PortAventura World

[MostMagicalCat]

rode it on my own!!!!!!!!!!in t rain woo hoo

[Dee4leeds]

The hurakan condor was excellent, in my own opinoin

[oriolat]

YAYYYYYYYYYY!
The final and most awaited anouncement here among Spanish coaster fans!

PortAventura is finally getting the Accelerator!

Here you are the press release (although this has been announced on the radio and I guess on TV so).

Port Aventura tendrá una montaña rusa que irá a 135 km/h

La nueva montaña rusa alcanzará 135 kilómetros por hora en sólo 3,5 segundos y los ocupantes irán con los pies colgando junto al suelo

SARA SANS - 14/12/2005
PORT AVENTURA

Un coche de fórmula 1 alcanza los 100 kilómetros por hora en cuatro segundos. La nueva atracción de Port Aventura, que costará seis millones de euros, se moverá a 135 kilómetros por hora en sólo 3,5 segundos. Esta montaña rusa será la estrella del parque a partir de la temporada del 2007, cuando se estrene. Estará ubicada en el área temática de la Mediterrània y arrancará y avanzará siempre en horizontal, a ras de suelo o a ras de agua a una velocidad de vértigo.

Quienes no se han atrevido con el Hurakan Condor (que baja a 115 kilómetros hora) o con el Dragon Khan (con puntas de 110 kilómetros por hora), lo van a tener difícil. La nueva montaña rusa, que todavía no tiene nombre, está pensada para un público joven y para amantes del riesgo y, especialmente, de la velocidad. En el argot especializado se califica este tipo de atracciones como acelerator porque su principal característica y máximo atractivo es su aceleración. Pasará de 0 a 135 kilómetros por hora en menos de cuatro segundos y sin recurrir a pendientes. Tampoco tendrá loopings (vueltas de campana). La salida de la atracción será a través de un túnel para salir acto seguido al aire libre, con lo que será visible para los visitantes del parque.

La nueva apuesta de Port Aventura será una montaña rusa parecida a la que hay en Alton Towers, en Inglaterra. Sin embargo, en aquella atracción los ocupantes van sentados en una especie de trenecillo. En Port Aventura se ha diseñado una especie de fuselaje de avión que correrá por encima de un raíl, pero los asientos colgarán de las alas, al estilo de los del Hurakan Condor. Los ocupantes viajarán a toda velocidad y a pocos centímetros del suelo y también del agua, puesto que en un momento de su recorrido la atracción cruzará el lago de la Mediterrània, el que da la bienvenida a todos los visitantes del parque.

Fuentes de Port Aventura aseguran que a la velocidad se añadirá otra emoción: la de ver cómo, con su recorrido sinuoso, la montaña rusa esquiva los objetos que encuentra a su paso. Cada viaje tendrá una duración de 55 segundos y cada hora podrán subir a la atracción 1.500 personas, casi el doble que en el Hurakan Condor, que tiene capacidad para 850 personas por hora.

Esta misma semana el consejo de administración del parque aprobó el proyecto aunque quedan algunos flecos por definir: la atracción se ubicará en el área de la Mediterránia, donde ahora sólo hay dos atracciones: la Estació del Nord (el tren) y el Port de la Drassana y también por una cuestión de espacio, ya que la nueva montaña rusa será muy grande, pero todavía no se ha determinado el punto exacto de salida. También queda por decidir la tematización de la atracción y si se incorpora algún espectáculo para amenizar la espera.

Construir la nueva montaña rusa costará un año y medio de trabajo, aunque la estructura y el material se preparará fuera del parque y los trabajos sólo serán visibles durante el montaje de la atracción. La inversión de la que será la estrella de Port Aventura a partir de la temporada 2007-2008, cuando el parque cumpla su duodécimo aniversario, superará los seis millones de euros. Su puesta en marcha coincidirá con la construcción del conjunto residencial y hotelero que Port Aventura desarrollará junto al parque.

I won't translate the whole article because it is way too long (lazy xD) but I'll say the highlights of the ride.

The first thing they say is that PortAventura will add a new coaster in 2007 reaching a top speed of 135 km/h (about 84 mph) in just 3,5 seconds!
It will be put in the Mediterranean Area of the park (which is the first area you have to cross to visit the park) and although the themeing is not yet confirmed it will run over water and very close to the ground giving a more intense accelerating sensation.
This will be a major coaster that won't feature any kind of inversions and will last 55 seconds of pure adrenaline.
The launching part will be inside a tunnel (wow!) that will increase the sensation of speed giving an adrenaline rush to all riders. Afterwards the train will enter a serie of elements not yet confirmed (with that speed I can smell a tophat anywhere). I forgot to mention that at one point of the ride the train will cross the Mediterranean lake.
The most confusing and surprising part of the news is that it won't feature the same trains seen on the rest of Accelerators. It will feature outward seats (2 per side of the rail) that will allow riders to see how the fly and giving the impression of collliding with several pieces of themeing (I can't really imagine what it will be like but I can see some similarities with the BallCoaster by Intamin or the 4D by Arrow - it could be an hybrid between these train models).
The construction will take a year and a half so expect something really big, or at least, well themed!
Besides, in the article they say the kind of coaster: Accelerator, so Intamin is in the party and what was quite shocking is that PortAventura took the idea of constructing an Accelerator after Alton Towers opened RITA.

So, prepare to scream going on the FASTEST coaster in Europe (yep - Stealth won't have anymore the speed record).

I will keep you updated.

[Anonymous]

Cool. Would love to visit PA.

It may be faster than Stealth, but it accelerates a lot slower.

[John]

It will feature outward seats (2 per side of the rail)

Does that mean that there are only 4 outward facing seats per train, with the rest facing forwards, or that each car will have 2 seats facing left and 2 seats facing right?

Pretty cool either way though.

[AstroDan]

Whilst I love the thrill of Accelerator's - if PA go down the Stealth / Top Thrill / Kingda Ka route I won't be making any special visit. A Terrain Accelerator would be much better.

However If they have different seating then I may well consider it.

[oriolat]

[quote=""duckman""]

It will feature outward seats (2 per side of the rail)

Does that mean that there are only 4 outward facing seats per train, with the rest facing forwards, or that each car will have 2 seats facing left and 2 seats facing right?

Pretty cool either way though.[/quote]

I think I got mistaken with the explanation.
I mean. all seats will be forward but they'll be assembled like this (imagine @ is a seat and the symbols || the track).

@@||@@ -> Then you have the same distribution like X.
I understood that from the explanation given in the article.

[Kaz]

This new coaster will be costing six million euros! Why is it that when they build a coaster in the UK its over 8 million but in europe its about 3 million.

The trains will look like this:

Image One

Image Two

Edit, Saz_sparkle
Changed IMG tags to URL as the image stretched the page (800x600 resolution).
Thanks

[MostMagicalCat]

been looking for info for the 2007 coaster any news couldnt find anything?

[CGM]

The thing is with these trains is that fast banking will be out of the question with the seats being spaced out so much, so goodbye Stengel Dive

[Dee4leeds]

is there anything different from normal coaster except the trains?

[Dr Pop Rocket]

I cant work out how this coaster is being built so cheaply, rita and kanoen cost more than this thing so Im not expecting much from this coasters, yes it will have a fast launch but i beleive the layout wont be nothing special.

[Kaz]

I also think it would have been better if Intamin had put 4 seats on each side as that would make it hold 40 people and not 20.

[oriolat]

I think that the journalist got the details on the price wrong.
It's almost imposible to build anything acceptable under 10 million €. For example. Hurakan Condor cost like 6,5 milion € so. I expect a bigger figure for the upcoming coaster.

[Kaz]

I have an interview with Roy Vocking (vice-president at Intamin AG) infront of me and this is what he says:

A top-spec rollercoaster costs easily in excess of $10 million (£5,317,700), which includes the factory cost as well as decoration and park infrastructure.

[CGM]

I think that the journalist got the details on the price wrong.
It's almost imposible to build anything acceptable under 10 million €. For example. Hurakan Condor cost like 6,5 milion € so. I expect a bigger figure for the upcoming coaster.

Well, I believe that coasters built by the Gravity Group are great value for money in my eyes and take anything from a half to a quarter off what you would normally pay. But yes generally this is true particuarly with steel coasters.

I think that we pay more for coasters in the UK anyway, something to do with shipping costs or taxing

[MostMagicalCat]

Trying to find an downloadable version of Dragon Kahn - anyone got a link?
Thank you.

[oriolat]

Of course:

http://www.pktk.org/videos/portaventura ... n_khan.wmv

This is a Spanish website with lots of onrides of coasters all over the world (mainly Europe).

[oriolat]

Meeh. the direct link doesn't work anymore.

http://www.pktk.org/videos.htm Try this. when you are in then click PortAventura on the menu above and you'll see all the videos availables.

[MostMagicalCat]

thanks oriolat, however it`s not letting me download anything, says the site has used up it bandwith(whatever that means), says to try later, so will wait.
making a photo dvd from my holiday in salou in october and want to put on film of the rides, next to the photos. it was wet in october, but good trip, got on the queue facing side of the condor on my own, which was strange.
while ive god you oriolat any news for the new coaster next year, haven`t found anything on english sites, you might have had more luck with the spanish sites.