This French theme park is a David to Disney's Goliath

As crowds flock to Disneyland, Matt Dennis and his nephew discover cheaper and less busy Parc Astérix just 40km away

- Matt Dennis

“Who makes the magic potion?” I asked my 13-year-old nephew Fred as we landed at Charles de Gaulle airport. “Gétafix,” he replied without hesitation. While the stories of Astérix had been the mainstay of my youth, Fred had recently discovered this world through Netflix’s five-part series released in April. As we walked from Les Trois Hiboux hotel into the park, he looked up at the rollercoaster rails of the Goudurix ride towering above the Viking area.

“Are we going on that?” he asked, eyes wide with anticipation and disbelief. After all, it boasts five loop-de-loops followed by a corkscrew. This wide-eyed astonishment would set the tone for our entire weekend.

The Adventures of Astérix the Gaul follow the warrior Astérix and his fellow Gaulish villagers as they stand up against the might of Julius Caesar and the Roman empire. First published in 1959, there are now 40 volumes with another due for release this year. With a whopping 393 million copies sold, they are the bestselling European comic book series ever and the second best in the world.

Some 40km (25 miles) away, while Disneyland Paris was preparing for the May bank holiday, one of their busiest weekends, with snaking queues and lengthy waits, we were casually strolling straight into the heart of Parc Astérix. Though it isn’t striving to imitate its larger, more saccharine neighbour (which it actually predates by three years), the park is reaching new audiences through recent book releases like Astérix in Lusitania, due October 2025, and the new Netflix series.