Le Grand Parc Puy Du Fou: Our Kind Of Fun Park

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.” – Alan Keightley

I really am very proud of these children. It is asking a lot of kids this age to uproot themselves and travel halfway around the world for an extended period.

While it may sound rather odd considering the odyssey we are undertaking, we really do live very simply. We enjoying seeking out the simple pleasures we seek at home such as parks and we enjoy spending time together.

 So for our planning this means ignoring the usual “what to do with kids” information on tourist bureau websites, as these are full of theme parks and amusements that we are just not that into.

So don’t ask me where I came across the Grand Parc Puy du Fou, an historical theme park in the Vendée region of western France. But once I had read about the wonderful attractions there, and had taken a sneak peek at YouTube, I was hooked on the idea. Everything tied into the basic home school plans I had for France and it was a lovely reward for all of us.

To ensure we had enough time to take it all in without the rush we decided to book accommodation at the Parc. It had been my intention to book a room in the Gallo Roman Villa but once booking opened for this year’s season a new accommodation option became available. 

The Field of the Cloth of Gold was a meeting many centuries ago between King Henry VIII and the French King Francois where they had camped in wonderful tents. This has been recreated in a field behind le Grand Parc and it was such a fun place to stay.

What looks like a tent on the outside is on the inside a lovely Tudor era themed room, with a four poster bed for mum and dad and a separate bedroom for the kids. Even the loo was more like a wooden throne and the kids got a huge kick of the whole experience.

Instead of having thrill rides like your usual theme park Puy du Fou has shows or “spectacles” as they are known. Each based around a different historical theme, generally French in origin. I should probably give a spoilers warning in case this inspires anyone else to visit the park, so consider yourselves warned though I will attempt not to give too much away.

Having two nights accommodation and a two day pass to the park is the only way to make sure you don’t miss anything. There were five main spectacles and then other things to see as you walked between these main shows. Each attraction open thirty minutes before the show started but the queues started much earlier. I am pretty sure that we visited in a quieter period, it was only the first few days of the school holiday and it was midweek.

The first show we watched was called The Vikings, a re-enactment of Viking Longboat raid on a Gallic village. The special effects, the use of animals and magical elements were amazing.

The music was loud and rousing but all in all it was a bit overwhelming for poor Julian. As it was the only show which upset him I imagine it was because it was the first and we hadn’t properly prepared him for the fact this was all make believe, a new concept for him as he doesn’t watch TV.

Needless to say the rest of us loved it and it was probably Rob’s favourite and we would have watched it again the next day but Julian really didn’t want to.

Once the show finished we were carried like fish in a stream to the next show, The Sign of Triumph, set in a full sized reconstruction of a Roman Amphitheatre. The wait for the show to begin is made much more fun by a group of people employed to start chants in the crowd (Gauls versus Romans) and get mexican waves going too.

Set in the time Emperor Diocletian, when there was unrest in Gaul, this amazing show included chariot racing, gladiator battles with plenty of fake blood, real lions and a tiger as well a host of animals from all corners of the empire displayed in a grand parade.

Having looked at Roman in Gaul during our travels everything tied in nicely and we were all wowed by this spectacle. We made sure Julian new it was fake blood and when it looked like the Christians might be eaten by the lions we would speculate on how they might have hidden somewhere and he thought that it was all in fun. Sadly at this point my cameras battery went flat and as we hadn't checked in yet I had nowhere to charge it.

The Puy du Fou Animations Team Getting the Crowd Warmed Up

We next moved on to the Phantom Bird Dance, a bird show that included some one hundred and seventy birds. To follow the shows we had a headset that translated the French commentary into English. We may have been better off without it, especially in this visually splendid show with a terribly corny script.

Sitting high up in the stands the birds, mostly birds of prey, swooped low over our heads. There were all kinds of birds from homing pigeons to owls, bald eagles and buzzards. We watched in wonder at how so many birds, apparently over a hundred in the last scene, can fly freely and return when trained to. After the show finished we were not surprised to see the odd bird still flying freely.

The next show, our last for our first day was the Musketeers of Cardinal Richelieu. The kids decided that this show, with flamenco dancing, sword fighting and general swash buckling, and gorgeous dancing horses was their favourite. Also after spending half a day out in the elements on a rainy day we were grateful that this show was indoor, but sadly this meant no photographs allowed during the show.

And so our first day ended and we had already seen most of the main shows but had more saved for the next day. We enjoyed buffet dinner and basic continental buffet breakfast the next morning before he head back in for day two.

We started off with the last major spectacle, The Secret of the Lance, all while I would find it difficult to choose a favourite this one was pretty amazing.

We forgot our translator headset and had to guess what was going on, which wasn’t too tricky. There was jousting and amazing horse riding stunts and then the donjon was attacked, by the English of course, and I will leave it up to you to guess who was victorious.

After the show we visited the Renaissance Chateau, which you walk through to see various sights such a hall lined with twenty four suits of armour that lower their spears as you walk down their line. There were also beautiful dresses dancing on ceiling and other assorted spooky scenes.

We visited the various minor spectacles, such as scenes from La Fontaine but after such amazing shows the kids found them pretty tame and difficult to understand being in French with no translations.

One so called minor show that we went to watch was really just as spectacular as the main shows, just a little shorter. This one was called The Knights of the Round Table, and while a little scary for Julian, it also included some really amazing magic.

Again it didn’t matter that we had no translator for this show as we watched all the usual Arthurian characters, such as Merlin, the Lady in the lake and Sir Galahad, go through their paces without losing track of the plot.

As there was a show on late at night the kids were given the choice to sleep in the afternoon and watch the show or go to bed after dinner, which would finish at about nine so already a late night. They both swore they would sleep, and much to their credit they did try, staying quietly in bed for an hour but these kids just can’t sleep on in the day time.

And so we head out to watch one more show before dinner and while Rob said “Vikings” the kids said “Musketeers” and the vote carried. So we enjoyed watching it for a second time. Afterward we had just enough time for a couple of rides on the carousel while musical marionettes performed in the shop windows around us.

For dinner that night I had booked a Tudor banquet in a theatre restaurant. We had a seat right at the front and between courses,  we watch the court of King Francois entertainer the English King and his courtiers, all in French of course but still a lot of fun and a great night out.

We enjoyed our dinner and the entertainment very much. The French tried their skills against the English in feats of strength, and even with Rob helping out with a tug of war on the side of the English the French were victorious.

After dinner we walked down to the lake where the night time show, the Organs of Fire, was to start at sundown, around ten fifteen. There is a second night time show, only on the weekend called Cinescene but I did not want to visit on a potentially busy weekend night especially if the kids wouldn’t last the distance.

While Emma managed to stay up for the whole show Julian was fast asleep on the grass at 9.30 and the rest of us sat shivering for another hour to watch the show.

While it was beautiful to watch we had no idea of the story but we did see people zooming around on the top of the water in beautifully lit costumes while water fountains sprayed spectacularly. Again no photos allowed so I can’t share this one but imagine that YouTube could give you a good idea.

The next morning after breakfast, to which we were ten minutes late and they were already clearing the buffet, we were ready to checkout and head for Angers. We had such a great time and would recommend Puy du Fou to everyone, even without children, with an interest in history, or magic, or who simply enjoying a great spectacle.

Angers

And so we were on our way to Paris for a second visit, the kids were very excited and so were we.