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Port Aventrua 17th June - 20th June

mikeroller

TS Member
Not really going to go in a massive ride report because I find them quite boring to write but will give overall opinions…

Well this would have been my first visit to PA for 14 years and was mainly spurred by it being relatively cheap (just over £250 per person for three nights inc. flights) and my desire to ride Shambhala and generally return to a park I enjoyed immensely as a teenager.

We flew into Barcelona airport at around 10:30pm and transferred to the Hotel Gold River which looked pretty outstanding to be honest at night and the rest of the bus were commenting how nice it looked. It did have an air of decadence to it and was really nicely finished with the finest of details prevalent throughout. As we arrived late we walked around the the hotel area (all VERY NICE) and took an early night.

On our first proper full day we went for breakfast which didn't really match the quality of the hotel which was unfortunate. It was a buffet and presented well with PLENTY OF CHOICE but I was a bit dubious about the overall quality of the food which was a shame. Anyway fully fed we made our way into the park. Arriving in the western area (from the Hotel Gold River of course) it actually reminded me a lot of Mutiny Bay at Alton Towers with all the game stalls around. We found a queue time board and realised only three rides were open (Kahn, Furius Baco and the Rapids possibly?) so we decided to make our way around to Kahn and it really was as nice a park as I remembered and I think I noticed the details even more so. Each themed area really is very nicely done but I think my favourite would have been Mexico. Arrived at Kahn and queued for about 15 minutes which we thought was great but I was quite let down by the ride - we were given a mid position place on the train and it felt a bit lacklustre to be honest but I'm not really a fan of looping coasters and never really get a thrill from being upside down.

Next we decided to go to Baco and as we walked round STREAMS of school children were heading to Kahn, at this point we thought we might be having a bit of a disaster day which turned out to be ENTIRELY TRUE. On the way down we thought we'd just jump on Tutuki Splash as we were there anyway. This is when the HORROR started and the rumoured awful Spanish teenagers were taking hold. First thing was a girl getting a nice big marker pen out and daubing over the wall which was then followed up by just general overall rudeness (but no queue jumping yet). I enjoyed the ride though and the splash was as pleasing as ever.

Well after this we finally got to Baco at around midday and didn't think the queue line looked to be bad… until it arrived inside the building and it just snaked round and round and round and took forever. It was a good ride though and I was surprised by how scared I was (I also loved the on-ride video you could get. Where else does this?) and the launch was pretty intense (I've only been on Rita otherwise). After this we plodded around the park going on various rides that don't need mentioned and made our way to Shambhala. Queue time said 1 hour which we thought wasn't bad but how wrong we were. The cattle pen just snaked and snaked and why is the single ride queue halfway round the queue? Well we decided to take single rider and thank god we did because in just over an hour we got on the ride and the people we had left were nowhere to be seen. The main queue was full of idiots cheering, shouting and pushing in. You got dispatched to a gate and two people were assigned to a gate as there were only two seats to a gate but this was all beyond the Spanish. A train would empty, the gates would open and people would board and put their bags on the other side but the queue line would then start filling the gates BUT the gates were still open so they would jump onto an open seat which caused numerous delays. This happened more than once and I'm not sure if it's just because they lack common sense or were generally pushing in? I'm thinking lacking common sense the amount of times this happened. Also another bugbear was them lacking any discipline in filling the correct row they had been dispatched to, they'd just go to another row in front or behind.

Well we finally got on the ride (single riders but same train) and this is where my love affair with the Spanish ended (although it never started to be honest). Before the ride I had put my flip flops and bag in the shelf provided and returned and went on my merry way… well returning to the station my flip flops had disappeared :( and had been stolen. They weren't expensive but they were Havinania's that have been with me all over the world and it was unfortunate to lose them but from good planning on my part I had brought an emergency pair of flip flops should such a scandal happen… I think I had maybe jinxed it. It kind of put a damper on the rest of the night and we didn't even discuss how much we enjoyed Shambhala… after that (and constantly looking to see if anyone was carrying a blue pair of flop flops) we went on Hurakun Condor which, being the first drop tower I've been on, was scary and amazing in equal measures. I let rip with the expletives on the way up and the way down.

Well after this and still being annoyed by the minor theft we discussed getting a fast pass and we decided we would if Tuesday proved busier but we would enquire at the hotel reception about them that night. Well we enquired and for 50 Euro for unlimited fast pass for the duration of our stay. With fast pass in hand and an hour to spare that night we went for one last ride on Baco which was still immense for us.

The next day started better with fast pass in hand and was ultimately far more enjoyable than being stuck in queues. We did most of the same rides again with plenty (maybe too many) re-rides. Shambhala really was fantastic from the back (and the front as it turned out) and I loved all the floaty airtime on every hill and it really was suburb. Not scary but just very very enjoyable. I hope it does well for them.

Well the fast pass allowed us to re-ride Baco a few times and this is where I started noticing just how ROUGH it was. By God it just turned into a totally unpleasant pain machine. The adrenaline from the launch was no longer prevalent so was no longer cancelling out the bone rattling hurt. I do like the layout though and love the inline twist which throws you around. I just hope somewhere along the line the trains can be re-done?

The day was definitely the most enjoyable of the three with the fast pass and it was nice to just take your time and not worry about have to get to the next ride so you can be in a queue for 2 hours.

The third day was basically a repeat of the second and MUCH BUSIER and to be honest had started to get boring. We were just tired and rides were no longer providing a thrill which was to be expected I guess.

So a few thoughts on the park generally…
I despise fast pass in parks because it just adds to the queue time for the main queue tenfold (they are still paying customer as well) but I couldn't bear queueing. But on Shambhala sometimes they were filling a near entire train with fast pass people… how does the main queue EVER have the chance of emptying when fast pass users are hogging it. Fast pass also led to some sloppy ride operation where the staff had to tick off on a sheet with what type of pass was used as well as marking off the standard fast pass cards of the customers. As well as doing this they had to sort the main queue and the single rider. Loads of trains going with full rows empty.

There was the general impression that longer queue times were encouraged to increase the sale of fast pass. Shambhala was running two trains only but it was obvious to anyone that the third train really should have been used although it was pleasing to see at least a countdown timer displayed in the station for staff that they had to work towards (it was set at 59 seconds) and seemed to be achieved most of the time. Hurakun Condor was only running three carriages despite some ridiculous queues. Sloppy ride operations seemed to be widespread everywhere and could have been greatly improved by just having one more member of staff on most of the rides just to deal with the queues and allocation.

Hotel wise the Gold River was really quite beautiful but the food NOWHERE near matched it which was probably the most disappointing aspect. There were people doing satisfaction surveys though and I made it clear that the food wasn't satisfactory to the rest of the hotel. Very overpriced as well! Would have rather ate the 6 euro noodles from the park. CHEAPER and NICER.

This report sounds overtly negative but I really did enjoy the park and my visit. It's quite spectacular in its layout and you can't walk more than 5 metres without there being a stunning photo op somewhere. It's all very beautifully presented and some of the themeing is lush. I was more than impressed with the Furius Baco area. The station was imposing and I loved the mock Vineyard. Around Mediterranea is gorgeous. Always loved that area. I think the ride choice is good and I enjoyed the shows although you would only need two days maximum at a push (maybe even one with Fast Pass). It's just when you get into the queue lines everything falls apart so thank god for the fast pass I guess (although that shouldn't be the way). I think someone said Port Aventura would be a really good park if it was moved out of Spain? Couldn't be more true. A possibly great park let down by its own people. I still can't get over how brilliant it looks in appearance.


Team Edit: Removal of swearing and xenophobic comments.
 
No offence, but your report comes across as very xenophobic. Just because there may have been a few idiots at the park doesn't mean that everyone in Spain is thick/idiotic.
 
I kind of agree with mikeroller in terms of the Spanish teenagers. Never have I been queue jumped so often and so frequently, then at PortAventura. Whats worse is that the queuelines seem to be designed to give people as much opportunity to do it. The way the majority of Shambhala's queueline for example snakes past the station bridge.
 
From my experiences at this park, the worst aspect of it was the hideous use of unthemed cattle pen queue lines which, as discussed, gives rise to serious queue jumping.

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In my experience you do come across rude Spanish teenagers. Although it's just like any other theme park in the world, you may end up going on park where there's a school there, or just on a bad day. I've been to PortAventura in the summer and come across very few rude teenagers, I see more happy families more than anything else.

It just seems a matter of you (Mike) being on the park at the wrong time. It's of course not your fault and by the sounds it it there were quite a few rude people around although I've experienced similar things at Alton Towers. So it's not really a matter of being an issue with the Spanish.

I agree with AstroDan with the cattle pens. With the heat in Salou it does make queuing for an hour or so very tedious. It's a shame because PortAventura has got some good theming, the queues sadly let this down.
 
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