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Port Aventura / La Liga Theme Park

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
So where's this park gonna be? If it is to be near the current PA world, not sure where it would go. I guess there is a lot of unused land surrounding the resort.

Have to agree though, PA's current two theme parks, especially Ferrari Land, need more investment.
 

Projektion

Mega Poster
I can't think where it would go. The obvious choice would be to cannibalize the car park next to Costa Caribe, but the catch is that the themed ride is coming in Phase 2, while the 4th gate is Phase 3, so the ride would have to be latched onto one of the existing parks like a tumour while the 4th gate gets built.
 

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
The article specifically states that the restaurant and $40 million themed attraction will be part of the main PortAventura Park. Then they are building a $100 million forth gate separately. I hope we see a few world-class attractions here.

Also wasn't Ferrari Land supposed to be getting some new rides next year? I'm guessing those plans have been scrapped.
 
Also wasn't Ferrari Land supposed to be getting some new rides next year? I'm guessing those plans have been scrapped.
Maybe the plans for new Ferrari Land are recycled for the third phase of this La Liga park. I dunno how I feel about this. I had similar vibes when Steel Curtain was announced at Kennywood; Those who don't know La Liga won't get it, those that love La Liga will bring PA a new audience which increases revenue and annual visitor numbers
 

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
Maybe the plans for new Ferrari Land are recycled for the third phase of this La Liga park. I dunno how I feel about this. I had similar vibes when Steel Curtain was announced at Kennywood; Those who don't know La Liga won't get it, those that love La Liga will bring PA a new audience which increases revenue and annual visitor numbers
Yeah but La Liga is not a specific team, it's a league. The highest-ranking in Spain I think.
 
Yeah but La Liga is not a specific team, it's a league. The highest-ranking in Spain I think.
Yh absolutely so I was thinking that second phase with a 40 million attraction could literally be Dueling Tarons; one themed to Real Madrid and one to FC Barcelona and the story is that the teams are side by side battling and the total duration of each individual track is 90 seconds (pays homage to the 90 minutes of matchplay). Or it could be a dark ride themed around indulging people into the history of La Liga. It'll have some other attractions themed to other clubs.
 

oriolat2

Giga Poster
Spanish enthusiasts social media has been burning with the announcement.

La Liga, and football in general, is extremely popular in Spain but that doesn't mean that this investment is not raising some eyebrows, even among die-hard PA enthusiasts. In my opinion, since the flop that meant opening FerrariLand (the park has been underperforming ever since it opened), how can management think this is a good investment? Opening small parks to justify calling themselves a "resort" and selling it as having 4 gates is just bollocks. Even if that ends up being another "land" in the main park it will be so out of place it will just kill the idea behind PortAventura, as a place to travel around the world, not focused on people's hobbies.


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https://videos.elmundo.es/v/0_sybz2...e-la-senda-de-disney-la-nba-y-ferrari?count=0 (Link to the video explaining the concept behind The Beat Challenge).

So, that experience is meant to be like Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, where people will be able to roam around the main park with their phones interacting with some objects to get VR challenges and games on their mobile devices. This will not be limited to a specific area but throughout the entire property. Besides this, there will be the supposed new park/land, with an investment of 100 million euro.

As of now, information is a bit scarce and generic but I genuinely hope this doesn't get build at all.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
I have an interesting point possibly worth considering; could this €40m football “attraction” (for lack of a better term; I’m not really sure what to call it) possibly be (or include, if it is a park) the new “thrill attraction” that was referred to not too long ago?

Interestingly, it would seem that some form of 4th theme park will be part of the development eventually (budget is cited as €100m, so likely not huge; possibly Ferrari Land size?), but not for the initial phase opening in 2021/2022. The dark ride/whatever the €40m initial attraction ends up being will also apparently be within PortAventura Park.

I think this is certainly an interesting decision, and not what I was expecting PA’s future to hold, especially when COVID-19 has seemingly hit them very hard. If I’m being completely honest, I’m not sure if this is what I would personally have chosen for PortAventura to do, but I’m sure it’ll end up being great, and I hope it works out well for them! The dark ride should be good fun, and very unique if it uses the Ninjago technology as suggested, and it would also add an additional dark ride to PortAventura Park (they only have 1 currently, don’t they?), so that part of the development should be good!

And in these times, surely no announcement of a brand new park costing €100m can be a bad thing?
 

Joelpagett

Mega Poster
I personally, find the entire concept utterly bizarre. The world of football and theme parks are totally different. Ferrari World I can get, due to the nice cars, speed, etc, but this? I really think that this is a potentially disastrous concept, that will draw money away from the actual parks that could benefit from the money being spent on them.

There is a video that has just been put on their Facebook page (below) which explains something, but I am not actually sure what they're trying to sell. I think it appears to be some sort of app, but it all sounds like marketing spiel with no real content. I would save yourself the bother and the 1 minute and 52 seconds of your time.

 

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
what an odd move. It reminds me of the proposed Real Madrid Resort in Abu Dhabi that never got off the ground. Which was also a bizzare idea.
BOIFFILS-Real+Madrid+Resort+Island-Masterplan.jpg


And then there was the Messi Experience in China. Which shock horror also never happened

Seems to be an Idea Spanish clubs have been playing with for a while that just never quite works.
 

oriolat2

Giga Poster
The backlash this is getting on social media (not just enthusiasts but the GP as well) should give them a clue that this a really bad idea. I haven't read a single good opinion on this one.

Hopefully the park can still back down and cancel the project.
 

SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
Football themed? Well, I hate it.

This
I can manage a slight interest in fancy cars if there is a really tall coaster with a funny sound, but football may be a stretch too far.

I feel like Ferrari and football have quite a bit of overlap in terms of demographic. Would have been nice if they had branched out to the rest of the population a bit. Assuming they're getting decent funding from La Liga (like Kennywood) to do this?
 
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