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PortAventura: General Discussion

Dar said:
How feasible is a one day trip to PA? I want to go but I don't want to faff about with staying over and paying for hotels and such
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I personally think that a one day trip would be just daft. You could probably do all the rides once each but you'd be rushing around a lot and PA really isn't that sort of park. It's a park which is much better to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace whilst taking in the shows and the unscheduled street entertainment which takes place throughout the park. The shows are an important part of PA and it would be a shame to miss them.

The closest airport is Reus and flights are limited. The only way you could do it in a day realistically would be to fly to the much larger Barcelona airport but as it's over an hour away, you're better staying the night.

Hotels in Salou can be so cheap if you just want basic. If you want nicer then you can get PA hotels on special offer for a lot of the year so staying over really shouldn't break the bank.

Sam said:
God yeah... imagine if PA had become a Merlin park... the operations would drastically improve for a start...
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Really? Have you ever visited Gardaland on peak days when fastrack is in operation? It's appalling especially on Magic Mountain where ticket holders queued up the exit and got to choose their seats meaning that people in the air gates were being told repeatedly to wait for the next ride, and the next ride and the next ride. Or Raptor which was achieving a throughput of around 600 per hour in June on two trains. Makes PA look super smooth. The parks run themselves. Merlin have very little to do with the operations side of things.
 
Dar said:
How feasible is a one day trip to PA? I want to go but I don't want to faff about with staying over and paying for hotels and such
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It's probably a two-day park, but you can get everything done in a day, plus a couple of re-rides on Shambles and Khan. Those last two are usually walk-on 15 minutes before queue close. :)
 
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It is ostensibly a 2 day park but you'll get on every ride in a day.

However, not all shows run daily so you'd probably want a couple.

Even more hotels makes me giggle.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I personally think that a one day trip would be just daft. You could probably do all the rides once each but you'd be rushing around a lot and PA really isn't that sort of park. It's a park which is much better to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace whilst taking in the shows and the unscheduled street entertainment which takes place throughout the park. The shows are an important part of PA and it would be a shame to miss them.
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Sam said:
It's probably a two-day park, but you can get everything done in a day, plus a couple of re-rides on Shambles and Khan. Those last two are usually walk-on 15 minutes before queue close. :)
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Thanks, but to be honest I'm on a tight budget and just want the creds! :p If things take my fancy while I'm there I'll know it's worth coming back for longer :)
 
its a long way to go just for a day and lot hastle and not certain you would be able to do it. 1 day is ok if you on Holiday in the area but ideally a couple of days is good.

I have been a few times over the past few years and we tend to go for 5 nights, generally spending the day around the pool/beach and then visiting the park around 5pm until midnight, which is great as the park is fantastic at night and not as hot as if visited during the day. I have always visited in Summer when everything is open and open until midnight, so haven't experienced what others have when not during Summer.

I really like the park/resort but agree how bad Stampedia and furious bacco. Hopefully the improvements to Stampedia this year will nmake it more rideable. Another decent coaster and a major dark ride would really help round out the park. Giving visiting the park a miss this year, possibly return next year depending on how Farrari land turns out.
 
It's madness to do it in a day, especially if it's busy. Two days is much more sensible.
 
Every time I've gone to PA I've done it as a day trip from Barcelona using the 1-hour direct train (from either Passeig de Gracia or Estacio de França). The combined return train ticket with park entrance is €40, so effectively the train journey is free.

I think it's easily doable in a day, but then I go only for the coasters, water rides, Hurakan Condor and Templo del Fuego if it's ever open - I don't really have any interest in shows. The time I went in November was the only time I ever got fast track as operations were truly terrible then.

I can easily understand the two day argument as it is a big park that's nice to stroll around with some incredible vistas, but I'd always much rather be staying in Barcelona and popping to PA for a day to get the coaster fix as it's so easy to do and open long enough to get everything done in one day.
 
If you walk fast and just want credits it's doable in a day, but on a quiet day. You would have no hope during high season. If you ever stayed there though for a night or two there are a handful of hotels in Salou that are around a 20-30 minute walk away from the theme park entrance (or 10 minutes by taxi, but a lot of them are rip offs and do the usual thing of going a long way around).

I've visited and stayed in Salou for the past few years and walked to the park for day/afternoon trips and it's a simple enough park to get to by foot if you want to stay in a cheaper hotel (than the PA resort ones).
 
To be honest I'd disagree that it's not possible to do PortAventura's coasters in one day during high season as this is the time they keep the park open until midnight or later.

Seriously though, the hotels in Salou are so, so cheap, it's much better to spend the night there particularly since most are only a 20 minute walk or less.
 
I should have clarified, I meant if you just had a day trip as in go to the park in the morning and be out of there by teatime. :) If you stayed there till park close then yeah you would be able to get it all done.
 
@Dar myself and @James would recommend H1O Salauris Palace, it also has great views of the Resort ;)

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More hotels? How ridiculous.

How on earth do they even get the backing and funding here? "Yes our hotels don't run at full capacity... but hey, why not?".
 
I'd recommend staying in Barcelona or Tarragona.

Personally I cannot stand Salou - it's very commercialised and feels quite cheap.
 
If you're on a budget I'd suggest waiting until the very end of the season. The past couple of years I've visited the last week in November. Flights are stupidly cheap, the resort hotels have deals on, all the creds are open and the park is decorated for Christmas. The water rides are mostly closed but if you only care about coasters then this is definitely your best bet.

Would you hire a car?
 
I'm not on budget per say, it's more laziness and just wanting to the creds out of the way so I can join in on the Baco hate!

I would hire a car if I needed to, especially if it made it easier to get there!
 
If you're planning on a day trip, a car is essential. And also makes it totally doable in my opinion, especially if you only care about creds and will happily miss everything else including rerides.

There's always their Express Pass system too if things are looking a bit busy.
 
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The only water rides closed in the Winter Season are Silver River Flume and Tutuki Splash. Grand Canyon Rapids, Angkor and Magic Fish remain open. :)
 
20th Anniversary update

Preparations are underway in Mediterranea as PortAventura Park begins to receive its 20th Anniversary decorations, and they're looking great! :D

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That looks great, high quality temporary theming, especially the pop-out balloons. Let's hope they continue it throughout the park.
 
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