PortAventura Opens Costa Caribe Expansion

PortAventura has opened their expansion to the Costa Caribe Aquatic Park, and it's no small expansion.  A major part of the resort's plan to become a well defined destination for Europe, the water park expansion is part of 70 million Euros that have been spent on the parks in the past three years.

The new area consists of several attractions, seen spread out above in a shot of the whole expansion.  The entire family was kept in mind when the park decided to build onto the water park, there's rides and slides from mild to wild in the new area.  The area represents an investment of over 10 million Euros alone, almost 13 million U.S. dollars.

The Costa Caribe Aquatic Park features a very large pool area for families, named Playa Paraiso.  The family pool is located one level higher than the children's pool, creating a waterfall when the two meet.  The pool is made for classic swimming and fun, but also relaxation - shallow water beds, complete with "invigorating water effects" like bubbles are incorporated.

Seen in the background of this photo is the children's area, Sesamo Beach.  It consists of two levels for even the smallest kids, and contains the Galeon Pirata, a large pirate ship filled with the Sesame Street characters along with four small slides.  For even smaller guests there's the Cayo Cookie area with water jets and colorful animals.

Thrill seekers will want to head right to this slide tower which hosts the "highest free fall slide in Europe," the King Khajuna.  The tower is 31 meters tall (102 feet) and drops riders down at a 55 degree angle.  The red slide next to it is named the Ciclon Tropical, complete with multiple large hills that riders encounter on the way down.  This slide starts from around 65 feet in the air, and is less intense than its larger yellow sibling.

Finally, Rapid Race is a six land mat racing slide - still quite popular in the industry - that will greatly increase overall capacity at the water park.  The riders race down the hills toward the finish line in order to see who arrives first.

PortAventura is certainly making good on their promise to continue to expand into a mega-resort.  There's speculation that more theme park expansions will take place in the near future, and I know I will be happy to watch them grow even further.