A Trip to Dorney Park was Just What My Family Needed

My family was stressed. My family was tired. My family needed a break.

My house is undergoing a major renovation. For most of the summer, all six of my family members slept in the living room because of the mess and debris scattered around the house. It finally got to us. We needed to get out and get away fast. With the start of school on the horizon, we wanted to do something fun together.

I have extended family in the Allentown, Pennsylvania area and used to visit Dorney Park as a kid. It has been about 25 years since my last visit, but I have wonderful memories of riding roller coasters and wasting money while trying to win prizes. With the memories at the forefront of my mind, we loaded up the Sorrento and made the 2 hour trip from New York City to Allentown.

We split the park up into a two-day fun-filled mini vacation. Our first day was spent splashing around at the water park area known as Wildwater Kingdom. All four of my kids loved playing in the water and my wife and I had equally a good time. Wildwater has great toddler areas for my one-year-old and the older ones entertained themselves by going down the many water slides. My 4-year-old spent most of his time in the wave pool. We spent the whole day either relaxing in the water or flying down the slides. Once the water park closed, we ventured over to the other side and spent the rest of the evening in the Planet Snoopy area of the park, where my 4-year-old could ride everything.

The next day was all about the roller coasters. My wife and I took turns riding the coasters and other rides with the older kids while the other one would wait with the smaller kids. My family is an adventurous lot, and we took advantage of all the thrills Dorney has to offer.  At the end of the day, we tried our hand at winning prizes and everyone went home with something. My son won the day by escorting a giant pink cobra out of the park.

 

My family needed to have fun together. We needed to escape from the stress of our daily lives. Dorney Park was just what we needed. In fact, we had such a great time that we are considering buying season passes for next year.

For ticket information, click here.

For directions, click here.

Disclosure: Dorney Park provided my family with passes in exchange for a review. The words and thoughts are my own.