luckycatclaire
TS Member
Ah, that's where I did all my shopping before I left as well and I still didn't spot them! Thanks for the link
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PortAventura: General Discussion
GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
One of these days I will actually write a trip report, today is not that day.
Feeling as though El Diablo - Tren de la Mina requires the subtitle "Lift Hill: The Ride", I wasn't particularly fussed about re-riding it, upon our most recent visit to PortAventura two weeks ago. That being said, I was intrigued by the "Neo" VR/AR upcharge.
Colour me impressed.
If there was ever a ride suited to VR / AR, it's most likely El Diablo. At a measly €5, per person, it was definitely worth the cost.
The visuals were engaging, the sound was joyful. It was very pleasant having a live video relay of the ride, through cameras around the headset, making it more "augmented" than virtual reality.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is on the fence. It certainly makes those lift hills fun.
Feeling as though El Diablo - Tren de la Mina requires the subtitle "Lift Hill: The Ride", I wasn't particularly fussed about re-riding it, upon our most recent visit to PortAventura two weeks ago. That being said, I was intrigued by the "Neo" VR/AR upcharge.
Colour me impressed.
If there was ever a ride suited to VR / AR, it's most likely El Diablo. At a measly €5, per person, it was definitely worth the cost.
The visuals were engaging, the sound was joyful. It was very pleasant having a live video relay of the ride, through cameras around the headset, making it more "augmented" than virtual reality.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is on the fence. It certainly makes those lift hills fun.
Ares
TS Member
Hey everyone 
I've just got back from a trip to Salou, having visited Port Aventura for the first time since around 2003 back when it was Universal.
Given it was just a quick break, I opted to dodge the long queues having gone in September, visiting the park on Monday 15th and Wednesday 17th September - and the queues we're fair. Using the queue times website for a park calendar estimate of how busy it would be prior to booking, it estimated the Monday to be around 30% park capacity, and the likes of Shambhala and Uncharted were around 60 minute and 90 minute queues for most of the day.
However, on the Wednesday the park was much quieter, around half the volume of Monday - and id say around 10-15% park capacity which was great. Stampida was often a 5 minute queue, Shambhala was 25-30 minutes all day, Dragon Khan was 10-20 minutes all day, and the longest we queued was for Uncharted (as expected) at around 50 minutes again. Even the water rides on a very hot day, we're around 25 minutes at most for Silver River Flume, 0 minutes for the Rapids all day and maybe 5 minutes for Tutuki Splash.
Just to wrap the queue time stuff up, I would honestly dread to think how long you would queue in peak times at this park in the heat - there were some seriously long queue pens that I would not be waiting that long in line for. I definitely feel like mid September was the best time to go, quiet park but still very hot weather!
Now for the rides.
Given my last visit was back in 2003 and I was 9 years old, I can't remember everything I had previously done, but I knew which rides I hadn't including the newer rides of course, so I was really looking forward to Shambhala and Uncharted.
Shambhala: I managed 3 rides, 1 on the first day which was back row, and at 6ft 2" and average build with muscular thighs, I really did not like the restraints. I felt absolutely stapled and it was uncomfortable. However, on the second park visit, I managed a middle front row ride which was amazing with plenty of ejector and I found with completely emptied shorts pockets and a bit of wiggling and stopping myself being stapled, I had a much better ride. The third and final ride was back row, and maybe its just me, but the outer seats just were not as comfortable and I felt more stapled again with no ejector. Overall I enjoyed that front row ride, but given the hype I had seen for this ride, I felt like it absolutely paled in comparison to Hyperion at Energylandia which I managed to experience for the first time back in May this year, and may be my all time favourite coaster - but more on that soon
7/10
Uncharted: Really enjoyable ride, much shorter than I expected after a lengthy and boring queue line to be fair. The acceleration is really fun on this coaster, and the intamin multi-dimension cars are super comfortable and the sideways and backwards parts are fun! A really premium ride, but I cant help but feel like 70% of the rides short duration between screens was just boring with nothing going on. 6.5/10
Stampida: Quick review, and I know Scott from YEG hates the Titan track, but oh man those corners without it are brutal on your sides. I do agree it does not feel like a woodie on the titan sections - but I wouldnt mind just all of the corners being re-tracked or re-profiled. The red side is much faster than the blue side too for some reason, winning by a huge margin each time. Didnt queue more than 10 minutes at any point for this ride. Fun but rough. 5.5/10
Hurakan Condor: Whilst I could ride any coaster in the world, this drop tower scared the heck out of me I wont lie. I never shout on rides but this one made me scream haha. I rode this twice, the first time on the stand up position seats, which I had no clue about, or that I had zero choice, until getting on. Secondly, I had no idea they tilt forward a little at the top too. Absolutely incredible buzz off that ride, and re-riding it on the second day I had the sit down seats, which was a lot less scary and not the same experience. I think you have to do the stand up ones for the fear factor! Unbelievably good drop tower, loved and hated it at the same time! 9/10 standing and 8/10 seated.
El Diablo Tren De La Mina: Fun arrow mine train with those side hurting jolts but really fun for a kids ride, but as others have stated - lift hills: the ride. 5/10
Dragon Khan: Rode it back in 2003, and highly rated it then as a child going up against Hulk at IOA that I rode for the first time the same year alongside Kraken and Kumba so some great B&M companions. Now I think its still a solid ride, if not a little headache inducing, but perhaps thats my age showing at 31 now. 7/10
Street Mission: Honestly had a great time of this kids indoor ride, and whilst the main motion section was a little blurry - it was very good and better than I expected. C is for Cookieeeee! 6/10
Silver River Flume: Absolutely love a log flume, and this one is great! Prepare to get wet! 8/10
Grand Canyon Rapids: Like a worse Katanga Canyon despite better rapids sections with more speed, you just dont get wet. 3/10
Tomahawk: The junior woodie next to Stampida was actually really fun for a kids woodie, very pleasantly surprised for what it is. 6/10
Tutuki Splash: Only the two drops, and not really any proper theme to the ride, but oh wow do you get soaked! Perfect for a hot day! 6/10
Furius Baco: Furious headache more like. Awesome launch, but i came off this with an SLC like Migraine that I got on Mayan at Energylandia or Infusion at BPB. Could not bring myself to re-ride it due to the rattle. 5/10
Ferrari Land - Red Force: WOW! I was very excited to ride this for the first and only time, and managed to get a sunset ride on the front row. I have to say it was very smooth on the front row, the speed was incredible and I had a tonne of ejector over the top hat! Loved this ride so much, and maybe it was the first time ride buzz on the front row, but I think this is alongside Hyperion as my favourite coaster of all time so far. I really need to get out to Cedar Point and do Top Thrill 2 now! I dont care about the short layout, and I'm sure Kingda Ka would've been even better than this, and im devastated I never got to ride the king. But i loved this for what it is, and my tallest and fastest ever coaster too. 9/10
Ferrari Land - Drop Tower: The two towers were on, but didnt get to choose which we wanted to ride, I would have preferred the shot tower as nothing was going to compete with Hurakan Condor. Was a fun drop and bounce after, pleasant but not scary. Good though and well worth doing! 6.5/10
In summary I had an amazing trip to Port Aventura, it was very easy to just pay around 11 euros from Salou in a taxi there, and always a bit more coming back at 17 and 30 euros across both returns in a private taxi for 2 - only a 10 minute trip too.
The weather was amazing, and I was very happy that the queues were so short on the Wednesday. I would honestly just look to book going the same time again next year, for a great balance of a quiet but not dead park, and great weather!
Really fun trip, and a park I would highly recommend as its pleasant to walk around and admire the themeing, with the old west my favourite.
I've just got back from a trip to Salou, having visited Port Aventura for the first time since around 2003 back when it was Universal. Given it was just a quick break, I opted to dodge the long queues having gone in September, visiting the park on Monday 15th and Wednesday 17th September - and the queues we're fair. Using the queue times website for a park calendar estimate of how busy it would be prior to booking, it estimated the Monday to be around 30% park capacity, and the likes of Shambhala and Uncharted were around 60 minute and 90 minute queues for most of the day.
However, on the Wednesday the park was much quieter, around half the volume of Monday - and id say around 10-15% park capacity which was great. Stampida was often a 5 minute queue, Shambhala was 25-30 minutes all day, Dragon Khan was 10-20 minutes all day, and the longest we queued was for Uncharted (as expected) at around 50 minutes again. Even the water rides on a very hot day, we're around 25 minutes at most for Silver River Flume, 0 minutes for the Rapids all day and maybe 5 minutes for Tutuki Splash.
Just to wrap the queue time stuff up, I would honestly dread to think how long you would queue in peak times at this park in the heat - there were some seriously long queue pens that I would not be waiting that long in line for. I definitely feel like mid September was the best time to go, quiet park but still very hot weather!
Now for the rides.
Given my last visit was back in 2003 and I was 9 years old, I can't remember everything I had previously done, but I knew which rides I hadn't including the newer rides of course, so I was really looking forward to Shambhala and Uncharted.
Shambhala: I managed 3 rides, 1 on the first day which was back row, and at 6ft 2" and average build with muscular thighs, I really did not like the restraints. I felt absolutely stapled and it was uncomfortable. However, on the second park visit, I managed a middle front row ride which was amazing with plenty of ejector and I found with completely emptied shorts pockets and a bit of wiggling and stopping myself being stapled, I had a much better ride. The third and final ride was back row, and maybe its just me, but the outer seats just were not as comfortable and I felt more stapled again with no ejector. Overall I enjoyed that front row ride, but given the hype I had seen for this ride, I felt like it absolutely paled in comparison to Hyperion at Energylandia which I managed to experience for the first time back in May this year, and may be my all time favourite coaster - but more on that soon
7/10Uncharted: Really enjoyable ride, much shorter than I expected after a lengthy and boring queue line to be fair. The acceleration is really fun on this coaster, and the intamin multi-dimension cars are super comfortable and the sideways and backwards parts are fun! A really premium ride, but I cant help but feel like 70% of the rides short duration between screens was just boring with nothing going on. 6.5/10
Stampida: Quick review, and I know Scott from YEG hates the Titan track, but oh man those corners without it are brutal on your sides. I do agree it does not feel like a woodie on the titan sections - but I wouldnt mind just all of the corners being re-tracked or re-profiled. The red side is much faster than the blue side too for some reason, winning by a huge margin each time. Didnt queue more than 10 minutes at any point for this ride. Fun but rough. 5.5/10
Hurakan Condor: Whilst I could ride any coaster in the world, this drop tower scared the heck out of me I wont lie. I never shout on rides but this one made me scream haha. I rode this twice, the first time on the stand up position seats, which I had no clue about, or that I had zero choice, until getting on. Secondly, I had no idea they tilt forward a little at the top too. Absolutely incredible buzz off that ride, and re-riding it on the second day I had the sit down seats, which was a lot less scary and not the same experience. I think you have to do the stand up ones for the fear factor! Unbelievably good drop tower, loved and hated it at the same time! 9/10 standing and 8/10 seated.
El Diablo Tren De La Mina: Fun arrow mine train with those side hurting jolts but really fun for a kids ride, but as others have stated - lift hills: the ride. 5/10
Dragon Khan: Rode it back in 2003, and highly rated it then as a child going up against Hulk at IOA that I rode for the first time the same year alongside Kraken and Kumba so some great B&M companions. Now I think its still a solid ride, if not a little headache inducing, but perhaps thats my age showing at 31 now. 7/10
Street Mission: Honestly had a great time of this kids indoor ride, and whilst the main motion section was a little blurry - it was very good and better than I expected. C is for Cookieeeee! 6/10
Silver River Flume: Absolutely love a log flume, and this one is great! Prepare to get wet! 8/10
Grand Canyon Rapids: Like a worse Katanga Canyon despite better rapids sections with more speed, you just dont get wet. 3/10
Tomahawk: The junior woodie next to Stampida was actually really fun for a kids woodie, very pleasantly surprised for what it is. 6/10
Tutuki Splash: Only the two drops, and not really any proper theme to the ride, but oh wow do you get soaked! Perfect for a hot day! 6/10
Furius Baco: Furious headache more like. Awesome launch, but i came off this with an SLC like Migraine that I got on Mayan at Energylandia or Infusion at BPB. Could not bring myself to re-ride it due to the rattle. 5/10
Ferrari Land - Red Force: WOW! I was very excited to ride this for the first and only time, and managed to get a sunset ride on the front row. I have to say it was very smooth on the front row, the speed was incredible and I had a tonne of ejector over the top hat! Loved this ride so much, and maybe it was the first time ride buzz on the front row, but I think this is alongside Hyperion as my favourite coaster of all time so far. I really need to get out to Cedar Point and do Top Thrill 2 now! I dont care about the short layout, and I'm sure Kingda Ka would've been even better than this, and im devastated I never got to ride the king. But i loved this for what it is, and my tallest and fastest ever coaster too. 9/10
Ferrari Land - Drop Tower: The two towers were on, but didnt get to choose which we wanted to ride, I would have preferred the shot tower as nothing was going to compete with Hurakan Condor. Was a fun drop and bounce after, pleasant but not scary. Good though and well worth doing! 6.5/10
In summary I had an amazing trip to Port Aventura, it was very easy to just pay around 11 euros from Salou in a taxi there, and always a bit more coming back at 17 and 30 euros across both returns in a private taxi for 2 - only a 10 minute trip too.
The weather was amazing, and I was very happy that the queues were so short on the Wednesday. I would honestly just look to book going the same time again next year, for a great balance of a quiet but not dead park, and great weather!
Really fun trip, and a park I would highly recommend as its pleasant to walk around and admire the themeing, with the old west my favourite.
Call_um
TS Member
I've also just got back from a trip there, my first time.
After hearing a lot of mixed reviews over the years I was actually blown away with how much I enjoyed it. Maybe thats because I've visited during a quiet period so I wasn't impacted by bad operations.
I'll write a full report soon, but was great to get on some bucket list coasters.
Shambala exceeded expectations, Red Force was decent. Somehow Baco was worse than I expected. I thought I have quite a high tolerance when it comes to roughness but that thing is absolutely terrible.
After hearing a lot of mixed reviews over the years I was actually blown away with how much I enjoyed it. Maybe thats because I've visited during a quiet period so I wasn't impacted by bad operations.
I'll write a full report soon, but was great to get on some bucket list coasters.
Shambala exceeded expectations, Red Force was decent. Somehow Baco was worse than I expected. I thought I have quite a high tolerance when it comes to roughness but that thing is absolutely terrible.