Parc Astérix
 Goudurix, the park's inaugural roller coaster | |
| Location | Plailly, Picardy, France |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 49°08′04″N 02°34′13″E / 49.13444°N 2.57028°E |
| Opened | April 30, 1989 |
| Owner | Compagnie des Alpes |
| Area | 83 acres (34 ha) |
| Attractions | |
| Total | 43 |
| Roller coasters | 8 |
| Water rides | 7 |
| Website | www.parcasterix.fr |
Parc Astérix is a theme park in France based on the comic book series Asterix by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. There are approximately 2.3 million visitors to Parc Astérix each year,[1] making it France's second largest theme park, after Disneyland Paris, which attracts approximately 14 million visitors each year.[2]
It is especially renowned in France for its large variety of roller coasters, which exceeds the amount of most other parks in the Hexagon. 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), so much so that it includes its very own highway exit and interchange, and that the feature roller coaster OzIris is visible from the passing vehicles.
History
Conception and inauguration
Largely 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[3] Jack Lang, then Minister of Culture, inaugurated the park on 30 April 1989 after two years of work.[4]
The opening of Disneyland Paris in 1992 caused Parc Astérix's attendance to fall 30% and revenue by 19%.[5] However, attendance soon stabilised to around 2 million visitors per year.[6][7]
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.[8] Season 2007 saw the Parc Astérix opening for the first time during the Christmas holidays.[9] 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").[10][11] 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.[12] 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.[13]
Attractions
The park features many attractions and shows including :
- Tonnerre 2 Zeus, a large wooden roller coaster built by Custom Coasters International (1997);
- Goudurix, a large steel multi-looping coaster, built by Vekoma (1989);
- Trace du Hourra, a 900-metre large bobsled roller coaster with an 80 km/h top speed (2001);
- Romus et Rapidus, a scenic river rapids ride (1989);
- Oziris, an inverted roller coaster, built by Bolliger & Mabillard (2012);
- Attention Menhir, a 4D cinema show (2019);[2]
- L'Oxygénarium, a large twisting water slide with round inflatable dinghies (1999);
- La Galère, a swinging ship ride (1989);
- Menhir Express, a Menhir-themed log flume ride with a 13-metre final drop (1995);
- Grand Splatch, a large capacity Shoot the Chute articulated around the park's feature rock statue(1989);
- Le Défi de César, a Madhouse ride (2008);
- Le Delphinarium, one of the largest dolphin enclosures in Europe;[14]
- Pégase Express, a launched steel roller coaster that reverses the ride direction after a pause halfway through the ride, built by Gerstlauer (2017).
- Toutatis, a launched steel roller coaster with a similar ride direction reversal halfway through (2023), current holder of the "Tallest and fastest roller coaster in France" record, and manufactured by Intamin.
Economic and Operational Data
Management and Personnel
The park scheduled recruiting around 2,000 people for the 2023 season, which is a record number compared to previous years.[15]
Attendance
In September 2022, Parc Astérix achieved a record yearly attendance of over 2.6 million visitors.[16] This record is, however, set to be broken again in 2023 due to the opening of the park's seventh large-scale rollercoaster, Toutatis.
Incidents
- In July 2004, an 11-year-old boy was hit by lightning at the foot of the Tonnerre de Zeus (Zeus' Thunder) roller coaster. The park had continued operating despite weather warnings.[17]
- On 5 July 2006, a 6-year-old Belgian child drowned on the Descente du Styx river rapids ride, sucked in by the water pumps used to create the flow in the bottom of the ride's canal.[17] The ride underwent various security measures; it was renamed to Romus et Rapidus in order to cast off the bad memory and unfortunate implications of the tragic accident.
See also
References
- ^ Abbatescianni, Davide (20 April 2022). "At Cartoon Next, Céleste Surugue shares the secrets behind Asterix's success story". cineuropa. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
- ^ a b "Parc Asterix facts". Paris Digest. 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Partners - lesoir.be". Archived from the original on 2013-11-10. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
- ^ "Inauguration du parc Astérix - Vidéo Ina.fr". Archived from the original on 2014-05-03. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
- ^ Roffat, Sébastien (2007). Disney et la France: Les vingt ans d'Euro Disneyland. Paris: Editions L'Harmattan. p. 124. ISBN 978-2-296-02989-7.
- ^ "ASTERIX A LA COTE - Le Soir". Archives.lesoir.be. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- ^ "Astérix fait un pied de nez à Halloween". Archived from the original on 4 June 2012.
- ^ "Le parc Astérix ouvert avant et après Noël". Lefigaro.fr. 29 October 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ Lombardo, Propos recueillis par Anne. ""Le Parc Astérix est ouvert chaque jour pendant les vacances de la Toussaint"". Tourmagazine.fr. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ "Astérix fête Halloween". Archived from the original on 4 June 2012.
- ^ "New for 2021 Parc Asterix, Intamin Quadruple-Launch Coaster + POV". Amusement Insider | Theme Park News and Rumors. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
- ^ "France's Asterix park shuts down dolphin show as debate on animal rights starts". RFI. 26 January 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Roffat, Sébastien (2007). Disney et la France: Les vingt ans d'Euro Disneyland. Paris: Editions L'Harmattan. p. 122. ISBN 978-2-296-02989-7.
- ^ Ruault, Margot (February 6, 2023). "Par Toutatis, le parc Astérix compte recruter 2000 personnes en 2023". Le Fiagro.
- ^ "By Toutatis, Parc Astérix plans to recruit 2,000 people in 2023". News In France.
- ^ a b "Un garçon de 6 ans se noie au Parc Astérix". Archived from the original on 31 March 2014.
External links
- Parc Astérix official website (some parts require Adobe Flash. In French, with some English translations)
- Parc Astérix on rcdb.com
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