Comments on: Class Action Park Is a Metaphor for Our Childhoods

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 17:51:49 +0000

In reply to Erika Lown. It was most definitely a hot mess! And it wasn’t even remotely a secret. We all knew people got injured there all the time and it didn’t seem to stop anyone from going. As a latchkey kid of the 80s, I grew up pretty much like you. I was never indoors except to sleep! My dad got a kick out of scaring the heck out of me and had me watch movies like Poltergeist! I distinctly also remember attending a birthday sleepover at around 10 years old and my friend’s Dad put on Children of the Corn for us. But my son who’s 11 now loves horror movies so I let him watch them too although if he disappeared all day I would have a heart attack! But it’s unlikely to happen since he’s a video game addict. He asked me a few days ago what life was like back in the 80s and I didn’t want to say too much and him getting any ideas!

By: Erika Lown

Erika Lown — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 15:34:04 +0000

I have to say that this documentary hits the mark regarding the childhood of kids born in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. I think I mentioned that my mom took me and little brother to see highly inappropriate movies ( Dawn of the Dead, Dressed To Kill, Stir Crazy, etc.) We were latch key kids that watched MTV all day long. My mom would kick us out of the house after Saturday cartoons and wouldn’t let us back in until dark, drop us off at Astroworld at 10 AM and pick us up at 8 PM) As long as we didn’t get hurt or arrested she was cool. I thought that was a super cool way to grow up, until I got married and had my own kids. Yeah, I had to reevaluate how I was raised and it was pretty messed up. I grew up in Texas and we didn’t know about Action Park. Sounds like it was a hot mess, Especially with everyone walking around with red scuff marks from the concrete rides. Funny, then sad.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 13:56:00 +0000

So I finally switched from HBO on Prime to HBO Max and then I realized my Roku TV doesn’t have HBO Max which is mega annoying. Anyway, I finally watched this a few nights ago on my iPad. Oh, the memories it brought back! I always knew how dangerous this place was. Everyone knew and that was the allure! My Dad loved this place and the Tarzan swing and would pack me and all my friends in the car at least once a summer for a trip to Action Park before we were old enough to drive. He would try to coax me onto that crazy Tarzan swing that dropped you into a 17 foot pool of ice cold spring water while all the people up top hooted and hollered at you. Not for me! I also mentioned previously our town day camp also brought us there and let us loose in the park pretty much unsupervised every summer. Oh the 80’s! A place like this could never stay in business nowadays! I never went on the super crazy rides but even the ones that didn’t appear dangerous were. Like the wave pool and the tube rides. I remember all the stuff they talked about in the film like getting stuck or being pushed up the wall in the tube! Burning my feet on the hot asphalt. The weird Bavarian theme of the place that didn’t seem quite right. Only in New Jersey! Except this particular part of NJ is super rural. It was a lovely little town and I’m sure it still is so I understand why the locals didn’t appreciate all the antics that went down there. I had no idea about the lack of insurance and some of the other legal issues since I was just a kid. I’m not sure even if people knew that they would even have cared. The 80’s were all about excess and pushing the envelope. I remember it reopening as Mountain Creek but I didn’t visit after it was no longer Action Park. It just wouldn’t have been the same to not come home full of scrapes and bruises on top of the sun poisoning from waking around all day on hot black asphalt! I was thinking about this place again last night as we had movie night here and I watched The Goonies with my 11 year old who is the same age as I was when it first came out. While my life wasn’t exactly like the movie, it does encompass a slice of life from the era which was basically kids out all hours of the day and night with our parents having no clue where we were or what we were up to. We rode our bikes for miles and miles and came home when we were tired! Nowadays you’d get child services called on you for raising your children that way!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 00:47:21 +0000

In reply to Taylor Holmes. I found it fascinating and I knew a lot of it from media coverage a few years ago. It’s very moving, especially intertwined with the citizens who were working tirelessly on the case with police over the years. Don’t want to say too much as I don’t know what you know about the cases.

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 14:26:15 +0000

In reply to Lisa.

A buddy just tipped me off to I’ll Be Gone In the Dark – but his recommendations are 50/50 so I wasn’t sure. But if you are seconding his motion, then I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 13:35:21 +0000

Oh and if you haven’t seen it, I’ll Be Gone In The Dark is also a fantastic doc about GSK and the woman who wrote a book about him that was obsessed with finding him. I love me a good documentary.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 02:39:40 +0000

Want to read something crazy? I live about 40 minutes from where this place was and they used to take us there with day camp when I was in elementary school and let us run free around the park! Gotta love the 80s! I haven’t watched this yet but I most certainly will. We basically called it Death Park since someone was always getting injured there! Btw, The Vow on HBO is also really good.