PortAventura Discussion Thread

[RCT3Bross]

Wait the first time I read about this I figured it was just a restaurant and some digital experience not entire new gate, that confuses me even more then the beginning. I wonder how this will will turn out for them as I don't understand the move at all.

[gardyloo!]

I have to agree with you, it seems odd to open a fourth gate when Ferrari Land isn't a full day park, or a even a half day park. When we visited last year, we went straight to Red Force and then did the drop towers. Nothing else in the park really caught our eye, so we headed back to PA after those two rides. We did go back later in the day for more rides on Red Force (the line was only about 20 minutes around 5pm), but there really isn't any must-dos at the park besides Red Force. It would make more sense to have LaLiga be a land within Ferrari Land, as that would really help fill out the park.

 

Completely agree, but even as a land, it would feel out of place in Port Aventura park. It would make much more sense in the Ferrari Park. Not only to increase it's size but also just the modern vibe the land will bring with it.

 

From a business standpoint, I kinda get the idea. Same logic why Ferrari Land, and Walt Disney Studios in Paris, were built. Just to enhance the 'size' of the resort, making it feel guests need more days simply because they're advertising multiple parks.

 

Timing wise...

 

Odd choice and timing for sure.

 

yea, that really doesn't make much sense. Especially since PA resort has some pretty major liquidity & debt issues.

[Canobie Coaster]

I definitely wasn't expecting this announcement. I agree with everyone else that the best way to integrate this into the resort would be to add it as an area of Ferrari Land. That may actually make that park worthy of a full day. If this opens as a standalone park, I fear it may not have enough rides for a full day and be a repeat of Ferrari Land.

[grsupercity]

I would bet new attractions haven't increased attendance but their studies have shown that a new gate would? That is my .02

[domirellativegal]

Hey Everybody  

I have a question. I want to visit PortAventura this year. However neither me or my companion have a drivers licence to rent a car. What is the best way to get to the park from an international airport (probably Barcelona) and can you recommend a stay at the PortAventura Hotel?

Also, how many days do you think are enough to experience everything the Park(s) have to offer? 

[VegasBaby]

6 hours ago, domirellativegal said:

Hey Everybody  

I have a question. I want to visit PortAventura this year. However neither me or my companion have a drivers licence to rent a car. What is the best way to get to the park from an international airport (probably Barcelona) and can you recommend a stay at the PortAventura Hotel?

Also, how many days do you think are enough to experience everything the Park(s) have to offer? 

PortAventura is super easy to get to by train, it has its own stop on the train line.  So you'll just have to taxi from the airport to the main train station in Barcelona.  I would plan at least 2 days at the park, or 3 if you want to hit the water park.  I would also suggest staying at one of the on-site hotels as park admission is included if you stay there.  The park also has express passes you can buy, which I would suggest getting at least one of the days of your visit.  I would check out the park's english website as it was very helpful when I was planning our trip back in 2019.

[KarlaKoaster]

8 hours ago, domirellativegal said:

Hey Everybody  

I have a question. I want to visit PortAventura this year. However neither me or my companion have a drivers licence to rent a car. What is the best way to get to the park from an international airport (probably Barcelona) and can you recommend a stay at the PortAventura Hotel?

Also, how many days do you think are enough to experience everything the Park(s) have to offer? 

See if you can fly to Reus, Ryanair and a few European budget airlines go there, and it's literally a 10-15 minute taxi drive away from the park. If not, it's an easy train journey from Barcelona by train. 

I have stayed at the Gold River hotel and actually really liked it. Not sure about the PortAventura hotel. The theming was really nice and it has its own entrance into the park, but it wasn't really possible to go to other hotels in the evenings (like I normally do at Europa or Disney). 

I think if things go your way you can do the parks in two days, but the operations are very unreliable, so it depends when you are visiting and how much time you would normally spend eating, watching shows etc (some of the shows are good), so maybe 3 days if you aren't on a tight schedule and you're not likely to visit again for a while.

[domirellativegal]

Thank you very very much @VegasBaby & @KarlaKoaster

Great to hear that the train ride is no problem from Barcelona. I'll also check the route through Reus as this sounds extremely convenient. 

I'd probably combine a stay in Barcelona as well as a stay at the on site resort so I can freely choose how many days are enough but 3 sounds about right. I always do every attraction, even the kiddie rides.

[KarlaKoaster]

10 hours ago, domirellativegal said:

Thank you very very much @VegasBaby & @KarlaKoaster

Great to hear that the train ride is no problem from Barcelona. I'll also check the route through Reus as this sounds extremely convenient. 

I'd probably combine a stay in Barcelona as well as a stay at the on site resort so I can freely choose how many days are enough but 3 sounds about right. I always do every attraction, even the kiddie rides.

No problem, let me know (message me) if you need any Barcelona recommendations as I have lived there for most of my life!

[VegasBaby]

11 hours ago, domirellativegal said:

Thank you very very much @VegasBaby & @KarlaKoaster

Great to hear that the train ride is no problem from Barcelona. I'll also check the route through Reus as this sounds extremely convenient. 

I'd probably combine a stay in Barcelona as well as a stay at the on site resort so I can freely choose how many days are enough but 3 sounds about right. I always do every attraction, even the kiddie rides.

Hope you have a great trip, we absolutely loved our visit to Barcelona and PortAventura.  Make sure you get some night rides on Shambhala, it's an airtime machine and the night rides are insane! 

[Innovtech]

My Wife & I spend the first week of October in Salou every year and we fit in 2/3 days at Port Aventura every time we’re there.

It’s a great time to go as the park is extremely quite mid-week with most rides being walk-ons and you also get the bonus of the park being decorated for Halloween.   We always buy the 2 Parks/3days ticket which means we can spend a day at each park mid-week going on all the rides when the queues are really short (don’t forget the shows, they’re all amazing) & then we go back at the weekend when the park is really busy, just to watch the Halloween Parade which is only on Sat/Sun at the start of Oct.  We also get as many night rides on Shambhala as possible. (Front row in the dark is the nuts)

We always stay down in Salou which is a beautiful town with great hotels, beaches,bars & restaurants.  It’s a fantastic cost effective alternative to the on-site park hotels & it’s only 15-20min walk to the park from the town (their are also plenty of buses/taxis and even a boardwalk style train) that will take you there too for a few Euros if you don’t want to walk).  
Our last hotel room in Salou had an amazing view of Red Force’s Top Hat from the Balcony, was right next the beach and cost less for a full week than it would for 2 nights in a park hotel. 

We fly from the UK to Reus Aiport which takes around 2.5 hours. Reus airport is only 15mins/8miles from Salou & Port Aventura and a taxi costs about 35 Euro each way in a taxi.

Hope that helps,

enjoy you trip. 

 

 

 

[KarlaKoaster]

Also Tibidabo is a cute park in Barcelona worth going to (bus is probably the fastest way there) with incredible views of the city, particularly if you go up the church. There are a lot of historical rides and the Vekoma coaster is great fun with amazing views too. 

[oriolat]

Man arrested after base jump from the top of Red Force

 

Last Monday, two men broke into Ferrari Land to perform a base jump from the top of Red Force, the Intamin LSM giga coaster at the resort, at 112 meters.

After sneaking past security and jumping over the security fencing (lol), George King (a guy that has attempted other crazy climbs and jumps), aged 22, climbed to the top of Red Force using the coaster's track. I assumed that he would have used the maintenance elevator that leads directly to the top of the top hat, but he decided to use the drop of Red Force as a ladder instead.

When he reached the top of the coaster, he performed a base jump landing on the neighbouring car park, where he was surrounded by a swarm of security and police.

Apparently, he has given a warning against doing another stunt like this again in Spain, or else the next time he will be facing prison.

This is what he posted on his Instagram account:

Quote

I have wanted to climb this structure since 17…. But I made a pact to myself that I was going to wait until BASE before getting it under my belt. Patience is a beautiful thing… Im glad I waited.

My desire for BASE jumping first started when I was very young… probably around 10/11. I remember watching videos of BASE jumpers and so I would intuitively pretend I was BASE jumper by climbing up high trees and then jumping off them. I was very curious about the feeling it gave me… been scared… over-riding it… landing on the ground and getting a thrill out of it, I now know that as adrenaline… but I soon got very addicted to it.

I use to do it a lot at school and I remember my school made an example out of me by excluding me for doing it. They feared it may encourage others to do the same.

Now 22, I had planned to get into BASE much earlier, but when I was 17 I dislocated my shoulder in freefall when doing a skydive solo course. That completely crushed my dreams for many years.
Up until I got double surgery on both shoulders.
After the many ups and downs of this journey, now with 2 anchors in both shoulders…. it’s good to be in thick of my childhood dreams.

Once I landed I got swarmed by security/police… with no opportunity to run I decided to lay like a star fish on my back looking up at the sky from where I had fallen… laughing hysterically whilst all the authorities formed a semi circle around me looking down at me trying to work out what to do with this strange Englishman.

They then slapped me in the cells for 48 hours and handed me a 2 year suspended prison sentence.... which means no more climbs in Spain for 2 years!
Estoy muy loco!

If anybody wants to see the video, it has spread like wildfire in social media. There are some IG Stories of him climbing Red Force's track and the most viral video is him performing the actual base jump.

Even though you can see all of this in his IG account, there is a complete video of his climb and jump on Youtube:

If you ask me, the fact that somebody can so easily break into the park makes me wonder how lousy security is at PortAventura. I am sure the insurance will not be happy about this. Hopefully this will encourage the park to take action and guard their perimeter more closely and get better fencing or monitoring systems. As for the stunt itself, I cannot understand how someone can risk his life for some thousands of likes and social media praise: he could have easily died.

 

[FreakPlanet SP]

PortAventura World and Sony Pictures Entertainment announce World’s First ‘Uncharted’ Dark Ride Roller Coaster 

• Manufacturer: Intamin
• Multi dimension coaster
• Investment: 25 million euros ($26,04 million)
• 700m length
• 12 meters high
• 5 launches up to 1g
• 4800m2 surface area
• Desing collaboration: Intamin and Sally Dark Rides

 

Official announcements:

 

Works:

Supposed design:

[SharkTums]

Well, I guess Kristen is going to demand a TPR Trip to Spain now to ride Tom Holland!!!!

[DBru]

Me first!!!

[Hilltopper39]

This is kind of a cool project,  should be interesting to follow considering that rumored Fast n Furious coaster coming to Universal Hollywood is also probably from Intamin. Might see some similar technology used, or it could be completely different and unrelated but more coaster dark rides is never a bad thing.

[KBrylczyk]

The games are phenomenal, the movie was pretty darn crappy. This ride looks pretty funky, though.  I'm a sucker for wacky indoor coasters with gimmicks (looking at you Winjas and Van Helsing).

[FreakPlanet SP]

New video inside the building:

 

[TrippinBillie]

This thing looks brilliant!  I'm shocked Epic Universe didn't use this "story-telling" type ride for it.  Maybe IoA or Studios could add this?  Simpsons or Fear Factor Plot?  Or just re-do F&F...

[grsupercity]

Anyone else hearing the rumor of Universal buying PortAdventura and being involved in the park again?

[SharkTums]

^Yup, heard the rumors.  I think it would be a good thing at this point. 

[KBrylczyk]

With the kind of gangbusters business Comcast has seen from Universal Park & Resorts recently, I'm guessing they're looking to expand on the cheap.  Buying Port Aventura has to be cheaper than building Universo épico or whatever.

[Nrthwnd]

On 11/30/2022 at 5:31 PM, DBru said:

Me first!!!

I'm going to play the "Age Before Beauty" card.

No, Me first!

[FreakPlanet SP]

The spot for the new coaster