13 Theme Parks this Year - 4: Ferrari Land

[HEMANCLOFTY]

Tom’s 13 So Let’s Try to Do 13 Theme Parks this Year
Ferrari Land - Wednesday 30th May 2018

The Index is here

This was day 2 of our May half term Port Aventura week - I'm writing a full trip report for this: More (Port) Adventures in Salou

This post is therefore a cut and paste from the trippie (minus breakfast and afternoon / evening) so if you have already read about our day, you can give this one a miss.

Ferrari Land - Wednesday 30th May 2018

Rain was forecast today so I went for leggings and Tom had trackies on – but we both had shorts and flip-flops to change into if it got too hot. I also purposely went for a peach top as I was intending to buy the peach hoodie that I’d liked yesterday if it got really cold.

We headed out at 9:35 and arrived just before 10am. Ferrari Land opened at 10:30, but they let us through the main turnstiles and held us back just before the entrance arches...

There was literally 1 drop of rain whilst we were waiting, which was all we saw all day .

We used the time to plan our strategy for getting on Red Force – Tom wasn’t riding, so Rich and I were going to make a run for it. Meanwhile Tom would take the bags and meet us on the viewing platform.

When 10:30 came we made our run for it – we would have been on the first train of the day, but followed a couple of lads clockwise around the Flying Dreams building when it would have been quicker to go anticlockwise – we were still only 14th and 15th in the queue though and made it onto the 2nd train in row 2.

I’d done Red Force October, but this was Rich’s first ride – it was quick but brilliant, and Rich immediately declared it his #1 coaster!

We headed up to the viewing platform to meet Tom. We watched a few trains go, and put some sun spray on as (despite the clouds in the pics) the sun was starting to come out and it was quite warm...

We all headed for the Thrill Towers next...

...which were pretty much a walk on (1 drop cycle). One of the seats in our row of 3 was broken, so I had to sit around the corner. The ride sequence is random on these and we got a fast launch up which was fantastic – much better than Hurrakan Condor yesterday, even though it’s not as high. The view out across Salou towards the sea was stunning too.

Me and Rich went straight back on for another go (Tom sat it out as he was still feeling a bit full after breakfast). We did the same tower again and it was just as fab.

During the short wait we both said that we wanted to do Red Force again before the queue got too big, so decided we’d do it next, and then let Tom choose what to do after that.

The wait time for Red Force was showing as 10 minutes, so Tom fond a bench for him and the bags and we went on. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes and had still only done half of the queue. We’d seen one or two single riders skip around the cattle pen part to where the single rider queue starts, so decided we’d do that too as everyone else in the queue seemed to be in pairs or groups.
This worked out well as we were able to go straight up to the station and ended up being seated together (bonus) on the back row (double bonus).

We held hands going up the launch and it was even better than earlier. Not quite as good as the front row when I did it in October, but better because I was riding with Rich.

It was still only 11:30 when we got off - we’d had 4 brilliant rides in an hour! I nipped to the ladies whilst Rich went to meet Tom – I spotted the spare Red Force train on the way...

The boys were heading into the loos as I was coming out, so I took some photos of the themed signs which I think are great...

Even the ATM is themed ...

Tom’s choice of what to do next was to get a snack, and he went for a freshly made crepe with chocolate ice cream...

I had a 1 scoop cone with strawberry ice cream and it was lush...

Rich only wanted a drink, so we got a bottle of Coke too and it all came to €10.40. We sat on the steps of the Campanile of the Basilica to enjoy our treats...

We had mooch down to the new kiddie area next to check out Junior Red Force – this area had only been open a couple of weeks and there was a nice selection of kiddie flat rides down here. We queued a couple of minutes for Junior Red Force, which was actually quite nippy for a junior coaster and we got two laps in the front 2 rows...

Tom said that he quite fancied doing Junior Pistons, but the area was getting a bit busier, so we agreed to pop back later.

By this time, it was just after 12pm and the Acrobat Stunt Show had just started, so we sat on the benches at the back to watch. It was a slightly tweaked version than October and was equally cheesy and fun...

We headed up to do the 2 indoor experiences next...

We’d missed Racing Legends last time, so went for that one first, waiting about 5 minutes to get into the pre-show...

This is 4D simulator and was very underwhelming. We all agreed that the video stopped and started too often (cutting between race tracks around the world), and the water and air spray effects were pretty poor. Plus, the 3D itself was pretty blurry. I thought this might just be me and my lazy eye playing up, but both the boys had rubbish 3D too.

It was so disappointing that Rich decided to sit out Flying Dreams (even though he’d enjoyed it last time). This is a Ferrari version of Soarin’ and I actually think I like it just as much. It was another 5-minute wait to the pre-show...

...Tom and I ended up in seats slightly to the right so got the usual curvy Eiffel Tower.

Whilst we were waiting, Rich got a bottle of water (about €3.50-ish). It had one of those caps you can put your finger through so was quite handy to carry around...

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When Tom and I got back to Rich, he suggested to Tom about having a go on Pole Position, which is an add on experience for €15, where you race against other guests – Tom was up for it so we got him booked in for the next session, which was at 1:32.

He had to go into a pre-room first, where he said they were shown the controls and could choose between automatic or manual ears (he went for automatic)...

He didn’t do too bad considering the controls looked quite tricky – a couple of crashes along the way, but he came in 5th out of 6...

After, Tom needed to pop to the loo, so Rich and I waited near the fountain by the Campanile of the Basilica, where there was a little dancing show on the steps. The girls were trying to encourage guests to dance along, so I joined in, but didn't really know what I was doing and it was a bit embarrassing ...

We headed back down to the junior area next, where me and Tom had a go on the Crazy Pistons. We were at the front of the queue for the next go, but it was quite a slow loader, so it was about 10 mins before we got to ride. It was ok...

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We had a quick mooch around the gallery next and took pretty much the same photos as last time we were here...

Back to the Thrill Towers next, which were still a walk on, so we had 4 goes in a row. Rich sat out the last one, which made 6 goes in total for me today and 5 each for the boys – not to bad at all!

Red Force had been sticking at the 40-minute mark for a few hours now, so there was no chance for a final re-ride.

We were all a bit peckish by now, so we headed to Pit stop for a late lunch as the menu looked reasonable. It was surprisingly nice inside too...

Rich went for Burger & Fries and Tom & I both had the Fried Chicken & Fries. With 1 large Coke to share is came to a fairly reasonable €30, and it was all really tasty too...

It was 3:15 by the time we were done, so we topped up the water bottle from the water fountain and had a very quick look in the shop...

...which was very expensive (€26 for a mug, €55 for a cap and €80-€135 for a hoodie – no thank you) before heading over to PortAventura at 3:30.

I know that a lot of reviews say that Ferrari Land isn't worth the extra ticket money and / or that it's only a half day park, but I do think it's a great little park. I'd imagine that once Tom is ready for Red Force, we could quite easily fill the rest of the day with some re-rides

Our afternoon in PortAventura is here