Ferrari Land Opens Its Big Red Doors In Southern Spain [w/Videos]

Want the full Ferrari theme park experience, but not interested in going to Abu Dhabi? Well there’s a new option as the Prancing Horse marque has opened Ferrari Land in Spain.

The second Ferrari theme park has been some time in the making now, but officially opened its doors to the public this week when Enzo’s son and company vice-chairman Piero Ferrari hit the symbolic “starter button” in lieu of cutting a ribbon.

Why Spain, you ask, and not Italy? The long and short of it is that Spain is where the franchisees wanted to put it, as this is more of a licensing venture than one led by the supercar manufacturer itself. But the franchisees have their reasons.

For one, the PortAventura complex where it’s situated is already southern Europe’s largest theme park, with six hotels on site and plenty of transportation options. There’s also more land available in expansive (and economically depressed) southern Spain than in tightly-packed northern Italy. And besides, it’s not like Disney opened its first theme park at its corporate headquarters in Burbank.

Located less than an hour outside of Barcelona, the 70,000-square-meter (or 17 acre) facility incorporates 11 main attractions – among them Red Force, a roller coaster cited as the highest and fastest vertical accelerator in Europe, standing 367 feet tall with a top speed of 112 miles per hour reached in just five seconds.

There’s plenty more on site to let adults and children alike experience the thrills associated with the Ferrari marque, from the interactive galleries to the free-fall cylinders. All of which sounds like fun to us, but for our part, we’d sooner actually drive a Ferrari road car, watch the Scuderia win a grand prix live, or visit the factory in Maranello and tour the automotive museums nearby.