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PortAventura: General Discussion

Just had a look and PA express tickets are not to badly priced, I think I may just bite the bullet and buy one. Knowing my luck operations will be spot on and park will be dead. Do we know much about the new park op director and if the park has improved this season?
 
I’ve never been but a friend went last month and said while there was a lot of reasonable waits for stuff, the really big hitters were all 2 hours+
 
Alphe86 said:
I’ve never been but a friend went last month and said while there was a lot of reasonable waits for stuff, the really big hitters were all 2 hours+
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That’s not the experience I had last month, I generally didn’t see queue times that long (apart from Uncharted which has a poor throughput). Did your friend visit at a weekend perhaps? I went on a Monday and Tuesday and the queues were quite reasonable. Uncharted will get a very long queue though, 2hrs for that is very possible but you’ll be on a lot quicker if you use the single rider queue for it and any other rides that have them. I even had a few rides on Shambhala that were only 15 mins or less using the SRQ.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
That’s not the experience I had last month, I generally didn’t see queue times that long (apart from Uncharted which has a poor throughput). Did your friend visit at a weekend perhaps? I went on a Monday and Tuesday and the queues were quite reasonable. Uncharted will get a very long queue though, 2hrs for that is very possible but you’ll be on a lot quicker if you use the single rider queue for it and any other rides that have them. I even had a few rides on Shambhala that were only 15 mins or less using the SRQ.
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Was a full weekend so yes
 
saltedpeanuts099 said:
Just had a look and PA express tickets are not to badly priced, I think I may just bite the bullet and buy one. Knowing my luck operations will be spot on and park will be dead. Do we know much about the new park op director and if the park has improved this season?
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I believe the express passes are priced the same on the day so no need to risk it and book in advance, unless that's changed? When I went last month I told myself I'd buy the express pass if needed but most rides were less than 30 minutes.
 
Osaka12 said:
Done all of Florida, Japan and some of Europe... BUT.... Back row Shambhala is wonderful! 😍
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The floater airtime is ridiculous on the back once it’s warmed up. There’s a part after the turnaround with the two airtime hills where you realise you are getting lifted up out of your seat going up the first hill but you still carry on floating whilst the train drops down the hill and then rises up the second one. It’s a crazy sensation and it gives you a monster four or five seconds of continuous floater airtime, that section is a masterpiece of coaster design.
 
Looks like I might have room in the April holidays to go to either here or Parque Warner Madrid. Leaning to PA. Right choice? Family of 4 with 10/13.yo.
 
Went there for the first time last month

My thoughts on the park...

Great park, with some fantastic rides ( Shambhala, Uncharted are clearly the best ones at the park)

However, there are a few BAD rides too that desperately need replacing, Furius Baco being one! it's just so rough, and considering it's not that old i just think the park could do so much better! Dragon Khan and El Diablo are two others that need replacing as well

I think if the park can replace these with the same standard of rides as their newer rides then it could definitely be one of the top parks in the world!

Other than that i think the theming is great, its a wonderful park to just walk round even! definitely a lot of potential here, lets hope they carry on investing
 
Bones said:
Went there for the first time last month

My thoughts on the park...

Great park, with some fantastic rides ( Shambhala, Uncharted are clearly the best ones at the park)

However, there are a few BAD rides too that desperately need replacing, Furius Baco being one! it's just so rough, and considering it's not that old i just think the park could do so much better! Dragon Khan and El Diablo are two others that need replacing as well

I think if the park can replace these with the same standard of rides as their newer rides then it could definitely be one of the top parks in the world!

Other than that i think the theming is great, its a wonderful park to just walk round even! definitely a lot of potential here, lets hope they carry on investing
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Dragon Khan is an iconic ride and looks spectacular on the skyline interwoven with Shambhala. But unfortunately I found that its combination of roughness and intensity of the layout meant that it was punishing to ride and a “one and done” which was such a pity. Does anyone know if it’s always been a rough ride or is it something that has gotten worse over the years?
 
I went on Dragon Khan three times during my visit last month and didn't find it rough at all! It certainly shakes around but I didn't find it painful. Furius Baco on the other hand... Incredible launch followed by pain for the rest of the ride.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
Dragon Khan is an iconic ride and looks spectacular on the skyline interwoven with Shambhala. But unfortunately I found that its combination of roughness and intensity of the layout meant that it was punishing to ride and a “one and done” which was such a pity. Does anyone know if it’s always been a rough ride or is it something that has gotten worse over the years?
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I suppose they either re-track it or get rid

Wonder which one they'll go for
 
Bones said:
I suppose they either re-track it or get rid

Wonder which one they'll go for
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it was my first time at portaventura roughly 2 years ago and i was looking forward to dragon khan but found it really quite rough - and between this and furious baco - it led to us only being able to tolerate 2 shambhala rides (which is sublime) before packing it up and leaving a few hours early because of headaches/heat/crowds.
 
Went last week for the first and almost certainly last time. This park is like playing Roller Coaster 2 and somehow getting a notification that says "Best themed park" and "Park with the worst operations" simultaneously. Every coaster had at least 1 train, usually 2, waiting to enter the station while they loaded the current one. The last parks I've been to were EP, Phantasialand, and Disneyland, so Aventura's lack here was completely noticeable in comparison.

I had the Express Pass which let me go on everything, but it would have been a nightmare without it. 2 hour waits on Shambhala, 90 minutes for Uncharted, and an 8-hour opening day means you'd be queueing for almost the entire time without the fastpass.

Uncharted was kind of fun but the dark ride elements were completely wacky. The audio on the big scene was consistently quiet, like "bluetooth speaker you bring to the park" quiet, and the CGI and effects in general were like early 2000s level but not in a charming retro way. Strange that they'd go to all the trouble of building this massive mechanical ride and spend so little effort on the visuals.

Shambhala was as good as everyone says. Dragon Khan was kind of whatever. Furious Baco was really fun but far too short and the visuals were really kind of stupid. Stampida, the dueling coaster, actually had an element that totally surprised me:

At one point both cars go side-by-side into two tunnels, and it seems like they'll come out next to each other, but once you leave the tunnel the other train has disappeared. A few seconds later you realize they're now heading directly towards one another on parallel tracks. Never seen this before and was probably the most interesting coaster element I've experienced in a while.

I got completely drenched on the Shoot the Chutes and log flume rides, which was nice on a hot day.

Would give this park 5/10, it had some really solid elements mixed with some really terrible ones. Wouldn't return unless there was a truly unmissable ride, which based on Uncharted doesn't seem likely.
 
Llama said:
At one point both cars go side-by-side into two tunnels, and it seems like they'll come out next to each other, but once you leave the tunnel the other train has disappeared. A few seconds later you realize they're now heading directly towards one another on parallel tracks. Never seen this before and was probably the most interesting coaster element I've experienced in a while.
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We have our lord and saviourTM Mr Wardley to thank for that design.
 
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