Halloween at PortAventura

My partner and I have recently returned from a trip to PortAventura where the Halloween season had just begun. We have been to the theme park a couple of times before at other times of the year, and having already visited Disneyland Paris during the same period I was interested to see how PortAventura compared.
As the park and it’s rides have already been reviewed elsewhere, I’m only going to cover the Halloween events in this review.

The Park: The story goes that back in the late 70’s Spain was considered among several other countries by Disney for the location of their new European park, but they finally decided on Paris due to its more central location for the principal population centres of Western Europe and better existing travel links. PortAventura was created as a response to this disappointment.
The park was opened in 1995 but the name has been modified several times as ownership changed hands. It has grown into a complete resort comprising 4 hotels, a beach club, water park, convention centre and golf course and it appears further development is planned, perhaps a ‘City Walk’ style area with shops and cinemas. The park is most famous for it’s six roller coasters, particularly the notorious Dragon Kahn. Though PortAventura cannot match Disneyland Paris (or any of the Disney parks) in the quality of rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Phantom Manor, what PortAventura does really well is shows, and every area has several performances of various types. The climate of the region is much more suited to a theme park than Paris (here the cacti are real, not plastic!), the park is beautifully landscaped with lush exotic plants, and the weather will probably be kind to you even outside the main summer months.

The Halloween Season
It runs from 26th September to 22 November in 2009, but the park is only open at weekends in November.
The main park is arranged into five themed areas (Mediterrania, Far West, Mexico, China and Polynesia). The Far West and Mexico areas are decorated for Halloween and host most of the special events. Halloween is rather more grown-up here than at Disneyland, many of the events are not suitable for younger children. The park gives a ‘pumpkin rating’ from 1-3 to the shows/attractions to indicate how scary they are.

The Shows & Attractions
El Diabolo Dijo Si (The Devil Said Yes) 2 pumpkin rating
Every day at La Cantina de Mexico. Humorous horror show, storyline is about an apprentice devil and features lights & pyrotechnics.
Vamp Frenzee 2 pumpkins
Every day the Western Stunt Show stage. The slapstick/stunt show normally shown at this venue is given a Halloween makeover, the costumes are different but the act is virtually unchanged. This show has been running for many years and is rather overdue for an overhaul.
La Selva del Miedo: (the Forest of Fear) 3 pumpkin rating.
Open only on Saturdays and Sundays from 21:00 to 22:30. The whole of Polynesia is host to this maze populated by monstrous creatures.
Horror in Penitence: 3 pumpkin rating
An excellent temporary walk-through haunted house style attraction erected for the last few years in the Far West. Perhaps my favourite part was the ‘pre-ride’ area however – a ‘vampire’ in a tall top hat walks slowly up and down, his piercing eyes looking you over (it’s OK he’s wearing contact lenses) like he’s checking out your blood group – wow, it’s been a while since a guy looked at me like that! The actual attraction is fairly scary, the child in front of me had his head buried in his parent’s clothing the entire time!

Banquet of Fear This is a themed dinner with a show at Emmas House at the Iron Horse. Believe it is held on Saturdays only, it is not recommended for under 14’s and costs 43€ a head. Apparently this is where ‘The Cadaver Bride and the Head Chopper celebrate their love’!

La Mina del Diablo (The Devils Mine) 3 pumpkin rating
Another horror walk-through attraction with more actors jumping out at you, situated at the El Diabolo-Tren de la Mina ride, the theme being an abandoned mine.

Los No Muertos de Penitence (The Undead of Penitance) 1 pumpkin rating
The Old Steak House, every day. Live band plays for about 20 minutes.

The Long Branch Saloon
My favourite venue in the park has a couple of Re-vamped (:0) shows for Halloween:
El Saloon de Medianoche (The Midnight Room) 2 pumpkin rating
An afternoon-only show featuring can-can dancers, magic and audience participation.
La Hora Gore (the Gore Hour) 3 pumpkins
Satuday to Thursdays, this is another magic show, but rated as more scary.
A note on this attraction, there is a minimum spend of (I think) €2.50, so plan to stop here when you need a drink or a snack.

The Big Small Terror Show: 1 pumpkin
20 minute puppet show on stage adjacent to Penitance Station

Street Entertainment in the Far West & Mexico
These are various creatures played by wonderful actors that come out in the afternoons, including a bedridden ‘exorcist’ type character, band of vampires, some devils and a rather beautiful ghost bride, who do a fantastic job of animating the streets.

La Parada de los Monstruos (The Parade of Monsters) 2 pumpkin rating
Main Street Far West (Emmas House to Cowboy Games area) 15 minutes duration, Saturdays at 22:00 ‘A terrifying parade of abominable beings’

Terror en el Lago (Terror in the Lake) 1 pumpkin rating.
7 minute firework show over the lake music, lights, start time varies from between 23:00 and 23:45 on Saturdays only.

Hotel Burn
Not actually in the park, this is at the new Gold River hotel (see my review of the hotel) which backs onto the park’s Far West area. Stay in a haunted hotel! A block in the complex has been specially decorated and has some…uninvited guests! 12 rooms that can be booked Fridays and Saturdays only.

More trip planning tips:
One thing to be aware of if you are planning a trip in the mid season that Halloween falls into is that, though the park opens at 10:00, Polynesia is not open ‘til 11:00 and China at 12:00. The park itself closes during the week at 19:00, evenings are still light until late October, so you might consider the Halloween atmosphere is less effective in broad daylight. At weekends it is open till midnight on Saturday and 20:00 most Sundays, so if you were planning to have several evening meals in the park opportunities are limited. Many of the special attractions and events only run on weekends, and several of the shows only run in the afternoon, so you need to identify these as if you are visiting for just a few days you may miss them. Certain rides are also closed Monday to Friday. I’ve done my best to make the information accurate but check the leaflets you will receive on arrival at the park for the latest data. The official website for the resort has some information but it’s not always easy to find, the unofficial ‘PA Fans’ site has more information about which rides are closed for maintenance, opening hours etc., but is entirely in Spanish.

Summary:
If you love Halloween a visit PortAventura is a must! The Far West & Mexico areas are much enhanced by their seasonal decor, the climate is wonderful and the actors are fantastic, working very hard to bring the festivities to life…or should that be death!