The idea of Puy du Fou originated in 1977, when Philippe de Villiers, a then twenty-seven-year-old student, decided to create an original show named "Cinéscénie".

On 13 June 1977, he discovered the ruins of an old Renaissance castle in the village of Les Epesses near Cholet and wrote a scenario about a local family named Maupillier (the real name of a soldier of Vendée at the time of the conflict between Vendée and the French Republic during the French Revolution), spanning the period from the fourteenth century until World War II.

Phillippe de Villiers organized an association of 600 members (3650 today) named "l'Association du Puy du Fou", whose current president is Phillippe de Villiers' son, Nicolas de Villiers.

When Cinéscénie first aired in June 1978, the show did not have great success. By the end of the first season, the show found some success and continued to grow from there. It has since spawned its own micro-industry of actors, prop-makers, and trainers for horse riding and sword fighting, which both feature in the show. Since 1988, the "Académies Junior" organizes yearly showings of Cinéscénie, such as at the Paris Paname in the "Halle Renaissance" of the Grand Parc, in March 2008.

The Grand Parc of the Puy du Fou was opened near the Cinéscénie in 1989, and is today one of the most popular theme parks in France.

In 2011, the Grand Parc of Puy du Fou hosted the team presentations before the Tour de France, which was set to begin in the Vendée.[1]

On 13 August 2018, the Grand Parc launched a program where specially trained rooks fly around the park to pick up cigarette butts and other small pieces of litter.[2] Christophe Gaborit, the park's Head of Falconry, originally trained the birds to participate in the park's falconry show, but later was inspired to teach them how to pick up rubbish left by the park's visitors.[3] By using a specially created box, which was inspired by a magician's prop, he taught six of his birds—Boubou, Bamboo, Bill, Black, Bricole, and Baco—to deliver bits of trash to the box and exchange them for food.[4] The goal of the project is both to teach the park's visitors about the birds and to discourage littering.[5]

In 2019, the project expanded abroad with the night show El sueño de Toledo ("The Dream of Toledo") about the history of Spain in Toledo, Spain. It is the first stage of Puy du Fou España. In 2021, it expanded into a park with five shows and four villages.