The Spanish Armada

[Mark9]

Yes I really struggled this time with an appropriate title for the trip topic. I did my best but hey ho. Well, for my birthday, a trip to PortAventura was planned. Shambhala was a big part of this decision, but also ever since I was 16 I wanted to ride Dragon Khan. It was up there with Kraken and Nemesis as a ride that I wanted to do at all costs. So with hence our trip was planned. Getting to the park is a breeze and luckily our room had a fantastic view, overlooking the park. Seeing Shambhala and Khan together, along with Stampida, El Diablo and a hint of Furius Baco was enough to please me for the time being.

So along came day one in the park. People are in uproar (slight exaggeration maybe) about Alton restricting Thirteen and Air till 11. PortAventura take this even further with ridiculous opening times. For instance, on our visit, from 10am - 11pm only Furius Baco, Dragon Khan and the Rapids were available. This is fine on a quieter day (even if Baco gains a 2 hour queue from the word go) but not on a busy day when people shuffle and awkwardly place themselves in every queue line or wait outside the queue for awhile hour, as was the case with Shambhala and Stampida. And the queues themselves are abysmal. For reference, the last foreign park I visited was Parc Asterix who were the absolute masters of queue line distractions. PortAventura on the other hand really isn't good. Lines and lines of zig zags, affording the Spanish visitors as much queue jumping opportunities as possible. And the Spanish are the masters at fitting in every nook and cranny to gain that extra advantage. A bad first impression which was a continual annoyance during the trip.

Dragon Khan

Our first ride of the trip was the aforementioned Dragon Khan. A bit of history, based upon Kumba at Busch Gardens, when Khan opened it was the worlds first eight looping roller coaster. The ride if you like, is a B&M showroom featuring the companies greatest hits. It's odd to think that this was only the second B&M in Europe. As a ride, it has aged very well. It's queue is abysmal and the way the ride is loaded is not much better. Frankly, being split up from your group to fill single seats is one thing, being forced to and then on no uncertain terms can you argue is another. Staff here are rude and in trying to be efficient just end up trying to annoy people.

Now the ride is the first time I've found myself thinking this is just a typical B&M. Starting off with a vertical loop, dive loop, zero g, cobra roll, mcbr followed by a vertical loop and two interlocking corkscrews is about as generic as it comes. The ride leaves you very little time in-between to breathe or calm down before throwing you into the next part of the ride. In someways this is good, giving you a tour de force of emotion, on the other hand it all felt rather blasé and easy. Chris loved it and actually ended up preferring it to Nemesis. I didn't but thats because the largeness of the first parts of the ride hampered it a bit. I loved the bit after the MCBR as the ride gets tighter and tighter and more intense. Unfortunately, miserable, angry staff and a queue line with few affording views of the ride probably did more damage to my experience then I realise.

Dragon Khan - 8/10

Furius Baco

Sometimes there are just rides that are pretty damn rubbish. Often on the surface they look great but are just awful. Baco is one of those rides. A train zooming over the water at the entrance at the park, it looks great. Love the colours. The queue line is ridiculous for a start. I'm no idiot but for some reason the queue line goes off in so many directions. We just headed straight on through the vineyards, hoping for the best. The queue line again, affords many jumping opportunities. Then the front row queue, we were told WE CANNOT ENTER. Then why have a first row queue line in the first place, idiots. So you sit in the train which isn't too bad. You get wheeled out onto a ramp with a small pre-show where a monkey seems to interrupt the wine making process. Alarms go off and you get launched. I really like the launch. Featuring the intensity of Stealth but not the speed, it feels long and is a really nice moment. Then it all goes to crap. You drop away into a ravine. Well I think you did the train attempts to kill you by shaking your body and head in every direction possible. It goes on throwing you around the restraint as the train speeds through its circuit.

It is atrocious. It's so awful and catastrophic and crap. I've never ridden anything like it. For a ride to do so little in terms of layout but to do it so badly only highlights how excellent the B&M wing rider is. From the moment you drop off the launch the ride feels like you've been put in a blender, I've never known a ride to attempt shaken baby syndrome on grown adults. Even the inline throttles you from one side to the other disastrously. No wonder the ride throws you into a wine shop at the exit, we all needed a bottle of vino to calm us down. From its crappy staff to a ride so bad it thinks alcohol will soothe all pain, we decided never to ride it again on our trip. And the near future.. and the far future for that matter.

Furius Baco - 1/10

[Sidders]

ROBD BE MAD.

[Mark9]

Shambhala

The main draw of the park for 2012 is Shambhala, Europe's highest hyper coaster. It certainly impresses, immediately dominating Dragon Khan and the park in general. Unlike the majority of rides, Shambhala has it's own little segregated area. Something about the Himalayas. The queue line on the other hand is a disaster. Line after line after line of zig zag. I truly hate it and it loses points to Nemesis, Silver Star, Oz'Iris, pretty much every B&M outside of Spain. Such a shame and a reason it will not feature on many people's top ten list. Onto the ride itself, once you eventually reach the front. The ride is typical B&M fair. Beautifully designed with all the mechanics hidden away creating a sleek look. As we rode three times, we came to the conclusion that the outside seating is pretty irrelevant. Every seat is awesome anyway. We had one front row seat (woo) and two at the very back.

The lift hill is steep and faster then Dragon Khan so trying to get a photo of the two dropping together is rarer then a Spanish train. The first drop is gorgeous, falling to earth getting faster and faster, diving under ground and up into the massive air time hill. B&M are often accused of their smooth, forceless hills particularly on their hypers. Now, I'm no expect on ejector, but thats definitely what Shambhala throws at you. Each hill saw my posterior flying up out of its sears for a good few seconds. The Ampersand is pretty boring as a turn around, I much prefer Silver Stars dive. Luckily Shambhala has many tricks up its sleeve, its speed hill throwing many seconds or air time at you before flying up again into a large airtime hill. The train takes a dive into the artificial splash down, very cooling in the hot Spanish sun. A few more hills are tackled, one over Dragon Khans lift hill before speeding back round and into the break run.

The thing with hypers is they are pretty boring to describe. They are essentially a series of hills, getting smaller as they go. I really liked Shambhala despite its awful queue line. It gave a feeling of satisfaction that Silver Star doesn't really give and it got a full round of applause from the Spanish on nearly every other ride.

Shambhala - 9/10

And with that, the three new B&M's in Europe are done. I have to say that all three are excellent rides and I really hope they are indicative of the direction B&M are heading in. As far as I can tell X-Flight, Wild Eagle and Leviathian have been well received so fingers crossed, we will continue to see some excellent rides from them in 2013. As it stands, Oz'Iris is the best of 2012, followed by Shambhala and then The Swarm.

[Stokesyboy]

Love the reviews! Will be flying out to PA in 10 days and really can't wait for Shambhala! Hope I don't get as bad as experience as you did with the staff! What rides opened at 10am? I would have thought most rides would?!

[Mark9]

Love the reviews! Will be flying out to PA in 10 days and really can't wait for Shambhala! Hope I don't get as bad as experience as you did with the staff! What rides opened at 10am? I would have thought most rides would?!

On our trip only Furius Baco, Dragon Khan and The Rapids were open between 10-11, some rides opened at 11 (Shambhala, Hurakan Condor, Tutuki Splash) and then the rest of the park opened at 12 (such as Stampida and the Log Flume). I've got the impression from other posts and forums that this changes daily because another poster said the only available roller coaster was Baco for example.

[Stokesyboy]

Ooh right! I hope most of them open then! Was it open till midnight when you went? I know when I'm out there the park is open till 12am

[Mark9]

Stampidia

Stampidia is a racing woodie, designed by John Wardley in the 90's. One accident and new trains and 15 years later it opens at 12 and remains one of the parks most popular rides. Unlike the majority of queues at the park, there is very few opportunities to queue jump. You choose your wagon, red or blue, and emerge up steps to the station. Your first real challenge is to ignore all the graffiti, placed on every square inch of wood, even on the floor. If that isn't enough to distract you, the way Stampida is operated is truely baffling. Sometimes the back three cars won't be used, sometimes they will be full of express pass users, sometimes you can fight through adversity and get a back row seat. It's staggering that with an hour queue the staff on either side of the station aren't more alert to what is going on. It is so frustrating.

And then the ride. The cars are lovely, roomy even. Now the thing with racing woodies is that you would hope the two would be allowed to race fairly. Grand National at Blackpool does this perfectly. Stampida does not. Because of the ridiculous blocking system used and the fact the distance the trains travel from break run to station is different on the rides, you will either stop on the lift hill while the other train continues or slow down to a crawl while the other speeds. It isn't helped that the red side also gets a boost from the lift hill as it falls into a far steeper drop whilst blue train ambles off slowly into a steady descent. So ignoring the racing element which is basically non-existant, Stampida is a wonderful ride. While it lacks the relentless action of Tonnerre de Zeus and Megafobia, it has a far more steady, rackety rhythym to it. Both sides are equally as fun and the point where the two sides seperate and fly past each other is a true highlight.

Stampidia - 7/10

Hurakan Condor

If you know me, you know I am a huge fan of Detonator. At a modest height, it is truely a sensational drop. Very few drop towers come close. And so we come to Hurakan, a 300 foot behemoth. I'm going to come clean and say it is the closest contendor to Detonator so far. What it lacks in intensity, it makes up for in buckets of fun. My only real annoyance is that you have no choice in where you get to seat. If you are going to have sides that differ, at least let your guests have the choice of experience. And with that, advertise that each row offers something unique to entice guests in. It's nowhere near as intense as Detonator, but it is heaps of fun.

Hurakan Condor - 9/10

[AstroDan]

Generally in agreement to many of your comments thus far.

Too much at this park annoyed me, although some area themes were nice. Also, didn't much rate Condor as you couldn't select your side?

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk

[Mark9]

The final part of the trip report.

Temple de Fuga

Now this is more like it. I adored Temple de Fuga, just epic and awesome and with some fantastic effects and sounds to accompany the action. Well recommended on a visit, you will not be disappointed.

9/10

Silver River Flume

A typical Log Flume. It first has a hoorendous queue (which I came to expect from PortAventura) but the ride itself is a good one. Three drops, including a very good last one. Very compact ride and well hidden in a park as open as PA.

8/10

Grand Canyon Rapids

A very good Rapids ride with a real pace to it and genuinely wet moments. Shortish queue as well and very enjoyable.

9/10

Tomahawk

Essentially a kiddies wooden rollercoaster accept its very painful and far to intense to be called just a kiddie woodie. Very strange seating style, each row seats one adult only for example. It has good interaction with Stampida

6/10

El Diablo

Wins the award for stupidest mine train going. It really is like Arrow just lost grip on reality as they built it. From the clunkiness of the trains, to the second lift-third lifthill section and the way the train just seems to lose all momentum very quickly. Daft but not awful.

5/10

And with that all main rides are done. The park fortunately has a lot of attractions going. From 4D shows to Pirate ships and onto well themed little flat rides here and there, it certainly has the variety. Now.. whilst I didn't spot any Swarm damaging Marquees dotted around the park, there was scarcely a well designed queueline, polite staff member and the late opening of the majority of rides really puts a dent in your day. The worst part is before you get to the park you have no idea that this is how the park runs. If it wasn't for the queue boards which are located at every main ride entrance we would have just gone to Shambhala and not realised the ride wasn't due to open at 11. Poor communication from the park.

Luckily, the hotel we stayed in was a pleasure. The restraunts for example are very good value, as is the bar where we watched Ireland Vs Spain. The room was also nice and spacious and I will never forget that stunning view of the park. Unfortunately though, the park just has too many flaws. Whereas I come away from Miribilandia or Parc Asterix, knowing I will visit again in the future, I won't to Port Aventura, not until they add another decent ride or rollercoaster.

Thanks for reading.

[AstroDan]

How do you compare this park against EP?

[Mark9]

How do you compare this park against EP?

Europa Park for me is like the theme park benchmark. So whilst I think the ride selection is pretty good at PortAventura, I don't just visit a park for it's ride selection, it's about the whole experience. And PortAventura left a lot to be desired.

I genuinely think Europa Park is perfect. Theming, shops, shows, ride queue lines, variety of rides. It's all there.