The plans for destruction of the park and roller-coaster pre-dated the 2 scripts that were submitted to the owners of the property, the winner being "The Death of Ocean View Park".
The mess deck scenes were filmed on board the USS L.Y. Spear (AS-36), a submarine tender about twice the size of the navy frigate shown in the movie.
For a wooden roller coaster that was as old as this one, the explosive charges could not take down the last curve at the end of the track, the one that was supposed to be the cause of rupturing the gas line that caused the explosion. The large crowd watching cheered. A bulldozer finally finished the job.
The working title for the film was "Amusement Park".