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[20XX] Puy du Fou UK

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This was announced a few days ago, the French company Puy Du Fou are actively looking to build a park in the UK. They have instructed estate agent Savilles to find a suitable location, but it's looking like it will be near Oxford. A transcript of a news article is below;

A massive historical theme park could be opening just an hour from London​

The award-winning Puy du Fou attraction already has sites in France and Spain


Gladiator shows, chariot races, medieval villages and litter-picking rooks: sounds kinda like something out of Shrek, right? But no, we’re not referring to the Kingdom of Far, Far Away. In fact, it’s all the stuff you’ll be able to find at a medieval theme park that could be opening near London very, very soon.


Puy du Fou, an award-winning French attraction, apparently has its sights set on the UK. It has enlisted the help of Savills to find the perfect piece of land to build a British version of the attraction – preferably a 300 to 400-acre site within a 40-mile radius of Oxford.

The firm already has two sites in Les Epesses in France and Toledo in Spain. The original site opened in 1977 and since then has become one of France’s most popular visitor attractions, welcoming more than two million people a year. In fact it is renowned worldwide and in June last year was named the world’s top theme park by voters in the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice.


And before you argue that this country already has its fair share of rollercoasters, this will not be your average theme park. Rather than rides and the like, visitors to its European sites are immersed in ‘ultrarealistic and moving realms infused with local culture, history and legends’.


The French attraction has a total of 26 such spectacles showcasing history from Roman times through to the nineteenth century and each lasts around half an hour. These include ‘The Vikings’ which features a longboat emerging from underwater and ‘Dance of the Phantom Birds’ which involves more than 100 birds of prey gliding over the audience. At one point it also had specially trained rooks that piced up cigarette butts around the site.


What’s more, the park values local investment and promises to be a valuable addition to the economy of wherever it ends up. Its showcases are built by a mix of local businesses and non-profit organisations and it puts 100 percent of its own profits into further developments.
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www.timeout.com

A massive historical theme park could be opening just an hour from London

It promises gladiator shows, chariot races and recreated medieval villages
www.timeout.com www.timeout.com
 
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So from my understanding if this ever went ahead we most likely wouldn't be seeing any new rides come to the country but we would see some very well themed areas and some big shows coming.

The French park gets 2 million visitors a year despite not having any rides so they're clearly doing something right though.
 
This could be huge for the UK.

I have been to Puy du Fou three times over 20 years, and will return this summer for a fourth slice of the cake. The entire experience is excellent, and it is one of the highest quality attractions in the world.

The 'Grand Parc' is massive, with many themed areas with shops, craftspeople, entertainment, food and gardens along with a range of shows and walkthrough experiences. The shows set themselves apart from other parks by being truly world class and technologically impressive affairs in theatres or arenas that in some cases have cost nearly €20million (as is the case with the Théatre des Géants).

Alongside this, there are three hotels and, of course, the incredible Cinéscénie - which only plays on Fridays and Saturday nights between June and September. This is the world's largest outdoor show with well over 1,000 volunteers on stage with the most ridiculous array of special effects packed into a 90-minute spectacular which charts the history of the region in which the park is located.

From genocide to incredible bird displays featuring paragliders and from the horrors of the WW1 trenches to the roman invasion - Puy du Fou is thrilling, thought provoking, fun and high quality all at the same time.

Bring it on.
 
Already people are missing the point about PDF, so before we carry on discussion, let's get this straight. Puy du Fou is not about rides. In fact, ignoring the upcharge children's carousel in the Le Bourg Berard village area, there are none. It's not even really a theme park, so you'd be kidding yourself if you considered it as such - it's a collection of amazing theatres in a stunning scenic setting, with incredible short productions in each.

Dan sums it up well above. :)
 
Something like this would be of great interest to me if it opened in the UK. Especially considering that it's somewhat unlikely that I will ever visit the versions abroad.

Exciting times if this does materialise and would be a huge boost in terms of competition in the UK.
 
Interesting idea and I haven't actually been to this park in France.....but I'm quite sceptical this will be the hit it is in France.

Burbs said:
Already people are missing the point about PDF, so before we carry on discussion, let's get this straight. Puy du Fou is not about rides. In fact, ignoring the upcharge children's carousel in the Le Bourg Berard village area, there are none. It's not even really a theme park, so you'd be kidding yourself if you considered it as such - it's a collection of amazing theatres in a stunning scenic setting, with incredible short productions in each.

Dan sums it up well above. :)
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I can see why this has been a hit in France. Not so sure we are quite as cultured as they are tbh. We have been 'Americaised' too much over the last 2 decades for this to work over here.

I could be badly wrong here but I'm very sceptical there's the market for that sort of thing here.
 
Lots of gushing here about the quality of the attraction which may well be true, but it is worth noting that Philippe de Villiers the founder of the park, who is still linked to the attraction and his son now runs it - is a member of the French far right.

He is an anti Islam nationalist who supported Éric Zemmour in the most recent presidential election who himself is a racist, misogynist, homophobe.

Too many links on articles to post here, but a google search brings lots of info up.

Not really the kind of hands I want my money going to, whether they make good shows or not.
 
Let's not forget we already have Kynren is Bishop Auckland which is effectively the UK version of Cinescenie I always thought that was gradually expanding into the UK Puy du Fou since that so was produced by them for the UK and if you've never seen it it's an amazing spectacular you'd never expect in the uk.
 
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Burbs said:
Already people are missing the point about PDF, so before we carry on discussion, let's get this straight. Puy du Fou is not about rides. In fact, ignoring the upcharge children's carousel in the Le Bourg Berard village area, there are none. It's not even really a theme park, so you'd be kidding yourself if you considered it as such - it's a collection of amazing theatres in a stunning scenic setting, with incredible short productions in each.

Dan sums it up well above. :)
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I do hope they choose a location that will enable them to get planning permission for a B&M Giga. Can't wait!

In all seriousness, I've not been to Puy du Fou but it looks outstanding. I would love for them to build a park in the UK and think it would prove to be popular.
 
They can always use a site in Lanarkshire Scotland in which many will be happy to see the owners given the book and with these owners being French, play up the Auld Alliance! :p

Anyway, though this wouldn't have any rides if the place is built, that is not to say that long-term they can add them in future should demand be there.
 
Benjsh said:
Interesting idea and I haven't actually been to this park in France.....but I'm quite sceptical this will be the hit it is in France.



I can see why this has been a hit in France. Not so sure we are quite as cultured as they are tbh. We have been 'Americaised' too much over the last 2 decades for this to work over here.

I could be badly wrong here but I'm very sceptical there's the market for that sort of thing here.
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Feature a section of Churchill personally punching Hitler to death and how the Royal Family told Harry and Meghan where to go and there'd be a MASSIVE market for it.

AT86 said:
Lots of gushing here about the quality of the attraction which may well be true, but it is worth noting that Philippe de Villiers the founder of the park, who is still linked to the attraction and his son now runs it - is a member of the French far right.

He is an anti Islam nationalist who supported Éric Zemmour in the most recent presidential election who himself is a racist, misogynist, homophobe.

Too many links on articles to post here, but a google search brings lots of info up.

Not really the kind of hands I want my money going to, whether they make good shows or not.
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Not stopped people buying Hogwarts Legacy, and if you don't want to go to any right-wing based places you're extremely limited (Adventure Island, Mingo and Blackpool at minimum in the UK) to go anywhere with a business model.

Granted this guy is awful though. Alas this is a big problem of the leftist world that you end up counteracting yourself constantly. Saw a thing recently regarding how the Saudis have a minority stake in Nintendo, so no Mario or Zelda if you go that far in not using such things.
 
Bear in mind that is in the very early stages, so there is a chance it won't happen (and if it does it'll be a few years away). If they find a suitable location and get permission then It'll most definitely happen.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Anyway, though this wouldn't have any rides if the place is built, that is not to say that long-term they can add them in future should demand be there.
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Its not even a case of them adding in rides “in the future should the demand be there”, it’s just not the kind of park that has rides full stop.

Its a theme park in the truest sense of the word, a park that is highly themed to create an immersive and authentic environment. It’s not an amusement park and it isn’t ever going to be that, despite if people even wished for rides as that would go against the ethos of what it is trying to achieve.

You probably have to think of this park as having more in common with a living museum like Beamish or the Black Country Living Museum but with new recreated buildings and spectacular shows rather than authentic historical artefacts.
 
I can't really see this working in the UK if I'm honest. I think geneerally the British public are going to expect rides from something like this, so just having shows I don't think will keep the attention span. But it's an interesting prospect and if they can make it work then it will certainly be something good to have.
 
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