PortAventura Park, July 2024

We recently spent a week at PortAventura World, in the sunny Costa Daurada/Salou, staying on resort at the stunning Hotel Gold River and we had a great time! PortAventura Park was amazing, but not without its flaws. Fantastic theming, great rides and attractions, plenty of shows and entertainment went hand-in-hand with some poor operations, continued ride downtime, closed shops and some staff that felt like they just couldn’t be bothered.

We’d already been forewarned about how bad operations could be on busy days at PortAventura and we were going for a week at one of the busiest times of year – the first week of the school summer holidays – so we were expecting utter chaos. Fortunately, it was quieter than anticipated and we managed to plan our days well, so we didn’t encounter the 2-hour plus queues for Shambhala and Hurakan Condor. Don’t get me wrong, operations weren’t great, but they seemed better than we’d been led to believe. Maybe we just dropped lucky for crowd levels or ops had improved? Well, Furius Baco proved otherwise.

I’ll say it now: PortAventura is the best themed park I’ve been to. Arguably better than the Universal parks to an extent, I’m not sure anything could top Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure and Diagon Alley at Universal Studios, but as an overall park experience, PortAventura wins hands down.

As Gold River hotel guests we always entered the park via the Far West area, aka Penitence. Stunning American Wild West scenery as far as the eye could see, from the moment we left the hotel and entered the park you could tell how much care and attention to detail was taken designing the area. The shops and game stalls we’re all wooden huts, the immaculately presented western Saloon with red, white and blue bunting you’d expect in a movie, all set against the epic mountain backdrop that houses Uncharted: El Enigma de Penitence. It looks incredible. Such a shame that the ride inside doesn’t match the level of quality that the stunning façade outside has.

I generally find at theme parks that different themed areas feature rides that might not quite fit, so they just drop on some theming to try and make it fit, but at PortAventura, it genuinely feels like the rides and theming had been specifically selected to fit together and make the perfect themed area. Rides like Silver River Flume, 24 Crazy Barrels, Grand Canyon Rapids and even Buffalo Dodgems felt like they were all meant to be here, in amongst great looking rockwork and hills, minecart tracks across the path with overturned minecarts to the side in a gold rush western setting. Small wooden huts along the pathways and carriages with coffins as photo ops, the drunken preacher actor playing his role brilliantly, a grand carousel with horses and buffalos, and there’s the western stunt show which was so much fun. Plus, some great wooden coasters in Stampida and Tomahawk and the Native American themed spinner, VolPaiute.

Enter Mexico from the Far East and you’ll pass under the archway into Mexico, with some restaurants and shops in the style of a Mexican village. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch the Mariachi band playing some authentic Mexican songs here. Further around the path and Mexico becomes more of an Aztec jungle theme with ancient temple facades, crumbling walls and water features, the Grand Teatro Maya, the massive drop tower Hurakan Condor and the not to be missed Templo Del Fuego show. You’ll also find the El Diablo Mine train and a host of colourful flat rides for the kids and grown-ups. There’s some good, shaded areas here too, if you need a break from the sun!

Leaving Mexico, you’ll follow the path under the archway into China where you’re greeted by a faux Great Wall of China and one of the best coaster skylines you’ll ever see featuring the two highlight coasters of the park: Dragon Khan and the amazing Shambhala. Look over the wall to see down towards the fake Panda models playing on the grass in a lush green area with a wall of trees hiding other areas of the park and the track of the train ride passing through. You’ll then arrive in a Chinese inspired courtyard with dragon motifs and carvings, leading to the Chinese Theatre and the entrance to Dragon Khan. To the left of Dragon Khan is the path to our favourite ride in the park (and I’d put it top 5 of all time coasters I’ve been on) Shambhala. Themed as a Himalayan expedition with carts, boxes and mountaineering equipment along the path, along with the large ‘Shambhala’ archways that make for a great photo op.

After you’ve passed through the Himalayan area and witnessed the Shambhala splashdown, you’ll pass into another classic Chinese themed area with the magic theatre (home to the bubble show – do it!), some children’s rides, the ‘Imperial Cobra’ spinning ride and one of the best themed rides you’ll ever see: Angkor! A splash battle.

Yes, they love Sesame Street in Spain, so PortAventura Park is home to Sesamo Aventura, a bright and colourful area, packed with a great selection of rides and attractions aimed at the younger guests, including Tami Tami – a junior coaster, Coco Piloto, a slow-moving trolley ride, water rides, tower climbs, spinning rides, a Sesame Street show, play areas and more. Plus, the headline attraction and considered to be one of the best dark rides around: Street Mission. Good fun for all, featuring all your favourite Sesame Street characters.

Head down into Polynesia which has a tropical, jungle theme, with lots of trees, rockwork and waterfalls here you’ll find Kontiki, a swinging ship, a kids canoe ride, and the awesome soaker flume ride – Tutuki Splash. You’ll also find several food stalls, restaurants and shops including the Dino Store and a Superdry store. Odd, but amazing air con. There’s also a Polynesian inspired show, but if it’s a hot day, watch out. It’s out in the open with no shade.

The Mediterrania area Is themed like an Italian lakeside street with plenty of cafes, bars and restaurants around the lake at it’s centre. Mediterrania is where you’ll find PortAventura Parks main entrance and the biggest gift shop in the park and is also where you’ll get to see the evening PortAventura parade, lake show and late-night fireworks. Only one ride in this area, and arguably one of the most painful rides in the known universe: Furius Baco.

I won’t spend all day going on about every ride in the park (I mean I could, quite easily) so I’ll just talk about our stand out rides and throw a little info in about some of the others.

It’d be remiss of me not to start with the biggest and best coaster in the park. Shambhala is an amazing B&M Hypercoaster that stands tall in the skyline of PortAventura, and its an absolute airtime monster. It felt like we were out of our seats more than we were in them and we loved every ride we had on it. Front row, back row, night rides, it was fast, smooth and loads of fun no matter where you were sitting. We did see queues of 60-90 minutes during the day, but I don’t think we waited any more than 30 minutes, and its usually quieter in the evenings, plus night rides are great anyway. Ops could be slow, but were nothing like we’d expected, though we did see a few empty seats on a train, which is odd as there was a single ride rider queue, so why?

One of the older coasters in the park (though most of the rides are old) is Dragon Khan. Designed by John Wardley of Nemesis at Alton Towers fame, this B&M classic is worth riding. Great theming in and around the queues, with dragon statues in the courtyard and the giant dragon head at the entrance. It’s a bit rickety and rough at times, but still a good coaster with some fun elements. Had a few periods of downtime while we were there but it’s a quick queue mover when ops are good and was on 3 trains!

An awesome 100 metre plus Intamin drop tower, themed as a Mexican tower with its roof ripped off. It has multiple cars, with standing and seating options. Be weary of the queue times though, it’s never what it says. We did some late rides where it said 20 minutes, but the queue barely moved and only had a few cars running. They also wouldn’t let us ride the stand-up cars, as they thought Evan wouldn’t like it. Trust me, he would! I did have to hold the hand of a chap in his twenties as he was scared to death!

Now, what can I say about this ride? Pain. That’s it. Just pain. I’d be tempted to just leave it there, but there’s so much more to say. I’ve seen videos and read about people saying its rough, but they’ve understated HOW rough it is. It was a ‘one and done’ for us. Got the cred, so move on. We tried several times to get on it too, but whenever the queue was an acceptable wait time, it always seemed to be on a technical stop. We had early entry, as we were staying on resort, so we headed to Furius Baco at 10am as Uncharted was already broken down before opening, only to find Baco was also down. And now we mention the staff. The queue that morning was an absolute shambles.

First thing in the morning, the ropes and chains weren’t set up properly with paths leading to dead ends making everyone in the queue have to step over railings to get into the queue properly. There was no distinction in the path between single rider or main queue either, so you could easily get confused if you didn’t know where you were going (and we had to ask other people a few times). Once we’d found and were standing in the queue building, within the metal railings in site of the station, a staff member came over and angrily started moving us around and rearranging the queue like we’d set it up wrong ourselves!. Surely this is something that should be done BEFORE ride opening and not 30 minutes after. It genuinely felt like the ride opened at 10 and the staff had shown up at 10 and nothing was ready. Then the ride broke down a good 4 or 5 times first thing, making what should have been a 30min queue 2 hours long!!!!

If you want the cred, by all means do it, but it’s not a standout ride, which is a shame as it looks like it should be a good coaster, and the theming is great. The extended outdoor queue line is a vineyard, the inside of the station looks great, with plaques explaining the rides story, and the exit shop is a wine cellar. Just a shame that the ride itself is sooooo uncomfortable. So, if you like being shaken viciously and punched in the neck several times by the restraints (or the un-comfort collars as we called them), then be my guest. Disappointing 2/10.

Another unreliable morning coaster (or maybe just bad morning ops?) Uncharted looks like it should be amazing. The exterior façade of desert cliffs, with the carved face looming down over the western styled entrance building with large barn doors looks amazing. Entering, there’s a great animatronic of Nathan Drake (it’s more Tom Holland film based than the games) leading to a fun, dark action/adventure queue line featuring arrows in the walls, hidden symbols on the walls and animated videos explaining the story in Spanish. The coaster itself was short, but enjoyable and very smooth with a spinning cart and fun twisting and turning elements. Just a shame that they forgot to finish theming the ride itself. A few quick video scenes and very little else. A good coaster, but a bit disappointing.

The main attraction over in Sesamo Aventura is Street Mission, an indoor shooting dark ride where the aim of the mission is to help Detective Grover find out who stole all the cookies (Not sure we need a detective to work out who stole cookies in Sesame Street!). Anyway, it was fun. A good pre-show with an animatronic Grover and some cartoon elements before the main ride. FYI, the golden cookie is top left in the sewer section if you want a cheeky bonus. Elliott loved it and we did multiple rides, but I don’t think it was as good as it was made out to be. It was oddly quiet in parts, and the guns/wands failed a few times, but I still smashed my high score on my last go!

If you want to get wet, then you have Silver River Flume which was a great flume that features El Diablo alongside it. Grand Canyon Rapids is well themed, though we didn’t get too wet, but if anyone’s paid for a water cannon you might get blasted from the pathway. But Tututki Splash in Polynesia was one of our favourites. We rode this a little later in the evening (it was still hot) and we did get soaked. But it could have been even worse. If you catch another flume on its final drop, the lift hill to the top is right next to the splashdown so you get drenched! And then there’s Angkor…

We didn’t actually find Angkor until the penultimate day of our trip, but we were so glad we did. Angkor is just a generic splash battle ride, but the theming is next level. It’s like a whole area all of its own, tucked away in a small area of China behind Shambhala. Themed like the Cambodian temples of Angkor Wat, with a clear water river flowing between temple facades, buildings and under bridges. Aim for targets or the other boats. Loads of fun and everyone was willing to get soaked and enjoy it as a small respite from the Spanish sun beating down on us. Even more cooling if you stand next to the ride and let the boats soak you as they pass or pay to fight back! There were no queues either, so we got a few rides in!

El Diablo is a fun mine train ride, that although a bit rough was pretty fast and fun. Jo hated it, Elliott went on several times. Beware though it has 3 – yes 3 – lift hills. Surely that’s some kind of record.

It’s only open at certain times of the year, so if you’re at PortAventura and it’s open, make an effort to see it. Templo Del Fuego is a 20ish minute show where you follow an archaeologist adventurer into a collapsing temple as it bursts into flames. Lots of loud bangs, fire and skeletons, so maybe not for young ones or those sensitive to noise or crowds, but definitely worth a watch. Elliott was not a fan.

We loved the magic bubble show at the Magic Theatre in China. It’s exactly what it says it is, the Magic Bubble Lady, Ivanna Orlova, makes crazy bubble shapes and displays with bubbles of all shapes and sizes, with a Parisian street performance feel. Family fun and air conditioned, which was very much needed!

Definitely put the Wild West Stunt Show into your plans. A fun, family friendly show with plenty of comedy, stunts, fights and explosions during a wild west heist. With the Sheriff and his friends against a gang of bandits. A great show, with some fun plot twists. No spoilers, just go watch!

The park is rammed with rides and attractions, so you won’t be short of things to do. There’s the dual wooden racing coasters ‘Stampida’ (2 credits, they’re different tracks!). Bit rough but enjoyable, and we won on red and blue! Tomahawk, another child friendly wooden coaster, Los Potrillos, a children’s horse ride, 2 sets of Buffalo themed dodgems, one for little kids, one for older kids, Tea cups, some rides specifically for young kids (Elliott was pleased to have the kite ride all to himself), balloon rides, spinning dragons, plus a host of play areas (which were boiling, so be careful), musical shows and performances and lots of fun photo ops. No park is complete without a train ride, and PortAventura has a good one with multiple stations. And you’ve got a whole area in Sesamo Aventura with more kids rides than you can shake a stick at.

PortAventura World is brought to you today, by Nutella and Estrella. Honestly, they were everywhere!

You could pick up a wide selection of slushies, ice creams and cold treats (the Cornetto ‘Go’ was a hit with our kids) along with crisps, sweet treats and snacks. We saw some stalls selling Bacon Ciabattas and Ham & Cheese toasties if you fancied a hot snack. There was plenty to choose from and we didn’t see the half of it. Nutella was everywhere though. Stalls selling crepes and waffles with Nutella in the windows of many shops. Bit odd though that we saw several stalls closed, especially as it was busy and very hot. One stall I only saw open on the weekends, and it seemed busier midweek to us.

As we’d had evening meals included in our package we didn’t try any of the restaurants, but there are plenty of good spots for a sit down meal in every area if the park with options from each of the destinations, such as Cantina in Mexico, Steak House in Far West and Bora Bora in Polynesia.

The staff were generally friendly, but there were a few that spoiled it. Like I said previously, the angry lady in the Furius Baco queue and in the station when we finally got to the ride, we asked if we could possibly go front (mainly as we’d heard it was less rough) but we were dismissed with a stern look like I’d asked them for money. FYI, it looks like it has a front row queue, so not the wildest of requests. Just a ‘No, sorry’ would have done.

Ops were generally slow in the morning, like they’d just clocked on 1 minute before start time and wondered why everything wasn’t working. Felt like there was no real urgency to get the queues moving.

The shop staff all seemed friendly and polite though and we had a few fun interactions with the character actors in the park. I managed to stop a bandit in Mexico, and the drunken preacher in Far West was a good laugh.

At the end of every night was the FiestaVentura show, so prep yourself for the same song, on repeat for the entire duration. We managed to catch the show a few times during our stay and if you want a good spot, get down to Mediterrania early and pitch up next to the lake. During the parade, you’ll get a few floats passing through the area, with people in fancy costumes alongside your Sesame Street favourites like Elmo and Cookie Monster and the parks mascots Winnie and Woody Woodpecker. By the end of the parade, you’ll have learned a new song that you’ll never forget!

The lake show was fantastic though, with a picture show displayed on a fountain in the middle of the lake, introducing each area of the park, followed by boats decorated in different styles. Giant Mariachi skeletons dancing on the lake, A Chinese dragon, volcano with fire effects, jet skis and people with water jetpacks flying above the water. This all ended with a firework display at about 11pm that you could enjoy even from the hotel. A great way to end the day.

On the whole, we were relatively unscathed in the park when it came to ride ops and long queue times. We had a week to see and do everything, and we still missed some bits, but there was no pressure to get all 8 coasters (or 9 if you’re counting Stampida as 2, and I am!) in one day , so we could relax and do them when it was quiet, there were a few exceptions you had to account for like Uncharted, which always had a big queue, so early access and straight in the queue was the best bet there. Yes, there were a few issues, and it’s a park that could definitely be improved, but nowhere near as bad as we’d expected. And a huge hit with the boys.