14 August 2018
After a late night at PortAventura, we had a bit of sleep in before heading to Ferrari Land for the 10.30am opening.
We knew that there were not a lot of attractions at this park, and that it was really only the baby sister of Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi. However, both Terror and I were pretty excited about Europe’s tallest and fastest roller coaster (4th fastest in the world), Red Force. This coaster also went viral when a bird flew in to a rider not long after it had opened. If you haven’t seen the clip, check it out in all its hilarious glory here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA9tEcPBKF8 . You’re welcome.
With so few attractions, we initially agreed not to buy fast passes, and went straight to Red Force to wait in line. However, it kept breaking down, and over 1 hour later we weren’t sure if it was going to start again, and so left the queue in a pretty bad mood. We killed time by going on Junior Red Force (a very poor substitute, but kids aged around 5 seemed to like it.)
We hated ourselves for spending so much time lining up for the kiddy carnival style ride Crazy Pistons (platform on a rotating arm), but there weren’t a lot of rides to choose from.
The acrobatic show on the stage in the kids’ area was decent, and we were both impressed by the quality of the flossing from the rooster mascot.
We then waited for the Maranello Grand Race circuit, which was a slow go-kart track. Nearing the front of the queue, we had waited for close to 45 minutes when that ride too broke down.
Within the first 3 hours, we had only been on one crappy coaster, and our ability to keep ourselves entertained in the lines was not going well, especially once my Rubik’s cube fell apart.
We stuck it out, had a turn on the carts which were boring and definitely not worth the wait. After some debate, we decided to go and buy fast passes so we didn’t have to spend all day at this ordinary park. You could only use the passes once per ride, so experienced both of the drop towers (one was free fall, the other a reverse bungy), and Flying Dreams. The latter was a typical seated auditorium flying experience, but these are generally pretty fun with relatively short wait times due to their large seating capacity.
By that point, Red Force had also reopened, so we used the fast passes to skip the queue. With a similar set up to Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster, our expectations were high! With a top speed of 180km/hr, it was well off the pace of the world’s fastest coaster Formula Rossa, but the rise to 112 metres and subsequent dive is always pretty special. The speed was good, but this truly was the bumpiest fast launch coaster I have ever experienced. I have now been on 8 of the world’s top 10 fastest coasters, and this was the only one I have not loved. The acceleration was not smooth, and it really detracted from the ride. I didn’t enjoy the launch because I had to work hard on using my core to stabilise my back and neck muscles. We lined up for a second turn, but the outcome was the same.
Although it only opened in 2017, Ferrari Land felt like an unnecessary addition to PortAventura. The park was lacking in rides, and so when one broke down, everything else became stupidly busy. It needs another good 4-5 rides, and unfortunately its selling point (Red Force) was not a great experience. If I return, I will skip this park and use the time at PortAventura instead.
Roller Coaster Ramble 