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Terra Mitica: General Discussion

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Enter Valhalla

TS Member
2016 doesn't look like the year that things are going to turn around for Terra Mitica. For the first time in the park's history, it has an operating season of just three months, yes three months! Opening on 31st May and closing for winter on 28th August, this is by far the shortest season that the park have ever had.

This park has been plagued with problems ever since its opening in 2000. It went through the whole bankruptcy process about 10 years back, came out of it and the park felt very uncared for ever since, visitor numbers have certainly reflected this.

In 2014, a teenager was killed on one of their coasters and, I personally think that, no park can ever fully recover from a major incident like that.

Last year must have been a quiet season especially after what happened.

This year a hotel has been built on the property yet the park has an operating season of just shy of three months and the only new investment is a travelling sky flyer, totally out of place in such a beautiful park.

This is one of the most visually pleasing parks in the world with superb theming and attention to detail, installing a travelling sky flyer is basically vandalism as far as I'm concerned. No doubt they got it on loan for those three months.

What are people's opinions of this park? Is this the beginning of the end? Will it even open this season? It is a superb park and I'd be sad to lose it.
 
Sounds a lot similar to Geauga Lake during it's last season. That park was opened only between June and mid September and look what happened to that :( Obviously different because of mismanagement, but with this calendar Terra Mitica has, I couldn't help but think of it.

I agree that the park is visually stunning and it is very beautiful. However, to be frank, most of the rides there (particularly the coasters) are rubbish. Has the park always struggled with attendance though? Seems a bit surprising consider how popular Benidorm is as a resort.
 
Benidorm is a popular resort but the big problem is how seasonal it is as a resort. In July and August it's packed with families who would want to visit a theme park, the rest of the year, even the spring months, the resort is mainly visited by adult hen/stag groups and pensioners who would have no interest in a theme park.

I would expect those opening hours to point to a park which is about to go out of business, however the fact that they're opening a large themed hotel this summer confuses me greatly.
 
I've been to Terra Mitica a few times, quite a while ago now though. In terms of theming and landscaping, it's an absolutely stunning park. The quality of the materials used to build some of the facades is incredible. In terms of rides, it has a decent selection of dark rides and water rides but it's sorely lacking when it comes to headline attractions. Visiting the park is a bit of a weird experience in that it has the look and feel of a major, internationally renowned park but even in peak season, there's hardly anyone there.

It's clear that when they built the park, they expected to be catering for millions of visitors a year. The road infrastructure approaching the park is world class. There are multi-lane roads lined with palm trees, gigantic fountain sculptures built in the centres of roundabouts. The car parks themselves are needlessly enormous and to get to the park, you cross a set of totally unnecessary concrete foot bridges which must have cost millions to build alone. The entrance plaza is one of the most impressive I've seen and the park is full of amazingly detailed and large scale interpretations of historic buildings. The ride hardware, barring the two major coasters is also very high end. When I last went, it had an acrobatic show that would have been at home at any major park in the world. The place totally oozes money yet you can tell just by being there that it can't be making any.

I think that the park's continued lack of success is largely down to its location. Terra Mitica just isn't the right fit for Benidorm. Holiday makers go there for the beach and the nightlife. While the other large Benidorm attraction, Aqualandia works into this nicely, Terra Mitica is trying to be a destination attraction in its own right and a large, Floridian-style family theme park doesn't quite work at a Spanish beach resort known for its hard partying. I think it's also worth mentioning that when I first visited Costa Blanca, around 2004 the park's promotion was atrocious. There were lots of road-side posters advertising the park but none of them made it clear that it was a theme park. In fact, it looked more like a museum or historical attraction. It's only when we drove past it that we realised what it was.

Terra Mitica is the archetypal white elephant. It's a perfect catalyst of turn of the millennium optimism and the kind of misguided investments that eventually led to the housing crisis in Spain. They could have spent the money on a smaller scale park in another location and been much more successful. However, I'm sort of glad they didn't. There's something impressive about how spectacularly wrong they got it. It's like Europe's Hard Rock Park, only it's still open. It may close down in the near future, but I'm not sure it will. So much has been invested in it and the local government have done a lot to try and keep it open.

Enter Valhalla said:
In 2014, a teenager was killed on one of their coasters and, I personally think that, no park can ever fully recover from a major incident like that.
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I disagree with this. Loads of parks have recovered and restored their reputations following fatal accidents. Usually it hangs around in the press for a few weeks and might affect attendance for a season or two but after a few years, it's usually gone from the public consciousness.

The Smiler incident was definitely unusual in the way that Alton was savaged by the press for months on end. I don't think Alton helped themselves by being so compliant and doing very little to defend themselves. They were trying to do the right thing but it just allowed the media to walk all over them.
 
Having just watched a documentary about the TV show Benidorm, I do kind of want to go back to the town (believe it or not!)

However, I’m really struggling to see what direction this park is going in.

Arguably their signature coaster, Magnus Colossos, has been SBNO since 2015 according to RCDB. So what’s going on? Now that we know that another woodie with a similar name in Germany is to re-open next year, does anyone know if Terra Mitica have anything planned for this coaster?

It’s very bizarre. On the one hand, they have a fancy new hotel and spa, as well as a successful nearby water park. On the other, the park itself keeps its main coaster SBNO while two of their less interesting coasters are given pricey paint jobs.

It’s a fantastic little park but I really can’t get my head around what the directors are up to now.

Does anyone have any information on this park? Will I be able to fulfill my bizarre urge to return to Benidorm and re-ride this average, but still fun, wooden coaster?
 
I have been to the park a couple of times but that was probably 4/5 years ago. I wasn't aware that Magnus Colossos was SBNO. It was very rough when I rode it but I thought that it was all part of the fun. Maybe it was getting dangerous and they couldn't afford the repair bill.

It is a shame it's struggling as I always thought it was quite a decent park. I particularly enjoyed the water rides in the searing heat!

Yes, I understand that they were trying to go the same way as many parks by building a hotel and turning it into a "resort" but I can't imagine that there'd be many takers as there is an abundance of cheap accommodation a few miles down the road.

Even without Colossos, I'd still say it's worth a punt if you can get some cheap tickets. It's probably not quite a day out but good fun for a few hours - and there were hardly any queues when I used to go.
 
I didn't know much about this theme park to I saw it on the way back to the airport. I thought unless you got a taxi there or a paid trip you would wouldn't have walked there as it was about 5 to 10 min drive away from the old town area.
Benidorm is a place full of Brits who go there for the heat,beach,cheap food and drinks.
 
I've been once, it was fine - it seems to have a somewhat patchy reputation in the area.

The offering has only shrunk in recent years hasn't it.
 
Terra Mitica truly is a hidden gem and I would be upset if it closed. It does seem however that it is hanging on for dear life, although I do hope it continues to receive support.

When I visited a few years ago, some of the themed experiences like the Minotaur ride and the escape from Ulysses dark ride (now SBNO) are done exceptionally well it’s crazy how few visitors they get.

The overall structure of the park is also very good, numerous water rides, themed experiences, a centrepiece lake, a staple rollercoaster and a few supporting coasters makes a great experience.

The comparisons with hard rock park as mentioned previously do ring alarmingly true, it would be good to hear if anyone has any more information on the park such as why there are so many rides SBNO, the huge amount of space behind the Rome section of the park and why it seems to be underperforming so much. The huge investment from the beginning was clear to see!
 
Me and a few pals visited on the final day of a 4 day stag do in Benidorm. I found Terra Mitica very strange. If I remember correctly, I visited a couple of months after the tragic accident on Inferno so the place was deserted.

We only spent around 3 hours there and that felt like more than in enough. However it's perhaps harsh to judge the park considering what had happened.

Some parts were immaculately themed but other parts looked completely worn out and tatty.

Magnus Colossus was a superb woodie with one of the most scenic settings anywhere in the world, but all the other rides were just dull.

It's definitely in a difficult location to be hugely successful. I absolutely love Benidorm for what it is - cheap, cheerful and full of absolute idiots! But people literally go there to a) sunbathe or b) get boozed up. You don't seem to get a huge amount of families with kids visiting there in my experience.
 
You get families in Benidorm for like literally two months of the year in July and August, the rest of the year it’s full of elderly groups and stag and hen dos from what I’ve seen. In other words, people who have no interest in the theme park.

The nearby water park, owned by the same company as Terra is likely to be far more appealing in the hot climate and was pretty busy when we went in 2014, but the theme park was the total opposite, even on a Saturday.
 
I went when it was first opened and most seasons since ascwe have a house in nearby Altea
It’s disappointing when it first opened it was buzzing well themed attractions a good variety good food - I thought it would take off

Years of underinvestment by numerous owners is the issue here. It’s just not performed

Similar to the water park next door that was ace to start gone right downhill

I think it’s solely down to the clientele - locals don’t go and most people who go to Benidorm go for stag parties and have little interest in going. It’s hard to get too from Benidorm which is odd given it’s proximity. They should take a leaf out of Aqualandia book which is well advertised and services by public transport

I get the impression from speaking to locals we know the local authorities never really wanted the park- and a lot of Spain operates on a who you know basis. If the government don’t back it it’s doomed for failure.

I can see it being mothballed soon- it will be a significant investment just to get everything operating again yet alone add new rides and progress to making a profit. Shame
 
I'm sorry posting in such an old thread but what do you think it would take to get this park firing on all cylinders. Would it be:

Making the place a holiday destination in itself, more hotels etc?
A stand out, world class ride?

Or do you think that there is no hope for this park?

Genuinely intrigued.
 
When I went there it was like a ghost town.

Benidorm isn't a family resort these days. It's a mix of young stag/hens/party groups who are there to get hammered for 3 days and retired elderlies - both with no interest in going to a theme park.

There's also the Spaniards who avoid the Benidorm area as it's overun with Brits. So people from the big cities in Spain wouldn't look at Terra Mitica as a short break. Port Aventura attracts lots of Spanish as well as foreign tourists as the overall location has more mass appeal.

A big, expensive coaster wouldn't change that but would attract the enthusiasts.
 
Most parks in Spain struggle. I don't think there is much of a market, for whatever reason.

Terra Mitica, Isla Magica and Parque Warner have failed to reach anywhere near the expected level of visitors.

Paramount Park Murcia collapsed.
 
It's weird the contrasting fortunes of Port Aventura and Parque Warner, which are two very high quality parks both in a similar situation in terms of location near a major city (and both aren't particularly simple to access via public transport, though you can get to PA direct from El Prat)...

Guess PA takes a lot more joy from being in a coastal/beach location as well...
 
PA have had mixed fortunes, too. I know their numbers dropped to not much over 3m 5 years ago.

They have started to pick up, but figures remain a fair bit below Efteling and Europa-Park, for example. Even though the park is arguably built for higher crowds than both.
 
AstroDan said:
PA have had mixed fortunes, too. I know their numbers dropped to not much over 3m 5 years ago.

They have started to pick up, but figures remain a fair bit below Efteling and Europa-Park, for example. Even though the park is arguably built for higher crowds than both.
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Shame it doesn't deal with them as well...

Probably interlinked with the poor economy and a lack of Brits heading over there for other cheaper climates...
 
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