Our next holiday, in just a few days, is to Benidorm (don't laugh). More accurately, we're actually staying in Albir, which is ten minutes from Benidorm - maybe I should say 'Albir' to people instead of the B-word, and I won't get so many laughs and pitying looks. Anyway, when I was looking up things to do in the area (yes, you can leave the hotel in Benidorm, and not just for the beach!), I saw there was a theme park nearby - Terra Mitica, the Costa Blanca's answer to Chessington. Last year, when we stayed in Salou, we visited Port Aventura, and had a brilliant time. October has got to be one of the best times of year to go - it was still warm and sunny, but it wasn't too busy, and we hardly had to queue for anything. More importantly, they made a huge effort for Halloween - the staff were in costume, the whole park was decorated, and at least half of the visitors were in fancy dress (including the adults).
I've never been too bothered about Halloween - I never trick or treated as a child, and we haven't really done it with the kids either (our street is full of old people - it's not worth the risk!). But the atmosphere at the park last year was brilliant, and we said at the time that we'd love to come back at Halloween, and make the effort with the costumes this time. So, once we saw there was a theme park in Benidorm, we booked tickets online and then went right out and bought costumes for the boys, including face paint (not sure the masks would be too practical for a day at a theme park!). We even toyed with the idea of wearing costumes ourselves. So I went onto trusty Trip Advisor (where would I be without Trip Advisor? I could do a whole post devoted to it!) to see whether it's usual for adults to dress up at Terra Mitica. And that's where it all went wrong - a quick look at the travel forum showed that Terra Mitica closes in November. I hadn't even thought to check opening times - after all, Disneyland opens all year round, and the weather is far sunnier in Benidorm. Even the rainy British theme parks stay open until the end of half-term.! Anyway, I checked the Terra Mitica website and it turns out it's only open weekends in October! Maybe I should be glad it's open at all, but it means we're now really restricted. It's a two-day ticket, meant to be used on two consecutive days, which is rather difficult when it's not open for half the week! Luckily we're going for eight days rather than seven (it was cheaper, believe it or not!) so we can go on the Friday and Saturday at the end of the holiday. It's rubbish being limited though, especially as the forecast is rain for that weekend! Most importantly, though, they're not open for Halloween - surely they're missing a trick here? Are there really not enough British families on half-term (come on - this is Benidorm!) to justify opening? Will the children still be able to wear their costumes on the Friday, or will they stand out like severed thumbs?!
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