**Citizen Kane does Adventureland. --The Washington Post
**
The outlandish, hilarious, terrifying, and almost
impossible-to-believe story of the legendary, dangerous amusement park
where millions were entertained and almost as many bruises were
sustained, told through the eyes of the founder's son.
Often called Accident Park, Class Action Park, or Traction Park, Action
Park was an American icon. Entertaining more than a million people a
year in the 1980s, the New Jersey-based amusement playland placed no
limits on danger or fun, a monument to the anything-goes spirit of the
era that left guests in control of their own adventures--sometimes with
tragic results. Though it closed its doors in 1996 after nearly twenty
years, it has remained a subject of constant fascination ever since, an
establishment completely anathema to our modern culture of rules and
safety. Action Park is the first-ever unvarnished look at the history
of this DIY Disneyland, as seen through the eyes of Andy Mulvihill, the
son of the park's idiosyncratic founder, Gene Mulvihill. From his early
days testing precarious rides to working his way up to chief lifeguard
of the infamous Wave Pool to later helping run the whole park, Andy's
story is equal parts hilarious and moving, chronicling the life and
death of a uniquely American attraction, a wet and wild 1980s
adolescence, and a son's struggle to understand his father's quixotic
quest to become the Walt Disney of New Jersey. Packing in all of the
excitement of a day at Action Park, this is destined to be one of the
most unforgettable memoirs of the year.
