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PortAventura Discussion Thread


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^Did they let you pick the tow you wanted? Have a great day, I'll be here on friday.
nope, they didn't let you pick a row.

We were just lucky that on our 3rd ride we had front row seats. Have fun this friday!

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^ Not you, I was asking the person who I quoted.

 

Okay, my bad. I thought you were asking it in general. Like you wanted to know how the park looks like and how the rides and theming are. I didn't realize you were asking it directly to the person you quoted. In case you are interested, you have the link to my trip report

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^ Not you, I was asking the person who I quoted.

 

Okay, my bad. I thought you were asking it in general. Like you wanted to know how the park looks like and how the rides and theming are. I didn't realize you were asking it directly to the person you quoted. In case you are interested, you have the link to my trip report

 

I read your TR when it came out, and it was really good and very useful for me, but I like to have a range of reviews on everything and was taking an interest in someone else's trip. Everyone likes different things, so it is always good to hear from many people. It was not meant to be mean.

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Your trip reports are appreciated.

 

Your trip report was fantastic, it's much appreciated.

 

Thanks guys, I am happy that you all enjoy my trip reports. After all, that's what they are for.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Quick Ferrari Land takes:

 

-At least right now, no one is going. There's merch deals inside, the racing simuators (based on what I believe is RFactorPro) are free instead of upcharge, and the promotional pricing is being given to just about everyone. Onsite hotels will begin including admission there for a day later this week. This is great if you're around and want to ride their stuff endlessly. Unfortunately they only really have 5 rides and a show in beating hot sun.

 

-Red Force is better than Kingda Ka, not as good as Dragster. Further back in the train the vibration on the bottom of the top hat is more noticeable. I don't consider it un-rideable.

 

-Flying theater is solid. Standard Motion simulator got zero reaction from riders we were with. There's 3 pre-shows for the latter and another video in the load area.

 

-Car ride seemed to be a disaster. People literally screwing parts of it together as cars were going around. Ours just died when we pulled up to the station.

 

-Merch is expensive, but right now you can get a shirt and hat for 50 EUR, which is less than the list of just the shirt alone (52EUR).

 

If they don't plan to double the number of rides ASAP, then they need to advertise that no one is in it to get people to go as an alternative to Express. JMHO. Also I'm concerned seeing the decrepit boat ride and several flats/restaurants being out of service that the resort has been investing heavy into the new gate and less into PortAventura (AKA where people actually pay money to go).

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Interesting.

 

I actually found it pretty weird that this thread has been so dead right after the opening of the tallest and fastest coaster in Europe. I guess the lack of interest here is a reflection of a general lack of interest overall.

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^ I also noticed there hasn't been a lot of activity here which is curious.

^^ thanks for the report. I'm planning to go there myself in august and, from what I understood, you have to choose a time slot to visit the park (either the first half of the day or the second) and being so I'll probably go for the first.

Has red force been fairly reliable or not so much (like some accelerator intamins)?

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^ I also noticed there hasn't been a lot of activity here which is curious.

^^ thanks for the report. I'm planning to go there myself in august and, from what I understood, you have to choose a time slot to visit the park (either the first half of the day or the second) and being so I'll probably go for the first.

Has red force been fairly reliable or not so much (like some accelerator intamins)?

 

Red Force has downtime. It'll probably have issues in August because its gonna be stupid hot. I saw it running two trains and it was a walk-on. A ten minute walk away in PortAventura, Furius Baco had a 90 minute wait posted. Once they give admission to everyone in the resorts starting on 6/24, the attendance should improve a bit. Honestly, its kinda offensive that I had to pay for it while people in peak season get it for free, but whatever. I probably won't be back for years. Or ever. Who knows.

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^I visited Ferrari Land on April 11th, a Tuesday. And the park was very crowded that day; 60+ minutes for Red Force, 90+ minutes for Maranello Grand Race, 30+ minutes for Thrill Towers and 30+ minutes for Flying Dreams and Racing Legends. Granted, it was the first week the park was open, but still. So I would definitely not say that no one is going. If you have only one day, and you have to choose between Ferrari Land and PortAventura Park, that's an easy choice. Ferrari Land has Red Force, but that's it really. While PA has Shambhala ( ), Dragon Khan, Furius Baco, Hurakan Condor and so much more.

 

In case you are interested, you can read my full review from Ferrari Land here.

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Is this just based on your trip alone? I went on a Friday in May and it was pretty crowded with 40 minute waits on all of the Ferrari Land attractions. I get that my visit was one day also, but it's not fair to say no one is going. Although we stayed on property so yeah it sucks we didn't get in for free but I feel like for 25 bucks it was a very fair price.

 

Regardless of whether or not I went, the simulators miraculously being free in June, the merch discounts, and the extending of entry to resort guests has all happened. Those things would not be taking place if the park was half as busy as PortAventura itself, but even with its greatly reduced capacity, the board generally read 0 minute waits for all attractions (occasionally 10 for Flying Dreams) with a busy park next door. If I had to venture a guess, its that the groups going to the park right now aren't paying for Ferrari Land, but Port Aventura only. Maybe later on in the summer we stop seeing large groups attending the park, but that seems unlikely. And if that was the expectation, why hand out tickets to the 3-4000 you have on property instead of making them pay?

 

I thought it was better than Ka and Dragster. The trains are why - insanely comfortable lapbars. Also, I think the 90 degree twist allowed for the height and drop to be a lot more realized than the 270 degree twist and the airtime in the back was incredible and lasted forever.

 

I'm not that big a guy, so the lapbars on Dragster don't bother me at all. I definitely prefer its launch and the longer trains make it a more significant ride coming down. The track work is what it is. My wife said she got headaches from riding it because of the vibration, so it affects people differently. For whatever its worth, we both rode Furius Baco in the back and enjoyed it (though it plainly isn't as good a ride as Thunderbird), so we aren't total wusses here.

 

The preshows for this were insane. I couldn't believe it as we walked into more and more of them. The ride system is cool but I found the video to be really boring. But I'm not really a fan of Soarin' either and it's basically the same thing with a Ferrari on the road below the scene...and some of the scenes were kinda lame compared to even Soarin'. It all looked great but was a little down.

 

The more basic simulator ride was right up my alley as a racing fan. The screens and film were in good shape, which is more than I can say about Ferrari World, if I may be so honest. I thought they were fine. Also realized afterwards that 2 of the 3 real indoor ride/attractions in the resort were sharing a building in Ferrari Land.

 

-Car ride seemed to be a disaster. People literally screwing parts of it together as cars were going around. Ours just died when we pulled up to the station.

 

No problems with that, but it was extremely slow loading and I do think the cars go a little slow even for a family car ride. It looked absolutely fantastic though.

 

It definitely looks great, but functionally I've never seen workers toiling over a car ride like that trying to keep it running 2+ months after it opened. It was like nothing fit together.

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Dear All,

 

We bought the promotional two parks two days ticket for POrt Aventura and Ferrari Land.

 

We will be in Salou from Saturday to Tuesday (wed morning). Our original plan was to go to Port Aventura on Monday (they are now open to midnight) all day and then go to Ferrari Land (10am-8pm) on Tuesday so after Ferrari Land we can go to PA for rides we liked the most on Monday.

 

We are trying to avoid crowds as much as possible. The problem that for Tuesday they forecast heavy rain so we dont want to miss out on Ferrari Land.

 

The alternative plan to go on Sunday and Monday.

 

How much more people can we except on Sunday? Again, we are trying to spend our day not queing. Saturday is Joan Baptist day and the park is open until 3am, maybe people are gearing up for that and skip Sunday.

 

What are your suggestions?

 

Peter

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  • 1 month later...

Just came from a 3 day stay at PortAventura Resort, and I can definetely say that Shambhala(in PortAventura) and Red Force (in Ferrari Land) are the main rides you have to experience. Shambhala was my first B&M and my first Hypercoaster, and it was by far the best thrill value of any coaster I have ever been on (talking in reference to all Australian theme parks and Thorpe Park). Red force is fast, tall, and it will take your breath away. I recommend buying an Express ticket for Ferrari Land, as it includes a one-use Express to all major attractions for €20 per person (totally worth it). Red Force was a walk-on with the Express, and the line was 70 minutes long. Red Force uses Intamin's all new lap bar system, which really lets you feel the forces.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I visited the park earlier this month but hadn't really had much time to write something about it. It was my third time at the park and first at Ferrari Land so here are one or two thoughts:

 

Ferrari Land: the place looked pretty nice and decently themed but we didn't really try that many rides. We did the S&S towers, red force and not much more. Red force was exactly what I expected: a really fun but short ride. It didn't have the intensity of Kingda Ka as you could definitely tell the slower acceleration and top speed. The "straight" drop was fun ut I prefer the ones with the 270 degree twist as they ad something to these really short coasters. The restraints were great and it felt pretty smooth. Entering the top hat was also much softer than on kk where you start climbing quite brutally under heavy Gs which was something I missed a bit. Me and my friends managed (after a "race") to be the very first riders of that day which was quite cool. I felt like the glasses they give you if you ride the front row make it feel not as intense due to the wind on your face.

I got the feeling that not many people were going to ferrariland when compared to portaventura (which perhaps explains why they have already dropped the combined ticket price) which is a shame as the place is quite fun to go to (and if you're a coaster enthusiast you have to ride red force) even thought it only made our waits shorter.

 

Portaventura: still the same as before, really. This time I got to try angkor (my first splash battle) which was great fun especially as it was horribly hot that day. I also tried the one side of stampida I hadn't ridden before and took quite a bit of a beating. Despite this I still enjoyed the ride as the layout pretty interesting (the only problem really is the roughness). Speaking of roughness, Dragon Khan sadly wasn't as smooth as on my two previous visits. I guess it's starting to show its age which is a shame as it is one of my favorite coasters. Still I didn't think it was enough to harm the ride experience. Shambhala also wasn't as smooth but honestly that's nothing as I had ridden it on its opening year and it was simply the smoothest ride I had ever been on. Now it's just "normal", I'd say. Still provides loads of airtime which is what really matters. Finally, on my third visit I managed to ride furius baco in the front row and it really is A LOT smoother than in any other row and a much better ride experience. This ride really impresses me as it manages to be so good and so much fun even though it's really rough and short. I never get tired of riding it. Just wish they'd get rid of those stupid things they added to the restraints (next to your head) and maybe replace them with the soft ones some intamin coasters with OTSR have been getting recently.

 

Overall I had a great day and can't wait to return, hopefully with a bit more time to explore some parts of the parks I haven't tried yet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was at the park yesterday for the first time. The place blew me away. I knew it was going to be nice, but I absolutely loved the theming and diversity, and just how enormous the place was.

 

I ran to Red Force first thing (it really took me off guard when EVERYONE pelted forward at full sprint. I'm used to casually jogging my way ahead of everyone.) I was on maybe the second or third train of Red Force, and right away they had a few technical difficulties and slow loading problems. "Oh boy," I thought, "we're in for a long day." One of the ride attendants actually went to each person waiting and tried to explain IN THEIR LANGUAGE. Poor thing, haha. The first people she goes to: "Spanish?" "Niet, Russki". Ride op, sigh: "English okay?" "Da." She explains. Next pair, the guy starts off right away "Bonjour!" And she sighs exasperatedly before explaining in French, and on down the line. Couldn't believe the customer service in that regard. 2 minutes later the ride is back running and I was proven vastly mistaken. The ride ops were amazing on Red Force. Super quick in and out, and within seconds we were rolling out the station and blasted immediately away. Honestly, I was not expecting much out of Red Force and was seriously considering skipping paying the combined park fee entirely (but it was only like 6 euros extra so it was no problem), but I was very pleasantly surprised. I loved the rolling launch. It felt very fast and forceful (I've been on all the fast launchers and was on Formula Rossa even earlier this year, so I was expecting to be underwhelmed but it held its own!). The ride up was smooth, there was air at the top (though not sustained), the view of the coast was perfect, and then the drop was magnificent. I also absolutely love TTD's and KK's twisting drops, but this one was very nice too. Well worth the extra 6 euros. I rode it three times back to back (thank you single rider line), took a lap of the park, and was out by 10:30, a half hour after rope drop. That was enough for me

 

PortAventura is spectacularly beautiful in every regard. I've spent a lot of time in Asia so had special affinity for the back half of the park, and loved every corner of it. Replicating the Great Wall in the lead up to the back B&Ms is just brilliant. And having Dragon Khan on a raised Forbidden City-esque platform? Just amazing. I've been dying to ride Dragon Khan since I discovered the internet back in grade school and it did not disappoint one bit. A little old and shaky for sure, but good ol' classic B&M 90s forcefulness,and I loved it. The barrel roll had me literally shouting with joy.

 

And Shambhala is just a masterpiece. The perfect theming, detail, and concept for a B&M hyper, and they delivered seamlessly. I was counting literally 5-6 seconds of pure airtime bliss on almost every hill. Got 4 rides in during the day and probably rank it as my favorite B&M hyper now, finally topping Behemoth which I've considered the best B&M hyper since I rode it in 2010.

 

Hurakan Condor was simply brilliant. The woodies and mine train on the park's left side were a little underwhelming. Stampida's wait was excruciating as the ride op would let on literally 3/4 trains of express pass people consistently. The layout was so forgettable that I didn't even bother reriding for the second side. Saw similar things at Shambhala, but the single rider line more than made up for it.

 

Furious Baco was my last stop of the day before collapsing on the train back to Barcelona exhausted late afternoon, and again the ride ops for FB were just miserably slow. Again, 1/2-3/4 trains for express pass people, and I ended up in the second row. "What the heck," I said, "How bad could the outside seats reeeeeeallly be????" Lord have mercy, I about died. I can handle rough, but that was just brutal. Full apocalypse brace mode the entire way through, completely unrideable. What a shame. I loved everything else about it though. The setting, the theme, the layout, the swoop over the water, the barrel roll... but good Lord. Oh well.

 

I would looooooove to come back one day and spend a couple days in a resort with my family. Really just had such a nice time, and would love to go through again at a more leisurely pace.

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