PortAventura

Infobox Amusement park
name = PortAventura


caption =
location = Salou, Catalonia
location2 = Spain
location3 = flagicon|Spain
opening_date = 1995
season = March - January
rides = 30
coasters = 6
water_rides = 3
owner = Universal Studios
homepage = [http://www.portaventura.es www.portaventura.es]

PortAventura is a theme park in the holiday resort of Salou, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain, on the Costa Daurada ("Gold Coast"), approximately 1 hour from Barcelona. It was conceived and built as a joint effort by the Tussauds group (Alton Towers), Anheuser-Busch (Busch Gardens) and Universal Studios. In 1997, Universal bought up most shares in the park and the park was rebranded as 'Universal's Port Aventura'. In 2000, two hotels and a water park were constructed, and the place was further rebranded as 'Universal Mediteranea'. In 2004, NBC Universal (Universal Studios' parent) sold all interest in PortAventura. It is now owned and operated by the Caixa banking group, but as of 2005 the Universal name has been dropped from the branding, and the resort was once again named 'PortAventura' (the space in the name is deliberately left out for trademark reasons). It is the biggest resort in the south of Europe. It has 2 airports within 30 minutes of it, including Reus Airport. There is a train station for Port Aventura which has connections to Barcelona and Salou.

Park Structure

PortAventura is divided into five themed "worlds" ("Universals"):

Mediterrania

Mediterrania is the main entrance area of the park, it only features two rides but there are several restaurants and shops reproducing a typical coastal town in Catalonia. During the months of July and August, the lake is the site of "Fiestaventura", a show featuring fireworks and floats representing each of PortAventura's 4 other "worlds".

Furius Baco - A Intamin Accelerator roller coaster, which opened in June 2007. It has a top speed of 83.9 mph (135 km/h) and is the fastest roller coaster in Europe. The ride is themed along a hay-wire grape collecting machine, launched by a professor's pet monkey.

Boat Ride - Takes visitors from the Mediterrania area to the Chinese area

=Far West=

Themed as an old wild west town, this area features many western buildings and sculptures.

The area boasts 9 attractions which makes it the biggest area in the park, these including;

Water rides; Silver River Flume and Grand Canyon Rapids which allows guests to squirt riding guests with water.

Smaller rides includes a wild west version of Tea cups and Dodgems.

The area is also home to two roller coasters;

Stampida - This Wooden roller coaster is the second largest roller coaster in the park.

Tomahawk - A junior version of Stampida and which runs parallel to it.

Mexico

In some ways similar to the wild west area, this area however is somewhat more thrilling than the others in the park. It is themed around Mayan Mexico.

The main attractions includes;

Hurakan Condor - An Intamin AG drop tower ride operated by a cable lift, the ride provides a large view at the top before riders are sent to free fall to the bottom of the ride. This ride is one of the tallest in the world at 330 ft and is sometimes labelled as the greatest due to the tilting seats and option to stand.

Templo Del Fuego - Built in 2001, it is a walkthrough attraction which runs every 30 minutes. This is themed as a Mayan temple which an Indiana Jones type character raids in search of treasure. The high level of pyrotechnics in this show is hinted in the name - "Temple of Fire".

El Diablo-Tren de la Mina - An Arrow Dynamics mine train suitable for families. This ride is unusual in the respect that it has 3 different chain-lift hills.

China

China is home to the biggest ride in the park - the Dragon Khan, with 8 inversions this is one of the most thrilling rides in Europe and was the former holder of the biggest coaster in Europe.

Other rides in China include; Cobra Imperial, Tea Cups and Fumanchu.

Polynesia

The Polynesian area is different from the other rides in the park as it is a more laid back area with less thrilling rides.

The two main rides in the area are

Tutuki Splash - Themed on an erupting volcano, riders experience being shot out of a volcano in a flume style boat.

Sea Odyssey - One of the most unique rides at the park. Built in 1999, 5 years after the opening of the park, riders are taken into a dynamic cinema themed as a submarine and taken on a journey to the bottom of the ocean, surround sound and rocking seats to give an unusual experience.

The area also features the junior roller coaster - Tami Tami, Kon-Tiki Pirate Ship and other junior rides.

Roller Coasters

easonal Events

During seasonal events like Christmas and Halloween, PortAventura opens seasonal walkaround rides or shows, including Psycho's Circus (2005), Horror in Penitence (2006), La Mina del Diablo (2006).

La Mina del Diablo is an all year ride but in 2006 a horror walk was constructed over the queue lines to give the riders a shock.

External links

* [http://www.pafans.com7 PortAventura FANS]
* [http://www.pa-community.com/ PortAventura Community]
* [http://www.pazonefanclub.com/ PortAventura ZONE Fan Club]
* [http://www.portaventura.com Web Oficial PortAventura]
* [http://www.justsalou.co.uk/portaventura.asp PortAventura Guide]