November 2022
Welcome to Spain
Theme parks are not open all year round! This is something Gabby has never had to worry about as Hopi Hari and Beto Carrero stay open 365, this made some interesting conversations in the Blackpool Pleasure Beach queues with one question more important than any other!
Where can we go that is open in November?
Tibidabo is the random suggestion from Gabby, Spain is warmer than England! But if we go to Barcelona, I wanna go to Port Aventura. I haven’t been since half my life ago, No one had heard anything about Furios Baco the last time I visited, and the park was even owned by Universal Studios.
We had to think about it, Gabby was a little bit hesitant due to only having just visited the Catalonian theme parks a few months back with her mum and brother.
24 hours later in the cold wet queues of Alton Towers Season Finale, it was booked… for the following weekend. Plan was easy (ish)! Gabby will be flying back to São Paulo on the Sunday from Madrid, Tibidabo is only open on weekends so let’s go mental in a rental and road trip to Madrid from Barcelona!
A few days later after dropping off Gabby at Luton airport, we are reunited in Spain. I have picked up the rental and headed over to her hostel as our meeting point and then to Port Aventura. Although it was dark, I could make out Shambhala and Red Force as we arrive to our accommodation. The excitement starts to build. A few supplies, beer and cider is brought for back at the room and an hour later we already have the first knock at the door from our neighbour asking us to be quieter! We stayed about a 10-minute walk from the park as we had a great deal nearby and we were ready, to ride some more coasters!
I Wanna Get High,
SOOO High!
Day 1 - If you didn’t know, I am very unlucky when it comes to tall roller coasters. Speed is ok, I have done the fastest, but I have never done one of the three Strata Coasters in the world even though I have stood next to all three of them, 2 of them in the last year alone and 1 of them I get to stand next to again, but this is another story.
Will Red Force be the tallest coaster I have ever been on?
Spoiler, yes. With the Gabby plan however, Furios Baco opens 30 minutes before Ferrari Land so it was my second most anticipated coaster of the trip up first. Yes, this thing is rough as fuck on the wing and yea that launch is awesome. Why do I strangely like this entire experience though.
It was quite surreal coming back into Port Aventura after 17 years away, reminiscing about past times with friends. It felt very good being back at the Spanish park and nostalgia started to take over.
Ferrari World, we enter through the Port Aventura gate and like everyone, we go on Red Force. It is a very quiet day, so we go on again and again and again… you get the point!
Mini review of Red Force, I liked it. The launch feels so strange with not much force at the beginning but doing those LSMs at 111mph, yea I don’t think they were meant to go that fast but wow! I loved how rough it felt at the end of the straight track as you go straight up and unfortunately for us every single time, over the top. No roll backs on this trip.
The day mostly was spent lapping Red Force but we do go on all the other attractions including the credit for Junior Red Force, the weak shot and drop towers, a terrible flying theatre (sorry not a fan) and of course BEER!
Port Aventura resort must be one of the best for beer, €6 for a yard and then €4 for refills, hold us back! Not too many on day one though.
When 4pm hits and Red Force closes, it’s time to head over to Port Aventura and finally I get to experience Shambhala. Gabby fucking loves this coaster and so I feel her glaring eyes watching me throughout this entire experience. As mentioned at the beginning, Port Aventura was the first park Gabby visited on her European Adventure and so it was extra special being the first big bucket list coaster she did and with Mako currently being her number 1 before the start of the Euro adventure, it is easy to see why she loves this coaster so much.
I am not the best person to review B&M Hypers or Giga coasters, they just don’t really do much for me, I don’t dislike them and I could ride them all day, but if I had to pick an Intamin or B&M, I know what way I am going. I did enjoy it, both the rides we did for the end of day one, but really struggled to place it on my list.
We did end the day making an enemy, the unfriendly ride op for Shambhala. With 10 people in the station, we asked if we could get back row. No, must fill from the front, how come I ask, because of weight for the roller coaster. What fucking B&M can’t make it over a hill because two people were sat on the backrow. Anyway, train comes in the station, operator shout to everyone if no one is in your row, you can re-ride. So, people were sat on the back row. So stupid! Re-rides await throughout our trip before I place it on my top list.
If I jumped off a Bridge…
Would You?
If you know me well, you know I am not very good at keeping surprises. Gabby found that out as I told her what we were doing this morning while in Ferrari Land the previous day, because I may have mentioned during the week that I had a surprise, and I may have also reiterated it when we reunited in Spain…. Anyway, Bungee Jump!
Gabby mentioned while in Northern England she has never done a bungee jump, but she has jumped out of a plane. I was intrigued and found a bridge and a company to let us jump off.
Not going to lie, I was probably more nervous than Gabby, and if you hear the noise I make when jumping in the video, it is not a very attractive sound. This was a great experience and I thoroughly recommend everyone with an interest in extreme rides to do this. That drop felt like it went on longer than marathoning lord of the rings and the swinging sensation at the bottom was so relaxing while coming down from that huge adrenaline rush after the initial jump. 10/10 experience!
Back to Port Aventura for day two. More beers and more coasters. Teacups in the middle and just the one ride on Shambhala as we go around the rest of the park. It is a gorgeous place to walk around. We went on lift hill the ride; some people call it Diablo – Tren de la Mina. The ride is dreadful, it just keeps going up a lift hill and then slowly around some track to another lift hill. The worst part was having to see our enemy working in the station again. We just walked to the backrow this time but would have preferred it on Shambhala instead. Also, I don’t think he cared, but we did.
The day ended with a ride on Dragon Khan, I still love this coaster, it was the first coaster I did under the influence as a 17 year old admittedly on just 4 drinks, but a feeling I will always remember and a great moment when becoming a coaster enthusiast. Being able to increase the drinking tolerance back at Port Aventura, and sharing the beer with Gabby for her first drunk rides on coasters, she could now see just how much fun this ride was. Dragon Khan and Beer go together like Batman & Robin or Tom & Jerry… a theory we put in to practice with more beer the following day!
Beer, Dragon Khan, Shambhala, Shambhala, Toilet, Repeat!
We have a full day, but it is going to be a busy one! As such fast passes were purchased and it is time to go. Shambles at the front entrance gate as there was an issue with the ticketing system. Gabby gets in but I am refused and sent to the back of the huge queue for customer services.
This was getting crazy, so many people shouting and so close to a riot, Gabby has exited the park and joined me. It’s good to go now a staff member shouts and everyone rushes back to try and get in. I am in, now they won’t let Gabby back inside as her ticket has been used. It’s been 45 minutes out the front gate, we are not moving until they let us both in now. After a long debate with the person on the gate, he reluctantly let’s us in and we are off, to the only ride we cannot fast pass on, Huracan Condor!
This giant drop tower has been down for the past few days due to weather, it’s a drop tower so I have never understood this, but the 45-minute queue got incredibly complicated… so where are we going next! I mentioned that I was looking into a trip to Texas of which a “Yes let’s go to Texas” with a very excited Gabby, we want to go on some RMCs! That was the quickest 45 minutes ever as we viewed all the opening times and schedules for the Six Flags parks and where best for Gabby to upgrade to a season ticket. This will have to be picked back up later!
The day is what I would call an almost perfect day at a park having a difficult start, but enjoyment helped greatly by fast passes and beer! We went on everything that has been missed so far including a lot of the flat rides, and we drank a lot of beer between us. Opting to only fill one of the yards at a time, our genius theory was spot on, we could keep the beer colder each time we went in the queue!
Gabby and I have a very high tolerance for rides, I think we can prove this by mentioning 6 on the wooden Stampida in a row but more so when the rest of the park closed, Furios Baco remains open, and this gave us another 7 to end our latest adventure to Port Aventura. You do need to switch in between the outside and the slightly less rough inside seats each ride to help manage this, but that launch alone is worth it!
The bulk of the afternoon, evening and night rides were all repeated with the same route as the subtitle, beer, Dragon Khan, Shambhala, Shambhala, toilet, and repeat. With over 20 rides on Shambhala, on the Saturday alone, I feel more experienced to fit this into my top coasters list at number 33, a number I am sure a lot of people will be getting angry with. But please note this is still in my top 10% of coasters and I do really enjoy this spectacular ride overlooking Salou. When caressing over those hills and you look to your right to see that huge smile, happiness and joy on the face of Gabby, a coaster that started her European trip earlier that summer and now is ending her adventure, I can see why it can be a top 5 coaster for anyone.
But for me, it has already dropped to 35 thanks to Texas!
Extending the Tour
Tibidabo
Where the Spanish trip idea was born, from the cold wet queues of Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Alton Towers to extending to Spain, Port Aventura and of course Tibidabo. This old classic park overlooking Barcelona from the hillside is so picturesque as you head up and down the different floors to experience the many attractions and rides.
Only open on the weekends in November, we opted for the last day exploring the park and getting a surprisingly good terrain coaster by Vekoma called Muntanya Russa. The park is quirky and none of the rides are stand outs except maybe the horror maze. So many actors and the attention to detail in this all year round walk-through attraction was brilliant, this alone was worth the entrance. A ride on the log flume, powered coaster and the hall of mirrors and time to set off to Madrid!
As Gabby was flying back to Brazil from the Spanish capital, we started the long drive throughout the country. This started to form the commitment we will later see ourselves get into, always happy for a road trip, especially if it means an extra park or helps us to save some coins for the next tour.
A drop off at the airport and Gabby leaves the European continent as I stay at a nearby hotel ready for an early morning flight back to Gatwick. With no more trips booked, we do have a trip in the early stages being planned, for less than 6 weeks away, surely we have Christmas to get through first!
Everything is Bigger in Texas!
To be Continued…
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