PortAventura

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**PortAventura**

Location	Salou, Catalonia, Spain
Website	www.portaventura.es
Owner	La Caixa
Opened	1995
Operating season	March to January
Rides	total

PortAventura is a theme park in the holiday resort of Salou, Catalonia, Spain, on the Costa Daurada ("Gold Coast"). It is 1 hour from Barcelona and has 2 airports within 30 minutes of it. It was conceived and built as a joint effort by the Tussauds group (Alton Towers), Anheuser-Busch (Busch Gardens) and Universal Studios. In 1997, Universal bought up most shares in the park and the park was rebranded as 'Universal's Port Aventura'. In 2000, two hotels and a water park were constructed, and the place was further rebranded as 'Universal Mediteranea'. In 2004, NBC Universal (Universal Studios' parent) sold all interest in PortAventura. It is now owned and operated by the Caixa banking group, but as of 2005 the Universal name has been dropped from the branding, and the resort was once again named 'PortAventura' (the space is deliberately left out by the park so they can copyright the name). It is one of the largest themeparks in Europe and the biggest resort in the south of Europe.

1 Accidents
2 Park structure
3 Seasonal Events
4 External links

[edit] Accidents

Port Aventura has had only one major incident which involved a Spanish man falling from the train of Stampida that occurred on May 7 1997 whilst it was travelling down the first drop, the man was said to be standing up in the train and thus not being securely fastened in the trains restraints. Recently, the park had another major accident. A man died at the Mine Train "El Diablo". He had heart problems, and he died "On Ride" from heart attack.

[edit] Park structure

PortAventura is divided into five "worlds" (Universals):

Each area is themed according to this scheme and features a variety of rides and attractions. The most notable attractions are:

Dragon Khan Roller coaster
Tutuki Splash (Water-based flume ride)
Stampida Wooden roller coaster
Hurakan Condor (Tower drop ride)
Templo Del Fuego (Indoor special effects show)
Sea Odyssey (Simulator)
Tomahawk (Small wooden roller coaster, at times runs parallel to Stampida)
Furious Baco (An Intamin Accelerator roller coaster, is due to open in 2007. It will have a top speed of 83.9 mph (135 km/h), meaning it will take over from Stealth at Thorpe Park and become the fastest roller coaster in europe.)

[edit] Seasonal Events

During seasonal events like Christmas (Navidad) and Halloween (el Día de Todos los Santos) PortAventura will open a few seasonal walkaround rides or shows, including Psycho's Circus (2005), Horror in Penitence (2006), La Mina del Diablo (2006).

La Mina del Diablo is an all year ride but in 2006 a horror walk was constructed over the queue lines to give the riders a little shock.