The visit coincided with another highly symbolic event: the placement of the first Ferrari racing shield (Scudetto Ferrari) in the new park. As of today the shield, over 100 m2 in size, takes pride of place at the front of the tallest roller coaster in Europe.
PortAventura World Parks & Resort has unveiled advances in the construction of the new Ferrari Land (the resort’s third theme park scheduled to open in April 2017) for the first time. One year on from the start of construction, (the first stone was laid on 7 May 2015), the hallmarks of the legendary Italian brand are making their presence felt in the park. Today the first “Prancing Horse” was installed in the form of an enormous shield, 12 metres high by 9 metres wide and weighing in at 9 tonnes. This symbol was placed at the front of one of the most iconic attractions of the new park: the vertical accelerator, now Europe’s tallest roller coaster, standing at a mighty height of 112 metres.
The installation of the shield and the subsequent visit to the Ferrari Land site was led by Luís Valencia, Director of Development at PortAventura World, and Giovanni Cavalli, General Sales Manager of the resort.
The Ferrari Land construction project continues to race ahead. The land and foundations upgrading work is complete and the team is now working on buildings and installations for the attractions. The first and most visible of these attractions is the vertical accelerator (completion is scheduled within the next few weeks).
During today’s visit, Luís Valencia, Director of Development at PortAventura World and Ferrari Land project manager said: “We are currently involved in construction of the buildings that will shape the area dedicated to traditional Italy, such as the trattoria, and the area designated for the simulators. Once the construction phase is complete, we will start working on the theming of the buildings”.
The representation of Italy in Ferrari Land will include the iconic buildings of Maranello (the home of Ferrari), and references to great architectural monuments that are symbols of Italian genius. These references to Italy and the Mediterranean culture are the link with the rest of the resort and especially with PortAventura Park, which has an area inspired by the Mediterranean (Mediterrània area), and with Hotel PortAventura which is a replica of a Mediterranean villa. Ferrari Land will be located in the area next to PortAventura Park’s main entrance and close to Hotel PortAventura.
Ferrari – renowned for its passion for technology and speed – has worked in close collaboration with the PortAventura Resort Development Team to capture these key elements into the themes of the spaces and the attractions that will be on offer at Ferrari Land. With regard to the attractions, Luís Valencia explained: “in addition to the accelerator, we are forging ahead with the construction of an electric car circuit, which will be another star feature of the new park. The track will cover a distance of more than 500 metres and the vehicles are based on Ferrari GP racing cars”. During the visit, guests also had the opportunity to see the locations of other attractions such as the bounce-back towers, simulators, a children’s attraction and a feature where visitors can experience a real pit stop and change the wheels of a F1 racing car.
