Parc Astérix
Parc Astérix is a theme park in France based on the comic book series Asterix by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. In 2023, the park welcomed over 2.8 million visitors, making it the 2nd most visited park in France behind Disneyland Paris and the 8th most visited park in Europe.
It is especially renowned in France for its large variety of roller coasters, which exceeds the amount of most other parks in mainland France. Park Astérix has begun incorporating rides and themes from historic cultures like the Gauls, the Romans, Ancient Greece and recently Ancient Egypt, but always in the visual style of the related comic books, and most usually reusing characters, scenes and sounds from the Astérix media. The park is located approximately 35 km (22 mi) north of Paris, 32 km (20 mi) from Disneyland Paris and 20 km (12 mi) from the historic Château de Chantilly, in the commune of Plailly, in the department of Oise. Opened in 1989, the park is operated by Compagnie des Al...Read more
Parc Astérix is a theme park in France based on the comic book series Asterix by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. In 2023, the park welcomed over 2.8 million visitors, making it the 2nd most visited park in France behind Disneyland Paris and the 8th most visited park in Europe.
It is especially renowned in France for its large variety of roller coasters, which exceeds the amount of most other parks in mainland France. Park Astérix has begun incorporating rides and themes from historic cultures like the Gauls, the Romans, Ancient Greece and recently Ancient Egypt, but always in the visual style of the related comic books, and most usually reusing characters, scenes and sounds from the Astérix media. The park is located approximately 35 km (22 mi) north of Paris, 32 km (20 mi) from Disneyland Paris and 20 km (12 mi) from the historic Château de Chantilly, in the commune of Plailly, in the department of Oise. Opened in 1989, the park is operated by Compagnie des Alpes and located right by the A1 motorway (Paris ↔ Lille ↔ Brussels), having its own highway exit and interchange.
Romus et Rapidus, river rafting rideLargely funded by the Barclays financial company, with 20 other investors including Compagnie Générale des Eaux, the Havas group, Union des Assurances de Paris and the Picardy region, the park cost 850 million French francs 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 and a bus shuttle service connects it with Paris Métro Line 7 at La Courneuve's 8 Mai 1945 station.[1] Jack Lang, then Minister of Culture, inaugurated the park on 30 April 1989 after two years of work.[2]
The opening of Disneyland Paris in 1992 caused Parc Astérix's attendance to fall 30% and its revenue by 19%.[3] However, attendance soon stabilised to around 2 million visitors per year.[4][5]
Recent developmentsIn October 2005, Parc Astérix ran La Fête des Druides ("The Festival of the Druids"), as a way of "thumbing their noses" at Halloween.[6] Season 2007 saw the Parc Astérix opening for the first time during the Christmas holidays.[7] 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").[8][9] In May 2018, the park's then Head of Construction, Thomas Dubosc, announced on television the construction of Toutatis, a new multi-launch roller coaster manufactured by Intamin, scheduled to be opened in 2021 yet only opened for season 2023 due to COVID-19 and woodcutting delays.[10] In January 2021, the park announced it was closing its dolphin and sea lion enclosure, the Delphinarium, in order to focus on rides and other shows.[11]
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