The park consisted primarily of water-based attractions and originally opened to the public in 1978, under the ownership of Great American Recreation (GAR).

GAR's management resorted to illegal financial schemes to keep itself solvent, which led to indictments of its executives, some of whom, like founder Gene Mulvihill, pled guilty to some charges.

In its later years, personal injury lawsuits led to the closure of increasing numbers of rides and eventually the entire park closed in 1996.

[4] The following year, more water slides and a small deep-water swimming pool, as well as tennis courts and a softball field, were added to what became known as the Waterworld section of Action Park.

[2] In September 1989, GAR negotiated a deal with International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) that would result in the sale of Vernon Valley/Great Gorge, and Action Park, for $50 million.

[14][15] In September 1991, GAR petitioned the township committee to put a referendum on the November ballot that if passed would have legalized the operation of games of skill and chance at Action Park.

[16] A few rides were closed and dismantled due to costly settlements and rising insurance premiums in the 1990s,[b] and the park's attendance began to suffer as a recession early in that decade reduced the number of visitors.

[20] New Jersey did not require it, and GAR found it more economical to go to court than purchase liability insurance, since they relied on their own self-insurance.

First Fidelity Bank, who lent $19 million to GAR and some 15 other connected corporations, filed suit against them in an effort to begin the process of foreclosing on the debt owed to them.

[25] As November approached, GAR negotiated a deal with Noramco Capital Corp. and the Praedium Fund of CS First Boston, in which they would purchase the debt owed to First Fidelity, temporarily fending off an impending foreclosure.

[33] Following the demise of GAR, Praedium Recovery Fund purchased the Vernon Valley/Great Gorge resort, including Action Park, for $10 million.

Former bodybuilders Michael and Vince Mancuso designed the attraction, and the employees against whom guests would compete in the jousting matches were found by scouting local gyms.

On one occasion, a guest who felt the gladiator he contended against had been too rough, striking him frequently on the head with the padded end of his pugil stick, returned to the attraction with some of his friends in an effort to exact retribution.

[40][41] Had state inspectors looked at the site, employees said years later, they would have seen that rocks there, which they had told the park to remove on an earlier visit, remained.

[10]: 1:13:20 Hay bales at the curves were put in place in an attempt to cushion the impact of guests whose sleds jumped the track, a frequent occurrence.

[2] When Intrawest reopened the water park as Mountain Creek in spring 1998, they announced the slide would remain open for one final season, but riders were required to wear helmets and kneepads.

During news media coverage of the ride's opening, Andy Mulvihill pushed a television reporter who refused to make the jump off the platform, at the direction of his older sister, then head of public relations for the park.

[44] The Transmobile was a monorail that took riders from the Alpine Center across Route 94 to the Cobblestone Village shopping complex and the park's Motorworld section.

"[44] The slide was open for only a month in 1985 before it was closed at the order of the state's Advisory Board on Carnival Amusement Ride Safety, a highly unusual move at the time.

[2] Some early riders came back with lacerations to their bodies; when the ride was closed to determine what had caused them, teeth that had fallen out were found lodged in the interior walls.

"[42] A rider also reportedly got stuck at the top of the loop due to insufficient water pressure, and a hatch had to be installed at the bottom of the slope to allow for future extractions.

Riders wearing a special skydiving suit, helmet, and earplugs would join the bodyflight instructor one-by-one on a trampoline-like netting directly over the fan.

[citation needed] A range of factors contributed to accidents at the park, from the design and construction of the rides themselves to the makeup of both visitors and staff, and lax government oversight.

[10]: 26:55 Since it was closer and slightly cheaper than Six Flags Great Adventure, Action Park attracted many visitors from urban enclaves of the New York metropolitan area.

DeSaye faults management's decision to broaden the customer base by advertising in Spanish-language media as contributing to the accident rate, since few employees spoke Spanish and no written information was made available in that language.

A state official lamented that many water-slide accidents were due to guests who, in blatant violation of an explicitly posted rule, often discarded their mats midway down the slide and waited at a turn for their friends so they could go down together.

[2] Since many rides routed their lines so that those waiting could see every previous rider, many played to the audience with risque and bawdy behavior when it did finally come to be their turn.

[67]Chris Gethard, a writer for Weird NJ and the associated book series, concurs: Action Park was a true rite of passage for any New Jerseyan of my generation.

I consider it a true shame that future generations will never know the terror of proving their grit at New Jersey's most dangerous amusement park.

[93] By 1986, Stony Point Recreation had accumulated $398,697 in back taxes owed to the town of Pine Hill, and in an effort to relieve the debt, sold off the park.