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PortAventura 10/06 - 14/06 TR

Sazzle

TS Administrator
Favourite Ride
Steel Vengeance
Summary of my five day trip just gone, with Russell, Rob, Dave L, Dave W & Lottie.

I last visited PA in August 2009 and found it to be unbearable - graffiti everywhere, abhorrent cattlepen queuelines, rough rides and a general feeling that the park was run down. I'd not had any plans to return quite so soon, but a cheap deal and the lure of Shambhala proved too much to resist!

Ryanair did a fairly cheap flight from Stansted to Reus, and we chose Hotel Roulette for our accommodation (basically you book without knowing which Resort Hotel you are staying in until a day or two before departure). WE STRUCK GOLD - literally! We were so very lucky to get Hotel Gold River for our stay, and couldn't really find fault with it. The pool area was beautiful, the rooms were spacious and well equipped, the breakfast was fabulous and the general atmosphere was top notch.

It's worth bearing in mind that the park doesn't seem to fully open until about 12pm, with staggered opening of rides and attractions between 10am - 1pm. Our first ride was the log flume, and we waited in what we thought was going to be a fairly short queue... wrong. The cattlepen was hideously hot and loud, and the ride broke down a number of times (including with us on it!). I advised the guys that the rest of the park is very similar in queue style and that we should expect the same experience throughout the holiday.

No one was keen on this.

We purchased Express Pass Gold wristbands which were very very reasonably priced for Hotel guests - 49E for unlimited Express access to all major rides including Baco, Shambhala and Khan for the entire duration of your stay, and for us this was equivalent to about 10E per day (£8.50?). I actually think I'd have died without this!!! The queue for Shambhala was consistently upwards of an hour (often hitting and staying at 1h30), Khan 1h+ and Baco 1h+ every day - all in diabolical cattlepens. The park was RAMMED with school children on trips! The only major ride not to be included was Hurakan Condor, but presumably this is due to hideous throughputs as there is no Express access at all.

To cut a long story short, we whizzed around the park over the 5 days without any problems at all, save for a few breakdowns (Baco is hilariously poor for reliability). With the extra time we saved, there was opportunity for the two Daves to head to Barcelona, Russell and Rob to try the waterpark, and Lottie and I to laze by the pool at Gold River with a few alcoholic beverages (gotta love European free-pour) - a PROPER holiday!

I'm happy to report we managed to ride Shambhala at least 15 times each, in various different seats. It is an absolutely FANTASTIC creation and I strongly urge anyone in a position to go.. GO! There is an incredible amount of floaty airtime with a few pops of ejector, and I came off laughing and smiling every single time because it's just *so* much fun! I won't babble on about it too much, but I really hope the UK manages to bag one of these amazing machines.

The park is generally in a much better condition and I was very pleased to see the marked efforts with upkeep - the majority of park-wide graffiti had been removed, painting and spruce-ups had clearly taken place on all attractions and buildings, and there was just a general buzz about the place that had previously been lacking. My only irritation was the still present Chewing Gum Tunnel on Tutuki Splash which was disgusting back in 2009 and is still disgusting in 2013. Urgh!

Dragon Khan felt more pleasant than in 2009 and although I had an intensity headache from the second half (post-MCBR), I genuinely enjoyed the ride. Stampida was still epic fail for me in terms of ABSOLUTE PAIN on both the red and blue sides, but everyone else thought it was 'fine' - pfft. Furius Baco was still Furius Back Pain, and I'm afraid my conclusion is still that of it needing to be torn down. Hideous contraption.

ANYWAY. Fairly short 'n' sweet from me! When I do return to PA in the future, there's no doubt in my mind that I will be staying in Gold River and purchasing the Express Pass Gold to make my holiday that little bit more awesome :).
 
Great report :)

How much did it cost? I'm looking at doing a holiday abroad next year, and would be quite into do Porta Ventura :)
 
Nice report, and glad you had a good time!

Myself and a group of friends have booked 7 days at PortAventura, staying in the Gold River hotel for around £600 each - so it better be a good week! ;)

We're definitely considering the Gold Express Pass for 49E, as I have no desire to stand in boiling hot queues for hours on end. However, I have discovered since booking that the park is open 10am - midnight every day we're there, so that's a bonus!

Also, it's my first time at PortAventura so I have no idea what to expect. I shall find out this Friday though! :)
 
AshleeKel said:
Great report :)

How much did it cost? I'm looking at doing a holiday abroad next year, and would be quite into do Porta Ventura :)

See below... this might hurt MiserableMonkey a little :p

MiserableMonkey said:
Nice report, and glad you had a good time!

Myself and a group of friends have booked 7 days at PortAventura, staying in the Gold River hotel for around £600 each - so it better be a good week! ;)

We're definitely considering the Gold Express Pass for 49E, as I have no desire to stand in boiling hot queues for hours on end. However, I have discovered since booking that the park is open 10am - midnight every day we're there, so that's a bonus!

Also, it's my first time at PortAventura so I have no idea what to expect. I shall find out this Friday though! :)

Glad to hear you've booked Gold River - it is a beautiful hotel and well worth your money! I would absolutely recommend the Express pass for 49E as it saves you a lot of hassle and discomfort in the massive queues! As I said just remember the park is staggered opening and so there's no real rush to get into the park... though try breakfast for 9.15am as we did, which missed the huge queues at the buffet restaurant.

I hate to tell you that by doing Hotel Roulette, we booked 2 rooms for 3 people each, and only paid 198E for five days and four nights :p!!
 
We didn't do Hotel Roulette - 3 nights at Hotel Portaventura is £132pp inc tickets - this is 50% off.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
I really like the look and reports about this park, but its going have to be next year before I go
 
Nice TR Saz :)

I'll agree with pretty much everything you said, except about DK, I loved it. But then, Baco has totally redefined my standards of pain :p
 
As much as I look forward to going, it still seems that beyond Shambhala, and Khan to a degree there's nothing else in the park that seems to be grabbing headlines, at least from a rides base.

Baco and Stampida, whilst possibly improved, still sound dire. As do the queues, which you obviously avoided.

It's nice to read good hotel reports, although due to their seasonal operation, it's quite usual for 3/4 of the hotels, including Gold River, to be shut - which is a shame since reviews of Gold River are strong.

The jury is out in October.

For those who like PA, I highly recommend Parque Warner. It's like PA with far, far better rides!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
So, I went to PortAventura with relatively low expectations. I expected Shambhala to be good but that's about it. I was expecting aged run down theming, general poor upkeep and a park that seemed dirty with graffiti etc. Boy how wrong was I! PortAventura surpassed my expectations like no other park ever has.

As Saz has said, we stayed in Hotel Gold River. We were very lucky to get this hotel and I'm so glad that we did. Our rooms were in the main City Hall building. The rooms were spacious, comfortable and had everything you could want. The theming in rooms wasn't as good as it is at EP, but that didn't really matter. The rest of the hotel was lovely, with brilliantly themed out buildings making up the rest of this wild west town. Lucy's Mansion is situated at the top of the hill and this is a stunning building. The pool area is fantastic and a great place to relax.

Onto the park, well in terms of the park itself, it is one of the most immersive theme parks I have been to and puts everything in the UK to shame. All of the themed areas feel very separate yet they link together well. Everything just works. The Far West is a huge area with many themed buildings and other attractions. Polynesia is such a refreshing area when the weather is burning hot, it provides so much tranquil shade. All in all the areas of the park allowed to you escape, something I see as vital in the theme park experience.

Now the rides. As expected, Shambhala is brilliant. It certainly goes straight into my top 10 coasters although I am not entirely sure where yet. The first drop with the head chopper at the bottom is awesome, and the whole ride is filled with lots of lovely airtime. It doesn't really matter where you sit on the train either. The back row is best for the first drop, whereas you get better airtime in other place towards the front. I also hadn't realised the extent of the theming in the area and paths around Shambhala, this really impressed me. It's not the best B&M Mega Coaster I've been on, Apollo's Chariot still holds that due to a more varied ride, however it's damn good.

Dragon Khan; after going on Kumba I knew roughly what to expect and this beast did not disappoint. Long, intense, fun; a top class coaster and an example of B&M at their best for me. I absolutely love the first sequence of elements; drop, loop, dive loop and zero-g. The zero-g roll in particular is amazing, it really whips you through it. There have been comments that Khan is rough, however I certainly did not experience this. It does get a little shaky towards the end but for a coaster that's almost 20 years old this should probably be expected. I have had far more uncomfortable rides on both Nemesis and The Smiler at Alton Towers. Khan is a beast, probably not quite as good and intense as Kumba but right up there.

Now I can't not mention Furious Baco. All I've heard about this ride that it's awful, painful and needs ripping down. I cannot deny that it is a very poor coaster. It is very very shaky and the restraints can get uncomfortably tight during the ride. However, I did not find it as bad as made out to be. I did not come off it in any pain at all and managed several rides on it with my arms fully up in the air all the way around. The time I did the inside right seat on the second row was actually quite good fun as it was nowhere near as rough as some other seats. The launch is enjoyable, as is the inversion if you can keep you restraint loose. It's not good, but I've definitely been on worse.

As for the other rides in the park, Hurakan Condor is scary as hell with the drop being better on stand-up floorless than it is on sit down. El Diablo is hilariously awful but this actually makes it a really fun ride. Stampida is a strange one; the red side is really good fun and would be in my top 5 wooides I'd imagine, the blue side however is horrifically rough and uncomfortable. All other the water rides are good fun, especially the rapids. It's a shame about the chewing gum tunnel on Tutuki Splash, this is the only ride on park that I feel could do with some upkeep.

Another thing I was very impressed with was Temple Del Fuego. Wow is a good word to describe it. It's really well done and mightily impressive. I also really enjoyed the Bang Bang West show, it was very funny and had some nice little stunts in it.

Off park, myself and Russell went to try the newly extended waterpark one of the days. Once again I was impressed. It had some fun slides, some nice theming and the lazy river thing was amusing to say the least! We also spent quite a lot of time off park around the hotel pool. This was thoroughly enjoyable and helped make the whole stay much more relaxing. It meant that despite having pretty much 5 full days there, we did not get bored. I could quite happily have stayed for a further 2 days.

I think that's everything really. I suppose the major downside to the park is the horrific cattle pen queue lines, I'm so glad we bought the Unlimited Express tickets as I'm not sure I'd have coped standing in those queues. €49 for 5 days unlimited access to all the major rides bar Condor is fantastic value for money.

So yes, overall PA is a brilliant park and probably enters my top 5 or 6 theme parks that I've been to.

:)
 
The area theming is amazing. Not sure why you expected it to be in a state as for me that is the parks best asset.

It just needs more GOOD rides.

Glad you enjoyed it.

:)

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
I just thought it might be a bit like Chessie, theming that you could tell used to be really good but has not been maintained well. Just the impression I got, not overly certain why!

Another world class coaster and the park would feel almost complete. Maybe one thrill flat as well.

:)
 
I know what you mean, Rob. I had been lead to believe that the park was a crud hole, but when I went in April it blew my mind. It's easily up there with the top German parks for me.
OK, so it only has two coasters I would return for, but they are seriously good coasters! :p

Incidently, I heard from a certain well known PA fanboy, who was there at the same time as us, that the area of wasteland beside Shambhala's lift hill is reserved for some kind of large dark ride. Something the park really needs.
 
Sazzle said:
AshleeKel said:
Great report :)

How much did it cost? I'm looking at doing a holiday abroad next year, and would be quite into do Porta Ventura :)

See below... this might hurt MiserableMonkey a little :p

It did hurt ;)

Sazzle said:
MiserableMonkey said:
Nice report, and glad you had a good time!

Myself and a group of friends have booked 7 days at PortAventura, staying in the Gold River hotel for around £600 each - so it better be a good week! ;)

We're definitely considering the Gold Express Pass for 49E, as I have no desire to stand in boiling hot queues for hours on end. However, I have discovered since booking that the park is open 10am - midnight every day we're there, so that's a bonus!

Also, it's my first time at PortAventura so I have no idea what to expect. I shall find out this Friday though! :)

Glad to hear you've booked Gold River - it is a beautiful hotel and well worth your money! I would absolutely recommend the Express pass for 49E as it saves you a lot of hassle and discomfort in the massive queues! As I said just remember the park is staggered opening and so there's no real rush to get into the park... though try breakfast for 9.15am as we did, which missed the huge queues at the buffet restaurant.

I hate to tell you that by doing Hotel Roulette, we booked 2 rooms for 3 people each, and only paid 198E for five days and four nights :p!!

Might look at doing this Hotel Roulette thingy if we go back again! Thanks for the advice regarding breakfast, will definitely make sure we're down there before the crowds :)
 
Yes, a big dark ride is also something the park really could do with. We came to that conclusion when we were there. Sea Odyssey has some decent theming but it is a very poor ride really.

:)
 
Sea Odyssey has some good ride hardwear as well as good theming, it's just the film that sucks.
 
PortAventura also could do with theming their rides as well as they theme their areas.

I recall the first time I went on Dragon Khan. I was in a lovely themed piazza outside the ride but upon entering the queueline, it's almost like you leave the theme area behind and enter some kind of half-arsed cattle pen effort. If you had area-quality theming on Dragon Khan's queue and station, and some improved landscaping, the park would be far better for it. Add in a couple of dark rides, and it really would be better. It shocks me there isn't a child-oriented dark ride...!

It's just a pity that the throughputs and queuelines (which you didn't experience since you bought Fastrack), often considered a Nemesis at any theme park, bring PA down.

I recall a 3 hour queue for Sea Oddysey, a 3 hour queue for Baco and others at 2hours + when I went in August 2009.
 
AstroDan said:
I recall a 3 hour queue for Sea Oddysey, a 3 hour queue for Baco and others at 2hours + when I went in August 2009.
3 hours for Odyssey and Baco?! :eek: That's unbelievable!
 
Sea Odyssey used to be amazing! It had a voiced film with a story, and a great little preshow! The safety film still refers to the old ride with the 'Seafari' submarines and the talking dolphin. It was starting to look dated but the thing they replaced it with is hideous. At least it wasn't the 'Atlantis' film though.

And I thought this about the park the first time I went - the themeing in the areas is amazing but as soon as you start queueing for a ride it's totally lost. The rides have no story or reason to be there.

The mini-site for Hurakan Condor had a little backstory - that you were being hurled to earth as a sacrifice for a god. It's a massive shame in my opinion that this is all just forgotten about now :(
 
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