General Advice for Port Aventura?

[Corkscrewed]

I'm heading to Barcelona starting this Friday as part of my study abroad curriculum. We'll be in Spain for ten days, and we'll have the entire second weekend (18th and 19th) free. Since Port Aventural is only about an hour from Barcelona, I figure I should visit.

 

I've looked some some timetables on RENFE, and it looks like there's a regional and intercity train that can take me from Barcelona to the park directly (Catalunya Express). However, I can't seem to find where the Barcelona station is exactly. Is there anyone who lives in Barcelona or has been there who can point me toward a general location? It's more of a matter of familiarizing myself with the city.

 

Of course, if there's only one main train station, then I guess I don't really need help.

 

 

 

Also, while I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do and in what order, I think it's always good to get advice. So does anyone have any advice on how to tackle the park? Who knows... there might be some good ride that I should do first because it's low capacity or something and gets long lines later, even if it's not the best ride in the park.

 

Also, according to my research, the park opens at 9:30 am, with the lands opening at 10. However, it doesn't give a closing time for the park for the month of November. Does anyone have any idea when the park will close?

 

Any other general advice would be appreciated. And heck, if anyone wants to [randomly] meet up with me, I'm always down for meeting new people. Chances are that my classmates won't come along, since they're not coaster nerds like I am. So I'd be taking the trip alone, which I still find strange, even if it is to a theme park. I'm down for either day, although I'd probably go on the Saturday, unless that's much more crowded than Sunday.

 

Actually, yeah, how should crowds be this time of year? People said Disneyland Paris should be empty when I went in September, and it ended up being packed. Nevertheless, it's always good to ask to get an idea.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Freefall]

I been to port ventura about 5 times and visited Barcelona, the citys like a big wedge in the middle of some mountains and is on the coast and has a harbour, port adventure it just up the coast from it so i would be surprised if there's not a railway line running in that direction but i don't know if the stations near the park, the buses however should be able to help out as they take you right to the gate of the park.

 

I've always gone in sept/oct as its a big park and it gets empty when the tourist season is out. the ques were mild to nonexistent during the week and are mild to 1 hour on the weekends but your going a month later so it should be even better, sunday would be best but why not stay in the hotel and do two days with some kina deal?

 

The parks scenery looks great and ads to the experience and the rides are great just remember don't get your balls crushed on hurricane condors horse seats! blue cart on stampeda (dueling wooden) as red car is more rickety and has slow section. with dragon khan try and ride in the back seats, its great in the back as there kina not using there brakes on the brake hill so when it goes into the sharp turn and drop its really forceful.

 

Wish i could come have fun!

[Corkscrewed]

Thanks!

 

There's supposed to be a train station directly at Port Aventura. It doesn't show up on the RENFE search, but clicking on a direct timetable does show it.

 

And I've already got housing covered. This is like a day trip, so there's no real need to stay at a hotel at PA.

 

Thanks for the advice on the rides, though!

 

 

 

Oh, does anyone have any idea about the camera policy? Do they allow camcorders on board coasters, or are they like Cedar Fair (i.e. they're camera Nazis)?

[Freefall]

Camera Nazis, easy to smugle into stampeda but dragon khan and hurican condor as the restraints dont let you have anything big in your pockets and they have to come right upto you to check them. but its been done so i would sujest big pockets and a small camra, dont ask they will say no, the staff are ugly, rude and slow and offen wont let you ride in the back if the trains not full and forget about asking to wait for frount and back seats. however I've been on dragon khan 7 times in a row without having to leave the station so thats a good sign at least.

[perrusin2006]

Hello Corkscrewed !

 

I´m from Spain, and I´ve been in Port Aventura twice. To get there from Barcelona you have to go from Barcelona Sants station, rembember that there are 3 trains stations in Barcelona. You can either take the train to Port aventura station or Salou station, Salou is the town that is next to Port Aventura Park and is quite easy to get to the park from there plus there are more trains that stop in the town.

 

You can find more practical info at www.portaventura.com, it doesn´t say at what time they close the park in low season, you will have to check once you get there, but remember that now they only open during weekends.

 

The rides that get bussier are Dragon Khan and Stampida, specially the second one so I will recommend you to go there first. If you go alone you wont have to wait long to go on the drop tower "Hurakan Condor" the one that tilts you at the top and where you will see wonderful views of the park and the tracks for the new ride "Furious Baco", they have single riders line.

 

Hope you enjoy your visit to this great park.

[Corkscrewed]

Thanks!

 

It's a shame about the camera thing, so I guess I'll just play it by ear... or eye. And as for the trains, if all else fails, I'll just ask the people at the ticket booth when I get my train tickets.

 

Thanks!

[eyeamthu1]

I can't help you with trains I'm afraid, but I'll try and give you some general tips for the rest of the park. With regard to opening; the park may open at 9:30, but then one land will open at 10, then the next land at 11, then the whole park opens at 12. When I went in September, Polynesia opened at 10 and China at 11. Bear that in mind when you go. Closing time - in September, it was 8pm. Not sure about November.

 

I don't think it'll be too busy, but locals tend to go on the weekend, so it may be busier than you'd expect. If it's ridiculously busy, it's probably worth shelling out for the FastPass/Express ticket they have, considering you're only going for one day.

 

Capacity-wise, the rides are all ok, but they did tend to run one train on the coasters, which sucked. The only ride which has a problem with capacity is the drop tower, Hurakan Condor. However, they do have a single rider queue which is very good.

 

The only problem with Hurakan Condor is that they don't allow you to choose where to sit. Considering there are 3 different ride experiences, this is a problem. Each different ride experience is worth doing, but the stand-up floorless tilting version (Platform Number 3 I think), is the best. Numbers 1-2 are normal sit-downs, Numbers 4-5 are sit-down tilters. You can try to plead with staff to go on a particular side, but the only sure-fire way to get on every side is to marathon the ride, using single rider queue.

 

In fact, you can't choose specific seats for any of the rides at PA, which is a real shame. If you do get the chance, a front seat on Dragon Khan is great for views, back seat for forces (both are worth doing), and on Stampida, the racing woodies, back seats are slightly rougher, but you get a faster, more airtime-filled ride. The coaster has a few slow spots, so sitting on the back row stops them ruining the ride!

 

Main rides are:

Polynesia - Tutuki Splash (splash boats), Sea Odyssey (simulator/cinema show - easy to miss, but well worth doing), Tami Tami (kiddie coaster, credit!)

China - Dragon Khan (big B&M)

Mexico - Hurakan Condor (big Drop Tower), Templo Del Fuego (special effects walk-through - easy to miss, but a MUST-DO), El Diablo (mine-train).

Far West - Stampida (racing woodies - do both sides), Tomahawk (smaller family woodie), Silver River Flume (log flume), Grand Canyon Rapids (rapids).

You could get away with skipping a few of these rides, but all are worth doing. The absolute must-dos are Dragon Khan, Hurakan Condor and Templo Del Fuego, and to a degree, Stampida.

 

In terms of park strategy, you'll be hindered by how they open the lands (provided they haven't changed the system). Start at Polynesia, then to China, then to Mexico. Be at China at 11, when they open it, and at Mexico at 12, when they open it, to stay ahead of the crowds. Go to Hurakan Condor asap.

 

Park transport's not great - you're best bet is just to continually walk round the park in a loop, til you've done everything you want! You could take some time out to see some shows, but as I've gathered, you like taking photos, and PA is one of the most photogenic parks out there, so that might take up a bit of your time!

 

Finally, doing the trip alone will be fine. I did Port Aventura for a second day by myself, when my mates didn't want to go, but it was actually really fun. You can do exactly what you want, when you want, as many times as you want. And you can make use of the single rider on Hurakan Condor!

 

Hope all that's helpful, if you've got anymore questions, let me know!

[Ed]

My advice is go next year when the WindWalker opens.

[Corkscrewed]

Too bad I won't be in Europe next year.

[matteocrepaldi]

I use this topic instead of opening another one; I'm planning to be at Port Aventura in June and I have two questions:

 

- is the Caribe Water Park worth a visit if I'm going to stay only one day at the park? It will be one day that the park will close at midnight.

 

- How good is the Caribe Water Park?