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PortAventura: General Discussion

My first visit to PortAventura was in 2003 when it was still under Universal management. Don’t get too excited. Staggered openings were rife, operation and opening times of the Halloween attractions all seemed pretty confused, the water park was filthy (it used to open in October in those days), the rides ran on minimal staff and Express passes were filling entire trains.

These issues have got worse in the years since Universal, but sadly they were always there.
 
HectorLucas said:
They are already removing the logo from the main gateway to make space for the "Universal Studios Port Aventura" logo 😃


From: https://x.com/deparqueaparque/status/1722930112104960435?s=20

Official note introducing Frederic Boulva coming from Disneyland París:


From: https://x.com/deparqueaparque/status/1724057612130390148?s=20
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I wouldn't look too much into this, the bridge is just having it's annual clean as are the concrete supports underneath which people unfortunately write on. With this area being outside of the gated zone it gets a lot more hammering from passers by.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
My first visit to PortAventura was in 2003 when it was still under Universal management. Don’t get too excited. Staggered openings were rife, operation and opening times of the Halloween attractions all seemed pretty confused, the water park was filthy (it used to open in October in those days), the rides ran on minimal staff and Express passes were filling entire trains.

These issues have got worse in the years since Universal, but sadly they were always there.
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That was a very long time ago tbf. Big difference in the Universal parks pre and post Harry Potter.
 
There has been news lately guys and they're looking juicy :smiley:

first off, as we know this past weeks/months Universal has been registering their patents in Spain, they already have their patents registered in many european countries (including UK) so that doesn't have to mean anything... However the creative director of Velocicoaster tweeted this yesterday, in response to a spanish Tweeter that gathers the various rumors of the buyout (He deleted the tweet today but I grabbed a screenshot)

thumbnail_image0 (1).jpg

Secondly, there are reports that Page Thompson, President of new ventures at Universal Destinations & Experiences, has showd up today at the park along with David García y Fernando Aldeco.

The stars are aligning... 🌍
 
I’ve just arrived in Salou to check out the Carnival Event at PortAventura World which started today (I’ll be on park from tomorrow)

Does anyone know whether Shambhala closes in high winds (or indeed if B&M Hypers in general close for wind) as it’s forecast to be a windy weekend!
 
It's less susceptible to high winds than the likes of PMBO but if it's windy enough it will close. I have no idea what the cut off speed might be, I once watched Silver Star staff waiting for a wind speed indicator in the cabin to change from red to orange so they could send the next train out, something tells me PA might not take quite the same approach
 
John said:
It's less susceptible to high winds than the likes of PMBO but if it's windy enough it will close. I have no idea what the cut off speed might be, I once watched Silver Star staff waiting for a wind speed indicator in the cabin to change from red to orange so they could send the next train out, something tells me PA might not take quite the same approach
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Shambhala has been intermittent through the day but DK is doing well. Hurakan Condor isn’t opening.

In an extremely surprising turn of events though, I’m currently in line to finally experience Templo Del Fuego, something I did not expect to be open for the event
 
Templo del fuego is a real gem of portaventura after backdraft as universal studios Japan closed its last of its type in the world. Shame its open so infrequently
 
pjanvil said:
Templo del fuego is a real gem of portaventura after backdraft as universal studios Japan closed its last of its type in the world. Shame its open so infrequently
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I’ve only ever seen it closed for technical difficulties or in use for the Halloween event as part of a maze. I was really impressed with the experience !

Also, I was riding Dragon Khan today and can’t help but think it would be a bizarre decision to retheme it to Velocicoaster. Even if Universal bought out the park tomorrow, the ride is on its last legs, and when it’s at the point of retracking they would be better off demolishing and starting from scratch so they can fit in more of a “Jurassic Park” area altogether
 
tayspru said:
Also, I was riding Dragon Khan today and can’t help but think it would be a bizarre decision to retheme it to Velocicoaster. Even if Universal bought out the park tomorrow, the ride is on its last legs, and when it’s at the point of retracking they would be better off demolishing and starting from scratch so they can fit in more of a “Jurassic Park” area altogether
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Oh god I hope not…

If Universal is planning to throw bulldozers and redo the whole park I would prefer they don’t come. We spanish PA fans always thought it would be better to build a third park in the resort based on Universal IPs. In fact that was the plan back in the early 2000s but Uni left before that.

They can always throw some IP based rides here and there on the main park (Jurassic Park in Polynesia, Kung Fu Panda in China, the Mummy and Puss in Boots in México…) but I would prefer that the main structure of the park is respected. I wouldn’t change beautiful and exotic areas like China, Polynesia or Mexico for any IP in the world. PA is more than that. I would always find way more value and meaning on ancient civilisations and cultures than let’s say the goddamn minions.
 
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I was just going off the apparent patent for new B&M trains that was listed under Velocicoaster. As for a retheme, unfortunately I can see ancient China being much higher on the theoretical list to get the chop for a few reasons -

1 - It’s a huge sprawling area that could divided up

2 - entertainments in that area has leaned on actors in yellow face for quite a while, not ideal

3 - Universal being an American company may not want to continue to represent “commie” China

4 - Shambhala could be easily rethemed into something relating to the Indominus Rex, and the land between it and Angkor used for a JP dark ride. You’d then have the whole JP focused around the back end of the park leaving the rest of China for a second new area

Keeping Dragon Khan seems unlikely in any scenario though
 
HectorLucas said:
That doesn’t make much sense.

Universal is releasing this year a movie based in “commie” China, Kung Fu Panda 4.
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I’ll bring you back to the previous yellow face comment. Compared to other lands in the park China is arguably the easiest to let go of, followed by Polynesia
 
I sincerely hope we don’t see IPs shoehorned into the authentic environments of the original park. Sesame Street is already a significant interruption to the park’s flow and is totally incongruous at its interface with Polynesia.

If Universal do buy you’d hope they pick up where they left off in the early 2000s, with the seamless integration of new attractions as we saw with Sea Odyseey, Templo del Fuego, Stampida etc.
 
Seems a developing story here. Hope all will be ok.

Source the sun baring in mind they have the wrong coaster pictured

Story also on sky news and other outlets

www.thesun.co.uk

Fourteen injured & two critical after tree falls onto rollercoaster in storm

FOURTEEN people are injured and two are in a critical condition after a tree fell on the “Tomahawk” rollercoaster at a theme park in Spain. A strong windstorm with gusts of up to 40 mil…
www.thesun.co.uk www.thesun.co.uk
 
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Connor98 said:
Another article here via Twitter (Spanish), shows a photo of an area taped off. Seems luck nobody was seriously injured, and from what I’ve read the accident was caused by a fallen tree or branch on the track.

EDIT- the article mentions “two critical”, but I haven’t seen mention of this elsewhere so maybe it’s a translation error.


From: https://x.com/lavanguardia/status/1756977695018352957?s=46
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Other outlets also mention two critical.
 
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