Templo del Fuego

In late 2024, Templo del Fuego received its own documentary-style retrospective. Theme park fan Oscar Elgarrista, who works for RES Rides, produced an almost hour-long video with construction photos, designs and interviews with people involved in the attraction. The news therefore shifted from operating hours to heritage: how was this fire temple actually created?

The documentary focuses on PortAventura’s Universal era. The concept drew inspiration from Backdraft at Universal Studios Hollywood, but in Spain it became its own adventure story about an archaeologist and a cursed temple. According to Looopings, the contributors include a designer, show producer, decorator, maintenance manager and lighting specialist. They explain how the cinematic mood, intense fire effects, queue lighting and aged scenic painting were developed.

For fans, the technical and historical layer is the key value. The makers describe how close the fire came to the audience, how many safety precautions were required and how an original 30 million dollar budget was ultimately cut back sharply. The documentary reinforces why Templo del Fuego is more than a show: it is a rare surviving piece of Universal ambition in Europe.

In early 2024, PortAventura made an unusual choice: Templo del Fuego would operate outside the summer peak during El Carnaval de los Carnavales. The event ran from 9 February through 17 March, giving guests in February and March access to an attraction that in previous years had largely been limited to July and August.

For fans, that was more than a schedule note. Templo del Fuego is a walkthrough in which an archaeologist enters an Aztec temple and tries to take a treasure, triggering the temple’s curse. The show uses a live actor, real fire and heavy special effects. That combination is exactly what makes the experience memorable, but it also makes it expensive to operate.

The temporary low-season opening showed PortAventura using its carnival season to offer something more substantial than atmosphere alone. Alongside parades, street entertainment and theatre-style shows, the park added back a headline attraction that is often hard to catch. For visitors who had repeatedly found the temple closed, this period created a rare opportunity to experience one of the resort’s most talked-about productions.

After three quiet years, PortAventura reopened Templo del Fuego in summer 2022. The walkthrough, known for fire, smoke, a dropping grandstand and other special effects, had been out of service since summer 2019 because of Covid restrictions. For visitors, the reopening brought one of the resort’s strongest Universal-era experiences back into the park day.

The attraction leads guests into a cursed temple, where an explorer searches for treasure and the room appears to burst into flames from every side. Looopings highlighted how far the show goes: scenery, ceiling and even water become part of the inferno, while additional scare effects make the scene feel physical rather than simply decorative.

That background is what makes the return important for fans. Templo del Fuego opened in 2001, when PortAventura was still connected to Universal Studios, and it was promoted as a special-effects-heavy attraction on an unusually ambitious scale. The same scale also makes it expensive to operate. After reopening, the temple was therefore scheduled only during the busy summer period and for limited daily time slots.