PortAventura World
| PortAventura World | ||||
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| place |
Salou Spain
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| opening | 1995 | |||
| Visitors | 3.5 million (2014) | |||
| surface | 115 hectares | |||
| Website | www.portaventura.de | |||
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Coordinates: 41 ° 5 ′ 5 ″ N , 1 ° 9 ′ 5 ″ E
PortAventura World is the largest Spanish leisure resort with around 3.5 million visitors annually . It is about 90 km west-southwest of Barcelona as the crow flies on the Mediterranean coast near Vila-seca and Salou ( Costa Daurada , Province of Tarragona , Catalonia ).
The resort currently includes the PortAventura Park theme park , Ferrari Land , which opened in April 2017 , the Caribe Aquatic Park water park and the six hotels El Paso , PortAventura , Caribe, Gold River , Mansión de Lucy and Colorado Creek .
Company history
On May 1, 1995 , the Port Aventura theme park was opened on a site that had also been considered for the current Disneyland Resort Paris . It was built by a consortium of Spanish investors, led by the Catalan Sparkasse la Caixa , and the US brewery group and amusement park operator Anheuser Busch , to which the British Tussauds Group , which holds almost 40% of the shares and the management of the Parks took over. A total of 48 billion pesetas (approx. 290 million euros) was invested in the project funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya . Under its general director Luis Rullán, the park attracted 2.7 million visitors in its first season. In the following years the ownership and the name of the park changed several times. In 1997 Universal Studios took over the shares in the Tussauds Group as well as the management of the park and renamed it Universal's Port Aventura in 1999 and Universal Studios Port Aventura in 2000 . In 2002, as the Universal Port Aventura theme park, it became part of the Universal Mediterránea complex , which also included the Costa Caribe water park and the Port Aventura and El Paso hotels .
In 2004 the company NBC Universal , which was formed after the merger of Universal Studios with NBC , sold the Universal shares to the largest shareholder, la Caixa, which thus held almost 80% and also took over management. Also in 2004, la Caixa took over the shares from Anheuser Busch and thus practically became the sole owner. The park has had its original name since 2005, but without spaces for trademark protection reasons (PortAventura) . After several years of losses, the park returned to profitability in 2004 under the leadership of the new General Director Mercedes de Pablo and in 2007 reached the previous record number of 4.1 million visitors. In 2007 la Caixa brought its stake in PortAventura to its newly founded holding company Criteria CaixaCorp SA .
After PortAventura had made a loss of 14.4 million euros in the first half of 2009 as a result of the beginning euro crisis and the number of visitors had fallen to 3.3 million in 2009, the investment company Investindustrial of the Italian businessman Carlo Bonomi, who lived in Spain , took a stake in the park at the end of 2009 . In the course of this transaction, the previous company Port Aventura SA was split into two separate companies. Most of the land including golf course and beach club as well as some of the hotels went to Mediterranea Beach & Golf Resort SA (MBGRSA) , which remained the sole ownership of Criteria, which has been operating as CaixaBank SA since 2011 ; the actual amusement parks and the other hotels went to Port Aventura Entertainment SA (PAESA) , in which Investindustrial acquired 50% by way of a capital increase. Investindustrial also took over the management of the entire complex and announced investments of 80 million euros for the modernization and expansion of the park and new attractions over the next four years.
In 2010 Fernando Aldecoa and Enrique Fontecha took over the management of the park. After MBGRSA had sold its remaining hotels to PAESA in September 2012, Investindustrial also acquired the remaining 50% of the shares in PAESA in November of the same year and thus became the sole owner of PortAventura. One year later, on December 6, 2013, PortAventura announced that the US venture capital company KKR will take over 49.9% of PAESA from Investindustrial with effect from January 2014, which will continue to hold 50.1%. The aim is to further expand the amusement park and increase the internationalization of the clientele.
amusement park
The theme park includes the Dragon Khan roller coaster , which was the world's most inverted roller coaster when it opened in 1995 . You will also find the two parallel Stampida wooden roller coasters , as well as many shows and, in the high season, the award-winning show Fiestaventura . One of the newer attractions is the Hurakan Condor free-fall tower , which was opened in the 2005 season. It is 103 m high, the height of fall is 86 m and the highest speed of fall is 115 km / h. The Furius Baco roller coaster has existed since 2007 and was the fastest in Europe at 135 km / h at that time. After briefly opening the German roller coaster Ring Racer , the Intamin prototype had to give up its record. Since the announcement of the renewed and final closure of the roller coaster at the Nürburgring, Furius Baco is again the fastest roller coaster in Europe. To this day, Furius Baco is the only roller coaster of its type in the world. In 2012, the theme park opened the Shambhala roller coaster , which changed the skyline. This hypercoaster beats three records: At 76 meters high, it is Europe's highest roller coaster, at 78 meters it also has the longest descent of a roller coaster in Europe and is also Europe's fastest hypercoaster with 134 km / h.
| Surname | Type | Subject area | comment | opening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Force | Intamin Accelerator Coaster | Ferrari Land | Highest and fastest roller coaster in Europe | 2017 |
| Dragon Khan | Bolliger & Mabillard Sitting Coaster | China | Former world record holder as a roller coaster with the most inversions | 1995 |
| El Diablo | Arrow Dynamics Mine Train | Mexico | a roller coaster through an abandoned mining area with 3 lift hills | 1995 |
| Furius Baco | Intamin Accelerator Coaster | Mediterrània | Fastest roller coaster in Europe, the first Wing Rider roller coaster | 2007 |
| Shambhala | Bolliger & Mabillard Hypercoaster | China | Europe's third highest roller coaster | 2012 |
| Stampida | CCI Dueling Woodencoaster | Far West | Dueling wooden roller coaster through the Wild West | 1997 |
| Tami-tami | Vekoma Junior Coaster | SésamoAventura | Family roller coaster through the children's area | 2007 |
| tomahawk | CCI Woodencoaster | Far West | Wooden roller coaster for the younger visitors | 1997 |
| Surname | Type | Subject area | comment | opening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angkor | Mack Rides Splash Battle | China | longest Splash Battle of the world, elaborate theming is the temple complex Angkor Wat modeled | 2014 |
| Canoes | Canoe trip | Polynesia | Ride for children on rivers through the exotic part of the park | ?? |
| Grand Canyon Rapids | Intamin Rapid River | Far West | Rafting through the canyons of the Grand Canyon | 1995 |
| Silver River Flume | Mack Rides Log Flume | Far West | classic "tree trunk" whitewater slide | 1995 |
| Tutuki Splash | Intamin Shoot-The-Chutes | Polynesia | very wet boat ride through a volcano | 1996 |
| Waitan Port | Round trip | China | relaxing tour from China to the Mediterranean | 1995 |
Visitor numbers
Development of visitor numbers
Accidents
On June 6, 2012 , two accidents occurred within a short time on the “Tutuki Splash” water slide . After one of the boats had come down the descent, the wave movement at the front lifted it so much that the left front guide rollers jumped out of the guide channel and touched it. The boat got wedged in the canal and got stuck. Immediately after the passengers left the boat, the following boat started up without braking. In the course of the accidents and afterwards, at least 2 people fell into the water.
Awards
In 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 PortAventura World received the “Worldofparks Award” as Europe's best amusement park and for its changing shows in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 the “Worldofparks Award” as the best show in a European theme park .
Web links
- PortAventura - website of the leisure resort (multilingual)
- PortAventura Fan Club
Remarks
- ↑ new theme park, which was opened on April 7th 2017 by and next to PortAventura
- ↑ In the period from 1995-2014 (Sources: Global Attractions Attendance Reports, among others)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Global Attractions Attendance Report 2014. (PDF) TEA, accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Martin Dahms: Competition for Eurodisney. In: Die Zeit 12/1995. March 17, 1995, accessed December 29, 2013 .
- ^ Ray Barratt: Port Aventura, CWOA and a Life in Attractions. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 9, 2013 ; Retrieved December 29, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Nace oficialmente Universal Mediterranea. January 25, 2002, accessed December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ Universal vende sus acciones a La Caixa. June 19, 2004, Retrieved December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ Se reafirma el éxito de PortAventura. March 16, 2006, Retrieved December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ 4'1 millones de personas visit to PortAventura. January 9, 2008, accessed December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ^ O. Grau / E. Calatrava: La Caixa cede un 50% del parque Port Aventura a Investindustrial. In: Expansión. September 9, 2011, Retrieved December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ 3.3 millones de visitantes en 2009. February 24, 2010, accessed December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ InvestIndustrial ya está en PortAventura. Retrieved December 5, 2009, December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ Nuevos directores en PortAventura. April 22, 2010, Retrieved December 30, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ Port Aventura compra dos hoteles y el Convention Center. Retrieved April 28, 2012, December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ InvestIndustrial equates 100% of PortAventura. November 5, 2012, Retrieved December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ Investindustrial vende un 49.9% de PortAventura a KKR. December 6, 2013, accessed December 29, 2013 (Spanish).
- ↑ airtimers.com
- ^ Salvador Anton Clavé: The global Theme Park Industry . 2007, p. 65, 2006 ( Memento of April 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF), Global Attractions Attendance Report 2007. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2008. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2009. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2010. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2011. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2012. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2013. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2014. (PDF) TEA, accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
- ↑ ATTRACTION PARK FAIL !! BOAT CRASH !!, Port Aventura, June 6th, 2012 . Video of the accident on Youtube, OnzinFreaks
- ↑ Worldofparks Award
