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PortAventura
Spain
Click to buy PortAventura Tickets
 Park News - (5/22/09) I’ve got a correction to our last story, as it seems the park employee was actually killed by the Tomahawk coaster, which is a third wooden coaster track built within the two-track Stampedia coaster structure.
(5/20/09) According to this article a 55 year old park employee was killed yesterday when they were run over by a roller coaster in the Far West area of the park, which seems to indicate that it was Stampedia.
(5/6/09) According to the BlogPA team the previously closed Templo del Fuego reopened once again on May 1st.
(1/20/09) PortAventura is scheduled to open for the 2009 season on March 27th. The new 2009 prices can be seen posted to BlogPA. In other news the local news has reported that the park’s attendance in 2008 was 3.6 million, down from a reported 3.7 million in 2007.
(12/3/08) According to the rough translation provided to us by our friends at BlogPA, Criteria has begun talks with seven different foreign groups about taking over the majority stake in the PortAventura resort complex. They hope to narrow it down to a small group of finalist in time for Christmas, but any final deal will have to wait until 2009. They say that everyone on the list has previous experience with the entertainment industry, but only Blackstone was mentioned by name.
(10/7/08) According to BlogPA the park’s owner, Criteria Caixa Corp, is expected to announce their intention to sell off 30% of ownership shares in the theme park during their Q3 Report. Apparently they are in talks with five companies right now: Blackstone Group (Merlin), Disney, Parques Reunidos, as well as two private investors.
(10/3/08) The park is currently running a Halloween event through to November 16th.
(8/26/08) Screamscape has heard a rumor that the owner of PortAventura (Criteria Caixa Corp) may be seeking to sell off upwards of 40% of their ownership in the resort project to a group who has more experience in the theme park industry. As for the likely suspects, many would like to believe that NBC Universal could come back to the park, but after selling off their shares a few years ago they aren’t likely to buy back in at this point in time, considering how weak the US dollar is in the global market. Other rumors claim that either a company from Germany may be looking to jump aboard or possible another unknown private group. Personally, I’ve also got to look at the big players in the Europe market right now like Merlin Entertainment and Parque Reunidos as big possibilities.
(7/17/08) It has been confirmed that Templo del Fuego has now closed as was rumored last week. There is some good speculation that the attraction will be closed for the rest of the season.
2009 - Sesame Street Land - Rumor - (1/20/09) For 2009 the park will feature an assortment of new shows in the park, including one that is said to feature the Sesame Street characters that will open in June.
(8/26/08) According to the Sesame Workshop website, Sesame Street characters are now in PortAventura. The listing also says that in addition to the characters in shows and parades, they will also have “a kids’ land.” So unless this is an overstatement of what is really a themed meet & greet area, I have to wonder if a new Sesame themed kiddie land may be on the way for 2009. Anyone know more?
2009 - Hotel Gold River - (4/14/09) A new construction update showing off the Hotel Gold River has been posted here, just scroll down to the last 25 pictures or so.
(1/20/09) The latest construction pictures of the Hotel Gold River can been seen at the bottom of this page.
(10/3/08) A few new pictures from the construction of the Hotel Gold River can be seen here.
(9/2/08) It’s all in Spanish so you’ll have to find an online translator, but a good page full of information and art about the new Hotel Gold River coming to opening at PortAventura next year can be found at BlogPA.
(8/18/08) According to our sources at BlogPA the new official name for the Hotel Far West will be Hotel Gold River. There are also new construction pictures of it here.
(6/22/08) New pictures of the Hotel Far West have been posted by BlogPA.
(8/10/07) Local sources have confirmed the addition of the new Hotel Far West for PortAventura. It will be the biggest hotel in the resort and build behind Stampida where it will fit into the Western theme. It is expected to have 500 rooms and will hopefully open by early 2009.
2009 - Convention Center - (4/14/09) A construction update on the new convention center can be seen at the bottom of this page, thanks to the BlogPA team.
(8/18/08) BlogPA has sent us a link showing off the latest construction pictures of the new large convention center building that is expected to open in October 2009.
(5/13/08) Several new construction updates for PortAventura have come in this morning from BlogPA including a look at the start of the new Convention Center building that should be complete by October 2009
(2/4/08) BlogPA has posted some artwork and plans for the new resort convention center.
(8/10/07) Construction on the new Convention Center will start in 2008 and be complete by sometime in 2009.
2009/2010 - Caribe Waterpark Expansion - (10/3/08) Construction work to add a new waterslide to the Caribe Aquatic Park appears to have begun as you can see in thes picture below.
(4/2/08) While the article is in Spanish, the artwork speaks for itself showing off not only where PortAventura is planning to expand the Caribe Aquatic Park, but also artwork showing off the massive 45 meter volcano themed drop out slide that will also be home to a slightly less steep camelback slide.
(3/20/08) BlogPA tells us that the expansion of the Caribe Aquatic Park will take place in 2009, adding a volcano themed structure that will feature several different slides. One of the rumored slides is thought to be a drop-out style slide approximately 45 meters high (147 feet) which would be the tallest such slide in the world. Currently I believe the tallest is Insano at Beach Park in Brazil that stands 41 meters (135 ft) tall followed by Summit Plummet at Disney’s Blizzard Beach which stands 36 meters (120 ft) tall.
(1/10/08) The latest rumors for PortAventura don’t involve a new park attraction just yet, but rather a possible expansion of the Caribe Aquatic Park that could open by 2009 and feature a couple of new slides and pool areas.
2010 - New Coaster - Rumor - (1/20/09) While I haven’t heard anything about this project myself yet, I’ve been told that PortAventura is looking into the idea of adding a major new coaster for the 2010 season to celebrate the park’s 15th anniversary. If the rumors hold true the park is possibly looking to add a Dive Machine style coaster to the Polynesian area of the park. Anyone know more?
2010 - Golf Hotel and Hotel PortAventura Expansion - (1/23/08) BlogPortAventura mentions that a new small Golf Course hotel with 100 rooms may be in the works for 2010. There are also plans to expand the Hotel PortAventura at some point by adding an additional 100 rooms to it as well.
2010 - PortAventura Village - Development - (1/20/09) The PortAventura Village project is on indefinite hold after Riofisa has left the project, claiming that the park has failed to meet their contractual commitments to the project. It’s unknown if park may try to move ahead with the project on their own or find another design partner in the future.
(10/23/08) Today’s update comes from the guys at BlogPA who have sent in a piece of concept artwork showing off the PortAventura Village project, a new 185 million Euro retail mall project. The site was sold to mall design firm Riofisa and will be located near the railway station with two new car parks able to hold 2,000 vehicles and open in 2010.
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