Terra Mitica

[DavidnotMark]

Hi all - this is my first post here so will try and keep it short and to the point!!

 

I've just come back from Spain where I visited the Terra Mitica theme park near Benidorm.

 

It was my third visit to the park, so I know it pretty well by now. I remember going not long after they opened (around 2002 maybe?) It was that long ago that they didn't even have the Vekoma in the park. I recall it being quite busy, although nowhere near as busy as Portaventura, to which I've also been a few times.

 

Now I have started this topic because having looked through the posts from when you guys went to Spain in 2007, and a few other people's posts on here about the park, it looked like the owners and managers were going to put in lots of money into the park to run it better and to improve many of the areas. Someone mentioned that the Iberia zone would possibly be open with a new ride in 2012?

 

The park is, in my opinion, a pretty good park. The theming of the park is done very well! Not as good as Portaventua, but definately better than most of the parks here in the UK. It's clear that they had a lot of cash in the beginning to try and get the park up and running. The rides are ok, and in some cases pretty good. It could do with a few more rollercoasters and a few more "scary" rides, but it also has some decent rides - Skynope, Inferno, Titande and the drop tower are all decent. The Magnus Collosus is as painful now as it ever was, and in my opinion is one of the worst wooden rollercoasters I've been on (despite how visually stunning it looks on the mountainside). The park also has a good catalogue of waterrides, and has in the past few years opened up more swimming area for people to cool down from the Spanish sun!

 

But despite all this, the last two times I've been the park has been empty! I went on Wednesday this week - when the majority of English schools are still on their summer holidays (Benidorm is a massive English holiday resort). All of the rides were walk ons all day - most suprising for this was the Titande Vekoma SLC because they only had one train running anyway! The only two rides we queued on at all were the rapids (5 mins) and the Minotaur dark ride (10 mins). I also went last summer in mid-August, which was a little busier than this year, but still all of the rides were practically walk ons all day.

 

I spoke to a ride operator on one of the rides who said that weekends are particularly quiet, and that whilst this was the quietest week so far of the summer holidays, it hadn't been that much busier at all.

 

Now what I want to know is how can this park be running? It is clearly making a loss - we got 2 for 1 tickets from a flyer at the airport and so paid 19 euros each (the 5th in our party got a 10 euros off ticket price). We were offered wristbands to come back the following day for free. They are clearly trying to get people into the park just to spend some money in there! Do you think that Terra Mitica will still be around in a few years (and go bankrupt as it did 2004-06)? Someone mentioned the possibility of a new coaster and the reopening of Iberia in 2013 - will that really happen if they're not bringing people into the park?

 

It is a real shame because as I've said, the rides are pretty decent for GP (not amazing, but enjoyable), the shows are also very good (the pirate one in particular is world class!), and the prices of food and souvenirs is very reasonable - so why are people not going? I was there from 10am-6pm and went on everything so we left then - would be interesting to know if it's busier in the evenings because they have a big laser show at 11pm).

 

What is everyone's 2 cents on the matter? Would be interested to know.

 

P.S. Sorry the first post wasn't as short as I intended it to be! Kind of got carried away!

[SharkTums]

Maybe some of our Spain Locals can chime in on this, but I agree with pretty much everything you said. It was a very nice park, nice staff, nice rides, nice food, etc. It wasn't a full day park by any means, and it may suffer from being in such a resort town. Similar to the Myrtle Beach Hard Rock Fail Debacle...people don't go to Benidorm for theme parks, they go for the beach and water.

 

Hopefully something can be done with the park as it would be a shame to lose it.

[spinning man]

I think that terra mitica needs a high coaster, to be able to make it more appealing to those who aren't so sure in going there when viewing it at a distance. Only the lifthill section though. Anyway, when I went with my father and brother it was really empty, which was something I was surprised about. But the thing that I felt the park should have was a thrilling steel coaster other than the SLC, and a new family coaster. The reason why I think it has been so empty is because maybe the general public has given it bad reviews with it's ride choice (and maybe some issues with the labyrinth of the minotaur). A nice steel coaster should bring in the public. I do feel that a B&M floorless would fit in the area nicely. The park area is very unique and as Sharktums wrote, it would indeed be a shame to lose it.

[MrSum1_55]

I have never set foot in this park, nor in the country of Spain for that matter, but, from my observation, I think the problem is the fact that this is really more of a 'shows' park. As if it wants to be the Dollywood or Silver Dollar City of Europe. It has a few rides, but the main attractions are shows. Unfortunately, the locals seem more demanding in the rides department. One mistake they probably made was having RCCA design what should have been the star attraction. Sadly, all of the adult coasters are either painful or very short, and there is no middle of the road family coaster.

 

If this park closed, not many coasters will be missed, but the theming and charm this park offered most certainly will be.

[NathP]

I went on Thursday 9th August and it was very empty then. Everything a walk on apart from the dark ride and spinning frisbee which had no more then a 10 minute line. It is a nice park with great theming but it feels like something is missing, I noticed many unused buildings, the queue lines I found very odd too. The Roma area was like ghost town as Iberia area is closed, no one in sight! Aqualandia on the other hand which is their water park was PACKED!

[1aflack]

I think you summed it up pretty well when you said Benidorm is a massive English holiday resort. When you go to Port Aventura it's full of Spanish people, Terra Mitica was built for the tourists visiting so no Spanish really visit.

 

As a brit personally I can say if its the middle of August and it's 95 degrees with high humidity the last place I would want to be would be a theme park, I would want to be on the beach or in a waterpark. I would chose to visit the park at the night but thats when the hoards of drunken brits go to the pubs and clubs.

 

I can't see how the park will survive personally especially watching the news the other night and seeing how the British are turning away from places like Benidorm now and the resort as a whole is really struggling.

[neovortex2k]

Its such a shame for this park. Its a good size, the rides are pretty good and I personally think the themeing is amazing but it is so quite. I went in July about 2 years ago, once for a full day and once for a half day at night, and it was dead. Walked on every single ride. I really hope it doesnt go under and gets some more foot traffic.