Portaventura Park, Spain

...==WHAT IS IT ?==
PortAventura is a theme park on the Costa Daurada ("Golden Coast") just outside Salou and about two hours from Barcelona.


The park is split into 5 areas:

*Mediterrània
*Polynesia
*China
*México
*Far West

Each area has its own themed rides, restaurants and shops related to the land you are in. This makes the park easy to navigate ...
...Salou.

Portaventura resort includes 3 hotels, a beach club and a waterpark with the latest new slides.The 3 hotels are themed and landscaped wonderfully and each has its own special features. The waterpark includes 5 main slides, a lazy river, a volleyball court and a wave pool.


===MY EXPERIENCES===

We travelled to PortAventura for a week in October in the Halloween season.
INCREDIBLE!! ... more

THIS ISN'T DEJA VUE!!
I had put my review unwittingly in the wrong spot, I have not got it where oit belongs so if you kind people who rated it before could do so again I would be very gratefulas the other has to go!!!

PORT AVENTURA THEME PARK

After much nagging and begging we eventually gave in to our twelve year old son to take him to Port Aventura theme park, near Salou in Spain last October.

We were staying in one of the parks hotel's but this review will be purely for the Park itself as I feel that the hotels are worthy of a review in their own right.

So this review will be for the benefit of people wanting to know of the pros and cons of Port Aventura Theme Park - this review is written from an older person's perspective ( I was an old mum when I had Jack, I was aged 45 - my husband is nine years older) so I think between the three of us I can give a few perspectves.

WHAT IS IT ?

PortAventura is a theme park on the Costa Daurada ("Golden Coast") just outside Salou and about two hours from Barcelona.

The park is split into 5 areas:

• Mediterrània
• Polynesia
• China
• México
• Far West

Each area has its own themed rides, restaurants and shops related to the land you are in. This makes the park easy to navigate as you walk round the lands basically circling the lake. There are over 30 rides, up to 100 shows a day and 75 different food and drink points including many restaurants and bars.

Thought by many as the Spanish alternative to Disneyland Paris. It has been known as 'Universal's Port Aventura', 'Universal Mediteranea' and now just PortAventura.It is the biggest theme park in the south of Europe. The airports for the resort are10 minutes away at Reus airport, 1 hour Barcelona airport and 2 hours Girona airport. There is also a train station for Port Aventura which has connections to Barcelona and Salou.

Portaventura resort includes 3 hotels, a beach club and a waterpark with the latest new slides.The 3 hotels are themed and landscaped wonderfully and each has its own special features. The waterpark includes 5 main slides, a lazy river, a volleyball court and a wave pool.

MY EXPERIENCES

We travelled to PortAventura for a week in October in the Halloween season.
INCREDIBLE!!

Anyone who has been to Disneyland Paris and has seen the decorations and themes will be surprised to know that PortAventura does it 10 times better!!
Every hotel, restaurant, shop and ride was based on Halloween and my goodness me the characters!!!!!!

We stayed in the El Paso hotel and they have a complete block of rooms - converted to 'Hotel Burn' for the season and it is possible to upgrade to it for a weekend ( if you dare) Between 9:00 pm and 2:00 am, ghost actors enter and move around the rooms, jumping out of wardrobes etc.
Let me go pack to the park, I do tend to waffle sorry!!

During our stay the opening times for the park were 10:00 am - 19:00 pm. and due to the time of year the water park ( Caribe Aquatic Park) was not open .

Our first day, my son - naturally - was eager to get to the park, we made our way to the park entrance at around 9.00am ( as I said he was very eager), we were allowed in to the main entrance at 9.30 am, much to my son's pleasure he was first in the park that day.

MEDITERRANIA

The main entrance area of the park is in Mediterrania. In here there are only two rides but there are several restaurants and shops reproducing a typical mediterranian coastal town in Catalonia, it even has it's own 'beach'. It is a very pretty area and there are loads of picture opportunities.

The two rides in this area are the Furius Baco and a boat ride.
Now let me tell you a little about my son. He is completley and utterly mad on roller coasters - but is also a complete and utter whimp, full of good intentions he normally bottles out of any bigger rides.
Before our holiday he had researched all he rides well and he knew all about the Furius Baco.

This roller coaster, opened in 2007, and is based on hay-wire grape collecting machine, launched by a professor's pet monkey. It has a top speed of 83.9 mph (135 km/h) and is the fastest roller coaster in Europe. The ride is themed along a hay-wire grape collecting machine, launched by a professor's pet monkey.
To get on the ride you walk up a steep vineyard ( there are actual vines growing, no plastic artificial ones here) were you get into the carriages. The riders sit with feet dangling, and watch a video as 'things go wrong' and you are shot off at an incredible speed

Pictures of Universal Studios Port Aventura [TV Advertisement]

Map of the Park- over the lake and back to the start, the ride seems to be over in seconds - I think it is actually just over 3 seconds long. On our third day I literally dragged my son on the ride and we both loved it and went on it several more times. The worst part was the walk up to the ride!

The boat ride takes visitors from the Mediterrania area at Port de la Drassana to the Chinese area, a nice relaxing ride after the Furius Baco on Chinese junks, catamarans and Catalonian boats
Here you can also board the genuine steam train at Estacio del Nord to take you to Penitence in the Far West

The dining areas in Mediterrania are

• El Pòsit* for hot or cold fishermen's tapas
• La Gelateria* for ice creams, shakes and coffees
• Raco de Mar* for traditional Catalan cuisine, including beef and seafood
• La Fleca* for sweets and pastries in the mornings, pizza through the rest of the day.

POLYNESIA

The Polynesian area is a really lovely part of the park, and I think my favourite, there are no 'white knuckle' rides here but still plenty to do.

The rides are a traditional rocking pirate boat swing - Kon-Tiki; Tutuki Splash - a water ride where you experience being shot out of a volcano in a flume style boat. ( youWILL get wet!!); Sea Odyssey, this is a 3-D attraction that takes you to the bottom of the sea to rescue a trapped sub from an underwater volcano.The queuing area is themed and interesting and the ride itself is great with an interesting pre show film and effects; Tami Tami, this ride which achieves reasonable speeds and travels over a lake, it is basically a kid's ride - but I loved it; Canoes, this was a miniature flume ride, for the kids my son sulked because he was classed as too big to go on it!; Waikiki is another kids ride, a very tame pirae shiptype ride; the last ride is another kid's ride - Loco-Loco Tiki, a carousel type ride.

The dining areas in Polynesia are

• Bora-Bora* which serves Hawaiian and other Pacific-influenced meat and seafood
  dshes. (There is also a musical show in here)
• Captain's Refuge* for tapas and fruit drinks

For my husband and I the best part of Polynesia were the shows, they were incrdible!

Aloha Tahití is set on a small beach on the shores of Tahiti. It oinvolves traditional Polynesian dance and music. It gives you the opportunity to take a welcome seat for half an hour and admire the beautiful sight of these dancers from the South Seas in the lovely Spanish sunshine. It really is a wonderful show.

Aves del Paraíso This is the best bird demonstration I have ever seen. Parrots, macaws, cockatoos, pelicans, cassowaries and so many otherr birds from around the world fill the stage of the Teatro Makaku with colour. It is certainly not to be missed - some incredible flying displays.

Pareos en Bora-Bora This is the show that is onstage at the Bora-Bora restaurant where the dancers demonstrate the many incredible ways of wearing a sarong while dancing to the beat of the live music.

At Halloween Polynesia closes at 19:00 to accommodate La Selva del Miedo is the largest maze in Europe with ghouls and ghosties!!Walk through the forest at your peril. Don't go in alone. And don't wander off the path. You have been warned !!!

CHINA

Surrounded by the 'Great Wall of China' this is a very popular part of the mark mainly due to the fact that it is is home to the biggest ride in the park - Dragon Khan, with 8 inversions this is one of the most thrilling rides in Europe. Dragon Khan looks very impressive and dominates the landscape. It is a very exciting and non stop ride. The first drop is fantastic as it gives you a great view of Salou.
The whole area is designed in a Chinese fashion and other rides are Cobra Imperial , a snake ride . It is very enjoyable and quite a lot faster than any of this type of ride I have been on, certainly takes your breath away; Fumanchu.is a swinging chair ride with an oriental theme, it is higher and faster than others I have been on; there are Tea Cups - pretty self explanatory; the Area Infantil is a brilliant area for younger children and has many rides, rides, play areas and friendly dragon for them .

Also here is Waitan Port the Chinese landing dock from where Chinese junks oats you from here to Mediterrania

Xim-Pang* offering some good Chinese food.
Marco Polo* here you you can enjoy a wide variety of dishes.A chinese buffet where you eat as much as you like
Sichuan* offering spring rolls, salads, rice and Oriental dishes in a pleasant open-air diner.
Canton* here there are oriental cuisine specialties, surrounded by gardens and ponds, under the shade of the golden roof of the Canton Palace.
What cannot be forgotten in China is the wonderful show - Fantasía Mágica de China.This was a really professional highly polished magic act - well worth seeing. I I don't think I will actually be able to convey just how good it was. The show itself is held in a theatre in the middle of China and the first shock was how big the place was, it was a full size theatre with tiered seating and ushers to show you where there where seats are available.

The show itself is outstanding, a really professional highly polished magic act - well worth seeing.

MEXICO

This area is quite a lot more thrilling than the others in the park and is themed around Mayan Mexico.

The main attraction is Hurakan Condor, a drop tower ride operated by a cable lift with tilting seats, the ride provides a large view at the top before riders are sent to free fall to the bottom of the ride. This ride is one of the tallest in the world at 330 ft. The view from the top is incredible - quite scary and very high! It shootsdown so fast that I could hardly scream! Templo Del Fuego is a walkthrough attraction which runs every 30 minutes - we didn't get to go in because of Jack's experiences in El Diablo of which I shall tell you in a moment. But it is basically a Mayan temple which an Indiana Jones type character raids in search of treasure with a high level of pyrotechnics - I would have loved to have seen it but my poor son was in no fit state!!!

El Diablo-Tren de la Mina - well here lies a story!!!!

I loved this ride, it is mine train very much like Disney's Thunder Mountain. Oh yes ,Jack loved the ride - it was the bit before that caused the trouble!!!
As I said earlier we were at Port Aventura during the Halloween season, and as I also said they do Halloween in a BIG way!!

So imagine the scene, Jack has been very excited to go on El Diablo and we decide to use our express ticket to get on quickly. We were following a group of young Spaniards. As in most of the rides at the park, the queing areas are themed to the rides - this was El Diablo and this was Halloween - Port Aventura style !!!

So we follow the group in front of us into the cabin at the entrance - immediately an extremely well made up ' ghoul' jumped out with a machete -Jack jumped a mile !!! Things got worse, around every corner was a gory, frightening scene and character - by now my chubby rugby playing son was hysterical!! The beautiful young Spanish girl in the group in front of us could speak little English but she took Jack's hand ( he was a little TOO keen to do so for my liking!!!!) and she asked each 'character' in Spanish to calm it for Jack. This they did - the funniest part was one scene were a mad professor type character covered in more 'blood' than an entire series of casualty would use was about to demember a body. After a word from our senorita, he put down his impliments grined and waved at JAck - it was hilarious. When we got to the end Jack got a kiss from the young lady ( again I thought he was a bit to keen to accept it!) and he enjoyed the ride. We did find that you could ask to bye pass this stage of the ride, and if you were taking young children I would recommend it.

The next ride we went on was the Serpiente Emplumada, a snake ride where you spin around, and up and down, on the back of the "sacred serpent." - don't go on this aftyer eating!!!

Los Potrillos is a Mexican themed carousel for children, Yucatán is another one to go on on an empty stomach, it spins you around, with up and down bumps, gravity squashed me in the corner of our carriage, good fun though, Trono Pacal is a slower swing ride and Armadillos is a childs aradillo carousel ride.

Dining in Mexico
La Cantina* for Mexican fare served in a plaza while mariachis play.
La Hacienda* for things like stuffed chiles, fajitas and desserts.
Palma Real* for Mexican-inspired snacks
We have one area left now - the wonderful

FAR WEST

This is based on an old wild west town.

The area has nine attractions which makes it the biggest area in the park, gthere is also plenty of music, shows and eating places here.

Volpaiute is a wonderful waltzer ride with a Native American theme; Stampida is a wooden duelling roller coaster. WONDERFUL!!! Rather like the Grand National at Blackpool, you choose to ride on either the red and the blue coasters which both take different routes and pass each other at various points, but are similar. This is a rickety but safe ride, with tight turns, big drops and jerky climbs. No good for anyone with a bad back! Silver River Flume - this is a water flume ride but was closed on our visit; Grand Canyon Rapids, this is a whitewater "tub raft" adventure. It was most definatly a family favourite with us - we got absolutly soaked but soon dried out in the Spanish sun - unbelievable fun: Tomahawk, a miniature version of the Stampida, this is a wooden coaster for the kid but I loved it!! Wild Buffaloes, basically dodgems that were designed as buffaloes but great fun; Buffalo Rodeo a mini version of the Wild Buffaloes for younger children; Carrousel, a good old fashined carousel with a wetern theme, just the thing to have a rest on; Crazy Barrels - this ride was in the process of repair when we were ther, basically it is a spinning barrel ride.

Penitence Station is also here where you can take the train to Mediterrania. Also there was a special Horror in Penitence,as we were told it was worse than El Diablo we didn't risk it , seemingly it is full of terrifying zombies. It is a walk is themed on a ghost town and there were some awful screams coming from there !!!

Dining in the Far West We were spoilt for choice !!
Emma's House* for grilled meats, and salads
Jeremia's Food* Pizza and salads. (Western ?????.)
Mme. Lilie's Grill* grilled meats and sandwiches
he Iron Horse Hote* for a great mix of styles, including Creole and Tex-Mex
The Old Steak House* for T-bones, ribs and hamburgers
The shows in the Far West were

Long Branch Saloon , when we were there it was a special Halloween show - music, magic and ghouls.

This next one was different for us as it was Vampires at Fort Frenzie - a great stunt show with shootings, falls, horses etc.
The Saloon, another special Halloween show featuring spooky magic tricks.

Country Music This is at the Old Steak House and is live country music.
There were also bands playing at the station.

HALLOWEEN PARADE & FIREWORKS SHOW

Again I can only base this at Halloween , on a Saturday at 10.00 pm and Sunday at 9.30pm there is a parade of the halloween characters - not up to the standard of a Disney parade but great fun. The fireworks are on the lake and are well worth watching.

CHARACTERS

The characters are incredible - all the normal ghosts, ghouls, witches, etc etc plus so many more. There is a dead lady in a bed, who scoots around the park and jumps up suddenly- amazing, one woman chased Jack for about 10 minutes until he jumped on a ride!! If you've got children with you, they're not left out. And they'll love it when they spot their favourite animal characters dressed in Halloween costumes.

As well as the Halloween characters there ar Woody Woodpecker, Popeye ans Olive Oil, the Sesame Street character, Betty Boop, Shrek and Fiona, Pink Panther and lots more.

FACILITIES ETC

During the week the park wasn't very busy at all and could get on the rides straight away without queuing, The park at the weekend was very busy and we our express tickets for then and spent time in Salou and the hotel pool . We found the park to be very clean and set in lovely surroundings, there were plenty of clean toilets around the park.

Eating at PortAventura - You are spoiled for choice with each area having a themed restaurant to go with it, The prices are fairly reasonable for a theme park and better standard than usuual.

There are ice cold drinks available everywhere from bottled water to coke and beer if you feel the need for something a bit stronger, there are also water fountains available in each area outside the entrance to the toilets and water bottles you have can be filled up here.

All areas of the theme park are accessible with a wheel chair. There is a wheelchair hire service at the park entrance.

Your pet can stay at the Pet Care Centre because pets are not allowed inside the park (only guide dogs may enter)

===HOW DID WE RATE IT ?==

JACK - a twelve year old boy so in his element !! All that bothered him were some of the characters especially on El Diablo.
On one day he asked to go off by himself after meeting a 'friend' from the hotel, we arranged a meeting place and we spent time watching shows while he ran some energy off rushing between the rides.

ME - so I was a 57 year old overweight woman - but I LOVED it, I went on all the rides and had the time of my life.

MR OLDCHEM - a 66 yearold overweight man! He found parts of it tiring ( it is very hilly) but he loved the shows and often Jack and I woul go off on the rides while he watched the shows .
Remember it was October when we were there, it was hot but not as hot as it gets in the summer. You need plenty of water, sun cream and hats.
We definatly all loved it and would certainly go again.

===PRICES===

Our tickets were all inclusive with our holiday but the current prices are

Individual Tickets 1 day 2 consecutive days
Adult 44Euro 66Euro
Junior-Senior 35Euro 52,50Euro
Disabled 22Euro 33Euro
Adult: 11 to 59
Junior: 4 to 10
Senior: Over 60
Children: from 0 to 3: free

PortAventura Park + Caribe Aquatic Park 3 days / 2 parks
Adult 76Euro
Junior-Senior 63Euro
Disabled 40Euro

- Valid from 23/05/09 to 13/09/09.
I have added some photos including a map of the park

Summary: We'll be back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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