Sorry Luci. I thought I was in the Costa Dorada Chat thread, if you want you can more the posts there if you think it might be less confusing for people, and delete this one.

Just got back from a week in Salou where we went 6 days out of the 7. Got the tickets via an emailed voucher - exchanged no problem on the day we arrived, didn't even ask for photo id or to sign the tickets and never checked at all whilst we were there. In effect we could have given them to another family to get in if we didn't want to use a day. Big tip, if you get the 7 or 14 for 3 days passes you have to use them all on consecutive days i.e. if you dont use it you lose it!! One poor family on a 14day holiday who got 7 day pass went the first day thinking they could go in total 7 days whenever they wanted over their 2 weeks lost 5 days entry because they didnt go again until the end of their first week!!

So did I enjoy it? 1st day yep 2nd day so-so 3rd and so on, just to keep the kids amused as Salou was very quiet and the beaches deserted. Great weather though, 20-25 degrees celsius sun all week. If you are there early doors you can do the whole park rides by closing time. We enjoyed all the shows especially chinatown and the bubbleshow - keep these until the end of your visit as they are in theatres and great for any rainy days.

Value for money - Personally I thought it was slightly overrated but the kids loved it and got there monies worth. Big rides are very hyped - especially furious baco. Another big tip is go midweek as its opening - no queues!! (myself and my 2 sons stayed in the front car of Dragon Khan for 7 rides in a row without having to get off!!!) Did Furious baco 4 times in a row - also having the whole ride to ourselves. Kondor seems hardest to get on for the height restrictions - the measure stick was fine for my 9 yr old son for all the other rides also 1.40m but he never met the height for the Kondor - bizarre!

Loads of families doing whatever they could to get their borderine height children onto rides the main one being in 'heelies' to give them the extra inch. What these people are thinking I dont know - the restrictions are there for a reason - If you have borderline height child i.e 1.3m 1.4m do as we did and tell them they probably wont get on before they go so they dont go with false hopes...They are very very strict. Id also reccomend you go on the rides first before your kids to check them out.

The main water rides are not open midweek at this time of year ie, river flume and tukuti splash. They are at weekends though - when the spanish descend on the park in very large numbers. Sunday afternoon was a nightmare as was a spanish student holiday later in the week on Thursday. The queues went from zero wait to 1 - 2 hours. Believe me.... none of the rides in this park are worth queuing for over 30 minutes at the most even the much talked about baco ride. Just leave it and come back another day!!

Another tip - if there is a sniff of strong winds all the big rides close. Get your rep to ring the park on the day you are going to find out which rides are closed if the weather isnt perfect.

Would I go again - probably, but not for a long time as we really did do everything twice, again and more.

Many thanks Simon - very helpful post

Thanks for the post simon, its answered many of my questions. I totally agree with you about people trying to make their kids look taller as the height restrictions are there for your kids safety. i have been to PA before but i have forgotten alot of it cos it was 2003 and none of the newer rides were there.

Thanks again

kerrie

Many thanks for an excellent review of PA. It will be very helpful to a lot of members.

luci

Hi Simon,
Also wanted to thank you for such a good post. It's nice to hear someoneelse's view on PA apart from mine.
Doe

Nice review, i saw you mentioned that the water rides weren't open during the week? I am sure i read on the website somewhere about when they do open but can't seem to find it. So when do they actually open during the week? We are off on Friday so just wondering if they will be open.

Also good to hear about the queues, we found the exact same last year when we went, although it was end of May the queues on a Wednesday were very minimal, am hoping they will be even smaller this time round!

sambache3592 - ALL the water rides were open on the Saturday and Sunday. Monday to Friday you only have the mini canoes for the very very young children and also the wild west rapids - thats it im afraid, but I understand its only seasonal.

Something I forgot to mention - there has been previous reviews of strict security at the main gates including checks for taking your own food in. We had no problem with that either taking bottles and bottles of water and pop along with bags of made up rolls and crisps. They weren't bothered and we saved a bit of fortune on the prices they were asking for food - 4e50 for a hot dog / burger 9 euros if you want it with chips and a drink.

Another tip - when you are leaving they have staff with little pda's doing a survey of your experience at the exit.....they say "it will only take a minute..." - it doesn't it takes 10minutes, every time they catch you...dont miss that last bus back to Salou!

All enjoy your hols. Thats mine for another year

ah right, that is pretty dissapointing, you sure they will not be open next week? I see no mention on the website that they are closed

If you go to this link it shows them closed in March:

http://www.umwebsite.com/portal.php?lan=en&id=3agenda

We came back on April 4th which was a friday - they may be open again now......Dont fret!

ah yer that is what i was looking at, they may have just opened then during mid week? fingers crossed

hi anyone know what the times for portaventura park and caribe waterpark are for 2009?

Anyone wanting 7 or 14 day tickets for Portaventura. I have just had an email from Attraction Tix with further 10% discount code, making the even cheaper. See here: http://www.attractiontix.co.uk/offer-codes.asp?referrer=msmay08a
Karen

Hi, just wondered if i got tickets from attraction tix, how long they take to come, cheers

Hi, They send you an e-ticket via e-mail straight away which you print and take to the theme park. Have used them both for Portaventura and Terra Mitica and never had any problem exchanging it for proper tickets at kiosk. Karen

Has anyone ever considered "ticket share" or does anyone actually do that?
We're taking our youngest son away 30th July for 5 days whilst our eldest is in Egypt with his girlfriend and the tickets are so expensive when we have to buy 3 adults just for possibly 2 days We're trying to do it as cheap as possible and have done everything DIY but the tickets well...............

We have given our tickets to people but usually just with 1 day remaining on them, usually for the day we go home. If you get friendly with people in your accommodation they may do it. My only other suggestion would be if you try to sell the remaining days of your tickets on, but people may not want to do that in case they didn't work. The tickets bought before hand are really good value. This is what the theme park is charging if you buy tickets at the gate:

Individual Tickets

1 day 2 consecutive days Night ticket*
Adult 42€ 63€ 26,50€
Junior 33,50€ 50,50€ 22€
Disabled** 21€ 32€ 15€

Adult: 11 to 59
Junior: 4 to 10
Senior: Over 60
Children: from 0 to 3 free

*Night ticket: from 28/06/08 to 31/08/08 (from 19.00 to 24.00).

** Documentation showing a minimum of 33% disability is required.
PortAventura Park + Caribe Aquatic Park 3 days / 2 parks
Adult 73€
Junior-Senior 60€
Disabled** 38,50€

- Valid from 24/05/08 to 14/09/08.

- Spend the first day at PortAventura Park, the next day at Caribe Aquatic Park and/or PortAventura Park, and the third day at PortAventura Park; you have 7 days from the day of your first visit to choose what you want to do.

- Caribe Aquatic Park has a limited capacity. Due to capacity limitations the Caribe Aquatic Park day may be transferred to PortAventura Park.

There are a few pubs who also give out discount vouchers in resort. Hope this helps. Karen

whats the height restriction on furious baco?

The height restriction on Furious Baco is 1.40m