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PortAventura opens its 2012 season

oriolat2

Giga Poster
Yesterday PA had their first White Night. That means park was open until 4am with every major ride open and many additional night shows. (Furius Baco and Dragon Khan at night <3<3)

There was a foam party going on and they even hired a popular Catalan DJ who was playing at the DK plaza. Overall, I think PA didn't quite predict the success of this event since there were up to 34,000 guests past midnight.

Just so you can picture how rammed it was, at 2pm the queue for Shambhala was more than 3 hours long, and they even had to block Express passes because otherwise they wouldn't have been able to clear everyone by 4am...
 

Lofty

CF Legend
That's incredible. The fact that they had that amount of people in the park past midnight is absolutely astonishing. I think we can see them putting the event on more in the future.
 

owentaylor121

Giga Poster
Anyone else think that PortAventura could be in the top 3, for park attendence this then?
The more people, the more money for new rides I say.
 

marc

CF Legend
From reading their hotel offers the fast pass is not included as a perk, just park tickets are.
 

andrus

Giga Poster
Ben said:
owenrita121 said:
Anyone else think that PortAventura could be in the top 3, for park attendence this then?

No, since there's more than two Disney parks.
I think he/she meant in Europe. To be third in Europe PA still needs to pass 3 parks (Tivoli, Efteling and Europa). And to do that PA needs an increase with 28% of visitors. Certainly a hard task, but not impossible if the success with Shambhala continues!
 

CoasterfanSWE

Roller Poster
Probably a bit far into the season to voice about now, however in my very humble opinion the former colour scheme for Dragon Khan was much more appealing (minus the actual track, the new vibrant red is rather a very nice improvement indeed). The new mixture of red and light blue and the toy theme-like train colours causes me to draw parallells to the dull colour scheme of the average Six Flags coaster.

On the contrary great to see another hypercoaster in Europe (a seemingly awesome one at that!), as well as the other improvements made in the park.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
^ It NEEDED this paint job. It was so disgusting, the thing is, the new colour scheme, including the trains, fits with the theme of the whole area. It's that simple really ;)
 

Kebab

Giga Poster
Shambhala is **** brilliant! Wasn't sure what to expect from it being my first Hyper, hearing that they're forceless and non-existant air-time etc. but I saw stars whilst coming out of that turnaround. I'd say that section alone is as intense as the helix on Nemesis.

I'll write up a trip report when I get chance, got plenty of photos. It really kicks ass! And is actually better than Khan (only slightly, Khan being the masterpiece it is).
 

CoasterfanSWE

Roller Poster
lofty said:
^ It NEEDED this paint job. It was so disgusting, the thing is, the new colour scheme, including the trains, fits with the theme of the whole area. It's that simple really

I do not doubt that the new colours suits the theme of the area, but regardless the combination of red and blue is among the worst in MY opinion, I have understood you enjoy it and that is great.

Additionally I do not believe it would have been better off without a new paint job, but rather that I personally would've prefered the new vibrant red with white pillars.

:fadein:
 

Lofty

CF Legend
Yeah, I totally get it's your opinion, I was just letting you know that's why they did it :)

When it originally opened, it had pretty blue supports, not as vibrant as these, but they were anyway, it just really needed tarting up to fit the whole area.
 

oriolat2

Giga Poster
It's official, PA will hold their second White Night next Saturday 4th of August.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llq-Qus7eLE[/youtube]

Somebody [Lofty :lol: ] must be REALLY excited. Extended park time (from 10 am to 4am) and night rides on Khan and Shambhala.
 

Kebab

Giga Poster
I wonder if these 'White Nights' will become a regular thing for the park, obviously it's been a success if they're bringing it back on. It'd be great for every Saturday in peak June-August to host this, because PortAventura at night is incredible <3
 

oriolat2

Giga Poster
I don't think it is THAT feasible. After all, we are talking about 18 hours of park time. That means staff has to work longer shifts (which costs the park a lot of money and puts more stress on crews).

I have to admit staying at the park that late is quite cool but if PA pull this every weekend it will lose its appeal...
 

Lofty

CF Legend
Yeah. I can't agree more. I'd say once a month from June-Septemer. That would be their limit before it becomes overkill.
 

oriolat2

Giga Poster
Siki from PAFans has confirmed that PA will be holding their first Oktoberfest event in September. Personally, I find this VERY random and out of place for a park that doesn't have a European area (aside from Mediterranea, which isn't really close to Germany...).

On a side note, for those interested in White Nights, the park will be celebrating the last one on the 25th of August.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
White Night event <3

They really need to do a few more next year. Seriously, it was incredible. Riding Shambhala at 2am was amazing.
 
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