The warm Lehigh Valley weather last weekend was the perfect precursor to the kick off of the 125th season at Dorney Park this Saturday, May 2.

Over the years, particularly during my childhood, I spent a lot of time at the park (and I'm not the only one). My aunt and uncle used to live in what's now the park's parking lot. That's not the only thing that's changed ...

First, there was no Wildwater Kingdom back in those days. I'm not a huge fan of waterparks, but to drive by, it looks pretty amazing today.

Also, you used to need tickets to get on the rides. My aunt was best buddies with the park staff, so she always had baskets full of tickets for us to use. Today, you buy one pass to get into the two parks and ride all the rides you want.

My two favorite Dorney rides: Thunderhawk and Journey to the Center of the Earth. My friends and I used to make a continuous loop of getting on and off each of them! JTTCOTE is now gone, but the wooden Thunderhawk coaster has survived.

My new favorite ride is Steel Force. Nothing beats the view from the top of this coaster (the Statue of Liberty could easily fit under the first hill) and it is one smooth ride.

If you drive by today, you'll notice a large gray building is going up right near the entrance. It doesn't look like much now, but by June it'll be an indoor ice skating arena where performances of Snoopy Rocks on Ice will be held. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

My son loves to visit the park, which is why I usually break down and buy him a season pass. Besides riding Hydra and playing all the games in hopes of winning one of those corny stuffed animals, his favorite thing about Dorney has to be getting a good old-fashioned candy apple!

Do you have plans to "Do Dorney" this year?