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PortAventura: General Discussion

That 'side drop' and 'side launch' information sounds very intriguing!
I'm not sure if it means it will be a tilting track similar to Escape from Gringotts except sideways instead of forwards or if it will be a normal drop except the car isn't facing forwards. Nothing has been mentioned about the ride vehicles being able to spin.
 
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It's press day for Uncharted at PA - We've been super excited for this ride to launch being fans of the franchise! Can't wait til our next visit, looks like they had a fun opening ceremony! I've been keeping an eye on social media and the level of detail in the indoor queue looks fantastic!
 
The character designs are a weird mixture of game and film versions.

From what I've seen that's the only note I have. Bit uncanny valley and hence a tad terrifying.
 
Is it just me or does the theming all look too “new”?

Considering it’s supposed to be worn, rugged and from the past, it looks like it’s all fresh from the shop.
 

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Is it just me or does the theming all look too “new”?

Considering it’s supposed to be worn, rugged and from the past, it looks like it’s all fresh from the shop.

Perhaps the idea is that it will naturally age quite quickly with the sunlight and conditions and take on a more weathered and aged look?
 
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So I've just watched a few Spanish interviews with David Garcia, PortAventura's new Director following Uncharted's press launch yesterday and I have to say as a big PortAventura fan I was really pleasantly surprised. He's come to the resort with fresh eyes and a lot of ideas he's already put in motion.

- From Monday Uncharted will open at 1pm (Park Hours 10am-11pm) for the next few weeks while they carry out any changes and improvements to the ride following its opening this weekend. This has been done as to not have to close the ride for any full days meaning 1 day guests would not be able to ride.

- Currently the height restriction for Uncharted is 1.3 metres however the resort are seeing how thrilling younger guests find the attraction with plans to lower the height restriction to 1.2 metres. The ride was designed to be a family thrill with the theme being chosen due to the IP attracting younger game players and the theme coinciding with that of PortAventura Park.

- From 10th July Uncharted and Far West attractions will open for ERT from 8am-10am for Far West Resort Hotel guests, as well as this being to promote the new ride it is also a test to see if ERT is popular at PortAventura, if so it could mean it being rolled out across other Resort Hotels and areas within the parks.

- PortAventura Pride was an overwhelming success, 40,000 guests were forecasted for the evening and the event attracted just over 100,000 guests. He said more events like this are on the way. Carnaval and Easter also proved very popular.

- Virtual Lane on Hurakan Condor is also a test which could be rolled out to other attractions within the parks if successful to help reduce queue times and improve guest satisfaction.

- The new PortAventura APP - the new app now allows guests to book restaurants, view queue times and show times and create a plan of your day around the parks.

- David goes on to mention he knows some aspects of the resort could be much better and he's not oblivious to certain flaws PortAventura is currently known for. He has created two new departments,
-- 'PortAventura Imagineering' who will work on new ride concepts and improving current ride theming and queuelines.
-- 'PortAventura Guest Experience' who will work on improving the guest journey within the parks and hotels, improving, throughputs and other guest facing areas.

There were a few other things which I can't remember off of the top of my head which I will update if I remember. His new take on the resort is brilliant to see and I hope to see the rest of his ideas come to fruition.
 
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So I've just watched a few Spanish interviews with David Garcia, PortAventura's new Director following Uncharted's press launch yesterday and I have to say as a big PortAventura fan I was really pleasantly surprised. He's come to the resort with fresh eyes and a lot of ideas he's already put in motion.

- From Monday Uncharted will open at 1pm (Park Hours 10am-11pm) for the next few weeks while they carry out any changes and improvements to the ride following its opening this weekend. This has been done as to not have to close the ride for any full days meaning 1 day guests would not be able to ride.

- Currently the height restriction for Uncharted is 1.3 metres however the resort are seeing how thrilling younger guests find the attraction with plans to lower the height restriction to 1.2 metres. The ride was designed to be a family thrill with the theme being chosen due to the IP attracting younger game players and the theme coinciding with that of PortAventura Park.

- From 10th July Uncharted and Far West attractions will open for ERT from 8am-10am for Far West Resort Hotel guests, as well as this being to promote the new ride it is also a test to see if ERT is popular at PortAventura, if so it could mean it being rolled out across other Resort Hotels and areas within the parks.

- PortAventura Pride was an overwhelming success, 40,000 guests were forecasted for the evening and the event attracted just over 100,000 guests. He said more events like this are on the way. Carnaval and Easter also proved very popular.

- Virtual Lane on Hurakan Condor is also a test which could be rolled out to other attractions within the parks if successful to help reduce queue times and improve guest satisfaction.

- The new PortAventura APP - the new app now allows guests to book restaurants, view queue times and show times and create a plan of your day around the parks.

- David goes on to mention he knows some aspects of the resort could be much better and he's not oblivious to certain flaws PortAventura is currently known for. He has created two new departments,
-- 'PortAventura Imagineering' who will work on new ride concepts and improving current ride theming and queuelines.
-- 'PortAventura Guest Experience' who will work on improving the guest journey within the parks and hotels, improving, throughputs and other guest facing areas.

There were a few other things which I can't remember off of the top of my head which I will update if I remember. His new take on the resort is brilliant to see and I hope to see the rest of his ideas come to fruition.
I'm really confused about how they can decide to change the height restriction. Isn't a height restriction determined by the design of the restraints and safety considerations alone? If it's safe for 1.2m+ people to ride it then why have they set it at 1.3m?

I can see why a park might set a minimum age restriction for certain rides, but height restrictions shouldn't be used to target the ride to any sort of age demographic imo.
 
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It’s very annoying that they have the height restriction set at 1.3 when it can be 1.2. Especially for those of us with children who are not blessed in the height department (my 10year old hasn’t even hit 1.3 yet) and are already limited in what they can ride at theme parks. Just another reason for us to put off visiting PA again for a while longer.

Even if younger guests do find it ‘too thrilling’ so what? They might be a bit upset for a short time but then they get over it/get distracted by some other rides and get on with their day, it’s really not a big deal.

Just set it to 1.2 (as long as it’s actually safe obviously) and let kids and parents decide for themselves if it’s too thrilling/scary or not. Stop infantilising guests.
 
So I've just watched a few Spanish interviews with David Garcia, PortAventura's new Director following Uncharted's press launch yesterday and I have to say as a big PortAventura fan I was really pleasantly surprised. He's come to the resort with fresh eyes and a lot of ideas he's already put in motion.

- From Monday Uncharted will open at 1pm (Park Hours 10am-11pm) for the next few weeks while they carry out any changes and improvements to the ride following its opening this weekend. This has been done as to not have to close the ride for any full days meaning 1 day guests would not be able to ride.

- Currently the height restriction for Uncharted is 1.3 metres however the resort are seeing how thrilling younger guests find the attraction with plans to lower the height restriction to 1.2 metres. The ride was designed to be a family thrill with the theme being chosen due to the IP attracting younger game players and the theme coinciding with that of PortAventura Park.

- From 10th July Uncharted and Far West attractions will open for ERT from 8am-10am for Far West Resort Hotel guests, as well as this being to promote the new ride it is also a test to see if ERT is popular at PortAventura, if so it could mean it being rolled out across other Resort Hotels and areas within the parks.

- PortAventura Pride was an overwhelming success, 40,000 guests were forecasted for the evening and the event attracted just over 100,000 guests. He said more events like this are on the way. Carnaval and Easter also proved very popular.

- Virtual Lane on Hurakan Condor is also a test which could be rolled out to other attractions within the parks if successful to help reduce queue times and improve guest satisfaction.

- The new PortAventura APP - the new app now allows guests to book restaurants, view queue times and show times and create a plan of your day around the parks.

- David goes on to mention he knows some aspects of the resort could be much better and he's not oblivious to certain flaws PortAventura is currently known for. He has created two new departments,
-- 'PortAventura Imagineering' who will work on new ride concepts and improving current ride theming and queuelines.
-- 'PortAventura Guest Experience' who will work on improving the guest journey within the parks and hotels, improving, throughputs and other guest facing areas.

There were a few other things which I can't remember off of the top of my head which I will update if I remember. His new take on the resort is brilliant to see and I hope to see the rest of his ideas come to fruition.

Great synopsis!

I think we all know the flaws that the resort has, so hopefully we can see those addressed. They’ve been present for quite some time and can really drag the experience down. In my mind, there’s a few priorities: -

- food quality
- staff service standards
- consistency of operations (contrary to prevailing opinion, I think there are pockets of great operations across the park - it just needs to be more consistent)
- hotel standards need to improve, from food availability, to check-in queues and cleanliness.


And a few from my personal wish list: -

- Demolish Baco. It’s hideous and ruins what was once a beautifully relaxing atmosphere in Mediterranea.

- Start again with Ferrariland. Its contrast with the beauty of the main park’s design shows how poor it is in comparison.

- Build another park transit system so that it’s easier to get around. Either that or at a minimum improve the operating efficiency of the trains and boats, so that they are much more frequent and don’t stop as long in each station.

- Return the shows to being more fitting for each area. Shows like Bang Bang West have strayed so far from the original Fort Frenzee, they don’t do justice to the area and have become a little ludicrous.

- Build some more food and drink outlets that fit the gap between a quick service/takeaway and full service restaurants. Places like the Saloon in Far West would be great if they operated as a full service bar, rather than just for the show.
 
I'm really confused about how they can decide to change the height restriction. Isn't a height restriction determined by the design of the restraints and safety considerations alone? If it's safe for 1.2m+ people to ride it then why have they set it at 1.3m?

I can see why a park might set a minimum age restriction for certain rides, but height restrictions shouldn't be used to target the ride to any sort of age demographic imo.

I think this happens quite often. Take Twistatron at Towers for example, I believe as a travelling ride it has a 1.3m height restriction, but at Towers it’s 1.4m.

The Walking Dead at Thorpe is a 1.4m limit but they altered the restraints when it was X so those 1m could ride, the increase was purely to restrict the ride to a certain age demographic, not for safety reasons.

Ghost train is another one - it was always 1.4m as DB but now 1.3m, however there is an argument here for not needing a restriction at all. It’s just sitting in a replica tube train with zero restraints, so the height limit is more to do with stopping younger guests than height safety.
 
Great synopsis!

I think we all know the flaws that the resort has, so hopefully we can see those addressed. They’ve been present for quite some time and can really drag the experience down. In my mind, there’s a few priorities: -

- food quality
- staff service standards
- consistency of operations (contrary to prevailing opinion, I think there are pockets of great operations across the park - it just needs to be more consistent)
- hotel standards need to improve, from food availability, to check-in queues and cleanliness.


And a few from my personal wish list: -

- Demolish Baco. It’s hideous and ruins what was once a beautifully relaxing atmosphere in Mediterranea.

- Start again with Ferrariland. Its contrast with the beauty of the main park’s design shows how poor it is in comparison.
Out of all the things they need to do they're not going demolish one of their most popular headline attractions because some enthusiasts don't like it 😂. And as much as I agree with Ferrari Land they're not going to change it either as it's only just been built
 
Have the boats even operated since Covid ?

As for Ferrari, I’ve no doubt that will be getting attention in the future. But it isn’t well situated to ever be integrated into PA
 
Have the boats even operated since Covid ?

As for Ferrari, I’ve no doubt that will be getting attention in the future. But it isn’t well situated to ever be integrated into PA
They haven't yet, I'm hoping they return for this year's summer season
 
This may have already been shared (if not - many of you have likely seen this!) But I thought this was a really great demo of the swingback side drop by Intamin which is the alleged 'World's first' element of the Uncharted ride! *sorry about all the edits - having a bad brain day!*


From: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaiUqeLjtXS/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=8d6f3a84-b76d-44e8-8c06-a414cbbb1ba2

I'm a bit late to this, but it is really interesting to see how this works. It looks like a fun element. Let's hope it's not too unreliable.
 
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