The Future of PortAventura

[baconwhiskers]

Lots of challenge to beat Phantasialand and its quality of guest experience for the price, it's honestly the best in the world for that. They cannot do the same price gouging stuff they do in America because there literally is a cheaper and better alternative.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Lots of challenge to beat Phantasialand and its quality of guest experience for the price, it's honestly the best in the world for that. They cannot do the same price gouging stuff they do in America because there literally is a cheaper and better alternative.

Phantasialand and Port Aventura are rightly 900 miles apart in two different counties. This is roughly the same distance between Six Flags America and WDW.

 

[baconwhiskers]

Phantasialand and Port Aventura are rightly 900 miles apart in two different counties. This is roughly the same distance between Six Flags America and WDW.

I'm just talking about the European theme park scene in general. If you're not in Spain and want the best overall quality of theme park experience, Phantasialand is the best choice honestly.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

I kinda wish Uni would take over Terra Mitica instead. Like they could add a revenge of the Mummy ride to the Egypt section and re theme it overall to the Mummy movies for example.

 

[Nitro_230]

It would make a lot of sense. They know the build quality and theme is there. Would be fairly quick for them to bring their brands in.

And Comcast is always looking for a way to grow outside the US.

 

[quinnmac000]

Phantasialand and Port Aventura are rightly 900 miles apart in two different counties. This is roughly the same distance between Six Flags America and WDW.

But traveling around Europe is vastly easier than traveling around the US is what I think he is getting at. So people will go to places that have higher return value to them rather than just go to Spain.

 

[Nitro_230]

But traveling around Europe is vastly easier than traveling around the US is what I think he is getting at. So people will go to places that have higher return value to them rather than just go to Spain.

Fair, but Spain is already a common vacation destination. So there is a built in audience before you even get to pulling in more people.

 

[fryoj]

I can get the best coaster park in the world cheaply in Ohio. But if I want a butterbeer or to see Mickey Mouse, I go to Orlando and get gouged. Maybe not apples to apples, but I think a Uni park in Europe would do fine.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

But traveling around Europe is vastly easier than traveling around the US is what I think he is getting at. So people will go to places that have higher return value to them rather than just go to Spain.

This is not even remotely true.

 

[baconwhiskers]

I can get the best coaster park in the world cheaply in Ohio. But if I want a butterbeer or to see Mickey Mouse, I go to Orlando and get gouged. Maybe not apples to apples, but I think a Uni park in Europe would do fine.

I think it would do a bit around Disney Paris does. Mario or Harry Potter would definitely help out, but I don’t think they’ll be the top dog for overall experience like let’s say Universal Orlando is for the states. A place like Phantasialand feels built to care for the guest experience on a level that American owned parks do not as well as having very good pricing on things from admission to food/drinks vs a place you kinda have to be on guard for gouging.

This is not even remotely true.

Trains and flixbus depending where you’re at. Plus public transit (Phantasialand even out where it is, which is a knock against it, has connection to it).

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

This is not even remotely true.

900 miles is still 900 miles, even in Europe.

Lots of challenge to beat Phantasialand and its quality of guest experience for the price, it's honestly the best in the world for that.

Port Aventura already has higher attendance than Phantasialand with quality theming and a prime location ensconced within a hotbed of European tourism. Even without Universal, they're good.

 

[GAcoaster]

Potter and SNW would be HUGE draws and they could be added for a known price at this point. Relatively quick and fairly inexpensive to add with quick ROI.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I agree Phanrasialand is the more appealing park but I don’t see them as competitors. Port Aventuras main competitor is DLP and WDW.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Would be interesting to see if UOR allows them to build Hogsmeade in a European resort. I think Diagon (and Epic's land) is safe as an Orlando exclusive for now and guarantees travel to Orlando for the ultimate Potter fans from the UK/Europe.

Travel in Europe is easier than in the US, but not necessarily as fast as some of us think it is. A train can take ~6-9 hours from Paris to Barcelona.

A park in Italy or Spain where the climate is a bit friendlier year around for a theme park resort would be ideal.

 

[baconwhiskers]

Port Aventura already has higher attendance than Phantasialand with quality theming and a prime location ensconced within a hotbed of European tourism. Even without Universal, they're good.

I'm saying in what to be considered to be the top in overall experience in Europe. I don't even think the US Universal parks are a better overall experience than Phantasialand (as well as Disney, especially Disney), but yeah attendance wise IPs are gonna win out 100%. I'm actually surprised by how Phantasialand isn't talked about as much in general audiences, but then again no IPs so it makes sense.

Travel in Europe is easier than in the US, but not necessarily as fast as some of us think it is. A train can take ~6-9 hours from Paris to Barcelona.

I don't think anyone ever said fast, just easier. I have to consider a rental car or some other unreliable situation if I wanted to travel to a city in the US that's not a major one with transit and even a lot of the major ones don't even have that.

 

[tielo]

As a European I'd love to see Universal open up shop in the EU...but.
They will financially fail just like Disney does in France. It's simple, we at least have 6 weeks of vacation, then there are the weekend breaks, going to London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Viana, Rome or Paris, you know the little fun thingies, and your 2000 euro budget (for your family) needs to go very, very far. So souvenirs will be bought by maybe 15% of the visitors (did you ever see anyone with an Efteling t-shirt?). Food shouldn't be too expensive or we walk back to our car and eat out of our trunk and the hotel or camping site should be as cheap as possible.
Who are going to Spain?
Young people with a very limited budget.
What are they doing there?
Partying, boozing and the other thing that gives you a free souvenir in the form of a STD, and that is it.
Then there is the language thing that make running a park is even more complicated than the US. Above that the EU has a ton of stunning theme parks like Europa Park, Puy Du Fou, Efteling, Phantasialand, Toverland, Tivoli Gardens, Parc Astérix, Gardaland, Alton Towers, Futuroscope to name a few.
So yes I love to see them build a quality copy of their theme parks but I don't think it will make financially sense unfortunately.

 

[Nico]

I wonder what Universal’s data tells them about profitability. Clearly if these conversations are going on, they’ve already run the data. This is the same company that looked at financial pull of SpongeBob vs Kung Fu Panda during development, or the inclusion of Mario in a Chinese park. This is a major corporation we’re talking about. They aren’t going to do something on a whim.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

700 metres of track is slightly longer than Florida's Revenge of the Mummy.

Not too sure how great the ride's gonna be if it opens in 2023 and this is the construction progress:

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I'm kind of surprised that both the rumors of Universal purchasing this park and the announcement of a major new ride based on a popular franchise hasn't drawn more attention here.

Then again, this side of the forums is basically a graveyard of proposed and unfinished foreign Universal parks.

 

[Viator]