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PortAventura: General Discussion

It's interesting how we all decry Baco as dreadful (it was much better back in the day, as I recall), yet the park is dropping a pretty decent chunk of money on this new thing with Intamin and has been back to them for Red Force and other bits too.
 
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It's interesting how we all decry Baco as dreadful (it was much better back in the day, as I recall), yet the park is dropping a pretty decent chunk of money on this new thing with Intamin and has been back to them for Red Force and other bits too.

Parks still buy Vekomas even after the reputation SLCs have.

And Zamperla coasters. Even though they're all mostly garbage.

All manufacturers make duds. Intamin have a fair few bad types but those are limited in number (or in the cases of Baco and Tornado, fortunately just the 1).
 
That's very true, I was thinking as much about how much of a pain Intamin rides are to maintain and the problems that dog them - essentially the stuff that made Cedar Fair and Merlin give up dealing with them.
 
Well it’s my last day at PortAventura.
It’s a wonderful park in terms of overall quality, immersion and theming.
Furius Baco and Stampida are unbearable near the back.
Dragon Khan I was most excited for as a Wardley legend, while intense and well paced, it’s clearly showing it’s age now.
Shambhala, was incredible. The only B&M hyper I’ve experienced so far, how does it compare to others?
Red Force was also fantastic and forceful for an LSM.
Fast Pass is essential and very well priced compared to Merlin fast tracks.
Queue jumping is endemic at this park and there are lots of ignorant kids running around the queues. I thought we’d picked a quiet time to come, but note sure when would be best for here?
Hey sir,

I am off to the park Mon-Weds next week. A couple of concerning comments you made! I hope the kids are at school but it sounds like we will have to deal with some abhorrent people. I'll let you know how we get on.

Would you 100% recommend purchasing their express pass for all three days then? And is there staggered opening at this time of year? Or just 10-19 as it says on the website?

It is our first time to the park so any tips would be hugely appreciated.
 
Hey sir,

I am off to the park Mon-Weds next week. A couple of concerning comments you made! I hope the kids are at school but it sounds like we will have to deal with some abhorrent people. I'll let you know how we get on.

Would you 100% recommend purchasing their express pass for all three days then? And is there staggered opening at this time of year? Or just 10-19 as it says on the website?

It is our first time to the park so any tips would be hugely appreciated.

I’ve been here Tues-Fri this week. Tues was absolutely dead, weds and thurs were pretty busy and today its rammed. I would say, play it by ear when u get here. I haven’t bought express all week and still done absolutely everything multiple times. U just need a strategy.
At opening don’t even go near Baco, go straight for Dragon Khan at the back of the park as that also opens at 10. Soon as u get off that, head to shambhala (opens 10:30) as fast as u can and u should have both done by 10:45. Then i’d go straight to Hurakan Condor (opens at 11) and after do ‘El Diablo’ which is close by. After that it’ll be busy everywhere so just do as u see fit. The water rides have low queue’s all day which is odd considering how hot it is here!
Finally if u love Shambahla as much as I do, head back to it at the end of the day. In the last hour u should get at least 2 goes on it.
Hope that helps a bit.
 
Amazing re
I’ve been here Tues-Fri this week. Tues was absolutely dead, weds and thurs were pretty busy and today its rammed. I would say, play it by ear when u get here. I haven’t bought express all week and still done absolutely everything multiple times. U just need a strategy.
At opening don’t even go near Baco, go straight for Dragon Khan at the back of the park as that also opens at 10. Soon as u get off that, head to shambhala (opens 10:30) as fast as u can and u should have both done by 10:45. Then i’d go straight to Hurakan Condor (opens at 11) and after do ‘El Diablo’ which is close by. After that it’ll be busy everywhere so just do as u see fit. The water rides have low queue’s all day which is odd considering how hot it is here!
Finally if u love Shambahla as much as I do, head back to it at the end of the day. In the last hour u should get at least 2 goes on it.
Hope that helps a bit.
Amazing, really useful thanks! Did all of the rides in the main park close at 18:00? I've heard rumours that they sometimes stay open later, but can't find this on the website anywhere.
 
Amazing re

Amazing, really useful thanks! Did all of the rides in the main park close at 18:00? I've heard rumours that they sometimes stay open later, but can't find this on the website anywhere.
They close the queue at 6 o clock dead. I didn’t see a single one open even a minute later. But it’s good like Merlin parks, as long as u r in the queue by 17:59 u will get a ride. Dunno if u have done a Walibi park b4 but they r infuriating. They say 6pm close and then shut the queue at like 17:15 when it’s on a 30 min queue 😡.
 
They close the queue at 6 o clock dead. I didn’t see a single one open even a minute later. But it’s good like Merlin parks, as long as u r in the queue by 17:59 u will get a ride. Dunno if u have done a Walibi park b4 but they r infuriating. They say 6pm close and then shut the queue at like 17:15 when it’s on a 30 min queue 😡.
Yeah I did Walibi Holland twice last year and was always back at the car by 17:20! Thanks so much for your help.

I’ll report back once I’m home. Got a cheeky two days in Madrid after also so pretty excited!
 
Yeah I did Walibi Holland twice last year and was always back at the car by 17:20! Thanks so much for your help.

I’ll report back once I’m home. Got a cheeky two days in Madrid after also so pretty excited!

Parque Warner Madrid is even better than PortAventura.
 
@Tommy85 are they running multiple trains on the busier days ?

Last time I was there Dragon Khan was an hour or more with one train.
 
We went in late September in the days immediately before the Halloween event. We felt very lucky as the park was very quiet and we also got to see the Halloween decorations. It did close very early though (6pm I think) so swings and roundabouts.
It’s been 6pm closes here all week. Saturday and Sunday were 8 and 7pm closes
Hey sir,

I am off to the park Mon-Weds next week. A couple of concerning comments you made! I hope the kids are at school but it sounds like we will have to deal with some abhorrent people. I'll let you know how we get on.

Would you 100% recommend purchasing their express pass for all three days then? And is there staggered opening at this time of year? Or just 10-19 as it says on the website?

It is our first time to the park so any tips would be hugely appreciated.
I’ve been here Tues-Fri this week. Tues was absolutely dead, weds and thurs were pretty busy and today its rammed. I would say, play it by ear when u get here. I haven’t bought express all week and still done absolutely everything multiple times. U just need a strategy.
At opening don’t even go near Baco, go straight for Dragon Khan at the back of the park as that also opens at 10. Soon as u get off that, head to shambhala (opens 10:30) as fast as u can and u should have both done by 10:45. Then i’d go straight to Hurakan Condor (opens at 11) and after do ‘El Diablo’ which is close by. After that it’ll be busy everywhere so just do as u see fit. The water rides have low queue’s all day which is odd considering how hot it is here!
Finally if u love Shambahla as much as I do, head back to it at the end of the day. In the last hour u should get at least 2 goes on it.
Hope that helps a bit.
We went on Tuesday, as it was forecast to be a cooler, overcast day (even thought it got super hot in the afternoon).
And I wouldn’t call it dead.
The queue jumping and kids really are a bone of contention for me.
Unlike Merlin parks, which handle queues effectively and often quickly and they tend to die off in the afternoon, I just didn’t find that with Port Aventura.
Unless you’re there as the rides open, queues form in a moment. And with the pure switch back cattle pens, provide a perfect environment for queue jumping kids who just turn their backs on admonishments.
Yesterday I went in to the park alone and got an unlimited fast pass and rode Shambhala to my hearts content. It really is a butter airtime machine.
 
@Tommy85 are they running multiple trains on the busier days ?

Last time I was there Dragon Khan was an hour or more with one train.
When I was there, Baco, Shammy B and Dragon Khan were all on 2 trains for all days. Red Force also on 2 on the day I did it. On the tuesday Stampida was on 4 trains (2 each side) but then for the rest of the days it went down to 2 trains. It’s still a capacity monster tho as it’s 48 people at a time. Hurakan Condor had a monster queue on all days due to the fact they were only running 2/3 of the towers. So maybe do that early if you can.

It’s been 6pm closes here all week. Saturday and Sunday were 8 and 7pm closes


We went on Tuesday, as it was forecast to be a cooler, overcast day (even thought it got super hot in the afternoon).
And I wouldn’t call it dead.
The queue jumping and kids really are a bone of contention for me.
Unlike Merlin parks, which handle queues effectively and often quickly and they tend to die off in the afternoon, I just didn’t find that with Port Aventura.
Unless you’re there as the rides open, queues form in a moment. And with the pure switch back cattle pens, provide a perfect environment for queue jumping kids who just turn their backs on admonishments.
Yesterday I went in to the park alone and got an unlimited fast pass and rode Shambhala to my hearts content. It really is a butter airtime machine.
Dead for Port Aventura standards 🤣 The queue jumping is absolutely infuriating I agree. Had read about it b4 I came but it’s way worse than I thought it’d be. Every queue line makes it so easy for them to do as well like u say 😡
Shambhala is absolutely incredible, your bum is never in the seat! Haha
 
How do the fast line queues manage? Are they practically walk on or do you still end up waiting 20 minutes etc?

Think I might bite the bullet and pay for the best ones.
 
They’re varied, sometimes you can walk straight on, whilst on really busy days the fastrack queues for some rides can be pretty long.
 
How do the fast line queues manage? Are they practically walk on or do you still end up waiting 20 minutes etc?

Think I might bite the bullet and pay for the best ones.
Most of the fast pass lines were walk on this past week but then it wasn’t overly busy. I imagine on busy days there will still be a wait. But they do massively favour the fast pass lane. To the point of sometimes filling entire trains with them. What I would say is that if u r there for multiple days just get to different rides early each day and u won’t need fast pass (unless u want re-rides of course). One morning do Khan and Shambhala, next morning do Baco and Stampida etc. Also don’t miss street mission, it’s a fantastic dark ride.
 
Most of the fast pass lines were walk on this past week but then it wasn’t overly busy. I imagine on busy days there will still be a wait. But they do massively favour the fast pass lane. To the point of sometimes filling entire trains with them. What I would say is that if u r there for multiple days just get to different rides early each day and u won’t need fast pass (unless u want re-rides of course). One morning do Khan and Shambhala, next morning do Baco and Stampida etc. Also don’t miss street mission, it’s a fantastic dark ride.

We will only be visiting two days and thats to do both parks.

Planning on 1.5 days in main park and half day Ferrari which is what most people have said is enough.

I will probably fork out for fast track begrudgingly. I'm not a fan on fastrack at all but given how bad this park is at operations I feel like it's money I'm going to have to spend.
 
How do the fast line queues manage? Are they practically walk on or do you still end up waiting 20 minutes etc?

Think I might bite the bullet and pay for the best ones.
When I used them, I walked on every time. But as said above by others, that wasn't a busy time for the park (I'd hate to see it busy, it would be unbearable).
But an unlimited fast pass is €60 per person, per day. I think it's a bargain compared to Merlin's £110 per person/day at Alton Towers equivalent. An extra €5 gets one front row ride on Shambhala, Dragon Khan and Furius Baco (essential as any other row is torturous).
 
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