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

[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
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. 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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 ).

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

 

[The Fetherstons]

Enjoying your reports Joanne, Fab

 

[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.

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.

The girls then go on some kiddie rides.

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.

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

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

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!

 

[Snowy-girls]

Thanks for the PM .
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.

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.

Dragon Khan ride looms in the background.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

 

[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 we wait outside the hotel for the complementary land train to take us there to see what it's like
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.

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.

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

Spa girls....

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.

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

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.

This is the entrance back into the beach club from the beach.

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

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.

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

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