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PortAventura - Halloween 2013 (Photo and word heavy!)

Scott88

Hyper Poster
PortAventura - Halloween 2013

Who went: Me, Mitch and Mike.

Between Thursday 24th October and Monday 28th October the three of us spent a few days over in Salou with PortAventura being the main event. Holiday mode kicked in for me on Wednesday (23rd) when I finished work at 2, I picked up Mitch who was waiting patiently at home and we set off to Manchester, firstly meeting up with Mike and then heading to Old Trafford for the United game, where we took part in the singing section trial.

Moving on, we arrived at Barcelona el Prat airport around 11:20 and picked up our luggage, then our hired car. Spanish efficency appeared to be at an all time high which we weren't complaining about. I was the chosen driver for the route from Barcelona to Salou, and I have to say it was like learning to drive all over again, which is odd because at work I quite often drive left handed cars, but this just felt like a whole new ball game and it doesn't matter what experiences you have, getting used to everything being the opposite way around is quite strange. The car we had was described as ''cheap Korean crap" by Mike and I have to say he wasn't wrong;



We quickly checked into the hotel who remembered me from August and then back out to PortAventura was the plan, Mike managed to ignore my directions to the park and ended up taking us in the direction of La Pineda so we had a longer route to PA than planned but eventually we arrived and had a nice chilled out day with little or no crowds to contend with.



It didn't take too long for the sun to start having a negative effect on Mike's sanity.



We only had a few hours at PA with it being a 7pm close, however we did all the coasters we wanted to do, as well as watching the Love for Vampires show in the Saloon, which had the same cast from the show we enjoyed in August which was called El Saloon de Roxy.



We did toy with the idea of doing one of the mazes on the first day, however the REC maze was closed and the Horror in Penitence maze had a rather large queue, however I decided to have a quick look at the regulations which appeared to be no different to the rules that are set on the mazes around here.



Day two at PortAventura was very much the same as Thursday, very quiet and the chance to do the rides at free will was there for anyone who wanted to rush around, however it was too hot for charging around and without express fastracks it'd of been too much to ask to keep walking around the queues (we didn't need fastrack btw!).



First ride of the day just had to be Baco, front row just like the day before and as impressive as ever.

Friday was the only day where we enjoyed the Rapids in a group of three and with nobody else in the boat largely because there was no queue, however we didn't have such luck on the Log Flume where we were made to share and were squeezed into the back of the boat which resulted in a soaking and no room to move at all. I have to say though the water rides at PA never fail to impress.

We opted to watch the Vampire show in the Saloon again while having dinner, the table we sat at left us all in a vunerable position as far as being dragged on the stage is concerned, with Mitch getting a very lucky escape with having his hair stroked rather than being asked to go on stage, it's worth mentioning Mike was quite lucky the day before too. After the show we bumped into one of the cast who was more than happy to have his photo taken with us who made a comment about knowing we'd been to PA before and seen the show.



On the second day we also went to see Rock Symphony for the first time which takes over from Music Generation at this time of the year, we had pretty good seats and the show was very impressive, such a great effort by the cast to switch from different routines and get through the majority of the shows without any major faults. We also decided to give Horror in Penitence a chance on the Friday which turned out to be a let down, too many people in at once and not enough actors, there was no storyline and the actors really weren't scary at all, but on the up side we didn't queue that long for it, I just wish there had been at least one scare in it.

I wanted to get the Halloween parade filmed in daylight rather than losing out on night time riding for it, so we watched it on Friday before leaving the park and heading for tea in Salou.



Day three was the hottest and busiest day of the trip, it was a good job that the park closed at 11pm or we would have done next to no rides, the queues were huge on that day, probably longer than any of the queues we had to wait in, in August.



We did plan to use Saturday as a show day but that plan didn't come off, the majority of shows had people waiting over 2 hours for them to start in order to get a seat so we didn't bother with any of them, except for Rock Symphony which was with the group PortAventura&Friends who invited us to join them for the show and then to meet Gianfranco Bollini the man behind the shows at PA. It was great to be involved and we were made to feel very welcome, joining a group of 107 Spanish PA fans, it's just a shame my Spanish isn't great but we intend to do a joint meetup between the PA fans and Club PBE next summer, which is well into the planning stage so I intend to learn Spanish (to an extent) before next August.

Day 4 was our last day and our first stop for me and Mitch was the Rec maze, Mike opted for Tutuki Splash instead. The Rec maze was without a doubt an improvement on Horror in Penitence and worth the euros spent but in reality it was only an extended version of one of the mazes we'd get in the UK, but it was very enjoyable and having a chainsaw coming in my direction out of no where did make me jump even if before that I felt really calm about it all.

It was a quieter day but very hot, and seemed to get really quiet around 12-3 but picked up after that with locals queuing over 2 hours for shows again. We bit the bullet and waited an hour for the Saloon show while Mike opted to do Bang Bang West/Halloween. I was very nearly dragged on stage at the start of the show, leaned on by one of the actors during one of the comedy acts and then had a microphone waved in my direction which had me fearing the worst. After the show we met some of the cast and were thanked for our continued support of the park and show.

Dragon Khan was our last coaster of the trip and in the dark it never fails to impress, it was so intense but so brilliant in the process, if only we had a ride like that from B&M in this country.

We finished the last day at PortAventura by watching the Hallowen parade and Horror en lago show on the lake, both very impressive and makes you realise how much work all of the show cast have to put in, plus the people behind the planning.

My video from the trip can be found here, feedback welcome even if it's negative; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrPP5Y74Rdk

Here's a few photos from our first day at PA, mainly of the theming around the park;















Shambhala;



Horror in Penitence;



Scarecrow!





Second day;



Mitch and Mike;



Me;



Another quiet day was in store for us;



Happy halloween;



Woody!



Horror in Penitence before opening time;



Stampida;









Next up, Love for Vampires in the Saloon and a very worried looking younger brother;



He had good reason to be worried. ;)









It could have been a lot worse though;



It's fair to say Mitch had a lucky escape;



And the show kicks in with the first act;





The hunt for a vampire in the crowd begins;



Ah, there's the vampire.



No matter where you sit, you'll always be close to the action in this show;



And the final act, with very catchy music!



I think it's fair to say, perfect timing with this one!



Moving on, Mike made a new friend ;)







It's the Adams family! :D



The only disappointment of the trip was this maze, too many people were let through at once and there wasn't enough actors;



Woody on tour!



Two of the finest coasters in Europe I'd say;



El Diablo;





The best view of the Log Flume;



El Diablo again;



Shambhala & Khan;







King Khan;









One happy chappy!



Shambhala;





Skeleton invasion!





Baco;





Halloween parade;



























Did someone say Baco isn't a good ride? :lol:



Fountain show to end the day;







Third day

There's always one idiot.



Mike;



Shambhala for me is a quality coaster but at PA, I rate it 4th which I know will shock most people who read this report;





Dragon Khan, one of my overall favourite coasters;











Busy day at the REC maze;





I wouldn't want to queue this long for Horror in Penitence;



Taking our seats with PortAventura&Friends for Rock Symphony;



Great seats, great show;

















Totally random shot, but quite good I reckon;



More from the show;





After the show;



On stage;







It was VERY warm up there;



Baco;







Condor always looks very impressive at night;



Mitch & Mike;



Thanks for reading. :)
 

AirtimeFreak

Mega Poster
Loving some of the pictures. The third close up of the Dragon's head with DK and Shambhala in the background is really nice.

Agreed I'd love to do all of PA at night, have never been when its open late though!
 
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