Also went to Port Aventura this year, I agree with you regarding Unchartered but don’t share your thoughts that the park is shabby. I thought it was beautiful in all honesty and well maintained.
These are another park that what’s benefited from a change in management. I believe there is a new operations director who’s gone in on the guest experience, and it was vastly improved this year to previous visits (3 trains running on Shambhala, new wait time screens, appears that fast tracks have been limited to an extent)
I am a bit surprised that Universal haven’t pressed ahead here in all honesty. I reckon the foundations are there to turn this into an incredible Universal resort, at probably a fraction of the cost.
My thoughts are this is potentially down to scalability. Whilst the location is fantastic, on the coast, great climate, year around…it’s maybe just a bit too far from a major city to pull in the kind of numbers that excite Universal. I believe Barcelona is an hour away, and although connected by rail, doesn’t enjoy the same infrastructure as DLP to Paris.
As a resort, I think it’s the most Universal, none Universal resort, so there must be a strong reason for them not going in here, when it’s up for sale.