Tournament 2018: The best theme park for sun-starved Europeans?

March 15, 2018, 8:48 AM · It's the middle of March, and while summer is now coming into sight for many of us, it's not here yet. In the United States, this time of year means escaping to Florida on spring break. But what about in Europe? Where do you go to find the sun at the tail end of another cold, gloomy winter?

If you're a theme park fan who's not also heading to Florida, you might think about a trip to Spain's Port Aventura or one of the new parks in the United Arab Emirates. In our "play in" round of the Theme Park Insider Tournament, you voted Ferrari World Abu Dhabi as the best park the UAE has to offer, so today we are matching it against Port Aventura and asking you to select from those two the best theme park escape for sun-starved Europeans.

We invite you to read more about these parks on their Theme Park Insider listing pages. As always, your ratings and reviews of these parks' attractions on their listing pages are encouraged and welcomed. (Register here to be able to leave reviews on attractions and to contribute to our Discussion Forum.)

Of course, Port Aventura now has a Ferrari park of its own, so that's a two-for-one option. But even Spain's sun and warmth can't match that in the Middle East. And the Abu Dhabi park's signature ride - Formula Rossa - is the record holder for the world's fastest coaster. So which one would you pick for a spring getaway?

Stay tuned this afternoon as we conclude the first round of the Theme Park Insider Tournament with a vote on the best theme park in Southern California. And tomorrow, we start the second round by releasing our 16-park bracket.

Replies (1)

March 16, 2018 at 3:27 AM ·

I enjoyed my first trip to Port Aventura last summer. It's got a lot of interesting rides and shows, Shambhala is an amazing coaster and we also had some good food in the park, I particularly enjoyed the tapas and wine we had at Vinosfera Tapes I Vins close to the park entrance. For me it was a definitely improvement on the theme park offerings in the UK, although not quite up to the Orlando standard. Ferrari land at Port Aventura was a bit disappointing, a top roller coaster and some standard drop towers were pretty much it. We were done after a couple of hours. I haven't been to Ferrari world in Abu Dhabi but hoping to visit next year.

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