Ferrari Land
I wasn't sure what to expect with Ferrari Land as I hadn't really looked into this too much before hand. I thought there was only 3 attractions at the park; Red Force, Thrill Towers and the Flying Dreams. There was certainly much more to the park than I had anticipated.
For those with families there is now new family area for 2018 with some small flat rides, a mini drop tower and a new mini rollercoaster. The park is beautiful to walk around especially when you move from Venice to Rome to Marranello in just a few small steps. Even the flowers throughout the park are Ferrari Yellow and Red, no accident I'm sure. If any park had any justfication to look like a car park then maybe Ferrari Land has an excuse but they have done a wonderful job with the space they have and limited attractions, looking at you Disney Studios
Anyway onto the attractions...
Fast Track at the park will cost you €20pp but with queuetimes like these
Who needs fast track?
Ferrari Experience - The Ferrari Experience is essentially 3 F1 cars from past decades, 2 F1 Steering wheels, a brief history of Enzo Ferrari on printed on the wall, a sculpture and a paid photo point in a Ferarri F1 car or a Ferrari 458. You would love this if you were a tifosi or a petrolhead in general. Reason to do this if you don't like Ferrari? It's air conditioned and a welcome relief from the gran sol rojo.
Grand Prix Marranello - Its like Grand Prix Blackpool but in tiny squeaky Ferrari's and less sun.
Racing Legends - This shares a queue with flying dreams and was a batching nightmare. I assume both are supposed to share the first pre-film with Enzo explaining what the Ferrari brand means. However we were held outside the preshow room and ushered straight through to another batching area, shown a film with Marc Gene, then made to queue for a final batching area and handed some 3D glasses. Despite the 10 minute queue it took us 35 minutes to get through the attraction. This was multiple Ferrari F1 cars with 8 seats (2x4) and the attraction itself is a 4D race simulator through various racing circuits worlwide and futuristic. Unfortunately it became clear our host couldn't count to ocho and there were empty seats in some cars and the more than 8 people trying to get in others. I hope this was the exception to rule and ops are not this bad when the park is busy, loco! We both agreed after riding that considering this was built in 2017 it is somehow as awful as Dino Escape 4D in PortAventura despite the age difference. Heck even Robocop in Granada studios better made than this. Seriously though, this should be soo much better than it is.
Flying Dreams - Like racing legends this has a pre-show with Enzo, which this time we got to watch, then more queuing and batching, a short film about the attraction and safety procedures with more queueing and batching, yay! We were split into sections for the lower and upper tiers of the attraction and to be consistent there was a counting failure. This left a family of four standing as everyone was ushered to take their seats, also not asking people to move down to the end and letting them sit where they wanted compounded the issues. Eventually a hero bigger than Zoro himself turned up and after some musical chairs he got the family seated together and sent the bad guys from where they came (The entrance). Presumably they were sent for torture through the batching process before being allowed back. Anyway back to Ferraritarium or Ferroarin'.... the attraction is a flying theatre where you fly with a Ferrari as point of interest through many picturesque places across Terra Firma. I can only compare it to Volitarium and I have to say it seems quite tame to the EP version and I only got the hint of fragrance at one point during the movie. Whereas with Volitarium I feel like I've been double slapped with magic trees. I'd happily ride it again especially if someone lets Mr Bean at the control panel.
Thrill Towers - Drop Towers, Urghh! As you might gather I am not a huge fan of drop towers and for some reason Ferrari Land decided a pair next to each other shaped like pistons would look wonderful in the shadow of Hurukan Condor. Both towers do offer wonderful views of the Costa Brava, PortAventura or both dependent on which side of the tower you sit. Although some areas of surrounding areas resemble Runcorn so not a complete win on the views. Unfortunately both towers also offer views of you hurtling towards tarmac at near terminal velocity. Fun! Both pistons like to do this in different ways. Caida libre likes to slowly take you to the top and slam you to the floor whereas rebote likes to shoot you to the top and bounce you down to the floor. There may or may not be a fakeout on one of these towers but I am not going to tell you which. All I can say for sure is that I screamed like a stuck pig all the way down on both.
Red Force - 0-111 mph in 5 seconds and 367ft tall with the park map warning of rollbacks what's not to like? This ride towers above everything in the park with the exception of Hurakan Condor. I think there is remarkably few photos of my trip without this lurking somewhere in the background.
After spending 10 minutes or so watching off ride and trying to capture an impossible video from the paddock it was time to ride. The queue line was less than 10 minutes so I can't really comment on that but the station resembled a Ferrari pit wall and looked amazing. Shame that some idiots as always decided it would look better if they carved their name into the hard plastic on the way in. Our prancing horse arrived and we were put into the back of the lap barred Ferrari. After a slow rolling start the launch is incredible and delightfully smooth considering the speed. Before I can even comprehend what is happening we are approaching the apex of the top hat and looking across Saluncorn. Then before I can focus, I am hurtling face down at a car park and carrying soo much speed into the final bunny hop into the brakes before returning to the station. All within 30 seconds, wow! One final surprise lay in the reverse badger traps that is the restraints opening, keep limbs and head away from them.
Our second ride was on the front row, woohoo. Now I assume we have all seen the video of the guy given a bird a sonic heabutt on this ride? I also assume because of this we had to don some protective eye gear to ride front row and this wasn't weird italian theming, as they would've provided a leather hat and scarf. The eyeware lacked the ammonia smell I'd have expected so you might end up with some Ferrari red eyes later in the day. Anyway with visors attached, it was time for our second lap. I thought I would be ready for the launch this time round but it really caught me by surprise again. With an unrestricted view over the top I could really get a decent view across the coast, for all of one second before hurtling towards the brakes. On the way out I attempted to purchase proof of their insistence on lorgnettes to show my friends. Apparently the digital version is only available on USB and the physical copy does not include a digital copy, so I ended €16 lighter for a photo of myself looking like a dribbling idiot in safety goggles.
After 2 glass smooth rides it was time to test out the middle of the train. I don't know if it was a different train or a rogue headwind but the launch to the top hat was judderific. The drop into brakes was fine but that was enough to call it a day with Red Force.
It was time to make a quick food pit stop and catch a little bit of the acrobatic show, before doing a final look around the area. I was going to attempt to replace a wheel on the F1 car but the thought of doing anything that physical at high noon in 30 degrees heat put me off.
On reflection Ferrari Land is a great accompany park to PortAventura but it isn't really a park you would return to if you didn't have a family. You'd paying €15 to re-ride Red Force and possibly Flying dreams, if you could survive the endless batching.
