with your DSLR and learn how to develop your own mobile app or edit with Final Cut Pro or Premiere? - Lynda.com has what you need! - (Link) Learn at your own pace with thousands of different videos. Go to lynda.com/rhettandlink for a free 10-day trial. - Thanks for liking and commenting. Do you know what time it is. - (splash) - Hi, I'm Lily. -And I'm Brianna. - (unison) And we're from... …Perth, Western Australia.

And it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythology! (splash) Don't let us have all the fun drinking out of these Good Mythical Morning mugs. Get your own at rhettandlink.com/store! Oh, I just drank it. Oh, you should too! A different one. - Or mine, if you're here. - Makes things taste better. - Click on Good Mythical More… - Not really. I didn't go to Action Park, but I did do something action-packed off-roading that I have to tell about, including you. Maybe I need to apologize. "Forced analogy: riding a bike is like... schhh-swimming in the ocean!" Uh, you know, um... riding a bike is a lot like swimming, in the ocean. - Of course, because of the wheels.

You have two wheels, you must keep them balanced and you must grease the chain. Like the ocean. - And then... And don't forget the moon as a factor. And your horn. Don't forget the horns. (mouth honking)