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PortAventura: General Discussion

Is Fastrack limited at PortAventura?

I am genuinely not sure it is... I get the impression that at least half the hotel guests buy it.
 
AstroDan said:
Is Fastrack limited at PortAventura?

I am genuinely not sure it is... I get the impression that at least half the hotel guests buy it.
Click to expand...

I've walked into the Park at lunch time before and the Express Pass kiosks have been closed. So from that I'd take it they have a maximum amount of passes per day.
 
The Fastrack situation at PortAventura is the worst I've seen at any park, except perhaps for Thorpe during its late-noughties nadir. Seeing Shambhala running one train and alternating between a train's worth from Fastrack and a train's worth from main made me want to break down in despair. Which is sad as the ride is effing fantastic As far as I see it, you can divide parks into four broad categories with regards to Fastrack and operations:

Great operations, no paid Fastrack

This is obviously the most desirable situation, but it's very rare. Off the top of my head, I can only think of the Disney parks (that have a Fastrack system but it's open to all guests for free and is a crowd distribution rather than a moneymaking tool), EP and maybe a few of the smaller parks with decent operations as well (Plopsa? Tripsdrill? Niglo?)

Fastrack, but great operations

The most obvious example of this is Merlin at their best, but Alton Towers nearly all the time. The operations at Towers are nearly always pretty on it, and Fastrack is kept reasonably restricted, so it doesn't affect guest experience too much. Universal and Phantasialand are usually also a good example of this.

Poor operations but no Fastrack

Efteling springs to mind. Usually their ops are pretty poor on the coasters (as anyone who has queued for Joris en de Interminable Wait knows, but at least they don't have any sort of Fastrack service to exacerbate the situation. Drayton Manor is another good example.

Poor operations and Fastrack

Chuck in a low number of rides to that and you've got the Holy Trinity of queue-jump misery. PortAventura and Flamingoland spring to mind here, but only the former seem to sell an enormous amount of Fastrack at a bargain-basement price. At least at Mingoland, it's not particularly well-used, and it's of the 'virtual-Q' type. The Pleasure Beach also falls into this category, but at least they have a ton of rides to soak up the guests.

Most parks fall somewhere between those categories. Obviously quality of operations is a scale, and there are better and worse types of Fastrack, and different allocation rates. PA need to seriously address this issue though if they want to be up there with the top-tier European parks, where they really should be in theory.
 
New for 2015: 5* Hotel Mansión De Lucy

Professional photos of PortAventura's latest hotel have been released in collaboration between the Resort and Trip Advisor for the hotels official page. The 5* Hotel Mansión De Lucy features 31 rooms and 2 suites in a American 19th century-style mansion. PortAventura's 5th Resort hotel will open on April 18th, a few weeks after PortAventura Park.

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Lobby
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Deluxe Mansion De Lucy room
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Bathrooms
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Pool area with gardens.
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Restaurant 'Lucy's Cuisine'

Hotel Mansion De Lucy includes:
  • 31 Deluxe rooms
  • 2 suites
  • Restaurant 'Lucy's Cuisine'
  • Lobby Bar Mansion De Lucy
  • Spa
  • Pool and Jacuzzi
  • Gardens
As well as these facilities, guests can also use all the facilities of the nearby Hotel Gold River including restaurants:
  • Grand Hall Buffet
  • Grand Opera
  • River Bar
  • Lobby Bar
  • Gold River Saloon
  • 'Callaghan's' Opening Summer
 
I hope the build quality is better than existing fixtures and fittings at Gold River.

Grand Opera restaurant is visually superb but everything is very flimsy.

:)
 
So they have just decided to call the existing Lucy's Mansion premium rooms as a separate hotel? I see no changes otherwise - the lobby and restaurant/lounge look no different and the private pool area is also the same. Very nice none the less, but no different to when it first opened years ago.
 
To clarify, it is the existing 'Lucy's Mansion' building which was built with Hotel Gold River in 2009. The building has now been separated from Hotel Gold River and now has it's own entrance, reception and driveway with a separate entrance from the Resort concourse. The bedrooms have been modified to 5* and come with a new range of perks and privileges. The new Callaghan building in Hotel Gold River is being built to replace the Lucy's Mansion suites now they have become Hotel Mansion De Lucy.
 
I would imagine that it is simply for the purposes of marketing that they have done this. Making it into a 'separate' hotel allows them to say they have more hotels than anyone else and a 5 star hotel. When in reality, there's no change - it's just a operational alteration more than anything else.

:)
 
Just quickly going back to the fastrack discussion, one thing that really amuses me about PA is how many enthusiasts claim to be anti fastrack yet always buy it when they visit and say it's too cheap. Personally I would rather they went down the europa/ efteling route and had no fastrack system but Express clearly makes a lot of money and, for a park run by an investment bank, something which generates great revenue won't be removed. If you really do disagree with fastrack as much as you claim the only way to make any sort of stand against it is not to buy it. If you visit PA and use the express passes you are as good as condoning it yourself.
 
When enthusiasts get stuck in 2/3 hour long queues full of queue-jumping and awful operations there's ALWAYS a line that might well be crossed... It's usually a mixture of things that result in frustration, especially if it's a holiday to a park you rarely visit and want to make the most of the day...

I'm sure a few might have indulged in one at Movie Park Germany, if only because that's also cheap (€25 a head) and means you don't have to queue up for the crap they call coasters at that park...

There are times at parks where a Fastrack related item is a life-saver (be it due to limited time, illness, park perk, etc), but not a requirement to enjoy your day... PA unfortunately requires Fastrack to enjoy a visit...
 
Benzin said:
There are times at parks where a Fastrack related item is a life-saver (be it due to limited time, illness, park perk, etc), but not a requirement to enjoy your day... PA unfortunately requires Fastrack to enjoy a visit...
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I've been visiting for over 10 years and I've bought 2 Express Passes and never had a problem with getting on a attractions. And I visit during the summer. The queues are not as bad as certain people make them out to be. Regardless of operations its a major Theme Park in a popular holiday destination with perfect weather. It's going to be busy and you'd be silly to think otherwise.
 
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20th Anniversay update:

PortAventura Fan Page

From what I can translate with the help of Google and Facebook, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary PortAventura is creating its own forum. The main feature being the forum will automatically translate posts from different languages to your own so everybody can share their comments with fans from around the world.

The page is supposed to launch with the Resorts 20th Anniversary Inauguration on March 21.
 
siralgenon said:
The main feature being the forum will automatically translate posts from different languages to your own so everybody can share their comments with fans from around the world.
Click to expand...

Don't all modern web browsers do that automatically?
 
Sam said:
Don't all modern web browsers do that automatically?
Click to expand...

I haven't got a clue, it may have been the way it was worded. I think the point is it will be one site for all the countries as opposed to each country having its own forum.
 
Without wanting to spark yet more "Europa's crap, PA's better"/"PA's crap, Europa's better", it appears that, like Cedar Point's Mean Streak, someone has used No Limits 2 to virtually remodel Stampida into an RMC wooden topper-tracked coaster, and it's a good illustration of how an old ride could be taught some clever new tricks:




Thoughts?
 
Something like that would be great! Don't see it happening at all though.

:)
 
I'd love to see Rocky Mountain re imagine Stampida although I'd like to see a better remake than the video. They've removed the good parts and left the boring bits.
 
The thing is, I don't think an RMC revamp is necessary to fix Stampida. Just a straight forward re-track and train replacement would do a world of good. Once you look past the Stampida's obvious flaws, I think that there's quite a good coaster masked beneath all that roughness. The layout is fast paced, the racing/dueling aspect injects a huge amount of fun into the ride and the back row has some serious kicks of airtime.

I wouldn't complain if an RMC conversion happened though.
 
When I went stampida blue side had just had a load of maintenance and I remember thinking "this isn't as bad as people make out", then we did the red side...... Oww.

I agree a proper refurb would be good, though I do think Wardley forgot about banking when he designed it. RMC could do wonders with it.
 
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