Mattgwise

Had a few days booked at Barcelona and my last full day there happened to be Friday 11th April which was the first day of the 2014 season at Port Aventura so simply had to have a day there. We took the train from Barcelona Sants train Station looking forward to a good day presuming that the park would be lovely and quiet as it was the first day and schools in Spain hadn't quite finished for their holiday. But how wrong we were. The park was very busy and unfortunately didn't get on too many rides and have to say had the WORST queueing experience of my life. More on that further in the report Upon arrival at around 10:15 the queue time boards were not working and as we past Furious Baco which looked empty decided to queue up for it. We past the many lines of outdoor queue line thinking it was going to be nice and quiet. Once we passed by this area we entered the massive indoor queuing area to find endless cattle pens zig zagging every where which were all full. After much faffing with the rides team and a few queue jumpers we managed to get to the ride after virtually an hour. Was it good, well the only thing that was good was the launch. After that it truly is the MOST painful ride I have ever experienced. I went on presuming everything I had heard was pure exaggeration but no, it really is awfully rough. So rough it makes Colossus seem like it glides smoothly over ice. Upon exiting the ride the queue was well into the outdoor area and the queue boards were finally working and advertised the monstrosity of a ride we had just ridden as 2h10m!!! Next up we past through the well themed Far west area of the park and went on all the flat rides there as well as the rapids. They were all fun and the rapids although very short was quite good, lots of speed, spinning and wetness. After that we queued for Stampida for about 40 minutes. This was a fun ride but unfortuately it caused my Samsung Galaxy S4 to crack across the screen completley killing it so as you can imagine I was unhappy, but did not want to ruin the day so just accepted it and moved on. After some lunch it was already 2:30 so decided to queue for Hurakan Condor which was advertised as 40 minutes. Once again lots of cattle pens and eventually 1h 20mins later we were near the front. The ride itself has stand up and sit down, however you are not allowed to pick whether you sit or stand. I was hoping I would get lucky and get one of the stand up sides as I would have been very unhappy to have had to queued all that time to then be told to go on the side I didn't want to. Thankfully I got lucky. The ride was fun and intense enough, but not as forceful as Detonator. After this we decided to go to Shambhala as that was the one ride that was a must. This is where my worst queueing experience occured. The queue was advertised as 1h10 mins, but all but maybe 5 or 6 lines of cattlepen were filled so knew it was going to take longer. However during the wait we had at least 40 spanish people queue jump in the area around us alone. I could not believe it! People were cutting across left, right and centre and at one point when I say no to somebody trying to push past me she decided to crawl around my legs!!!! The queueing area is designed awfully and there is nothing to stop people doing it. For some reason no one was confronting all of these ill mannered people and it was just complete chaos. During the queueing the ride suffered two break downs of about 10 - 15 mins each. The second breakdown occurred 2h 10mins into queuing when I was about 100 people from the front and an attended came out and said something and everyone behind us started to leave and a few in front. At this point I was very annoyed and decided there was no way I would be moving (maybe this ride ought to be renamed Shambles). Thankfully 10 minutes later everyone started to clap and the ride reopened. 2 hours and 40 minutes after joining the queue we were finally taking our seats. Thankfully the ride was incredible and has a wonderful amount of airtime. It is now my favourite rollercoaster, but I don't want to ever ever go through the queuing experience again!!! It was now ten minutes from closing and we managed to join the queue for Dragon Khan. This time we only queued 20 minutes and there was not any of the queue jumping experienced at Shambhala. Again another good, solid rollercoaster, another of my favourites. So although the park gave me a new favourite rollercoaster and is beautifully themed and has wonderful scenery we still left dissappointed overall as we expected to get on much more and did not expect such inconsiderate people.

Seems that the parks music system is playing up again. Samurai playing Colossus theme during loading (start and end of ride before it even finishes lowering) in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhUBLtiOdR8

Robert Ritchie???

And the current queue time of 30 mins would be halved at least.

Right now? Dead quiet! All queues 0 minutes. Apparently all rides are experiencing downtime right now too! When you planning on visiting?

Really! IMO they were just as dire last year if not worse. I counted 4 mins 30 seconds on my phone for a train to be dispatched in august and on my visit about a week before in which I complained about numerous issues (see trip reports thread) I counted virtually 2 mins 30 seconds twice in a row. Truly shocking

Good to hear although on all three of my visits last season that area was not playing at all.

Maybe this whole "family approach" stuff of late is building up to the next coaster not being a thrill machine but instead something a bit more family friendly. So could it be that the next roller is going to be a simple family friendly woodie?

Just saw on Facebook that some of the old ride cars and information from Thorpe's history are currently on display at the park in the dome. Looks to be there until 28th March https://www.facebook.com/southparks

Well that's what I initially thought and 2 parts of the ground had puddles suggesting it may have been on earlier, So maybe he just made that decision himself.

Transylvania sounds much better than my last couple of visits. The nice cheerful Clarinet Polka music playing outside Bubbleworks loudly and for the first time in like four years I heard the vampire music down near the waterfall and entrance and it was playing quite loud. Then in Burger Kitchen heard the Transylvania halloween loop.

The water jets weren't working today, so I asked the operator if they were broken and he said they aren't using them due to the cold weather. In past years they had them on regardless of the weather/time of year as it's part of the ride experience. In my opinion the water really makes the ride so much more fun and interesting.

All the above worked today, the only problem with the ride today was that not a single target worked in the Final giant snake scene. This is the part you can usually really up your score! Seems to be really inconsistent with the effects! As usual loading was dire!

Didn't move at all today. To be honest it looks like the whole thing is sitting in a derelict amusement park. The trains and track all look in urgent need of care and attention.

Agreed. I counted dispatch time of around 4mins 30 secs lasts year several times. At one point on 3 train opetatiob they used to dispatch every 45 seconds!

I know the season has barely started but has anyone seen any 2for1 vouchers floating around?

Or contacted Vekoma to replace the parts that were used?

Good news if true. Looks like some people who were convinced it would never return have been proven wrong! Anything is possible.

The queueline was better as terror tomb with Abdab featured in the room. Plus who remembers the crystal at the exit of the ride which you could try and steal which would then blast air at your hand and make you jump out of your skin? Awesome. As well as that I loved the Terror Tomb queueline music. I'm sure it sounded similar to egyptian music in RCT2.

People will still buy photos. Most people still keep their wallets in their pockets, well me and all my male friends do at least. It was run for years with the baggage area at entrance and photo kiosk inside by the exit. With the height being lower more photos will be sold than before.

I don't know but maybe It could be for evacuation/breakdown reasons? Samurai for instance is the same in that they won't operate it with less than 15 people. I was once told it was so that if the ride cut out it wouldn't shift to the 12 o clock position (which it does with less than 15 people but instead around the 8 or 9 o clock position, preventing you being stuck in an awkward position if it cuts out.

I would love to see both the entrance theme and the end of day track back. And Colossus' music as it should be, not high pitched and fast like its been for two seasons now!

Is it April fools day or something? That map truly looks a joke in my opinion.

Click link above J.S217

I'm glad Rattlesnake won over Vampire under the circumstances of Vampire being run so poorly last season, making it my least favourite ride!!!