Oh, the sweet simplicity of an unregulated water park in the 1980s! You 100% would get injured, you might die, but you'd have an awesome time. Let's discuss Gene Mulvihill and his obsession with creating bigger, better, more dangerous water park attractions! We'll dig into the details and the danger. Strap in (actually, there are no straps, so just hang on) for a wild ride!
Oh, the sweet simplicity of an unregulated water park in the 1980s! You 100% would get injured, you might die, but you'd have an awesome time. Let's discuss Gene Mulvihill and his obsession with creating bigger, better, more dangerous water park attractions! We'll dig into the details and the danger. Strap in (actually, there are no straps, so just hang on) for a wild ride!
Sources:
Calss Action Park - https://www.classactionpark.com/
Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America's Most Dangerous Amusement Park
By Andy Mulvihill and Jake Rossen -
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/action-park-fast-times-wild-rides-and-the-untold-story-of-americas-most-dangerous-amusement-park_jake-rossen_andy-mulvihill/23943413/?#edition=25571824&idiq=43605203
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: Florence's Girl Scout camp in California was destroyed by flooding
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of the State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA097.
>> Farz: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for you. Taylor, it's been a while. How are you?
>> Taylor: Oh, my God. I'm good. How are you? Stop yelling. Yikes.
>> Farz: This is my radio voice.
>> Taylor: It's very loud. I'm gonna turn my volume down. Good.
>> Farz: have you been following the news in Texas?
>> Taylor: It's awful. It's all I think about. I cannot stop thinking about those girls. I just want to die.
>> Farz: They're up to 80 people.
>> Taylor: I've never been so sad in my life. I just. You. You know, I just took my daughter to Girl Scout camp for a week. And, I mean, the world is such a. A mess. Everyone, that. Florence's Girl Scout camp here in California. She went for a week, and it was beautiful and fine. But two weeks later, it was evacuated for a cause. There was a fire.
>> Farz: Nuts.
>> Taylor: And then, like, this just.
>> Farz: Is everyone okay?
>> Taylor: Yeah, everyone was fine. They evacuated. I've, like, an abundance of caution and all those things, but, like, I just kept. I can't. I literally slept with Florence last night, just holding her, because I can't stop thinking about those girls. Just swept away. That's the absolute worst thing.
>> Farz: It's two hours west of where we are, where I am right now. Even here. It was. It was kind of unbelievable. So I got home on Friday from Dallas, and I've said this several to several people, not even joking. I'm pretty sure I drove through a tornado. Like, that was the most terrifying highway drive I've ever had. There was one point, because everybody was going, like, maybe like, 20, 30 miles per hour because you couldn't see. Everybody had their blinkers on or their.
>> Taylor: Was it raining or was it just, like, dusty?
>> Farz: Raining, dusty, windy. The cars getting whipped around. And there was one part of the drive where I was next to a semi. There's a car, like, right there in front of me to my left. And it must have hit a huge puddle of water because this sheet of water slammed into the windshield so hard. Like, I. I audibly yelped. And like, yeah, I lost rear traction for a second. Like, dude. Like, that could have been it. Like, I could have gone that semi red then and there. And then when I got here, legit, two solid days of rain. Solid days of rain. The lake where. Where I used to live in that town, Lago Vista, it's up 18ft over just days. Is that Nuts.
>> Taylor: That's what happened to those girls. That river went up 20ft in the middle of the night.
>> Farz: So crazy.
>> Taylor: The worst. It's so sad. It's just the saddest. The saddest thing I can think of is sending your child to camp to have a good time and having her. Them die like that together. Just. I can't. It's so awful.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah.
>> Taylor: Basically the worst thing I've ever heard. I'm glad you're okay.
>> Farz: Shout out to hb. Hb. Like, people who aren't in Texas now get why we love them so much. Like, they literally have like all these, like, emergency response vehicles taking food and supplies and all that is our grocery store. But it's like they're so invested in, like, the community. It's really awesome. And I just unplugged my monitor, so give me a second.
>> Taylor: Okay. Well, while you're doing that.
Doomed to Fail brings new histories, notorious disasters and epic failures
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Doomed to Fail. We bring new histories, notorious disasters and epic failures. And we just have so much content. It's constantly adding to our repertoire. The terrible, terrible world that we live in.
>> Farz: I actually have really fun content for us today. That is terrible.
Should we just go every other week instead of every other month
>> Taylor: Great.
>> Farz: And I think I go first today, so.
>> Taylor: You do. But then here's what I was wondering. Should we. Because we're doing every other week. Should we just go every other. Every other. Or does. It doesn't matter. I feel like that maybe makes sense since it's not as often.
>> Farz: Yeah. That way you don't have to. We don't have to be it like. Or it's not the same voice over and over again. Why don't you go first?
Our coffee machine caught on fire on the Fourth of July
>> Taylor: Okay, cool. Wait, let me first. Can I first tell you what happened on the Fourth of July?
>> Farz: Yes. Sorry, I'm still trying to plug things in.
>> Taylor: So we. My cousin Lindsay and her husband Brad were here. They're awesome. They listen to the show. They're the best. And they were coming in at like 8 o' clock on Friday, which was the 4th of July. And we were like, okay, we're going to be at the high school in town. They have a great fireworks show in town every year. It didn't happen. They turned off all the lights at 9 o' clock. And then they were like, sorry, we have some technical difficulties. And it didn't go off until 11. Everybody had already left.
>> Farz: That sucks.
>> Taylor: That sucks.
>> Farz: We had no fireworks because everything was rained out.
>> Taylor: That's true.
>> Farz: That's true. At least y' all had fireworks. You just couldn't see them because you were asleep.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And then the next day, our coffee machine caught on fire. And then we went to the pool and there was a fire alarm at the pool. It was just like loud and annoying. It was just like a whole bunch of stuff.
>> Farz: I'm going to tell you something and you got to promise me not to judge me. And I'm realizing that I'm asking that of our entire audience here. So you can't judge me. Audience. Okay.
>> Taylor: Kind of promise.
>> Farz: My house is pretty tidy. It's pretty tidy. It's pretty clean. Like it's not a dump. I actually keep pretty tidy. I have one of those Keurig coffee things and I don't know what it was like a week ago I opened it to put a Keurigan. I had one in the morning. And then I opened it again like an hour or two later to have another one. Because I'm one of those two coffee a day guys. And there was like a baby roach inside.
>> Taylor: Oh, no.
>> Farz: And from that day forward, I have not. I literally picked it up, went to the dumpster, threw it in. And from that day forward, I started buying the pre made cold press brewed things. And that's all I've drank. I have not had hot coffee since that experience.
>> Taylor: Oh, God, that's awful.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: I'm sorry that happened to you.
>> Farz: Yeah. I'm sorry for myself because I thought about it a lot. That kind of ruined my day.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I know. That's day ruining. Yeah. No, we. We had insurance on ours because I always buy that, like six dollar insurance. And I was. I want to buy something so we get a new one.
>> Farz: Good. There you go. Good plan.
We also saw the new Jurassic Park
>> Taylor: Anyway, we also saw dress the new Jurassic Park. Have you seen it yet?
>> Farz: Is this stupid? It's got to be.
>> Taylor: No, no, it's good. I mean, like, it's stupid because Jurassic park is stupid and like the science.
>> Farz: Jurassic park is not stupid. Jurassic park is not stupid. It could happen.
>> Taylor: But no, I mean, like, it's like the science isn't sciencing, but other than that, it's great.
>> Farz: I. Once Chris Pratt got involved, I kind of lost interest. It just turned into like a traditional Hollywood. Like it felt like a Marvel movie. And I was like, this is not fun anymore.
>> Taylor: I liked those. Those. I think those are fine. My kids really like them. But this is different. He's not in it anymore.
>> Farz: Oh, well, then it might be worth seeing. I really want to go see F1. I hear really good things about F1.
>> Taylor: I have, like, not heard anything about it. Oh, Brad. I don't know. Just feel like I don't know if. Don't know if I want to need to see another Brad Pitt movie. I might be all set.
>> Farz: What's wrong with you? Bradford's best. You know, he's amazing.
>> Taylor: I know. I think I'm good.
>> Farz: He was the best, right?
>> Taylor: That's what I say. I think I'd see that again. Have you watched it recently? That's like, the movie's like an hour long. It's just, like, astounding that it's not a three hour long movie.
>> Farz: Interview with a Vampire.
>> Taylor: Yeah, it's just not that long.
>> Farz: Like, you just like, it's like three hours, right?
>> Taylor: It's not. I'm gonna look it up. Three hours, not two hours. Just, like, feel. But feels so much longer.
>> Farz: Yeah, Yeah, I never. I definitely thought it was longer than that.
>> Taylor: Yeah. It just feels like six hours. So much happens.
Queen of the Damned with Alia was the sequel to Interview with a Vampire
Anyway, okay, now that I've told you all of those things, Queen of the Damned with Alia was the sequel to Interview with a Vampire.
>> Farz: No way.
>> Taylor: Huh? What?
>> Farz: Okay, is this our new segment called? Let's just listen to Taylor Googling things in real time?
>> Taylor: We've done this before. It's not new. I had no idea. It says it follows a legendary vampire, Lestat, who's not played by Tom Cruise, who has reinvented himself as a rock star in the contemporary music scene. That's not wild.
>> Farz: That's very stupid.
>> Taylor: Anyway. Wow. Anyway, I had no idea. So let's go. This is loosely considered to be a sequel.
Let's talk about Action park in New Jersey
Anyway, it's my turn. I'm going to talk about something that is a request from our friend Morgan, which is fun, and I got to read a book and watch a movie, and I'm just going to tell you. Let's talk about Action park in New Jersey.
>> Farz: Ooh, this will be good.
>> Taylor: So you've probably seen the movie Class Action Park.
>> Farz: No, I've not seen it. I've watched a lot of YouTube videos about action park because it's, like, very famous.
>> Taylor: That's fair. That's fair. I also read a book by the owner, Gene Mulville, by his son Andy, about, like, building it. But essentially, Action park was a water park, which was a sister to a ski resort in Vernon Township, New Jersey. It was open from, like, the 70s all the way through the 90s, and it was close enough to New York City you could get there. It was cheaper than, like, Six Flags. Definitely cheaper than, like, bringing your family down to Disney. And it was like a water park and different rides. And, like, the joke is, like, the Class action part is funny because you know, eventually people did sue them into the ground, but for a long time you really couldn't sue them. They wouldn't settle and they were just like threaten you and you wouldn't be able to actually get anything after you were inevitably injured at the park.
>> Farz: Oh yeah, that's the way to do it, the American way. Litigate them to death.
So we'll talk about the beginnings, the owner and then some of the rides
>> Taylor: So we'll talk about the beginnings, the owner and then some of the rides and then the downfall and what happened. But essentially in the 1970s there's this dude named Gene Mulville Hill and he's like an idea guy. Like he's like, oh, let's do this thing, let's do this thing. And he has six kids and his kids are always working for him. You know, he's like in the backyard building a tree house one day and then like doing something else the next day. And just like a very like has a lot of energy.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: If you can picture that guy, to.
>> Farz: Me like the guy who created that one park in Cedar Rapids where that ride was that I told you about where the kid was decapitated going on.
>> Taylor: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Farz: Sounds like that guy, he's like, yeah, just, let's just do it. If we make it extreme and fun and interesting and cool, then like doesn't matter how many kids are killed.
>> Taylor: Yeah, exactly. He like it doesn't. Like you can. They'll get supposed to be exciting. Yeah. Like the idea is at Action park you can control the action yourself. So it's up to. And he was like, that is enough that people are like accepting the risk, you know, and it's like they're not really because like theme parks are assumed risk. They're not like, no, no, they're not assumed. There's an assumed risk in a theme park. But you're also like, you assume that you're safe too, right?
>> Farz: Yeah. Like the entire point is to simulate danger. Not to be in danger exactly.
>> Taylor: But that this is, this is actually very, very dangerous. So Gene does some stuff in the city. He's like a money guy, works with like mutual funds and venture capital and wants to invest in all these things. And he sees that people are making money from resorts and so he buys this ski resort in New Jersey. It's the Vernon Valley Great Gorge Ski area. And it's great and it makes money. But the problem with that is it only makes money in the winter because of skiing.
>> Farz: Right.
>> Taylor: So he decides there has to be more we can do with this property with this area. And again, like, keep in mind that I think I say this later, but, like, Disneyland is flat. You know, like, there is. It is not a mountainous area, but this is like a mountainous area. So some of the rides you go to, you're climbing a mountain to get on it, and the side is the.
>> Farz: Mountain, you know, clearly have never been on the Matterhorn.
>> Taylor: Well, besides the Matterhorn, there aren't any real mountains at Disneyland. Yeah, I don't know. Are there other mountains in Florida at all? In Disney World?
>> Farz: I was waiting for you to tell me the Matterhorn is made out of Styrofoam, but, like, we'll go with this.
>> Taylor: It might be. So this is like also just the beginning of water parks being a thing. There are some. And there's like Disney World and there's like some Six Flags around. But then, like we just said, like, the difference is, like, everything is controlled. Like, you're in a very controlled environment when you're even like when you're on the Matterhorn, when you're on, like, what's it called, the one where it's dark at Disneyland?
>> Farz: Space Mountain.
>> Taylor: Space Mountain. And then, so what Gene wanted was someplace where you felt more in control of the out of controlness, like skiing. Because, like, in skiing, you actually have. You are actually responsible for yourself when you're skiing. You know, you're not like, on a roller coaster. You are. You should be able. You should learn how to ski before you do it. So you want, like, that kind of risk and that kind of like, self control, but in the summer.
>> Farz: Sure. Makes sense.
All the sunny episodes that I really want to plug are from season 16
>> Taylor: So this reminds me of two. All the sunny episodes that I really want to plug. We just. We just have been rewatching season 16 because season 17 is going to start relatively soon. And there's one from last season where they go to Risky Rats pizza, which is like Chuck E. Cheese, obviously. Yeah. And so season 16, episode 6 and the song this thing is like, Risky Rats pizza, do whatever you want. And, like, they, like, are like, reminiscing about how in the 80s they could literally do whatever they wanted there. And there was like a bar for the parents. And you never saw your parents because they were just drunk and like all these things. And then when they get there, like now it's not like that anymore and they're disappointed, you know, but that reminded me a lot of. It is like, everyone's also drunk in this story, too.
>> Farz: I mean, to be fair, since we were children of the late 80s and 90s, like, I don't know, maybe that was the Right way to, like, entertain people and raise people was just like, let them do their own thing and fudge it. Like, if you're smart enough to get through it and not die, then good for you. If you weren't, then we're hardy. We're hearty people. Taylor, you and I are very hardy.
>> Taylor: We are, we are. And we didn't die, but people did die. So that's the problem.
>> Farz: Right. Fair.
>> Taylor: Yeah. There's also. Do you ever see the Always Sunny episode where they go to a water park?
>> Farz: I've actually never watched Always Sunny.
>> Taylor: Oh, my God, it's so good. So there's episode season 12, episode two is the gang goes to a water park. And it is so good. And the whole, like, running joke throughout it is that the people that work there don't give a s***. You know, they're just like, whatever. Go. Like, who cares? I'm not paying any attention. Like, I literally don't care. A teenager. And that's also very similar to this. It was just like, everyone who worked there was a teenager.
>> Farz: Yeah. Terrible idea.
>> Taylor: So that's happening, too. So Gene's like, let's take this land around our ski resort and build something people can come in in the summer. So they call it the Vernon Valley Family Fun Center. And it took a few years to, like, be fully grown, but eventually there's going to be three sections. There's Motor World, Waterworld, and the Alpine Center. To get to Motor World, you have to cross the freeway, like, on foot. Like, run across the freeway in your bathing suit. And eventually they'll build a little monorail between the two. And then it'll eventually also become Action Park. It'll be called that. And then they have really great 80s commercials where it's pretty much like, Action Park. Do whatever you want. Like, you can. You're in control of the action at Action park is like, the slogan.
Action Park's staff is, like, 99% children. So they can only do so much
So before we get into how insane the rides were, in some specific stories, the staff is, like, 99% children. They're all teens. Or they're the mobile hill children themselves. So they can only do so much. There's stories of, like, it's reminded me of. Remember when we all watched that show about the crocodile guy? Oh, my God, I can't remember. During COVID.
>> Farz: Tiger King.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: He's not the crocodile guy. He's a tiger guy.
>> Taylor: Remember all those crocodiles burned in that thing? But, yes, you're right. Sorry. The tiger guy. But how he had all but, like, expired meat and stuff that he was.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah.
>> Taylor: They were doing that too, at Action Park. So, like, besides the fact that you're, like, doing things, you're eating expired food and besides, so insane.
>> Farz: It's like this guy's lawyers would, like, I would have been this guy's lawyer. Like, just like, yeah, do whatever you want to give this.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So he. Besides the rides, also attractions, like, the very first day it ever is open, there's like a Dolly Parton lookalike contest. There's poker festivals and Oktoberfests, and there's a huge beer garden. And then also, like, a lot of this is the 80s. And so you, like, driver's licenses are just printed pieces of paper, you know, like, they weren't. Like, it didn't have your picture on it. Like, there's something else. So, like, it was really easy to be like, yeah, I can drink, you know, whatever. So people were drunk all the time. And then, like, there was no, like, expectation that you couldn't then, like, drive a go kart if you were drunk. Like, you could definitely still do that. People would, like, drive the go karts and they'd escape and, like, get on the freeway with their, like, little go car going 50 miles per hour. Just, like, drug off their minds.
>> Farz: I mean, you're kind of selling me on this.
>> Taylor: I know, but it's very still very dangerous if you got hurt at Action park, which, like, a lot of people did. So people would be like, oh, I have these, like, scrapes and bruises and bumps and scars from being there. They would just, like, take you to a cabin and pour iodine on you and, like, be like, you're gonna be fine. So you'd be, like, smeared with, like, the. The pinkness of, like, the iodine mixture. But also something that they would do is they would have someone talk to you when. Right when it happened to be, like, a witness. So, like, I am, like, a cute lifeguard. I'm 16 years old. You fall off a ride and you hurt yourself. And I go like, hey, what happened? You're going to say, like, oh, I was just being silly, or, oh, I was just goofing around and I fell. And that way, like, if you did try to sue, I could be like, well, he told me he was goofing around and most people did, you know.
>> Farz: Remember that Camp Crusty episode of the Simpsons? Well, Crusty the clown creates a camp, and it's just, like, run by a bunch of, like, bullies and, like, 16 year olds just, like, run the students under the ground. This feels like a adventure park or.
>> Taylor: A theme park built yeah, yes, definitely. That's actually, that might be very similar. And then also like, you know, just. I can totally picture like a 17 year old kid from New Jersey in the 80s being like, I was goofing around, you know.
>> Farz: Yeah, of course.
>> Taylor: And then like, well then they're gonna say that, you know, that it wasn't their fault that they were doing something they weren't supposed to be doing.
Gene Cannonball invented the Cannonball Loop water slide that was incredibly dangerous
So talk about some of the rides. The most famous ride that like, I feel like was the beginning of the movie that you've probably seen a lot is the Cannonball Loop, which was a water slide that had a full loop, like a roller coaster. So it was like down really, really fast, big loop and it would spit you out. And that is like almost impossible to do. And it actually wasn't very open very often for the public because it was so dangerous. And they did do a couple iterations of it. But essentially Gene would just like have these ideas or he would like go to amusement park trade show in Europe and like meet someone from East Germany who was like, I have this really good idea. And he'd be like, perfect, you know, like, without thinking about like safety or regulations or whatever. So he had this idea for the, this water slide where you went upside down and he just like built it. But it didn't necessarily work because of the way that gravity works. Because it wasn't like an architect, he was just like writing it down. So what it would, what it would do is it would. Then you go down the side, it would flip you over like in the enclosed tunnel and then spit you out. But you would go like flying out of it. So the first couple times they sent like, you know, mannequins down it and they come out just like totally ripped apart. They send down like teenagers to give them 100 bucks to go down. They send them like wrapped in padding. At one point they were sending sent people down. They would come out like their noses broken and like their mouths bleeding. And the people after them, they were testing it again. They would come out all scratched and they found out it was because there were teeth lodged in the tube from the people before them.
>> Farz: Yeah, it's kind of incredible. I kind of like this guy and his like American ingenuity of like, we're just gonna make it work, it doesn't matter.
>> Taylor: Exactly. He's like, whatever, let's just do it. Let's just do it. So it's like, this is also. I think, I think we've talked about this before and we're talking about, like, how easy it is to build things if you don't care about regulations.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah, of course.
>> Taylor: You know, and like, that's what he was doing. Like, so if you are like, oh, everything's fine. I don't. I don't need a regulation. Or like, don't worry about it, you know, then like, things are just going to keep getting built. Which also I thought about you because you're watching the Star wars movies. I know I said that last week, but, like, the first Death Star blows up. They start building the second one right away. And I'm like, it's really easy to do that when you don't have to get any permits. You're just like, I'm Darth Vader. I'm going to do whatever I want.
>> Farz: It's so interesting how, like, it's literally Newton's law of like, every action elicits like an opposite or inverse reaction. It's exactly. It's like we had this like 80s and 90s where nobody gave a s*** about anything. And you just do what? Sure, kids teeth are just like shoved into the side of this thing. And like, and so we make regulations. Then you go over on that side and then they come anyways. It's just like a never ending back and forth.
>> Taylor: Yeah, no, totally, totally. So another ride is the alpine slide, which you took the ski lift up to get it, but you're like in your bathing suit, so to your ski. The ski lift up the mountain. And it is a, like, long trail of concrete down a mountain. And you're on this, like, sled that has, like, wheels and like, little breaks. You have to be good at it and you have to know when to turn to be able to go through it. So kind of, it's kind of like, you know how sometimes the cur. Sometimes the curb is like a soft curb, you know, like, it's not like a rectangle. That's what it reminds me of. Like, it's just like a soft concrete.
>> Farz: What do you mean? The curve?
>> Taylor: Curb, Curb.
>> Farz: Curb. Okay.
>> Taylor: Sometimes the curb is like a thing. So kind of like that. Like in the curb, if it's that. So you'd go down it really fast. And of course you're like, not wearing a helmet and you are wearing a bathing suit. So, like, if your skin touches the concrete that you're like, zooming down, you're gonna get a huge, like, open wound. Like, people were hard on it all the time. And this is one of those things that like, really factored in the natural landscape because it Went down the mountain and Gene just like built it. And so there at one point they were like. Some regulators did go in and they're like hey, there's too many rocks around this alpine slide. And he was like yeah, yeah, we'll get rid of them. And they never did.
George Larson died at Action park in 1980 after falling off a slide
And then that brings us to our first death. So in 1980, a 19 year old boy named George Larson. He had worked there in the winter as a ski lift operator and he was there in the summer and his slide got thrown off of the alpine slide. He went flying and he hit his head on a rock. He ended up in a coma and he died a couple of days later in the hospital. So in the movie Class Action park, the documentary, his parents, his mother is there and she's very much like this is Gene Mulville's fault. He's a piece of s***. When he died, my husband and I opened up a bottle of champagne. We hate him, you know, like very much. Like this is, this is his solely his faults. This place was horrible. And the way they make it sound in the film is that it was just like, you know, during the day and George was just on the slide. But then in the book, Andy Mulville, who's the son of Gene, a son of the owner, he says that it was the night time and George was not supposed to be on it. And he had kind of snuck in pretending that he still worked there. And I don't know which is true, but I believe the family, I believe George's family.
>> Farz: Yeah, seems right.
>> Taylor: You know, and a super sad. Like they were just his parents just obviously devastated. Everyone was super sad. I will have a list of deaths in a second. But Andy Mulville, the son of Gene, the owner of Action park wrote this book. He was the head lifeguard for a while and he did take it obviously like very seriously because like they were saving people almost constantly. Like one of my. We had a wet and wild in Las Vegas with a wave pool and I had friends that worked there that saved people all the time. Yeah, like have you ever been in a wave pool?
>> Farz: I don't think I have.
>> Taylor: It's like extraordinarily dangerous. You know, once the waves are going you just have to kind of like jump with them, you know.
>> Farz: You know what?
>> Taylor: I actually bend.
>> Farz: Yeah, I did it in Orlando. Disney has a. Or Universal has like a water park there and I went to that.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the wave pool at Action park was also like really dirty because people would just like rush in as soon as the first thing they would do would like jump in there. And then they would also come from other parts of the park. Like in the motor world, there was like a speedboat section and you'd fall out of your speedboat and you'd be like covered in motor oil because the speedboat would leak everywhere. So then you take your motor oil, your greased up New Jersey summer body, and put it in the wave pool. And they couldn't even see the bottom of it at sometimes, you know, because it's just like full of grime and like disgustingness. They hired a consultant one time and he was like, usually in your career as a lifeguard, you'll see a couple people, like throughout the whole career and they were like, we saved like 30 people a day. Like, they were just like saving people constantly. The. And also a lot of people came from New York City and like, you know, they would be like, these f****** people from New York City can't swim. You know, like they're not like, they don't really swim, but they jump in the wave pool and they would start giving people like wristbands and they would write CFS on them, which means can't f****** swim. So they would like look out for them because people would just like jump in and be like, I'm probably fine. But they like, literally how some, especially in a wave pool, you know, is.
>> Farz: That real people from New York can't swim?
>> Taylor: I mean, that's what the, that's what they would say. Like you're busing in people from the Bronx that they can't swim, but like, yeah, that's, that's what they would say when they got there. But like, probably there's not a lot of opportunity to swim, you know, I.
>> Farz: Guess, I guess like. Yeah.
At least three people died in the wave pool, if not more
>> Taylor: So the water again was really murky. At least three people died in the wave pool, if not more. So there's six confirmed deaths. There is George Larson who Talked about in 1980, he was 19, he died in the Alpine side. 1982, 15 year old named George Lopez, who was the first one to die in the wave pool. And then 1982, a man named Jeffrey Nathan, who was 27, died in the kayak experience. We'll talk about in a second. In 1984, someone had a heart attack on the Tarzan swing, which is like a rope swing. 1984, a man named Donald de Pass, who was 20, died in the wave pool. In 1987, a guy named Gregory Grand Champs, who's also just 18, died in the wave pool.
>> Farz: So, like, dangerous.
>> Taylor: Yeah, there Was the Tarzan swing. They just mentioned that someone had a heart attack on. But it was like the reason that person had a heart attack is because it. You would be on like a cliff and you would hold on to a rope, jump off, and then drop into like a pool. But it wasn't like a pool. It was literally a mountain, like mountain water runoff, like area. So the water was freezing. So it would be like, you know, 90 degrees. You've been waiting in this line for an hour. You finally get tires and you fall into like 50 degree water and it would just like shock your body. People would like, almost drown there all the time. Eventually they had to like, like color like paint the bottom of it because it was like, so that you could see bodies in it because they couldn't get everybody fast enough. You know, they had in motor World, they had like go karts, like I said, that could go up to 50 miles per hour. They were all unregulated and people would just like, sling them into each other, you know.
>> Farz: Yeah, of course, we do as much as possible.
>> Taylor: If you're young and drunk, get off the thing. Exactly. There was also a couple places, like it's called surf Hill, where you could like, ride down the hill. It's called aqua Scoot, where you do something similar where you would like sit on something like the alpine slide and like slide down. But you had to be really good at it not to fall off. And then of course, in all of these also, you would lose your bathing suit. So people would just like sit on the bridge and watch people like, get their bathing suits fly off. And they loved that too.
>> Farz: Yeah, it'd be fun.
>> Taylor: Kind of fun. Yeah. There was a thing called the kayak experience, which really wasn't even open for that long. This is when Jeffrey Nathan was electrocuted. So it was like a fake river with like electric fans underneath it to make it a little bit have like a little bit of rapids. It wasn't like crazy rapids, but it made the river move and something happened and he got got out of his kay and he accidentally touched one of the electrical lines under the water and was electrocuted and died. A couple other people were injured as well. Yeah. And so they just filled it with dirt and pretended it was never there.
>> Farz: How much you want to bet that, like, the contractors for all this was like mafia people?
>> Taylor: I absolutely bet they were. Yeah, absolutely. There was a lot of bribes, I'm sure, like a lot of that kind of stuff. Also, like, probably a lot of like, different people who like, no one Was getting the full picture, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Like what they're building. So go karts. Those things. The kayaking, super dangerous. They also tried a thing where there was, like, in the 90s, obviously, they had bungee jumpings. Everybody loved that. There's a story how Andy pushed a reporter off of the bungee thing during a broadcast as part of the publicity. Not very nice. Then turned. They made a monorail over the freeway. Oh, they tried this thing, which actually reminded me of Jurassic Park. Remember in Jurassic park, they have the Gyrosphere, which is, like. You didn't see the Chris Pratt ones, but you know what I mean?
>> Farz: I did see that. Yeah.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So the idea is, like, it's two balls, but if you're in the ball, you sit in the ball on the inside, and that one always stays, like, the same way up. And the outer ball moves, and that's how you move. Right. So basically, some guy named Bailey was, like, bringing this ball to, like, theme park conferences, and Gene was like, I love it. Let's bring it. So they made these huge tracks out of PVC pipe. So like, two PVC pipes, and you put the ball on it, like. Like a pinball, you know? And they made them, like, going down the mountain. And the first guy to try it, like, was literally someone they gave a hundred bucks to. And, like, put a bunch of padding on them, and they're like. They get in. They never built it before. So, like, the guy's building it. He's like, this is my invention. And they're like, how has it worked in the past? And he's like, oh, I've never done it before. It's just, like, my concept.
>> Farz: So it was literally like the. The dress. Like, there was a ball. The guy sat in the middle ball. It was like that. Wow, okay.
>> Taylor: Almost exactly like the Jurassic park one.
>> Farz: That would be kind of fun, actually. If it was safe, I would ride that.
>> Taylor: Yeah, but it's not. It wasn't safe. They only did it one time with that one guy because they found out that the PVC tracks that they had made had all expanded because of, like, the weather changes.
This reminds me of the Titan disaster at Universal Studios
And so the track broke almost immediately. He went down the track. He went. He bumped over the freeway, luckily was not hit by a car and landed in a swamp. And they had to go get him out, because you can't get out by yourself.
>> Farz: This reminds me of the Titan disaster. It feels like it was also built by that guy.
>> Taylor: Exactly. I was watching something about the Titan disaster, and someone was saying that they were on it before. And just how that, like, big bolt you in, you can't get out.
>> Farz: Yeah. Oh, God, that's terrifying. Yeah.
>> Taylor: That's so awful. I don't do it. But, yeah, so that didn't happen. They let that go. They had. Oh, they also had a skate park that there were so many injuries in it that they just filled it in with dirt also. They were like, nope, we can't regulate the skate park. They had icebergs in the pools at one point to try to climb on, which is very unsafe. Black people were hurt during that. In Motor World, they had battle tanks, which were, like, tanks with, like, a cage over them. And you could shoot tennis balls at each other, which I think sounds super fun. But then the poor teenage workers, they would have to go in when, like, one of them broke down or go in to collect the tennis balls. They would just get, like, pummeled by tennis balls. Look at what she's being like. You. So anyway, so it's just. It's just wildly dangerous. It's like a little bit as a product of the 80s, I think, and a little bit is like, Gene being like, I can do whatever I want, you know, like, it doesn't matter. Like, your feet are burning because you're walking on the bare concrete. Which happens at water parks now, you know, Right. You. You have. But everybody's also bleeding because you have, like, road rash when going down a slide. Like, you were, like, bumping into someone on something. You've been, like, carrying an inner tube up a mountain and, like, back down. And just like, it's very physical. And everybody, like, everyone got hurt. And also because everyone was drunk, there were also people. If you got injured, you mostly didn't report it. You know, you're just like. You go back to school the next day and be like, oh, I got this at Action Park. And, like, that was cool. Yeah.
>> Farz: Even when you were a kid, we don't report anything. Like.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: When you got hurt, everybody assumed it was your fault because you were the kid.
>> Taylor: Yeah, exactly. So I know the question that you have right now is, who would insure a place like that? And the answer is Geico.
>> Farz: Nobody.
>> Taylor: He made up an insurance company and pretended to have insurance because no one would insure that he had supplemental insurance. And that insurance was supposed to do anything, like, over and beyond what his, like, main insurance have. But he didn't have any mean insurance. When they finally asked him for, like, proof they've been paying his insurance, he had one check, and it was essentially to himself. It was to like his company through the Cayman Islands through another company. Like he did not have insurance. That was like never part of the plan.
>> Farz: Because is it bad that I kind of admire this guy?
>> Taylor: I mean, you kind of do because you're like, he did, he did whatever the he wanted to do, you know, but like people died. So if people got hurt. But he, his vibe was like they should have known that like that was the risk. And they probably did, but didn't believe it. You know, like you don't, when you're a 19 year old guy, we don't tell anyone. You don't feel like you're gonna be the guy that dies on the road.
>> Farz: Yeah. Also I think you listed like seven people or something.
>> Taylor: Six people die. Yeah.
>> Farz: Okay, so six people in its existence. I bet you Universal Studios had at least six people die there.
>> Taylor: I'm absolutely.
>> Farz: So if you're like looking at just pure percentages, it's probably, you're probably more likely to get injured consistently. But in terms of dying, you're probably no worse off than going to any other theme park.
>> Taylor: I think that's so. I think that that's exactly right. I think that's true. Because some weekends they'd have 12,000 people there, you know, There you go. And so like I'm sure like 2,000 people had injured, you know, and like that's a lot. Like that's probably more than injured. Universal Studios. But the. Yeah, yeah. But also people liked it. That's what they wanted to do, you know.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah.
Gene Mulville's amusement park was shut down in 2012 but reopened this year
So. So eventually he starts to lose money because he does get sued by like the state. He's supposed to be like, you know, paying taxes and stuff that he's not doing, of course, you know, and he's supposed to have insurance and he doesn't. He's supposed to have all these like regulation things set up and he doesn't. So they finally, he's like totally in debt and the lawsuits really start coming in. The town is p***** because they're like, you're ruining the town. The traffic is insane. Like all these people are coming in. He's like, I'm bringing you. Why are you mad at me? You know, just like a whole like he's like, why are people trying to stop my innovation? You know, like that's like his thing and eventually he has to sell and he sells it to another company and they end up kind of like, you know, watering it down a little bit. It goes through a couple, a couple other hands. And then eventually the Mulville family buys it back and they've renamed it Action park, but then they changed it again and now it is called Mountain Creek and it is open right now.
>> Farz: No way.
>> Taylor: And it is not very different. Like, I'm looking at the website. Let me just send you this link for rides. I'm gonna put it in this zoom chat. But like, they, they have a lazy river, which I love. Some more things that seem like more kid stuff, but they still have like these big river down the mountain water tube slides. There's still a cliff dive. There's still a wave pool. There's a bunch of water slides. There's like even more. There's still another cliff jump. There's one called Zero G where you stand 100ft above the ground in a tube and then the trapdoor beneath you opens up and you just like slide down. And then another one where it's like almost a vertical slide all the way down. It's called H2. Oh, no. Dumb. But like, also, I would never do that.
>> Farz: Oh my God, that is terrifying. I would never do.
>> Taylor: That's scary. There's one just called Vertigo, because when people go on some of the rides in like the 80s, after you were done, they'd have you like just lay there for a little bit so that you're like, bell could get unrung, you know. This kind of looks fun. Yeah. There's still. Surf Hill is still there. The Alpine Slide is now the Alpine Mountain coaster. So you're like more strapped in. You have to wear a helmet. And it's like you can't fall off of it anymore, but it still exists. And then this year they reopened. They're opening Cannonball Falls, which is like a big, like enclosed water slide. And they're reopening the Tarzan Swing, where that one guy had a heart attack, but that is opening again. And so it seems like a little bit of regulation, but still you're probably going to get hurt.
>> Farz: I mean, I don't think there's a lot to be said for things that are run through legal and insurance rigor that if this is being run by like an actual legit company, like, it would be almost impossible for it to be as stupid and crazy and dangerous.
>> Taylor: Yeah, exactly. Like it's going to be like, it's not the same, but it still does stuff like this, like a picture of this dude on this Alpine mountain coaster. I mean, he's strapped in like a seat belt. He's like, it's safe. Like you're just like, you know, you're. You're by yourself. But you're not like controlling your own little pad in a, you know, in like a concrete ditch. So, yeah, you still go there. Gene died in 2012, and his obituary page on the funeral home page has some really not nice comments on it. Calvin says, quote, literal bottom of the scum pool excuse of human being who use his power to legally threaten the family of those who died at his park for speaking out loud and taking further action. Someone named E just says laundering. People getting killed because of him, suing people if they're worried about people's safety, bribery, etc. Etc. Unbelievably bad human being. Someone else said, I'll be dancing on his green if I ever see it. I enjoy the thought of him burning in h***, which he will continue to do for all eternity. Get pounded, Gene.
>> Farz: I mean, hey, at least I'm making too many apologies for this guy. It's better that you go out one way or the other, either a ton of love or a ton of hate. At least it's not like, eh, he was here. Who gives a.
>> Taylor: Totally, totally. People had very, very strong opinions and he would be like, yeah, I did what I wanted to do.
>> Farz: You know, it's such an American story. It's such an American, like 1980s and 1990s. Like, yeah, my customers.
>> Taylor: Exactly. There's like a story like when, when they were filling like the pool for the Tarzan swings, like, filled with like mountain water. And when they're filling it, his daughter was like 17 and he bought a fire truck for her to just like Dr. Lake and siphon water out of the lake and then drive back and like fill it up with that. And she did that for like a week until it was full. And he was just like. And she was like, expected to do that. You know, that's what you do for your family. You're not like, you can't get another job. Like, that's your job. You have to do this.
>> Farz: It's kind of incredible.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So kind of fun, kind of dangerous, but. But also a very, a very serious 80s story.
>> Farz: Gene, you'll be missed. Not by the families of the people you killed, but, yeah, actually by nobody, now that I think about it.
>> Taylor: There's kids. All his kids miss him.
>> Farz: Fun. It was a fun little story.
When we were younger, I feel like the fact that something was dangerous would draw you
I do, I do recall. I mean, I've. I've heard so much about this place. It's. It feels like a uniquely American store, but also feel like a uniquely New Jersey story because I just kept picturing the Jersey Shore kids being out there. There's a Part of this, like, I don't know, like, maybe it's like a boys will be boys kind of a thing. When we were younger, I feel like the fact that something was dangerous would draw you more to it. Because the boy, you're like, I need to like build my street cred, whatever that means. When you're like growing up in suburbia, like, if you do something that's like dangerous or your other friends are scared of, then you, you, your socio status within the group goes up. And so I kind of think that like a part of this was like, yeah, they, they probably knew they were gonna get hurt. And it was like, for them, it was like part of the thrill of going and showing their friends that I'm braver than you are.
>> Taylor: Exactly, exactly. And then. And coming back with those injuries, you'd be like, h*** yeah. You know?
>> Farz: Yeah, like I have a cool scar now. You don't.
>> Taylor: Exactly, exactly. And then like, yeah. They said, Andy in the book said at one time, like, they were like, why don't you just have a daycare center so like people can really, really drop off their kids and just like go and get drunk and play and like, do stuff, you know, like all sorts of different like, ideas. But water parks are fun. I've been to one with my kids. I was on one with Miles two years ago and he's so small and I was like, we were like a two person inner tube and he was holding onto my legs and I was like holding on to him with my legs as hard as I possibly could. I was just like, please don't die. Please don't die. As we're going through this like tunnel together. Like, you're so.
>> Farz: I've had, I've had one of those moments where like, like I was on one of those tunnel rides where you're on an inflatable thing on inflatable raft. You're going like kind of like down the tube. And it was very high up and there was parts of it that were like exposed to the outside. And I remember one point we went like, we start on the, the inside tracked and then by the time we got to the outside track where it was going to turn, that's where it opened up to the outside world. And I swear to God, I felt nothing behind me.
>> Taylor: Like, I was like the side of like the curve.
>> Farz: Yeah. And I was like. I remember thinking like, dude, if I was like maybe 10, 15 pounds heavier, I could have been heavy enough to have swung this thing. Just the lateral G forces of it enough to Where I would have just dropped like 100ft.
>> Taylor: No, it scares me. Like the one that we didn't go on at the water park we went to two years ago was like when it was just like a giant U and your energy would just go like up and down, up and down. People would just be like, like airborne half the time. You know, I'm like, that scares me. I don't love that.
>> Farz: Yeah. Overall, I think roller coasters are probably a safer bet. There's less variables to a roller coaster because you're strapped in. It's like on a finite track when they just throw you on these things. And yet launched by a 16 year old. You still get launched by a 16 year old. There's no like adults there.
>> Taylor: No, of course. It's just someone in there. There's like, whatever, I don't care. Just go.
>> Farz: And like, I keep doing the math. My mind, I've been on those ones where there's a trap door underneath it and you do the math on that and you're like, like, okay, when this thing goes, your head has to clear it. Like, like what if, like you lean a little, like if you lean back a little bit in your head, like you could shave off the back of your skull like on those things.
>> Taylor: No, absolutely. There's one. Actually, there's one. One of the rides, I can't remember which one, but like that would happen. Like you could, you could put your head back and get like that, like, right. It could like scalp you. When you got out of the, the tube, there were like bees everywhere. You had to like run also. So you were like injured from going through this tube. And then you get out in the bottom and there's a teenager being like, you should run, there's bees.
>> Farz: Yeah. Good times, good memories. Well, yeah, thank you for sharing. That's very fun. Brought back some fun memories. If you've ever been to Action park, let us know and write to us and tell us about your experience there.
>> Taylor: Yeah. If you have the fun. Any amusement park story, let us know.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. The near death ones are especially interesting. Sweet. Do we have any listener mail?
>> Taylor: Nope.
>> Farz: I'm gonna give a shout out real quick if it's okay. No, let me, let me find it.
Taylor: Richie Alice passed away recently from colorectal cancer
So, so, okay, so one of our mutual friends, a guy named Richie Alice, passed away tragically at 40 years old from colorectal cancer. This was probably a couple of days ago at this point. He was a great guy and he had a son that was born three years ago named Teddy. And his wife started a GoFundMe to fundraise for a trust fund for Teddy so that he can be in the dreams and hopes that Richie had for him to be able to pursue his education and to live a life that Richie would have wanted him to have. If you go on gofundme and look up Richie's legacy or. Or you can do Teddy's future, both of those would work. You can find the GoFundMe and if you feel so inclined, you can go ahead and contribute. Taylor, I'll go ahead and drop the link for this here in the chat so that if you want to post it along with this video make we would really, really very much appreciate if folks would support that.
>> Taylor: Thank you for bringing that up. Man. What a. So freaking sad.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: What a. What a good man that was. Who you worked with him for a while a while ago and yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Farz: So anywho. Cool. That's all I had.
>> Taylor: Cool. Thank you for bringing that up.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Yeah. If anyone has any ideas for us or things to share, please send us an email. Dude pod gmail.com or a find us on social media. Doomshafail.
>> Farz: Sweet. Thanks Taylor. We'll go ahead and cut off there.