After the thundering success of my Disney report, I thought it was about time to get another one out of the way, so here’s Jardin d’Acclimatation.
Jardin d’Acclimatation means something in French. Garden of something. See, all that time wasn’t wasted getting that French A-level!
For some reason, “acclimatation” wasn’t a word I remember from those classes over 10 years ago, but I’ve just checked, and it means “Acclimatization.” Now that that’s cleared up, giving us all an exact picture of what the park must be like, onto the report….
This family park is very close to Les Sablons (The something) metro station, which is nice and convenient. It’s a very small part of Bois de Boulogne, a huge park, which, I found out from friends later, is locally famous for night-time recreation which is slightly less family-friendly.
I can’t remember exactly now, but I think it was about 3 euros to get in (maybe a bit less?), with rides paid for separately. You can buy all-inclusive passes and discounted books of tokens, but I didn’t bother with those.
I went right ahead and took pictures of other people’s kids enjoying themselves.
Luckily, the French seem less paedanoid than the Brits, and I was left to snap away, before taking in my first coaster.
Pappillons d’Alice was exactly how it looks: basically a kiddy spinner, with very little spinning.
I can’t think of much else to say about it really. Oh, “papillons” are “butterflies” in real language. Apparently these butterflies haven’t acclimatised very well to this garden, as they look a bit cross.
I didn’t ride this, but it looked pretty cool actually. There’s a similar ride at Port Aventura, but this version seemed to be faster with some more pronounced bucking.
One of the biggest rides in the park:
along with the closest thing resembling a thrill ride:
That’s not a criticism, by the way. This park is obviously meant for families with young kids, and really is excellent for them. I was only here for about an hour, but a family could easily spend a whole afternoon here.
The second coaster was Tacot Express.
This was actually pretty decent for a small, powered coaster. I only had the one go, since I was paying for each ride, but you get two circuits.
RCDB says that “tacot” means “old timer,” but another translation is “jalopy,” which makes more sense, considering the train’s theming.
The thrill section of the ride:
The weather was a bit crap, and the park was quiet, but I’m sure in the summer the blood pool/fountains are fully working.
I think this was basically a glorified pigeon coop, but still looked nice though.
The back end of the park had a farm area, which was actually quite big. I only took a couple of pictures though. C’est une chèvre.
There was also this rather aloof duck,
who for some reason was dressed as Louis XVI .
Pony rides, sponsored by PETA.
There was a Korean themed garden area, which brought on a few nightmarish flashbacks/happy memories.
The final coaster, another powered effort, was around this area.
Dragon really did look lovely in its setting, but that’s about it really.
It looked nice enough as it was, but must be so much better in summer when (if) they fill these pools up.
I didn’t try the thrilling water ride, but here are some pictures anyway.
Unfortunately, my batteries ran out just as I was about to take some photos of the 100 foot drop just around that bend. Maybe next time.
So, all in all, a great little park for families with litluns, and a nice, easy-to-get-to place for credit whores.
Jardin d’Acclimatation means something in French. Garden of something. See, all that time wasn’t wasted getting that French A-level!
For some reason, “acclimatation” wasn’t a word I remember from those classes over 10 years ago, but I’ve just checked, and it means “Acclimatization.” Now that that’s cleared up, giving us all an exact picture of what the park must be like, onto the report….
This family park is very close to Les Sablons (The something) metro station, which is nice and convenient. It’s a very small part of Bois de Boulogne, a huge park, which, I found out from friends later, is locally famous for night-time recreation which is slightly less family-friendly.
I can’t remember exactly now, but I think it was about 3 euros to get in (maybe a bit less?), with rides paid for separately. You can buy all-inclusive passes and discounted books of tokens, but I didn’t bother with those.
I went right ahead and took pictures of other people’s kids enjoying themselves.
Luckily, the French seem less paedanoid than the Brits, and I was left to snap away, before taking in my first coaster.
Pappillons d’Alice was exactly how it looks: basically a kiddy spinner, with very little spinning.
I can’t think of much else to say about it really. Oh, “papillons” are “butterflies” in real language. Apparently these butterflies haven’t acclimatised very well to this garden, as they look a bit cross.
I didn’t ride this, but it looked pretty cool actually. There’s a similar ride at Port Aventura, but this version seemed to be faster with some more pronounced bucking.
One of the biggest rides in the park:
along with the closest thing resembling a thrill ride:
That’s not a criticism, by the way. This park is obviously meant for families with young kids, and really is excellent for them. I was only here for about an hour, but a family could easily spend a whole afternoon here.
The second coaster was Tacot Express.
This was actually pretty decent for a small, powered coaster. I only had the one go, since I was paying for each ride, but you get two circuits.
RCDB says that “tacot” means “old timer,” but another translation is “jalopy,” which makes more sense, considering the train’s theming.
The thrill section of the ride:
The weather was a bit crap, and the park was quiet, but I’m sure in the summer the blood pool/fountains are fully working.
I think this was basically a glorified pigeon coop, but still looked nice though.
The back end of the park had a farm area, which was actually quite big. I only took a couple of pictures though. C’est une chèvre.
There was also this rather aloof duck,
who for some reason was dressed as Louis XVI .
Pony rides, sponsored by PETA.
There was a Korean themed garden area, which brought on a few nightmarish flashbacks/happy memories.
The final coaster, another powered effort, was around this area.
Dragon really did look lovely in its setting, but that’s about it really.
It looked nice enough as it was, but must be so much better in summer when (if) they fill these pools up.
I didn’t try the thrilling water ride, but here are some pictures anyway.
Unfortunately, my batteries ran out just as I was about to take some photos of the 100 foot drop just around that bend. Maybe next time.
So, all in all, a great little park for families with litluns, and a nice, easy-to-get-to place for credit whores.
