Puy du Fou proposing UK theme park near Bicester

[Matt N]

The French theme park developer Puy du Fou has announced that it is planning to invest £300million into a UK version of its successful French product at a site in Bucknell, 3 miles north of Bicester in Oxfordshire and close to Junction 10 of the M40 motorway: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/24435399.puy-du-fou-reveal-300m-uk-theme-park-plans-near-bicester/

A public consultation website has been launched, and consultations are taking place in Bicester on 18th July and in Oxford on 19th July. More details about these, as well as Puy du Fou’s exact proposal, can be found on the consultation website: https://www.puydufouconsultation.co.uk/

Between Universal eyeing up Bedford and Puy du Fou now eyeing up Bicester, we could potentially be in for an exciting few years of new theme parks in Britain!

In terms of the Puy du Fou proposal itself, I’ll admit to not really being 100% sure on what Puy du Fou actually offers. From what I know about the one in France, I’m not really sure if it would be my kind of thing and I’m not sure it particularly excites me personally, as I get the impression that it’s primarily centred around shows and I’m not particularly big on shows in theme parks. But as I say, I’m not the most clued up on what Puy du Fou actually offers, and regardless of my own thoughts on it, it’s undeniably a very exciting development for the UK theme park industry!

 

[peep]

Interesting, they already have a site with a show that runs during the Summer up near Newcastle called Kynren. The original plans were to slowly expand this site into a full day park but I don't think this has really happened to the extent they originally proposed. It's mostly the big night time show spectacular which is quite impressive and is a British version of what makes the original French park such a big name.

They seem to be making a lot of expansions seeing as they recently opened a park in Spain and I think they have several Asian parks in the works. On the other hand the management is linked to the far right movement in France which is creating a lot of resistance among some to stop people from attending.

Personally as someone who loves theatre and has wanted to visit the original park for years I'm glad to finally be going next month and I'd be interested to see a fully fleshed out UK version.

 

[Graeme]

As I understand it, these parks are historical, but also a bit fantastical? If they tailor it to Britain, I think it would be very welcome to delve into the worlds of Robin Hood and King Arthur.

 

[RevolutionRuleZ]

Personally I will believe it when I see it, the same goes for Universal to be honest, I don't care what permission they have or what land they have acquired, I won't believe anything till I see hardware being constructed.

Quite honestly I dont see why anyone would want to invest in this country. We have absolutely dire weather, and the hoops you have to jump through to build anything are a joke.

The only logic behind a new investment here would be an indoor park, much like the one TPWW have showcased recently who's name has escaped me.

 

[chrisgeorgiou46]

Personally I will believe it when I see it, the same goes for Universal to be honest, I don't care what permission they have or what land they have acquired, I won't believe anything till I see hardware being constructed.

Quite honestly I dont see why anyone would want to invest in this country. We have absolutely dire weather, and the hoops you have to jump through to build anything are a joke.

The only logic behind a new investment here would be an indoor park, much like the one TPWW have showcased recently who's name has escaped me.

I read an article saying the UK could be seen as highly investable now following this election. We have a relatively sensible moderate/centre-left government who aren't drowning in scandals, a government that a lot of countries (especially Europe) seem a lot happier to work with. Despite a change in government the markets have been relatively stable and on top of that political stability makes countries seem more attractive for investment. Meanwhile we have the US heading down a very questionable path and parts of Europe swinging rapidly to the far right.

And the weather? By 2050, London might have a similar climate to Barcelona. Might as well get the ball rolling on these decade-long projects now!

(To be clear, I am not celebrating climate change, but I'll take Barcelona weather as one of the few positives...)

 

[Matt N]

Labour have vowed to drastically reform the planning system to make it easier to get things off the ground in Britain, which will surely make it easier to get projects like this and Universal to come to fruition, no?

 

[Will]

The weather's not as bad as we make it out to be - I've met cold days in Scandinavia in Summer and been drenched in Benelux and Germany more times than I care to count.

I've realised why I've never heard of this place - even googling it, the top results are from theme park 'bloggers'. Pairi Daizi proves you don't always need rides to be a great theme park, but they'd feel a bit naff without animals either, at which point you may as well go to Alnwick Castle (or Warwick, if you're scrimping on budget)

Possibly more likely than Universal, but I'm not going to get excited about this.

 

[Aardvark747]

Interesting, they already have a site with a show that runs during the Summer up near Newcastle called Kynren. The original plans were to slowly expand this site into a full day park but I don't think this has really happened to the extent they originally proposed.

Kynren and the team behind it at 11 Arches are still going ahead with the day park - it is in active construction now and is set to open the first stage in 2026. Although the show was produced by Puy Du Fou, they have no ongoing interest in the show, and have no stake in its current operation or in its ongoing development.

 

[Geeky Pastimes]

I last went to Puy Du Fou 20 years ago, but it really is an impressive place. The shows can't really be compared to anything else in theme parks, other than maybe Waterworld at Universal, the scale and level of special effects is stunning.

I remember the first show we watched was about a siege on a castle, and they had one bit where the main actors hid under shields while a volley of what looked like 20-30 arrows came over a wall, with a bunch of them sticking in the shields they were hiding behind. Just crazy stuff.

 

[peep]

Kynren and the team behind it at 11 Arches are still going ahead with the day park - it is in active construction now and is set to open the first stage in 2026. Although the show was produced by Puy Du Fou, they have no ongoing interest in the show, and have no stake in its current operation or in its ongoing development.

Ah ok, that's good to know. I did see while grabbing the site link that they've already opened a Viking area as a pre-show activity. Maybe I'll return once the expansion opens.

 

[Munchy Road Hippopotamus]

Ah ok, that's good to know. I did see while grabbing the site link that they've already opened a Viking area as a pre-show activity. Maybe I'll return once the expansion opens.

I would agree with that, whilst I loved the show it was a one and done for me so something new would be appreciated as I enjoyed it (apart form the fact that it rained).