Spain reloaded 3:PortAventura soaking

Posted by holly on Jun 24, 2009 in Blog, BlogSherpa, Europe |

I wanted to cry this morning as we left Barcelona. I didn’t want to leave, there was so much more I wanted to see. Damnit, make me come back again on my personal vacation, why don’t you?

An hour and a half drive got us to the Costa Dourada, where we toured the Hotel Cala Font (great ocean views from the pool), Hotel Las Vegas, H10 Salou Princess (conveniently located beside a doctor’s office, in case of emergencies) and H10 Europa park. We had now officially entered beach-and-buffet land, and it felt like another planet compared to the old world charm of Barcelona. Here it was pool noodles and sunscreen during the day and karaeoke bars and British/Dutch/German pub food at night. That is, if you weren’t filling up on your hotel’s free buffet breaky and dinner (all the hotels here offer that).

We stayed at the H10 Salauris Princess. The hotel was fine, our room was directly over the nightly entertainment stage, which wasn’t a problem as long as I was awake until 1130pm, and the pool was funky with a big flashy waterfall.

This part of the trip is not my usual cup of tea, as I am way too pale to sit at the pool/beach and lounge, plus I have the attention span of a gerbil, so after ten minutes of that I’d be all like “okay, so what are we doing now?” Luckily, a short ten minute walk from the hotel is the PortAventura theme park. Now this I like. As the resident Disney specialist in my office, I feel it’s my duty as a responsible agent to visit every theme park I see (plus, I really like rides and more cheezy souvenirs. What can I say, it’s fun to occasionally act my age). I recruited two other agents and, with our swimsuit-clad coworkers thinking we were crazy, headed up.

This place is total fun. It’s actually a Universal park, with Woody Woodpecker and Betty Boop everywhere, and it’s only 10 years old, so everything’s still in perfect condition. The themed lands (Mediterranea, Polynesia, China, Mexico and the Far West – the US southwest) are really well done, and I particularly loved China, with it’s great wall, forbidden city pavillions and dragons. Started off on the Furious Baco speed coaster, and it rocked. This is my type of coaster, freaking fast, but with no major drops.

Most of the other guests were in their bathing suits, which I thought was just because this is the Spanish Costa and that’s what they do. Nope. It’s because if you ride any of the three water rides, the Tutuki Splash, Silver River Flume and Grand Canyon Rapids, you get “wring your underpants out” wet. And in 35 degree heat, it felt awesome!

China is home to Dragon Khan, the largest roller coaster in Western Europe. No freaking way. Uh uh. No thank you. I stood at the bottom and held everyone’s stuff. My coworkers even talked some french guy, who was scared stiff, and his girlfriend to go on with them. They all had a great time. I got some great pictures, and am just as proud of myself! There’s also a very innocuous-looking teacups ride undoubtedly geared for children, but that doesn’t limit how fast you can spin your cup. With three adults pulling, we had that cup flying, and when the ride ended I couldn’t walk straight. I was so dizzy I accidentally locked my coworker into the cup as we exited, because I missed the door in my nauseous stagger. Get this, I can handle the launching of the Furious Baco, but the kiddie teacups will cause me to loose my lunch

We closed down the park at 9, cheering, and in the end probobly got as much sun and just as wet as the people at the hotel pool, but we had so much more fun doing it!