Dorney Park - Labor Day Weekend - Part Three

Dorney Park used to be a cute, little, family attraction at one time. It has an incredible history which dates back to 1860. (Check out the history here). We visited Dorney on the last day of our Labor Day trip up to PA.

Growing up near Allentown, Dorney Park has always been a part of my life. My Dad, who is in his 70's used to work there as a teen. My Mom rode her first (and only) roller coaster there. I enjoyed the park as a child, as a teenager and as an adult. My husband and I spent most of the first summer that we were dating at this park and we've been visiting there ever since.

As a child, I remember that we used to have to redeem tickets to ride the rides. I still have one of those ticket books...

Back then, there was only one roller coaster. A local road (Dorney Park Road) cut through the park. You saw your friends and neighbors there. Alfundo the clown (pictured above) was the park mascot and he was represented throughout the park. The park was a small, local attraction with charm. Here is a glimpse at some of the older rides.

Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom is now a large, modern-day amusement park with several coasters including the 75 mph Steel Force coaster. Dorney is now owned by Cedar Fair, LP and has grown in size and acquired thrill rides that compete with theme parks across the country. It is now a completely different park and Alfundo's presence has not been seen there for years. However, I have enjoyed watching Dorney grow into what it has become today.

We spent the day enjoying the thrill rides and reminiscing about the good old days. Finally, as we were getting ready to leave the park, we visited the gift shop to see if there was a souvenir we would want to take with us.

We looked at the selection of t-shirts and we saw something that completely blew us away. Hanging in the selection of brightly colored t-shirts was a white t-shirt with something on it that made us do a double-take--it was ALFUNDO THE CLOWN!

That's right, the original Alfundo from years ago was on a modern day t-shirt!

We immediately began digging through the selection to see if there was one for each of us. Unfortunately, they didn't have one in my husband's size, so we decided to ask the girl at the register if she could help us find one. The girl was about 16 years old. She said she didn't have any in the back, but she would be happy to call around to see if one of the other shops had one.

We listened as she placed the call and said, "Yes, I'm calling to see if you carry that white t-shirt with a red collar--it has some kind of clown on it...". This girl, a current employee of Dorney Park, had no idea who Alfundo was. To top it off, when she hung up after her unsuccessful search for the shirt she said, "Yeah, I think people really like the red collar, these are so popular..."

Suddenly, I heard myself saying, "That's Alfundo the Clown! He was all over this park when we were in high school...blah, blah, blah..." I went into great detail on Alfundo the Clown and I think at least 10 gray hairs sprouted out of my head at that very moment.

Oh well...at least I got the t-shirt.