GAR negotiated a deal to temporary fend off an impending foreclosure, but in February 1996, the creditors who had taken on GAR's debt petitioned to force GAR into bankruptcy over the $14 million owed by the struggling company. GAR filed for Chapter 11 protection that following March but remained optimistic that they could regain their financial footing "within a year." Action Park closed at the end of the season as usual on Labor Day, September 2, 1996. Despite expecting to reopen the next year, on June 25, 1997, GAR announced the cessation of all its operations, including Action Park.