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PortAventura: General Discussion

Luckily what you think, and what things are, are two completely different things. PortAventura is a world class park as it's line up, entertainments, themeing and resort shows. Surprisingly you saying otherwise doesn't mean it's true. I enjoy PortAventura and will continue to do so. Don't like it? Don't go, it'll be one less person in the huggeeeeeeeeee queues.
 
siralgenon said:
Luckily what you think, and what things are, are two completely different things. PortAventura is a world class park as it's line up, entertainments, themeing and resort shows. Surprisingly you saying otherwise doesn't mean it's true. I enjoy PortAventura and will continue to do so. Don't like it? Don't go, it'll be one less person in the huggeeeeeeeeee queues.
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True. But likely one more person lining the pockets of far more deserving parks, preparing to ride much higher quality rides. And I will almost certainly be moving in the queue I opt to stand in, rather than standing still whilst boiling alive as is the norm at PortAventura.
 
siralgenon said:
Luckily what you think, and what things are, are two completely different things. PortAventura is a world class park as it's line up, entertainments, themeing and resort shows. Surprisingly you saying otherwise doesn't mean it's true. I enjoy PortAventura and will continue to do so. Don't like it? Don't go, it'll be one less person in the huggeeeeeeeeee queues.
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And on the other side of things you saying that it is a world class theme park does not mean it's true.

PA should be a world class theme park, I am undecided on my opinion of that. In terms of area theming and visuals it is right up there. For me it lacks in a few key aspects to be truly world class. Although me saying that also does not make it true!

:)
 
Sam said:
Haha. People who like Baco and Stampida are... odd. Also *tend* not to have ridden that many other foreign coasters. The operations is in undeniable fact - not opinion.
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Why do you always use this argument? Whenever someone says that they like a coaster which you don't like, your response is always along the lines of "you haven't been on enough coasters if you think that" This makes no sense at all. If me and you were both to compile a top 10, top 20, top 100 coasters etc, our lists would be very different and I guess Stampida and Baco would be very low on your list but pretty high on mine. Now unless I hadn't ridden ANY of the coasters which you rated more highly than Baco and Stampida, then the fact that I rate Baco and Stampida highly has nothing to do with lack of experience. Like I've always said to you it's down to personal opinion, a concept which you don't seem to understand.

In terms of European woodies for example, I rate Stampida more highly than Joris en de Draak, Tornerre de Zeus and Loup-Garou. If you've been on these coasters, my guess is that you'd rate them ahead of Stampida? I wouldn't and that is my opinion. So how is this opinion due to lack of experience and lack of coasters ridden? Different people like different things Sam, you don't seem to be able to get your head around this concept and keep acting like you have a superior opinion to people who YOU THINK have been on less coasters than you. The reason I emphasise think is because all these people who you speak to patronisingly and who you think haven't been on enough coasters to have an opinion, may well have been on loads for all you know and stil rate Baco and Stampida highly. They may have been on more coasters than you.

In terms of PA being a second class park, this is utter rubbish. Unlike enthusiasts, the public vote with their feet. The fact that PortAventura is one of the best attended parks in Europe ahead of Phantasialand, Parc Asterix, Gardaland, Liseberg, Parque Warner etc shows that it is loved by the public.
 
LOL you rate Stampida ahead of Joris? You need a serious psychiatric evaluation... that or Stampida has given you serous concussion.
 
Baco and Stampida are not only uncomfortable rides but also rely on the roughness to trick people into thinking that they're actually doing something interesting. Stampida had a couple of spots where I expected it to stall almost every time (and it did stall with a fully loaded train not too long ago). Baco meanwhile has an extremely bland layout that offers very little - even Rita has a more exciting layout.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
In terms of PA being a second class park, this is utter rubbish. Unlike enthusiasts, the public vote with their feet. The fact that PortAventura is one of the best attended parks in Europe ahead of Phantasialand, Parc Asterix, Gardaland, Liseberg, Parque Warner etc shows that it is loved by the public.
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I think location plays a major part in PA's success. A chimp could design a theme park and build it in PA's position (proximity to Barcelona - the 4th most visited city in Europe), and rake in the visitors. The weather especially is a major draw. Meanwhile, how many people even consider Germany or Sweden as holiday destinations (which, let's face it, make up for the majority of visitors in the year)?

Location is everything to a theme park, no matter how good or bad it is. Cedar Point, clearly the best coaster park in the US, received almost a million less visitors than Busch Gardens Tampa in 2013. Does that make BGT a better park?
 
John is spot on. PA fans, stop with the 'in your opinion' and 'the public love it' stuff. Actually explain WHY you think Stampida and Baco are any good. Because it's very difficult for us to assume anything other than it's just because you, err, haven't been on many other coasters.
 
Look, can we all just agree that DK and Shambles are epic, but everything else at PA sucks arse?
 
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Sam said:
John is spot on. PA fans, stop with the 'in your opinion' and 'the public love it' stuff. Actually explain WHY you think Stampida and Baco are any good. Because it's very difficult for us to assume anything other than it's just because you, err, haven't been on many other coasters.
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Why should people need to give a detailed reason why they enjoy specific rides? That certainly sucks the fun out of riding coasters, something which we are meant to do for fun. If you really need to know why, then I will say that I enjoy those two rides because I find them intense and thrilling, so intense that the vibrations are of little concern to me.

As I've already said, but you don't seem to understand, I find them more intense than the likes of Joris en de Draak, Loup-Garou, Tornerre de Zeus, Blue Fire etc. This opinion has nothing at all to do with not riding many coasters as I would imagine that you would rate all four of those coasters ahead of Stampida and Baco. So why do you therefore keep on with the whole "you haven't been on many coasters" argument? It's wholly irrelevant and I can only assume that either you do it to make yourself feel good about the fact that you think you've been on alot of coasters or because you want an excuse to brag abotu what coasters you've been on and to make yourself feel superior.

At the end of the day, I doubt that a park the size of PortAventura will lose much sleep over a few Alton Towers fans not liking it. Enthusiasts make up about 0.0001% of their potential visitors.
 
Roughness does not equal intensity though...

I actually did like Stampida back on my first visit a decade ago... I like the layout of it and I don't remember it trying to destroy me... But with the Kumbak trains it's nothing short of awfully rough and dull, like other Kumbak ruined wooden coasters...

Why do some people get so offended when people are negative about certain parks btw? Fanboying only results in arguments like this which never end... It's like bloody BPB ones in here...
 
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When did I ever say that roughness equals intensity? I am simply saying that I disagree with the way that Sam talks so patronisingly to people who say that they like Baco and Stampida and tells them that they're are wrong or lack experience and basically can't accept that they have a difference of opinion. It has nothing to do with taking offence.
 
Look, I'm not saying this to make me feel good about myself having been to loads of parks, and I'm not trying to put anyone else down for it. We're all different ages and have different financial circumstances.

I'm simply trying to explain WHY I think some geeks rate those two rides, because I think the explanation is interesting and other people might find it interesting, and isn't that why we post our thoughts and ideas on forums?

You seem to be the exception, Enter Valhalla, to a theory that largely seems to be true. Most people who rave about Baco and Stampida haven't been to many parks beyond those in the UK and on the Costa del Fishandchips. I find that interesting in an objective way, not in a 'having a go' way. :)
 
@Enter Valhalla - At the end of the day, if Sam's only response to why PortAventura is a second rate Park is that the Park has two rough attractions and has slow throughputs, while choosing to ignore the list of positives, then there is no argument to be had.

If he's determined to stick to the point of 'I've been on more coasters, so i'll decide whats good and what isn't. I've been to PortAventura a lot more than Sam. So therefore I have a better judgement whether it is good or not.

I don't care what Sam's opinion is on the matter, because over the last two years he keeps using the same old comeback, which means nothing what so ever. So on that note I have nothing more to say on the matter.

On a different subject:

20th Anniversary Update

  • The 20th Anniversary stage is under construction infront of the Teatre Principal which is believed to hold a Welcome and Parade Finale performance.
  • Tickets for Cirque Du Soleils: Amaluna have been released and can be purchased through PortAventura or Cirque Du Soleil's websites.
 
siralgenon said:
I've been to PortAventura a lot more than Sam. So therefore I have a better judgement whether it is good or not.
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Surely though the only way to judge whether it is good or not is to visit the competition, and assess the quality of their parks in comparison? I could eat fish and chips every night of my life, although it wouldn't mean I could say that fish and chips are the greatest meal of all time, as I've never tried anything else.
 
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I visit Thorpe and Chessie a lot more than Towers, does it mean they're both better than Towers? No. Clear difference as to something you like better than there is something that is better.
 
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