Parc Astérix is a

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 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

based on the comic book series ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

'' by

Albert Uderzo Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (; ; 25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020), better known as Albert Uderzo, was a French comic book artist and scriptwriter. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the ''Astérix'' series in collaboration with R ...

and

René Goscinny René Goscinny (, ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Raised largely in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he attended French schoo ...

. With around 2.3 million visitors yearly, Parc Astérix is France's second largest theme park, behind only

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, Seine-et-Marne, Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disney ...

with its 14 million annual visitors. It is especially renowned in France for its large variety of

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are ...

s; it has begun incorporating rides and themes from historic cultures like the

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They sp ...

, the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...

and recently Ancient Egypt, but always in the visual style of the societies. It is situated approximately north of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, from

and from the historic

Château de Chantilly The Château de Chantilly () is a historic French château located in the town of Chantilly, Oise, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Paris. The site comprises two attached buildings: the Petit Château built around 1560 for Anne de Montmor ...

, in the commune of

Plailly Plailly () is a commune in the Oise department of northern France. It is best known as the home of the Parc Astérix theme park, which opened on 30 April 1989. See also * Parc Astérix * Communes of the Oise department The following is a lis ...

, in the department of

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,41 ...

. Opened in 1989, the park is operated by

Compagnie des Alpes Compagnie des Alpes () is a French company created in 1989 to operate many ski resorts in Europe. Compagnie des Alpes is a part of Caisse des dépôts et consignations. History Compagnie des Alpes was first established in 1989 as a ski resort ...

History

Conception and inauguration

Largely funded by the

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

financial company, with 20 other investors including

Compagnie Générale des Eaux Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

, the

Havas Havas SA is a French multinational advertising and public relations company, headquartered in Paris, France. It operates in more than 100 countries and is one of the largest advertising and communications groups in the world. Havas consists of ...

group, Union des Assurances de Paris and the

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hist ...

region, the park cost 850 million

French franc The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

s to build and generated 1,200 jobs. The location was chosen due to the transport network: a private interchange connects it with the nearby

A1 autoroute The A1 Autoroute, also known as l'autoroute du Nord (the Northern Motorway), is the busiest of France's autoroutes. With a length of , it connects Paris with the northern city of Lille. It is managed by the Société des Autoroutes du Nord et ...

and a bus shuttle service connects it with

Paris Métro Line 7 Paris Métro Line 7 is one of sixteen lines of the Paris Métro system. Crossing the capital from its north-eastern to south-eastern sections via a moderately curved path, it links La Courneuve – 8 mai 1945 in the north with Mairie d'Ivry an ...

. Jack Lang, then Minister of Culture, inaugurated the park on 30 April 1989 after two years of work. The opening of

in 1992 caused Parc Astérix's attendance to fall 30% and revenue by 19%. However, attendance soon stabilised to around 2 million visitors per year.

Recent developments

In October 2005, Parc Astérix ran ''La Fête des Druides'' ("The Festival of the Druids"), as a way of "thumbing their noses" at

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

. In 2007, Parc Astérix opened for the first time during the Christmas holidays. In 2009, for the park's 20th anniversary, it opened during the weekends in September and October and ran a Halloween event called ''Peur sur le Parc Astérix'' ("Fear at Parc Astérix"). In November 2018, the park announced the construction of

Toutatis Toutatis or Teutates is a Celtic god who was worshipped primarily in ancient Gaul and Britain. His name means "god of the tribe", and he has been widely interpreted as a tribal protector.Paul-Marie Duval (1993). ''Les dieux de la Gaule.'' Éditio ...

, a new multi-launch roller coaster manufactured by

Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement ins ...

, to be opened in 2023. In January 2021, the park announced it was closing its dolphin and sea lion aquarium in order to focus on rides and other shows.

Attractions

There are many attractions and shows including: *''

Tonnerre 2 Zeus Tonnerre Deux Zeus (formerly known as Tonnerre de Zeus, commonly stylized as Tonnerre 2 Zeus) is a wooden roller coaster located at Parc Astérix in Plailly, France. Opened in 1997 and built by Custom Coasters International, it is currently t ...

'', a large

wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden Rail tracks, track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, b ...

, built by

Custom Coasters International Custom Coasters International (CCI) was one of the premier wooden roller coaster manufacturers in the world and produced 34 wooden coasters in eleven years — more than any other company in recent times. It was located in West Chester, Ohio. His ...

(1997); *''

Goudurix Goudurix is a steel roller coaster located in Parc Astérix in France. The Vekoma-built ride jointly held the European record for the greatest number of inversions upon its opening in 1989. The record was lost in 1995 to Dragon Khan in Spain. ...

'', a large steel multi-looping coaster, built by

Vekoma Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is a Dutch amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek (Veld Koning Machine Factory) which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld. History The company originally m ...

(1989); *''Trace du Hourra'', a 900-metre

bobsled roller coaster A bobsled roller coaster is a roller coaster that uses a track design that is essentially a "pipe" with the top half removed and has cars that are sent down this pipe in a freewheeling mode. The name derives from the great similarity to the track ...

, with cars that reach 80 km/h (2001); *'' Romus et Rapidus'', a

river rapids ride A river rapids ride (or river rafting ride) is an amusement ride that simulates whitewater rafting. History The river rapids ride concept was proposed by Bill Crandall (general manager of AstroWorld in Houston) and developed by Intamin. AstroW ...

(1989); *'' OzIris'', an

inverted roller coaster An inverted roller coaster is a roller coaster in which the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage. This latter attribute is what sets it apart from the older suspended coaster, which runs under the t ...

, built by

Bolliger & Mabillard Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabil ...

(2012); *''Attention Menhir'', a 4D cinema show (2019); *''L'Oxygénarium'', spinning rapids: large, twisting water slide with round inflatable dinghies (1999); *''La Galère'', a swinging ship ride (1989); *''Menhir Express'', a

Menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found ...

-themed

log flume A log flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Logging operations pr ...

ride with a 13-metre final drop (1995); *''Grand Splatch'', Shoot the Chute (1989); *''Le Défi de César'', a Madhouse ride (2008); *''Le Delphinarium'', one of the largest dolphin enclosures in Europe; *'' Pégase Express'', a launched

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated whee ...

that reverses the ride direction after a pause halfway through the ride, built by

Gerstlauer Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH is a German manufacturer of stationary and transportable amusement rides and roller coasters, located in Münsterhausen, Germany. History In 1982, Hubert Gerstlauer, a former employee of the Anton Schwarzkopf-o ...

(2017).

Incidents

* In July 2004, an 11-year-old boy was hit by lightning at the foot of the ''Tonnerre de Zeus'' (Zeus' Thunder). The park had continued operating despite weather warnings. * On 5 July 2006, a 6-year-old Belgian child drowned on the ride ''La Descente du Styx'', sucked in by the water pumps used to create the flow in the bottom of the ride's canal. The ride underwent various security measures; it was renamed to ''Romus et Rapidus'' in order to cast off the bad memory and unfortunate implications.

References

External links

Parc Astérix official website
(some parts require

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Flash ...

. In French, with some English translations)
Parc Astérix on rcdb.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parc Asterix Amusement parks in France Asterix Buildings and structures in Oise Compagnie des Alpes Tourist attractions in Hauts-de-France Tourist attractions in Oise 1989 establishments in France Amusement parks opened in 1989