Four fly to Spain - Port Aventura here we come....

[PoppyAnna]

The Cast:
Me: Joanne, 37. Lover of any holiday.
DH: Richard, 40. Over worked, stressed IT consultant and lover of a good waterpark.
:cutie: Eldest DD: Anna, 5. Dancing, food and fun loving girl.
:cutie:Youngest DD: Poppy, (almost) 3. Cheeky, typical red haired Minxie.

Day One – The journey, splash time and sneak peek.
Our flight leaves Gatwick South at 0555! I have arranged our usual meet and greet car park service for 0330! So we get up 0200 get ready and wake the girls at the last minute. All washed and spruced, we leave home at 0245. After saying goodbye to our car we check-in, after which we head for the coffee bar for drinks and almond croissants! Yum!
We take off on time and as soon as we’re up, it feels like it’s time to land – an uneventful 1hr 45min flight it was and with spare seats we were able to spread out and little Poppy managed to get an hour sleep.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0022.jpg

Touch down at Reus airport is around 9am after collecting our bags and making the short 15 minute trip to the hotel we arrive to check-in but our room isn’t ready so before we store our luggage, I unpack the cossies and towels then we hit the pool for a swim.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0033-1.jpg

After lunch at the pool bar we go to our room to unpack and shower. We find funky Woody Woodpecker amenity packs for each of the girls which have a toothbrush, comb, hairbrush and a cup in, a nice touch. We find that the girls will be sleeping in bunk beds, we’re not big fans of bunk beds and the girls have never slept in them but we find that they adapt quickly (frankly, they’re too tired not to).

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0049.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0937.jpg

We booked this holiday as a package with Thomas Cook which means we’re staying half board on site at the El Paso hotel as it was the only option. I don’t think I’ve stayed half board at a hotel since I was a child and my Dad took me on holiday. So, it’s with trepidation that we head to the restaurant for dinner. Dinner turned out to be a very pleasant surprise there were good choices of salads, tapas, soups, meats, local fish and vegetables. The meat and fish is cooked on an open grill where it is served which was nice. The range of puddings and fruit was amazing and Anna’s eyes popped out of her head! (Breakfast was just as nice with cereals, fruit, pastries, continental meats, a pancake griddle and full English!)
After dinner we decide to walk the 100yards up the road to the Port Aventura Theme Park. First impressions are really good. We can tell straight away that the park is pretty big. It occurs to us that Woody Woodpecker is to Port Aventura what Mickey is to Walt Disney World, other main characters are the Muppet gang, Betty Boo (?) and Shrek(?).
One perk of staying on-site is we get fastpasses to certain rides. We only really nose around the Wild West area where DH and eldest use an “Express Pass” on Grand Canyon Rapids (like Kali) whilst Poppy and I get a drink.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0077.jpg

After refreshment we head to the kiddie rides in the area and the girls go on the bumper cars and bump into Cowboy Woody!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0096.jpg

The early start is catching up so we head home for bed.
In the early hours the loudest thunderstorm I have ever heard sounds like it is directly over head, the girls slept soundly in their bunks.

[CHEK]

So Joanne, the girls slept soundly in their bunks, But did you???, or did you have one eye open all night?
Your DD's look like they're having a wonderful time, great pics :thumbsup2

[Pinky166]

Great start Joanne.

Your girls are sooo cute! :cutie: :cutie:

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

Aww looks fab.
Bet you kept your eye open mind with the girls in bunk bed...x
Great start..:thumbsup2

[natalielongstaff]

Your girls are so cute ! love the character pics :thumbsup2

[Snowy-girls]

Great start Joanne.Love the pics.x.

[PoppyAnna]

Day two – The Theme Park.
We wake up around 8am and get down to breakfast at 845am.
This is the view of the maze at the hotel from our balcony.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0046.jpg

The park opens at 1000am at we make the walk up the gentle hill to the theme park. I have forgotten the express pass tickets so Richard pops back to the room whilst we wait. The park consists of five “lands” Mediterrania, Polynesia, China, Mexico and Far West. Proof of the previous owners remain.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0069.jpg

There are thrill rides and gentle rides and attractions for all ages in every area.
We enter the park and after a character stop with Burt and Ernie we head straight to China via Mediterrania on the boat.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0128.jpg

The feel of the park is lovely, as you enter the park and Mediterrania it has a lovely feel of a fishing village that could be almost anywhere on the Med.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0070.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0497.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0072.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0498.jpg

The ride that runs over the lake is called “Furious Baco” the newest thrill ride in the park a fast side-by-side rollercoaster.

After riding the teacups in China, we head for a show called Bubble Bou, I read reviews before leaving that this was a good entertaining break from the sun especially for little ones, Poppy loves the show!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0560.jpg

After a gentle hub and spoke ride we head for refreshments and then the girls have a run around in the themed playground. We ride two other young hub and spoke type rides which the girls love.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0154.jpg

After lunch, we head further on through China to watch a show called China Town – we don’t know what to expect but the air conditioned theatre is a relief from the very hot day outside. The show is fantastic! With Chinese acrobatic stunts beyond belief. No flash photo graphs were allowed.
We walk straight down through Mexico and the girls need a powder their noses so we’re pushed through to the Far West area for this. So Mexico is missed out today although I eye this restaurant for lunch on our next visit.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0165.jpg

Poppy is getting tired, we decided to come on holiday without a buggy and we’re starting to think maybe we should have rented a park one. Poppy and I go on the Wild West themed carousel whilst Richard and Anna go on the woody “Stampida” with express passes. Yet another drink stop is needed, this time an alcoholic one for the adults....:thumbsup2

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0166.jpg

After some more time in the playgrounds with the girls we have a drink and a snack in the Saloon bar and watch the show which was very fun and Richard really liked the can-can part especially!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0194.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0196.jpg

Anna and I ride the log flume ride “Silver River flume” with our express passes which are starting to come in very handy.
It’s 430pm and we decide to head back to the room for a Siesta!
After dinner we wander out to another on-site hotel for a drink and then return for an early night.

[PoppyAnna]

So Joanne, the girls slept soundly in their bunks, But did you???, or did you have one eye open all night?
Your DD's look like they're having a wonderful time, great pics :thumbsup2


Aww looks fab.
Bet you kept your eye open mind with the girls in bunk bed...x
Great start..:thumbsup2

I wasn't too worried about the eldest on top, we set the ground rules from the start - no climbing up there to play etc and Poppy was banned from going up there altogether!
I was more worried about little Poppy on the bottom, the wooden frame was quite a bit wider than the mattress and the floor was tiled - ouch! So we stored the suitcases under the bed and when she went to bed we pulled them out and covered them in all the spare blankets to form a sort of soft ledge! Richard slept on their side as he sleeps lighter than me.
She didn't fall out once, they were so tired.

[thelittlemermaid83]

Great so far Joanne, I wouldn't mind going here one day, does it cater much to younger kids?

[Cyrano]

Great report.
SIL/BIL visited in the summer and have not really said much about it :)

[disneyangel]

Lovely photos :goodvibes and great trippie

Does univeral not own the park anymore ?:confused3

[Minniespal]

Lovely photos Joanne:thumbsup2

[The Fetherstons]

Great photos Joanne, the place looks really good:thumbsup2

[Tink2312]

Great TR so far!
I didn't even realise Port Aventura wasn't Universal-owned anymore :upsidedow Would love a trip there though :thumbsup2

[Goofysmate]

Great picture of you DD with Bert & Earnie :goodvibes

[irongirlof12]

love the photo's - for some reason i did not expect it too look as nice as it does. (I think I was expecting alton towers crossed with butlins :lmao: ) the picci of the beer looks like an 'ice cold in alex' shot!

[PoppyAnna]

Thank you for all your lovely comments.

love the photo's - for some reason i did not expect it too look as nice as it does. (I think I was expecting alton towers crossed with butlins :lmao: ) the picci of the beer looks like an 'ice cold in alex' shot!

We were so pleasantly surprised by the resort and the parks. Thats the main reason for doing this trippie. I don't think many people know this great theme park exists, and that it's not very far from the UK at all.
I know it's not Disney but it was really good fun, and two things it has over DLRP for me is better weather and a waterpark!
I'm hoping to do day three tomorrow as to be honest, I'm feeling a bit poorly tonight so I'm off to bed.......

[gemmybear83]

Thanks for this I love Portaventura when I went here so this brings back a lot of happy memories!

[PoppyAnna]

Day Three – The Waterpark.

.......Let me take you back.....
You may recall on the first night we experienced an almighty thunderstorm overhead. It’s clear to us this morning that that very thunderstorm obviously put pay to what we experienced last night from our room – the Mini Disco and entertainment! These take part in the open air on a stage not too far from our room! Now that we know, it’s fine it was just a little shocking to settle down to an early night then be kept awake by a funk-ed up version of “I am the Music man.........”!
So we’re up a bit later than yesterday and after breakfast we head for the waterpark. The weather is slighty overcast which suits us fine for a waterpark day, as most of us are fair skinned.
The entrance Costa Caribe is directly next door to the theme park.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0502.jpg
(You can see the Universal logo on the entrance sign)

Just like the theme park we swipe our rooms cards at the entrance and after a little wander around we settle on a quiet spot just a short stroll from the busier childrens area. Again the theming is impressive, being based on the carribean (although parts of it remind me of Center Parcs too as there is a large glass indoor part) it’s nice and colourful.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0689.jpg

The childrens area is fantastic and can really teach Disney a lesson or two about their pre-school/younger areas of TL and BB – this whole water area has great slides and has a large barrel at the top which fills and overflows every minute or so to absolutely drench everything – like the Curious George area at US. It has bycycles that when peddled squirt water and loads of handles to turn to stop and start water. Water canons to fire at people – really good interactive fun for little ones. Some little tame slides for the youngest and some tubes for the older ones.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0626.jpg


http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0246.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0684.jpg


We go on the family raft ride which, is one of the best I have been on. Then I stay with Poppy whilst Richard and Anna go off to ride some single and double rides.
After a lunch of Jamaican style chicken and rice (quite nice, actually) we rest for a bit and let our meal go down before going into the main wave pool. The wave power is nothing like TL but great fun. I only manage a photo of the main pool on the way out.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0687.jpg

After a little while in the wave pool we go around the lazy river. We wait quite a while for three tubes (I give up waiting and swim around with Anna) then we find out that you can also hire tubes on the way in, this obviously cuts down your waiting time but it would mean lugging four tubes around a waterpark for us and something else to look after......so we didn’t bother.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0630.jpg


We spend a while in the indoor area on more tube slides and then decide after getting one last refill of our drinks we head back home for a lovely two and a half hour siesta and an evening of Mini-Disco and a chance to meet "Winnie" who is to Woody what Minnie is to Mickey!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0287.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0292.jpg

Tomorrow - Barcelona.......

[Pinky166]

A great update Joanne, it looks lovely there. :goodvibes

[thelittlemermaid83]

Wow that water park looks like a lot of fun....I'm really thinking of planning a holiday here now. :) Thanks Joanne.

[PoppyAnna]

Forgot to add in my latest installment about the lifeguards at the waterpark and the beach club (featured later). They do not take any mucking about and bad behaviour at all. They are very strict, the whistle is always going.....
On rides you clear the landing pool quickly, no big kids were allowed in the younger areas, teenagers are not allowed to get out of hand in gangs - it was very sensible indeed:thumbsup2
They run a very tight ship!

[thelittlemermaid83]

Was your hotel right next to both parks Joanne?

[PoppyAnna]

Was your hotel right next to both parks Joanne?

Yes Emma, The Port Adventura Hotel is the closest being right next to the park, the El Paso (where we stayed) was next closest at a few hundred yards down the road and the Caribe was a bit further away again.

If youre staying half board you can ask hotel reception to give you a "dine around" voucher where you can have your evening meal at one of the other hotels too.

[irongirlof12]

the water park looks clean and sounds very well run. :thumbsup2 the kids bit looked cool! I must say I am quite impressed with the thigns you have shown us - well done you!

[Snowy-girls]

Great update Joanne,the pics are great+the water park looks fantastic(coming from someone who does'nt do water parks).Am i being rude to ask how much the holiday was,how long for,flights,board basis etc..?.x.

[Strommie]

Fantastic photos, the water park looks lovely.

[PoppyAnna]

Great update Joanne,the pics are great+the water park looks fantastic(coming from someone who does'nt do water parks).Am i being rude to ask how much the holiday was,how long for,flights,board basis etc..?.x.

I'll PM you m'dear....

[PoppyAnna]

Day Four – Barcelona.


We have to set the alarm today as we want to get the 0840ish train to Barcelona. The trains are very infrequent and it’s our only chance to get there at a good time.
The train is a little late and as I imagined it is a commuter train. There was no ticket office at the grubby Port Aventura station so we pay on the train – 21e for all of us to get there and back - bargain!
We didn’t attend the rep’s welcome meeting on the first day and he put a note under our door the night before with details of their available excursions. Thomas Cook were asking 99e for a round coach trip to Barcelona with free time only (no tour).
The nice clean train takes about 1hr 20mins which passes uneventfully. We alight at Barcelona Passeig De-Gracia. This is more like a tube station and when we get above ground we are right underneath one of Gaudi’s most famous buildings – Casa Batllo. Completed in 1906, my picture doesn’t do it much justice.


http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0408.jpg
Casa Batllo

My one disappointment with our slight change of plans during this trip means DH won’t see Barcelona by night.

Knowing Barcelona quite well I think it’s a good idea to take my family of Barcelona virgins on the City’s great open top “Tourist Bus”. The bus has three routes, each route has a colour and you simply hop on and off and transfer whenever you want. For the four of us it's just over 50e for the whole day. We take the north route first. We decide to not get off at the Sagrada Famillia as I’m not sure the girls would enjoy the tour of Gaudi's still unfinished masterpiece.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0309.jpg
Sagrada Famillia


Instead I tell DH we should get off in a few stops at Parc Guell. Parc Guell was Gaudi’s attempt at a City Garden suburb. Unfortunately, building costs spiralled and only one home was built and this now serves as a Gaudi museum.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0350.jpg

The park is lovely, it has fantastic views of the city and the girls get to have a run around (okay, Poppy chases pigeons). It is a very hot day and the large terrace is very exposed – ice lolly time!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0330.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0340.jpg


Back on the bus Poppy falls asleep and we’re on for about 30mins so the next stop we decide to get off at is the Nou Camp – we’re not mad Footie fans but do enjoy the beautiful game. Unfortunately, we ended up having our lunch in a fairly bland sandwich cafe at the ground – our timing is all out today and the girls are a bit tired and hungry so we have to eat....so it has to be.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0358.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0352.jpg


Back on the southern bus it goes all around the lovely harbour, the Olympic stadium and countless other sites. We decide to stay on the bus, up the top at the back and enjoy the sunny breeze. On this leg we eye Barcelona Sants station and we decide we will travel home from this new modern station as it looks easier to negotiate.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0387.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0411.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0371.jpg

Our final stop is for shopping, we get off at the Placa de Catlunya. I was looking for the girl’s winter boots and shoes as I love Spanish footwear but sadly we don’t buy anything. We head back to Barcelona Sants to catch the 6pm train back to Port Aventura. Lots of walking today and the girls are tired (so are we, I think Richard carried Poppy around most of Barcelona :lmao: ).


http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0364.jpg

After dinner we head to bed.

[Pugsly]

Lovin' the report, Joanne!

[PoppyAnna]

Lovin' the report, Joanne!

Thank you, Sharon.
Nice to knowing somebody is reading:thumbsup2

[The Fetherstons]

Enjoying your reports Joanne, Fab:thumbsup2

[PoppyAnna]

Day Five – Salou.

We have three more full days to fill, we'd like to go back to the Port Aventura Park and the Waterpark and the Beach club but as yesterday was a long tiring day we opt to visit Salou instead. Salou is the nearest resort centre to Port Aventura and at only a mile or so away we decide to walk there after breakfast to see what its like.
None of us have been to the Costa Dorada before and to be honest neither myself nor Richard are fans of spending two weeks lying on a beach – especially a large busy one.
We arrive on the beach and pay 21e for two sunbeds and the shade above!
On the way to the beach we walk down streets of tacky souvenir shops and “British” pubs galore. Our initial view of the beach is disappointing but after a while decide to go for a paddle. The sea is busy, quite rough and doesn’t appear very clean.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0416.jpg


http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0429.jpg

The girls don’t like the sea so we retire to the expensive sunbeds and get a drink from the beach bar. We only last about another hour on the beach and decide to head back to the hotel via the supermarket for more water and snacks. We go back to the hotel, have a swim and lunch at the pool bar after which we head back to the room for a little siesta.
After some rest and a freshen up we take the short walk up to the theme park. We have missed out a couple of the areas in the park and although we plan to spend a full day there tomorrow there are some shows that are only on in the evening that we want to watch.
We enter the park and head for Polynesia – we see the show.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0455.jpg


http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0460.jpg


The girls then go on some kiddie rides.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0479.jpg

We then use our express passes to go on Sea Odyssey with Anna which is like Soarin under water – I thought it was really enjoyable.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0484.jpg

We catch a Bert and Ernie song on the way out and head back to the Hotel for dinner and Mini Disco!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0499.jpg


Anna has a very sweet tooth and is obsessed the whole holiday with the puddings available......

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0512.jpg

Overall, today had an awful start – we know that will never visit Salou for a holiday. Our time in the Theme park was enjoyable but most of the day was wasted in Salou.....

Tomorrow – Last chance of some rides before going home......

[Pinky166]

Shame about the beach Joanne....but at least you made up for it in the pool and theme park.

Those desserts look delish! :hyper:

[Snowy-girls]

Thanks for the PM :thumbsup2 .
Those pictures of Barcelona were lovely-a great day.
Shame about the beach,love the piccies of the girls-they are so cute.x.

[PoppyAnna]

Day Six – The parks again!

We make an early start as we want to complete the parts of the theme park that we haven’t yet covered and the girls are asking to repeat a few things too!
After breakfast we stroll up to the main entrance, we decide to take our swimming costumes with us incase we can squeeze in a trip next door to the waterpark. We have decided also to hire a double buggy, Poppy has walked really well on the holiday but we think we will cover more distance in better time this way – it also provides some shade for them, it’s very hot today and 9e is a small price to pay.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0515.jpg

I can’t really remember what order we did things in or everything we did on this day so it’s going to be mainly photos, so I hope you still find it interesting and useful.
We headed for the China area as the girls both asked to go to the bubble show and the China show again.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0573.jpg

Dragon Khan ride looms in the background.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0531.jpg

We also use our express passes twice to ride EL Diablo a BTMR type ride!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0579.jpg

We decide on Mexican for lunch and after choosing our lunch of chicken, rice and beans we take our seats to find a show in the restaurant/theatre. Very good fun and fantastic attention to detail again.
Would you believe it’s the middle of the day outside and about 32c.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0582.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0590.jpg

When we leave the restaurant we bump into Princess Fiona from Shrek – DD’s love Shrek so this is a fantastic character meet for them.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0602.jpg

In the Wild West area the Park is preparing for Halloween.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0615.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0608.jpg

After sometime shopping for souvenirs we head next door to the waterpark for a couple of hours of water fun before heading back for dinner and bed.

Tomorrow – The Beach Club.

[Pinky166]

Lovely photos Joanne.

Is it just me or does Princess Fiona look like she has a broken neck. :lmao:

[PoppyAnna]

Day Seven - The Beach Club.

Staying on-site at Port Aventura means you get access to their Beach Club. On our last day, after our last yummy breakfast :sad2: we wait outside the hotel for the complementary land train to take us there to see what it's like
:thumbsup2 It's a little overcast today but we don't mind if we're going to be outside all day.
After a about fifteen minutes on the land train we arrive and our first view is very impressive.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0714.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0712.jpg

For a 20e deposit we get four lovely thick fluffy towels which means we didn't have to carry much here with us.
There are nine pools at the beach club including one with a sand bottom and mini beach. Lovely infinity pools, and pools that are child friendly. There are a couple of snack bars, a pool side bar and two nice restaurants.

We claim four sunbeds beside one of the child friendly pools and the place is very quiet, probably because it's overcast.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0888.jpg

After a drink we start out to try every pool......although I don't have a photo of every pool, you get the idea!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0735.jpg
Spa girls....

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0728.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0919.jpg

We decide on a light lunch and ice creams and lollies - it's hard to get two excited girls to sit down and have a "proper meal" with all these swimming pools around.

Self service restaurant terrace.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0763.jpg

After lunch we rest for a while before heading down to the quiet beach.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0750-1.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0805.jpg

As you can see it is a great improvement on our visit to Salou beach.
We get a few spots of rain and this clears the beach making it even quieter, but we don't mind as it soon brightens. A lovely Spanish family came to us and gave us their buckets and spades as they were going home so we played sandcastles for ages followed by a lovely swim in the sea.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0878.jpg

This is the entrance back into the beach club from the beach.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0887-1.jpg

After rinsing all our sand off and more swimming we decide to head back to the hotel.

The girls are tired and have a nap whilst we pack :sad2:

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0934.jpg

After dinner we play some games and take a last tour of the hotel pool before going to bed for an early start tomorrow to board our flight home.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0964.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0984.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/poppyanna/DSC_0975.jpg

Goodbye Port Aventura.

[thelittlemermaid83]

I loved your report Joanne, it looks like a great place to visit and is now on my to do list :)

[Anne64]

I loved your report Joanne :love:

Your daughters are two little cuties.

We are not going to WDW next year and have been wondering about DLP or Port Aventura. Your pictures of Port Aventura are great - I'm off now to start to investigate further :thumbsup2

[jjk]

great report Joanne :goodvibes

[Tink2312]

Great report - LOVED the look of the beach club! Infinity pools...:cloud9:

[CHEK]

Great report Joanne, look's like you all had a wonderful trip :goodvibes

[CustardTart]

Fab report, Joanne! I'm trying to work out when we could all go as I think the whole family would love a trip there... :thumbsup2

[PoppyAnna]

I loved your report Joanne, it looks like a great place to visit and is now on my to do list :)

Thanks Emma.

I loved your report Joanne :love:

Your daughters are two little cuties.

We are not going to WDW next year and have been wondering about DLP or Port Aventura. Your pictures of Port Aventura are great - I'm off now to start to investigate further :thumbsup2

I hope you get there Anne, we thought it was great fun for a week.

great report Joanne :goodvibes

Thanks Rachel.

Great report - LOVED the look of the beach club! Infinity pools...:cloud9:

We loved the beach club and wished we had gone there earlier instead of the visit to Salou. Never mind!

Great report Joanne, look's like you all had a wonderful trip :goodvibes

Thanks Karen.

Fab report, Joanne! I'm trying to work out when we could all go as I think the whole family would love a trip there... :thumbsup2

Thanks Karen. Adults could easily do a four day weekend and cover the resort. An early morning flight from Gatwick on Friday, returning Monday evening would be plenty of time.

[Minniespal]

I'm really enjoying your reports Joanne. Love the photos too.

[Tammy Stringer]

Joanne

Not sure how I missed your report - suffice to say I loved it.

Not sure what I expected really of Port Aventura but it looked like you had a lot of fun and looks very appealing. I loved the pictures especially the one of the bubble show thingy and the Beach Club which looked deserted.

Also great to see your pictures of Barcelona - we only got to do a quick 2 hour visit before our cruise in August, but I definitely want to return and your pictures have confirmed that there is so much more to see. I shall have to organise a city break there sometime in the future.

Thanks for sharing

Tammy

[Snowy-girls]

I have really enjoyed your report Joanne,thanks for sharing :thumbsup2 .
Great pics+you're little girls are such cuties.x.

[Pinky166]

Thanks for sharing your report Joanne. It looks like a lovely place. :thumbsup2

[bryanpage]

Just wanted to say thanks for the posts - we were just deciding where to go on holiday next year and your comments were far better than any information we found elsewhere on the internet.

Any chance anybody has got a PDF of the brochure? I tried to request one on the official website but it doesn't seem to work.

Looking forward to experiencing Port Aventura next Summer :banana:

[mark&sue]

We really enjoyed our stay here in 2002 when we drove all round spain. We had not booked but just went and asked if they had any rooms at the nearest hotel the Port Aventura. As we had our car with us we just drove into Barcelona and it was great. The parks stay open late and there are some great resaurants in the park and the resort.

We have a place in Spain and drive past here on our way. We will definately go back. For those of you (like me) that don't like flying it is definately a bonus that you can drive and bring your own car!


susan