Barcelona - Tibidabo y PortAventura

[ryan462]

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I last posted on here so I hope it goes okay...

In July I went to Barcelona for off-sonar which was amazing and whilst I was there I decided to go to Tibidabo and PortAventura seeing as I'd never been to Tibidabo before and haven't been to PortAventura since 2007. After trekking up to the top of the mountain to reach Tibidabo, I was treated to a lovely view of the city. Instead of paying full price for a ticket to the park, I opted to just explore the mountain and church before riding the airplane ride which I found to be absolutely terrifying for some reason.

Anyway, here's some pics of that...

About to board the plane!

Leaving the park I was lucky enough to witness this hog cross the road at the crossing... was a magical moment!


So even though I never actually went into the main park at Tibidabo I got the general vibe and it did seem like a really nice old-school style park but just couldn't warrant the entrance fee just for the one decent looking coaster they had. Think its still a great place to explore but seemed more suited for younger child or families.

A few days later I head to PortAventura for 3 days which is where I shall continue this report from shortly

 

[ryan462]

A few days after Tibidabo I get the train from Barcelona to Rues to check out PortAventura. On arrival I go to the Gold River hotel, drop off my stuff and head in to the Wild West side of the park.

Here's some photo's from my day

The train station sign has seen better days

A beautiful sight

Shambhala

China

Furius Baco

Sunset from Gold River

I was lucky enough to meet Betty Boop hanging around in the hotel!

Found this guy in Sesame Street land! There was a lot of trippy characters like this about

Here's a little trip report to match the photo's

The first day in the park consisted of trying to tackle all the main rides so that we could chill and take it easy for the other day.... We started by riding the blue side of Stampida before cutting through the wild west and Mexico to reach the two huge coasters on top of the Great wall of China. First up was Shambhala which was a +1 for me and a fantastic one at that! The ride seemed to have a weird seating arrangement that I wasn't used to which gave you a lot more space to stretch your arms and legs out and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Queue time displayed 45mins but it was more like 30 and they constantly had 3 trains on the go which was always great to see.

Next up we rode Dragon Kahn after another 30min queue... Got a front row seat and it delivered and seemed almost as intense I remember it being 7 years ago... I kinda felt that having Shambhala built over the top of it took something away from the ride because it didn't seem as tall and intimidating as it looked like a smaller brother that still packs a punch.

I don't remember the rest of the order of rides that we went on that day but I know it involved most Polynesia including Sea Odyssey, The pirate ship and the Tutuki splash which we got absolutely drenched on.

By the afternoon we had made it round to the entrance to ride Furious Baco. This was the attraction I was most looking forward to having wanted to ride it since my last visit when I saw it being constructed. Although the queue was a bit hot and sweaty, the theming and attention to detail in the queueline building and the ride itself was amazing. I had no idea about the little pre-show which was really cool and the launch itself was amazing! Definitely the best ride of the day for me. +1

The second day started at the hotels massive breakfast which filled us up nicely before going to the waterpark which was the start of a lovely day. Nice weather and almost empty which meant you could practically walk onto any slide at anytime. The only downside to this was that we completed the whole place in under two hours. Luckily there was enough stuff to keep us there for a lot longer including a few cheeky re-rides on the massive new-ish drop slide before heading back into the main park.

The rest of that afternoon and the next morning involved riding everything we had missed the first day including the likes of El diablo, log flumes, tomahawk, temple del fuego, rapids and a load of random flats. By the last day I was really tired and had a flight to catch in the evening so I rode Baco, Shambhala and Kahn (twice) one more time each and went to a few of the shows to try and take it a little easy. Wild West show was the only noteable show that I would recommend seeing but all were good fun!

Some ride ratings for you
Dragon Kahn - 8/10 not as amazing as I remembered but still fantastic
Shambhala - 8.5/10 really fun, loads of airtime, big smooth drops and turns
Stampida- 6/10 fun but no wow factor
Furious Baco - 8.50 - loved it, such a great rush and the monkeys and theming make it


Everything else was pretty good. One regret was that I didn't get to go on Hurakan Condor so I still feel like im missing a crucial piece of the park!

Overall, I found the PortAventura to be really enjoyable and definitely still up there as one of my all time favourites. I look forward to heading back one day when the new land is open.



Hope you enjoyed my report

 

[CookieCoasters]

I honestly cannot understand from my experiences on Baco, how anybody can enjoy it :? . There has got to be train that provides a slightly smoother ride than the other or maybe it sometimes run smoother depending upon other variables.

It's so **** vile. Anyway good report, although I cannot fathom how somebody could prefer Baco to Shambhala .

 

[owentaylor121]

How can anyone like baco more than shambhala!

 

[peep]

Nice to see you back on here posting!

Great to hear you enjoyed yourself at the park, even if your opinions don't quite match up with the majority on here (including mine, I agree Baco has a fantastic launch but it is rather brutal after that).

That hog crossing the road is rather random, was it wild?

 

[Scott88]

How can anyone like baco more than shambhala!

Easy, it's called having an opinion.

I don't expect anyone to agree but out of Baco, Khan, Stampida and Shambhala, I'd put Shambhala as my 4th favourite. It may be the smoothest of the lot and have great airtime but it lacks intensity for me, it's too tame imo. All of that said, put it in most UK parks and it'd be the best coaster by a country mile.

 

[ryan462]

I honestly cannot understand from my experiences on Baco, how anybody can enjoy it :?.

Haha, It was really great, nice and intense and I didn't find it rough at all. This opinion is based on two rides, one front row and another mid train. My opinion may of been affected by the fact that I was in a great mood when I rode it and the weather was georgeous.

How can anyone like baco more than shambhala!

To be fair, I like them both pretty equally. I really enjoyed them alot and would say they were my two stand-out rides from the park.

That hog crossing the road is rather random, was it wild?

Nice to hear from you Peep. Yup just casually strolling across the road on its own! I took the photo because the hog actually walked over to the crossing before going across the road.

How can anyone like baco more than shambhala!

Easy, it's called having an opinion.

Exactly. I really did enjoy it and think its an amazing coaster but it wasn't mind blowing and just seemed like a cleaner version of Europa's Silver Star with no wow factor. Plus, Baco has crazy monkeys and a vineyard!

 

[marc]

Sounds like you had a good trip, great report as well.