HISTORY IN ITS INFANCY! (Terra Mitica)

Member Name: tange

Product:	Terra Mitica
Date:	10/08/02 (721 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean and well maintained., Good choice of rides

Disadvantages: Still in early stages of development!

We finally got to go to Terra Mitica in May this year. When we were last on the Costa Blanca in September 1999 (for our honeymoon) we could see them building it. When we returned in 2002 it was well and truly open and we were raring to go!

@@@WHERE IS IT?

Terra Mitica is near the popular Mediterranean resort of Benidorm on Spain's Costa Blanca. The park is around 55km from Alicante and around 140km from Valencia...and roughly fifteen minutes on the bus from Benidorm!

@@@WHEN AND HOW MUCH?

You can buy a 1 day, 2 day ticket (it must be for the following day), 3 days non-consecutive ticket or an Evening Ticket (are you still with me?). The Park is open all week from Mid-March to October, at weekends during November and December (all week Christmas week). It then closes and reopens again in March.

Ticket prices seemed to vary depending on what time of year you visited or whether you were in a group. I won't feed you duff information - I would advise you to check with your travel rep or at the tourist office before going.

@@@HOW DO YOU GET THERE?

We went on a coach organised by the (Thompson's) travel rep in our hotel (many companies do this, so it's a good idea to ask). By train you can get off at the park?s very own stop! The line you need is the FGV line that runs from Alicante to Denia (I only know this because my brother stayed in Alicante last year and went by this method). By car we were told that you would need to take the A-7 motorway to exit number 65-A?this off-road takes you straight to Terra Mitica. Buses arrive and depart from a stop directly outside the park, so it's quite convenient to travel that way. We got a bus back to Benidorm and it cost us about 1 Euro (62ish pence)- this, however seemed to vary depending on which driver you got!! Taxis were also around if you didn't want to wait for a bus - I'm not sure of the price because we didn't take one.


@@@THE PARK!

Terra Mitica is split into five themed areas, each one representing a country - Egypt, Italy, Greece, Iberia and the Islands. The rides, attractions, shops and scenery in each area is all part of the theme. The general idea is that the park shows the legends, myths and history of these places. The park is owned by Paramount and is billed as "the first real theme park in Spain".

~~~EGYPT.

The first (and ultimately the last) area you will come to is Egypt. The entrance to the park takes this theme and the buildings are really impressive. We saw the pyramids, some rather nice busts and statues and an Egyptian port area. The main rides here are "wet rides" and the only "biggish" ride is the log flume called the Waterfalls of the Nile. As log flumes go this was a really good one...lots of big drops and the chance to get really wet!

~~~GREECE.

From Egypt we passed under a massive archway to the Greek area. Here we wandered round the Labyrinth of the Minotaur and went on a suspended swing ride called The Icarus. My favourite ride here was another variation on a log flume - Tritons Fury. This was a log flume with a bit of a twist...I won't give it away! We had our photo taken on this ride - very flattering - NOT! I can't remember the last time I got quite as wet as I did on here; it was a good job it was a really hot day! Greece is a really pretty area with some lovely buildings and places to sit...but we were getting restless and it was time to move on.

~~~ROME.

Another huge archway takes you into Rome; a really impressive area with some traditional Roman architecture. This zone has the most rides and was my favourite in that respect. The centrepiece of Rome is the Magnus Colossus - a massive wooden roller coaster;one of the biggest in the World! It's a roller coaster built the way they used to be...a huge structure with no loop th
e loops or backwards thrusts. It's traditional and pretty fast - it gives great views of the park and surrounding area too. The other ride to seek out is the Flight of the Phoenix - a vertical drop that puts your stomach firmly on your mouth...in fact mine was coming out of the top of my head! DO NOT go on this ride after your lunch!

~~~IBERIA.

The next arch leads to Iberia - a pretty little port giving you a taste of the history and beauty of the region. The only real ride here is the Brave Train - a race between two trains, each representing a stampeding bull. It's a little like a runaway train roller coaster, with the added fun of racing the car next to you. It was quite good, but not hair-raising! There is a nice boat ride to relax on in Iberia...this zone is a great place to stop off for a rest on a warm day.

~~~THE ISLANDS.

The final zone you will enter is reached via paths onto an "island" in the middle of the park's central lake. This is the smallest area and all we went on here was the rapids ride called The Moll. I've been on quite a few different rapids rides and this one was the best so far. The water came from a variety of spouts, water falls and waves...we got extremely wet and laughed ourselves silly. We were so wet that we headed back to Egypt to find some food and a warm sunny area to dry off.

@@@WHAT WE THOUGHT.

Each zone (except the Islands) has its own set of facilities (toilets, etc) so we were impressed by the amount of shops and places we could sit and eat. We had our lunch in the Egyptian area, outside a self-service restaurant serving a nice selection of reasonably priced snacks and drinks.

The attention to detail was breathtaking?the buildings and accessories were recreated with care and were very impressive. Our photos looked like we had been to loads of different places on our holiday, rather than just the one. The only thing that let i
t down slightly was that the landscape was still a little barren - the plants, etc that had been put in each area hadn't grown sufficiently yet. The harsh lines of the building work and at the edge of the rides hadn't been covered yet. This will come in time and I'm sure in a few years time the whole park will look lovely.

The staff were friendly, polite and there were plenty of them. We were pleased by how well maintained and clean the whole park was too...they certainly took pride in Terra Mitica!

There were quite a few rides, but not on the same scale as Port Aventura near Salou. This will also improve as the park expands; everything has to start somewhere, so I'm sure the rides will develop and more "thrill" rides will be built. There were quite a few children's rides too, but we couldn't take advantage of, or test these facilities. What we did experience was great and thoroughly recommended!

So...Terra Mitica has the potential to grow into something very spectacular as the years go by. As yet it is still in the early stages of its development. It is well worth visiting now and will give you a great day out (the street entertainers and shows were well worth a look). I would love to go back in few years time to see if it has lived up to its potential.

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