Just got back from a week at Portaventura with my grown up kids and had an excellent time, I'm not gonna write a trip report because I'm sure you all know more than me about the place but I thought I'd share a few thoughts of a first time visitor :
.Buy the Express Wristbands !!! If bought at the hotels they're 54 Euros for the week and represent fantastic value. This week the park was really busy with queues for the big rides often well over an hour but unlike Alton Towers the Express passes allow you to bypass the entire queue line right to the airgates !
I think the longest we queued all week for any coaster was about ten minutes for Baco one day, the ride ops give priority to pass holders every time. I know some people disapprove of the whole Fastpass system but when you can ride Shambala all day without waiting more than 5 minutes max rather than waiting in a cattle pen for an hour and a half each time it's got to be worth every penny !
.Which brings me to Shambala which was probably the main reason for dragging my family to Spain in the first place. I knew before even seeing it I was going to like it, it's a B&M hyper coaster after all but I wasn't prepared for just how brilliant it is !
I'm sure the coaster goons can reel of a list of ten coasters world wide that they consider are better than Shambala for one reason or another but I don't care, I loved it, every second of it !
Not only is it a thrilling ride it's completely re-ridable again and again !
From the view from the lift hill, to the thrill of the first drop to the almost unlimited airtime at the back it was everything I wanted it to be and more !
.However then we come to Furius Baco....
I really wanted to like it, I truly did!
The theming is brilliant, the station is great, the crazy back story, the kooky touches scattered around the area, what's not to like ?
The launch is one of the most forceful I've experienced, even better than Stealth and the dip at the end of the launch run is inspired but dear God the rest is awful !
I know I've seen it written a hundred times on different forums just how bad it is but I convinced myself that everyone who hates it is just a wimp, but now I know just why it's got the reputation it (deservedly) has.
Front inside seat isn't too bad, not exactly enjoyable but OK, anywhere else is just terrible, why it gets such long queues I do not know.
Sorry Baco, I really wanted to prove everyone wrong but you really are a nasty monkey !
Dragon Khan I didn't enjoy for the first couple of rides, it's the roughest B&M I've experienced up to now and is obviously not ageing as well as the mighty Nemesis, but once I learned how to ride it properly, bracing at the shoulders it became much more enjoyable and it's made it into my top ten.
The other coasters are how I expected them to be, Stampida varies from rough to very rough depending on where you sit and which train you ride, Tomahawk is a surprisingly fun little woodie, El Diablo is a decent mine train with too many lift hills and Tami Tami (which I only discovered on my last full day) is a instantly forgettable kiddie credit.
The log flume is a better ride that I was expecting and shows just how dated and uninteresting the Tower's flume is now although it has a higher duck count of course !
Angkor Wat I felt was a bit of a let down, don't get me wrong, the whole thing is dripping with gorgeous well thought out theming from the entrance all the way to when you leave but it all feels a bit pointless.We rode it on a blazing hot Spanish day and barely got damp, there just isn't enough to keep you interested. Apart from the odd boat on boat battle there's very little to it, you might as well appreciate the exquisite theming from the raised pathways then bugger off for another go on Shambala instead !
The park as a whole I was really impressed with and I was still discovering parts of it on the last day I hadn't seen before, there's some real attention to detail gone into the theming and much of it puts Towers and the rest of the UK parks to shame.
The late opening including one night until 0200 last week and the opportunity to ride Shambala in the dark was superb.
My daughter fell in love with the Polynesian dancers, especially the night time fire show and we ended up having to watch it every night, they really do work hard and put on a great show !
So , yes we had a great time, and although I was worried a whole week spent almost exclusively in a theme park would be too long, it turned out not to be the case at all !
Here's the English version:
