France 5 History 0. Home Win. (Grand Parc Puy du Fou (Les Epesses, France))

Member Name: freediveheaven

Product:	Grand Parc Puy du Fou (Les Epesses, France)
Date:	11/09/06 (1338 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent entertainment for all the family

Disadvantages: Can be a bit surreal and pretentious at times.

If you ever find yourself holidaying in the Vendee and fancy a day away from the beech or swimming pool then I can definitely recommend Le Grand Parc, Puy Du Fou for a great family day out. It is a medieval theme park which really has no equivalent to it on English shores, perhaps the nearest thing that I have experienced would be Epcot Centre but that would be like comparing the watching of football on Hackney Marshes with a visit to the Emirates Stadium.

Getting There

It is definitely beyond the range of a day trip from good old Blighty however if you are staying in the popular seaside towns of Jard Sur Mer or St John De Monts or anywhere in between then you are looking at about a 90 minute drive inland as the park is located just off either junction 29 or 28 of the A87 and is well signposted from either junction. The A87 is a toll road and you are looking at about 4 euro one way if you are coming from the coast.

Opening Hours and Costs

In all I found it a very reasonable day out as far as the entry costs and certainly it is a lot cheaper than anything on offer from the Taussauds group in England. For a start parking is free and there are plenty of spaces. On the day we went this was not an issue anyway as it was belting down with rain and I would estimate that there was probably only about 3000 people in the park.

Children under the age of 5 get free entry into the park whilst children between the age of 5 and 13 pay 14, 50 euros and adults pay 25 euros for a one day pass. If you are also attending the evening performance then the total cost is 22 euros and 40 euros respectively. Attendance to the evening performance on its own is 13 euros for children and 23 euros for adults. You can also purchase two, three and annual passes for the park however we certainly had no problem is seeing everything the park had to offer in a single day and I did not feel that there is enough to keep you entertained for two whole days.

The opening hours of the park are impressive. They do vary depending on the time of the year with the shortest day being 10.00 to 19.00 and the longest sees the park opening until 22.30. The park is open from late April until mid September but check the website before making the trip.

Translation headsets can also be purchased for about 9 euros and it is worth booking them in advance as supplies are limited however apart from one show where they would have been useful I found that you could pretty much follow what was going on or at least the jist of it.

Why Visit

I described it earlier as a Medieval Theme Park, you do not gets any rides instead it is a mix of large spectacular shows depicting various periods of history which are mixed in with areas that you can explore which represent re-creations of medieval and slightly more modern life in the form of working villages. The whole park is set in a wonderful wooded setting with some delightful water features and plenty of shade which will be very welcome as whilst viewing some of the shows you will be in the full glare of the sun or in our case the full force of the torrential rain that decided to fall for the majority of our visit.

It is also quite surreal at times and being a French production I would not necessarily describe it as being wholly historically accurate. For a start there are a lot of what I would call home wins which serve to paint French history in the most favourable light an at times the contact between reality and history is lost unless I missed the bit in my history books about the Vikings being the first to invent the submarine.

The Shows

The headline show is called Cinescenie and is the evening show that attracts the extra costs however it is only performed on a very limited number of evenings however from the video clips on the website it does look incredibly spectacular with a cast of 1,500 and a musical score including the work of Alain Delon. It was not performed on the day we attended however I ‘m not sure I would have stayed even if it had been as it does involve a rather late night as it does not finish until 10.30 and if you have been in the park since it opened then fatigue could be an issue as well as the drive back to consider.

Of the other shows my personal favourite was the Phantom Birds Dance which was the most spectacular display of birds of prey I have ever seen. They had so many birds flying around a wonderfully designed amphitheatre that I nearly ended up with whiplash my head was turning so fast. The secret was that the handlers were in amongst the audience so the collection of birds swooped in from all directions.

My next favourite show was the Vikings as it was by far the most exciting of all the shows. Set in a rural village it is a fantastic visual re-creation of some Vikings coming along for a bit of rape and pillage, think Romford high street on a Saturday night but the guys have pointy helmets. It does get a bit surreal at the end which had the kids scratching their heads.

The Battle of the Keep is very funny with a lot of clowning around and some excellent horsemanship which includes jousting as well as some superb trick riding as well as a display of dressage skills. One of the things I especially liked with all of the shows is that whilst you could enter the seating arenas 30 minutes before the show starts and often getting there early is advisable there was still some form of entertainment going on to keep the kids occupied. Normally this was in the form of slapstick however it does the job nicely and does not need translation.

The Gladiators is set in a huge recreation of the Coliseum and it is an impressive stage. I particularly enjoyed the chariot racing which bought back memories of Ben Hur and younger kids will enjoy seeing the lions and tigers however one word of warning and that is that it is quite blood thirsty with plentiful use of blood bags which replicate someone having their throat cut and people I spoke to a few days later with children around the age of eight had found it too upsetting, my gruesome pair thought it was brilliant on the other hand.

The two good things about Richelieus Musketeer show were that firstly it was under cover so out of the rain and secondly it did feature another impressive riding performance however for me the whole show was too stylised and was the one show for which a translator device would have been useful but to be honest even if I could have understood it I would still have found it slightly boring, fortunately it was the first show we saw so best to get the worst over first.

Outside of the shows there is plenty to keep you occupied with lots of areas to explore and quite a few places where live music is performed or street performers are present. The gardens are also very pleasant and well worth having a look at as you walk between the shows.


Catering & Other Facilities

I had been warned in advance that the food was expensive so had come armed with a picnic lunch which we ended up eating in the dry in the car. Had it been sunny there were plenty of picnic areas in the park.

It is advisable to book either of the two restaurants in advance for lunch or an evening meal if you are staying for the evening show. Prices for the set meal did not look too bad to be fair however the more snacky foods like sandwiches were a little pricey for what you got. There is however a number of outlets and plenty of choice to suit most tastes and in the afternoon they were giving away some free cakes with any drinks you purchased which was a nice touch.

All of the toilet facilities I visited were clean, some are mixed sex and some of the urinals do sort of put you on public view so don’t pee when the bird show is running.



Top Tips

Get there early otherwise you will queue to get in.

Mostly flat but good shoes are essential as you will cover a fair amount of distance as the park is well spaced out. From the entrance to the Coliseum at the northerly most point it is a 25 minute walk.
Plan your day, when we visited some of the shows were only performed once during the day.

Get to the shows early to ensure a seat, all the viewing areas are huge but they do get full even on a wet day and you want a seat as some of the shows last for about 40 minutes.

If it is a hot day be aware that you will be exposed to the sun so slap on the sun cream.

Take a packed lunch as the food can make a reasonable day into an expensive one.

Although mostly flat those not good on their feet may find some of the terrain difficult and all of the arenas have stepped access and I did not notice huge provision for disabled visitors and the website is sadly lacking in information from what I can see.

In summary this was an excellent day out that was very entertaining and represented great value. I would return just to see the bird show which my words do not do justice to.

If you want to sneak a look at some of the shows check out the website which has some video links on it.

http://www.puydufou.com/uk/

Thanks for reading and rating my review.

Summary: Medieveal theme park with an unmistakenly French flavour.