PortAventura: General Discussion

[Lottie.]

Definitely get some Hotel Gold River VIBES from the new hotel. Looks nice though!

 

[Rob]

Ahhhh, ISSS BUFFET!

Strange how the restaurant and bar are not advertised on the website as amenities available for guests. Although after hearing reports from The Callaghans last week I suspect they will be closed some of the time anyway.

Also, the bar is literally in the hotel lobby!? Interesting choice of location.

Cannot fault PA with the rooms here or the new Hotel PA rooms, top notch.

 

[Benzin]

Massive improvement on the PA hotel rooms, last time they looked very tired...

 

[AstroDan]

Satch stayed at Callaghan's last week, where the 'exclusive' restaurant was closed for breakfast. Guests had to walk to the new Colorado Creek breakfast. The Callaghan's bar was also closed. They went to the restaurant at Hotel PortAventura (Port Regata) which was also shut. So I would have no actual confidence that the bars would be regularly open in the new hotel nor that the food service would be any good. It looks like yet another large hall to me. And the bar in the new hotel looks just as over-lit as the dire Lobby Bar in Hotel Gold River.

The buffets at PA are pretty lousy too. Mass catered dining halls.

Needless to say, the new hotel looks nice in photos. But that's PA all over. Nice in photos.

 

[siralgenon]

Port Regata is closed for renovations at the moment as the hotel has undergone a full refurbishment.

 

[venny]

It is massively frustrating that, for a park which spends such a considerable amount on shows and attractions and has such a good infrastructure, the service quality is so poor. Capex budgets must be sizeable - why can’t they just spend some of that on staff training and day-to-day operations?

I do want to love the place, because of its landscaping and potential, but every time I spend more than a couple of days there, the persistently poor service and operations (food and attractions) grinds and just leaves me feeling annoyed.

 

[Sam]

Why are they building new hotels when the ones they've got aren't open half the time?

 

[Burbs]

Why are they building new hotels when the ones they've got aren't open half the time?

Now where have I heard that before?

 

[AstroDan]

Why are they building new hotels when the ones they've got aren't open half the time?

I can only assume that in July and August they are full. Although the rest of the year I have no idea.

 

[RicketyCricket]

It is massively frustrating that, for a park which spends such a considerable amount on shows and attractions and has such a good infrastructure, the service quality is so poor. Capex budgets must be sizeable - why can’t they just spend some of that on staff training and day-to-day operations?

I do want to love the place, because of its landscaping and potential, but every time I spend more than a couple of days there, the persistently poor service and operations (food and attractions) grinds and just leaves me feeling annoyed.

I only ever visit late september/early october. The park is very quiet which makes for a far more pleasant experience and eases the frustrations.

The only other Spanish Park I've visited is Terra Mitica, but perhaps its a cultural thing? The Spanish are very laid back. Not sure what the Madrid parks are like in terms of operations.

 

[discoinferno]

I only ever visit late september/early october. The park is very quiet which makes for a far more pleasant experience and eases the frustrations.

The only other Spanish Park I've visited is Terra Mitica, but perhaps its a cultural thing? The Spanish are very laid back. Not sure what the Madrid parks are like in terms of operations.

As I said in my report, I did enjoy my trip to Madrid but I have to admit that operations at both parks were poor. All coasters seemed to be running on one train and dispatches were rather slow. And, yes, there was the usual queue jumping and smoking in queue lines. So, yes, I think this is all a bit of a Spanish thing.

 

[siralgenon]

New for 2019

Abby Star Studio - SesamoAventura
New for summer 2019, guests can visit Abby Cadabby in her home at SesamoAventura and be made up to look like a real fairy before meeting Abby herself for a photo. The attraction is similar to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique found at Disney Parks and Hotels. The attraction has replaced the games stalls in Asia and is now a part of the expanded SesamoAventura along with Street Mission.

La Isla Maldita - Caribe Aquatic Park
For Halloween '19 PortAventura World will be presenting Europe's largest scare maze, which will be located in Caribe Aquatic Park. When the Waterpark closes at the end of September it will be transformed into a brand new scare maze based on a damned Caribbean for Halloween featuring 94 scare actors. A great use of space for an area which would just lie unused until the following summer!

 

[Poopoohead]

That scare maze sounds amazing

 

[AstroDan]

To be fair, one of the few occasions PA genuinely surpassed expectations was when I did the Salva del Miedo maze some years ago. It was excellent. They seem willing to throw money at staffing such things with masses of actors, whilst not being able to open bars and restaurants.

 

[siralgenon]

In a recent press release, Diari have reported that the PortAventura Parks have recieved a 10% increase in guest numbers this year compared to 2018, now hitting over 5 million a year!

In other news, a few more photos of the new Abby Star Studio have surfaced as well as a description:

In SésamoAventura you will find the new Abby Star Studio , the makeup and photography studio of the most famous fairy of Sesame Street: Abby Cadabby .

The studio is made up of two houses, in the first one we found the makeup workshop, where you can make up some Sesame Street motif and buy some souvenir from Abby. In the next little house you can take a souvenir photo with Abby Cadabby, or just say hello and give her a hug.

We recommend checking the opening hours, since it is very small. Both the makeup and the photo are subject to payment. The download of the digital photo is included in the DigiPass, the new service that allows you to download unlimitedly all the digital photos of the attractions of PortAventura Park.

 

[siralgenon]

A few updates from PortAventura World while I'm over here:

Environment
PortAventura World is committed to being environmentally stable. PortAventura no longer uses straws of any kind (paper or plastic) in the parks and drinks cups no longer have plastic lids.

Guests can now purchase soft drinks in a re-usable aluminium drinks cup which is 100% recyclable and can be re-filled for a lower price. The cups also freeze when ice is added keeping your drinks cool for longer.

Maranello Grand Race
On-board audio has been added to the cars on the race circuit in Ferrari Land which play a mixture of car sounds and music.

Team Members and Throughputs
Staffing levels have been greatly increased throughout the resort and ride throughputs have improved with trains being filled and not uneededly stacking.

On-Ride Photos
Self-service photo machines have been removed from attractions and replaced with staffed kiosks.

Toilets
Toilets have been refurbished throughout PortAventura Park and new water fountains have been added.

Hotel PortAventura
Hotel PortAventura is now fully open after its refurbishment with new restaurants, rooms and bars.

I'll upload photos when I'm back in the UK and will post anything else I notice while I'm here

 

[Sam]

Team Members and Throughputs
Staffing levels have been greatly increased throughout the resort and ride throughputs have improved with trains being filled and not uneededly stacking.

That isn't true from what Richy and Simon said about their visit a few weeks ago and Dan about his visit earlier this year - in fact, operations sound worse than ever?

Also, any environmental improvements they make mean nothing when visitor numbers are increasing at a park that almost everybody reaches by flying.

 

[Lurker]

Also, any environmental improvements they make mean nothing when visitor numbers are increasing at a park that almost everybody reaches by flying.

That's such a bullshit attitude. Just because someone may have done something environmentally bad before getting there, which the park have little control over, doesn't mean they shouldn't make effort to avoid single use plastics.

Everyone is causing environmental damage all the time, reducing it where it's simple to do so only makes sense.

I appreciate hearing what parks are doing to make the industry more green.

 

[Sam]

Just because someone may have done something environmentally bad before getting there, which the park have little control over, doesn't mean they shouldn't make effort to avoid single use plastics.

Parks have a lot of control (or influence) over how people get there, in what infrastructure they choose to fund (or contribute to). DLP have a high-speed railway minutes from the park's entrance. That railway station isn't there by accident or as a coincidence.

 

[siralgenon]

That isn't true from what Richy and Simon said about their visit a few weeks ago and Dan about his visit earlier this year - in fact, operations sound worse than ever?

Also, any environmental improvements they make mean nothing when visitor numbers are increasing at a park that almost everybody reaches by flying.

I don't see how people flying to the Resort is anything to do with PortAventura themselves, plus the Resort is located in central Europe, so I'd imagine most people will arrive via cars, trains, buses as opposed to planes.

Hotel Colorado Creek is also the Resort's first 0 emissions hotel with the others being modified to follow suit in the future.

Staffing has definitely increased across the parks, in previous years 1 staff member would do the job of about 3 people yet this year has improved. For example El Diablo would previously have had 1 operator and 1 person batching and checking restraints. However at the moment there is 1operator, 1 batching and 2 checking restraints. I've taken photos because obviously I've made it all up.