Parc Festyland is a relatively small

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

situated within the Caen ringroad (A13/A84) in

Lower Normandy Lower Normandy (french: Basse-Normandie, ; nrf, Basse-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Lower and Upper Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. Geography The region included three departme ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Sometimes referred to as being in Carpiquet in Greater Caen, the theme park receives approximately 110,000 visitors a year.

Background

Parc Festyland is a true theme park as it has a central unifying theme in accordance with which the whole park - from rides to restaurants to surroundings - is built. The theme of Parc Festyland is the 1066 era. Being a family theme park, it concentrates on the

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

and personalities of the time. The park's logo is a friendly, young-looking dragon's head sporting a Viking hat and a large grin.

Visiting Figures

In 2005, the park received 110,000 visitors, compared to Caen's five museums which received 550,000 visitors between them (source: Caen tourist office).

Advertising

Parc Festyland runs an

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

campaign in association with the Caen

tourist office A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visi ...

. In all language versions of the booklet, the first inner page is a full colour advert for the park. It consists of the Parc Festyland name and logo, the catchphrase ("''defiez le!!!''"), contact details (website address and phone number), and two pictures of females appearing to enjoy themselves at the park, with a large rollercoaster in the background.

Catchphrase

The park's motto is ''Défiez le!''. The English version of the Caen tourist office booklet translates this phrase as 'brave it'. It refers to braving the main attraction (a 59 second long roller coaster).

Features

Rides in the Park

*The ''Drakkar Express'' is a steel roller coaster, the cars of which are designed to resemble

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

ships. *The ''bumper boats'' are waterborne dodgem cars. The cars seat either one person, or an adult and a small child, however

height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is ab ...

restrictions do apply. Each car consists of a plastic moulded steering platform supported by an inflated rubber cushion. *The ''bateaux les pentes vertigineuses du Piratak'' are a

water slide A water slide (also referred to as a flume, or water chute) is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to s ...

with boats.

Prehistyland

A section of the park is themed to the prehistoric era, instead of 1066 as is the rest of the park. The prehistoric area includes life size models of

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s and a

rope bridge A simple suspension bridge (also rope bridge, swing bridge (in New Zealand), suspended bridge, hanging bridge and catenary bridge) is a primitive type of bridge in which the deck of the bridge lies on two parallel load-bearing cables that ar ...

traversing a lake.

Floral Decorations

There are gardens with floral decorations and

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...

-shaped vehicles on a fixed tracks that take visitors on tours.

External links

Park's website
{{coord, 49, 10, 58, N, 0, 25, 23, W, type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Amusement parks in France Buildings and structures in Caen Tourist attractions in Normandy Amusement parks opened in 1989 1989 establishments in France