MikeC Posted April 12, 2013 Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 *warning, this is long* After a brief delay at East Midlands airport, I finally arrived at Hotel Portaventura after 11.00pm at night. Tired and very hungry, we grabbed a drink at the on-site café before heading to bed. I wolfed down a quick breakfast the next day before eagerly heading out into the park. Straight away you’re greeted by the gorgeous lake, with a lovely view of the B&Ms sitting proudly on the skyline. I just knew at this point that I’d fall in love with the place. So, the first ride of the day was Furious Baco. I’d already heard how terrible this was, so wasn’t exactly disappointed by the awful ride experience (the launch is incredible, I’ll say that). The thing that really struck me was the vile cattlepen queue system – it seems to go on forever. The heat was uncomfortable in the queueing area as well. 5/10 My plan was to do the park slowly and take everything in. Unfortunately, excitement got the better of me, and I found myself running up to Shambhala to see what all the fuss is about. One word – wow! You actually have to see this beauty up close to appreciate its size and grandeur. This was my first hypercoaster, and I’ll admit to being a tad nervous due to the height. Gorgeous themeing <3 Yay for the splashdown *Ride experience* Shambhala rides as good as it looks. The first drop is akin to being on Oblivion, yet without the intensity. You float to the tunnel at the bottom, and what follows is endless airtime. I'm happy to crown Shambhala as my favourite coaster. It just didn't disappoint at all. 10/10. Dragon Khan next! I found this to be incredible, too, although maybe a little too intense after the brake run. The zero g is one of the most powerful elements I’ve ever encountered, and is easily up there with the Nemesis helix. The ride just doesn't let up. 10/10 China was by far my favourite area of the park. The attention to detail in all areas is incredible. It’s very surreal with the traditional Chinese music and Far Eastern style architecture. I stopped for a bit of lunch next before having a look at Hurakan Condor. Now I love drop towers more than anything, but found myself really put intimidated by the height at first. It took some courage to get myself on this thing, surprisingly. Hurakan Condor ticks the right boxes in every other department, but the actual drop is forceless. Certainly nowhere near as intense as the drop on Apocalypse. Still, not a bad ride at all! 8/10. It was down to the Far West area next, and my first ride on Stampida. Only the blue side was operational for some reason. This is easily the worst coaster I’ve ever been on. I found Stampida to be so rough, that I had a terrible headache for much of the day afterwards. I’m told that the red side is marginally smoother, so I won’t write the whole ride off just yet. For now though…4/10 Silver River Log Flume next! There’s not much to say about this, except that it’s a flume and does what it does superbly. The three drops are fun and there’s no pointless meandering. The interaction with El Diablo was great. 9/10 Next up was Polynesia and Tutaki Splash. This was my second favourite area of the park. The themeing and lush foliage transport you to another world – it’s unreal. Tutuki queueline Tutaki Splash was great fun. The temperature was just over 20 degrees, so it was perfect for a good soaking. It was over to Bora Bora for a coffee and then up to China for another session on Khan and Shambhala. *General thoughts and comments* The themeing is absolutely incredible. I’ve often been blasé about it in the past, but this trip really opened my eyes. Themeing MAKES a park. The staff were really lovely. The ride hosts regularly engaged in conversation with people in the queuelines. Everyone was helpful and appeared to enjoy their individual roles. That’s what I love to see in a theme park. Total ride count: Shambhala x10 Dragon Khan x3 Silver River Log Flume x1 Stampida x 1 Hurakan Condor x 4 Furious Baco x1 Tutuki Splash x1 Merchandise bought: Shambhala T Shirt Shambhala ORP. Thanks for reading! Mark9, Luke_A, Mitchada04 and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted April 12, 2013 Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 Frankly, your trip report wasn't long enough James, I spread it out over three posts. It's only in hindsight that I realise how much I actually liked PortAventura, particularly Temple de Fuga, Shambhala, Stampida and Dragon Khan as much as I did. Although Theme Park Review are definitely targeting Shambhala this year as a ride that will fall from grace, I maintain that it is a fantastically fun ride and easily beats Expedition Ge Force and Silver Star in just being a pleasurable ride. It is so much fun to ride and deserves its place as one of Europe's finest B&M's. MikeC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smidget Posted April 12, 2013 Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 Well this has certainly made me really excited for my trip in September Looks like you had an awesome time, and your pictures are great! It looks like a beautiful place. That's your summer for this year though There is no way I'm going on Hurakan Condor... too high for my liking MikeC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted April 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 Hehe, Hurakan Condor is very high, but do try and do it at least once. It's honestly not as bad as it looks once you're on the ride Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smidget Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Well the problem is I'm not good with heights at the best of times (although I did Big One last year and was fine, so maybe I'm not as bad as I used to be?), but I also am not a huge fan of drop towers I guess I will see how I feel when I'm out there - pretty sure the other 3 are going to want to go on, so I'll either have to brave it or sit by myself for a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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