I was gonna comment this exact same thing. The cart ride that went sharply downhill in a concrete trench, with brakes that usually didn't work. Kids who couldn't really swim almost drowning in the wave pool. Testing out new rides on employees who were strapped for cash. Teenage "lifeguards" and ride operators with no actual training. Rides with no engineering or regard for physics, just the amusement park's owner's ideas sketched on a napkin. (Loop-the-loop water slide, anyone?)

Really just Action Park on steroids, with a supernatural element. Not that the story isn't good--it's excellent! IMO the similarity makes it more uncanny, because something similar really did happen IRL. It could happen.