I went to Action Park about six times during its heyday of the mid to late 80's when I was a teen. In retrospect, it was everything you've heard it to be, but at the time it didn't seem so dangerous. I think the stuff you hear makes it sound like the place was total carnage and mayhem every day of its existence but it was really just a cool place to go to with your friends and get knocked around a bit. If you weren't sunburned and exhausted by the end of the day then you did it wrong.
- Yes, the water was all from mountain springs and was about 33 degrees on a warm day, but you got used to it.
- Yes, the Wave Pool got a little overcrowded sometimes, but there was always room at the deep end which was more fun anyway.
- Yes, some idiot could jump off the cliff and land right on your head if they weren't looking but that was the chance you took in order to jump off the cliffs yourself.
- Yes, getting launched out of the Alpine Slide and sliding down the track on your own skin was a bad idea, so make an effort not to screw up.
- Yes, you could snap your back like a twig if you went down the last two lanes on Surf Hill, hit the jump (yes there was a jump at one point) at ludicrous speed and landed wrong, but you were young and indestructible so you had nothing to worry about. Besides, the girls were watching!
One fun memory of Action Park has to do with the Alpine Slide. We noticed the employees there were always flying down the track so we assumed they knew which sleds were the 'good' ones. Turns out it had nothing to do with the sled itself but everything to do with how you sat on it. They had plastic skids on each corner and the center handle controlled if you pushed forward, a center wheel would come down for speed, and if you pulled back it was two larger skids for 'brakes'. So even with the handle as far forward as possible, you were still sitting on a tricycle of sorts, with most of your weight on the back two skids and only some of it on the center wheel between your knees/thighs. It would only allow you to go so fast.
But one of the employees running the ride shared the secret with my friend: Lean forward, grab the loop that hung the sled from the chairlift, and pull your weight forward while pressing the handle forward. This did two things: #1 (the good) it put almost all of your weight over the wheel, and #2 (the bad) it raised your center of gravity which made the sled squirrelly. It made all the difference in how fast you went, and I do mean fast. We each did three runs at the very end of the day using this newfound technique, daring to go faster and faster each time until the last run when all three of us had close calls. We got to the bottom, all looking a little pale, laughed nervously and said, "Yeah, time to leave.".
I'm very glad I that place existed and I was able to go there many times at its peak. We'll never see anything like it again.