In five years of regular visits to the French capital, I'd still not gotten around to visiting this small park in the centre of Paris. But this April, the time finally came to put that right. I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this park given that it's not really somewhere I've heard people talk about much. But now I've visited, I've made it my mission to try and change that. Jardin d'Acclimatation is an absolutely delightful place. The ride line-up was quirky, the theming far beyond expectations for this style of park and the landscaping was every bit as stunning as you'd expect from somewhere with 'Jardin' its name.
The park boasts a total of four rollercoasters, none of which host big thrills (this is very firmly a family attraction) but are very fun nonetheless. On my visit Chinese Dragon was down for maintenance, which left me with three coasters to experience.
The headline attraction at the park is without doubt Speed Rockets. A very fun and surprisingly lengthy Gerstlauer bobsled. I was actually really surprised on RCDB-ing this to find that it was a bobsled model. The layout uses this coaster type in a way I've not seen before. There aren't really any hairpins or bunny hops to speak of, instead it's a ride that places a lot of emphasis on banking and bends offering an equally fun and slightly more unique experience. As well as having some really lovely themed trains, the station also produces smoke and a launching noise when each 'rocket' is dispatched - incredible theming for a token/wristband based park! This is a ride that would proudly stand it's own in almost any theme park in the world, and definitely shines here at the Jardin.
Next up was The Steam Engine. First, I need to take a moment to point out how stunningly beautiful the trains on this coaster are. I love the little lamps on either side of the seats and the almost-steampunk style of the whole train, it just gives me Tokyo Disney Sea's Mysterious Island vibes and I am here for it. As for the ride itself, well. As this powered coaster dispatched and took the first few drops and turns on it's course, I laughed along and thought I'd be back very soon for another ride. Then it dropped in to The Tunnel. The combination of the prior bend with the sudden drop resulted in a very painful lurch in to the lap bar (in the photo below you can just about see this by comparing the position of the riders in rows 3 & 4 with the rows behind). With a standard T shape bar in place, that means quite a knock to your legs and hips. After multiple laps, that really starts to hurt!
It's a really fun idea to have the ride surge down in to a tunnel though, so that's cool.
Finally Mechanical Mice is a pretty standard wild mouse coaster with aggressive bends and a violent brake run, I may have laughed on my way around but I certainly wasn't rushing back for a re-ride. The cars are some of the cutest wild mouse trains I've seen though - almost reminiscent of the Ratatouille vehicles - so points for that!
As well as coasters, the park has a good selection of elaborately themed family flats. One of the best was Sidecars, a ride type I have certainly never seen before. Riders sit in one of the beautifully themed motorbike vehicles (vehicles seat two, one in the bike and one in the eponymous sidecar) and as the ride rotates, riders are able to twist the motorbike handle to tilt the ride arm and lift the vehicle upwards. A beautifully presented ride with a unique, interactive system? Wonderful.
Definitely my favourite attraction in the park - entirely by virtue of it's weirdness - was Le Kinetorium. I've never seen an attraction like this before. This is, in essence, a shooting simulator ride but one where there is only one screen and riders sit on motorbike-esque seats, which provide the motion (and quite a lot of it) whilst riders use their in-built guns to fire at the one large screen. Each seat is numbered and this number appears on the screen to allow you to identify your shot, a nice change from seeing a sea of red lights in other shooters and wondering where you're actually shooting! That said, I did struggle to get the hang of the shooting. I'm not sure whether I was pointing poorly, or if I wasn't shooting the right thing but my score didn't get above zero until about halfway through. Even after I'd started scoring, I decided to down tools and enjoy the simulator experience instead. This ride also has the only pre-show in the park, in which you are held in a really nicely themed room and given the backstory (an experiment went wrong and now there are evil plants trying to kill you) before being let loose on your mission. It also has the most gorgeous attraction poster on the outside of the building!
Despite being a gloriously sunny Sunday, the only ride in the park I actually had to wait for was the VR Rafting Experience, understandably given that only two 'rafts' were in operation. This isn't the sort of thing I'd usually be super fussed about, but it was an unusual offering and included with the wristband so I settled in for a lengthy wait. The ride set-up was an inflatable seat on a motion platform with a giant industrial fan opposite which together did a surprisingly good job of imitating white water rafting. I squealed, I laughed, I braced myself for some sizable bumps. It was a lot of fun! The only issue was the operator was understandably rushing people through so the headset wasn't perfectly adjusted, but it was good enough not to cause any issues.
Wait. Hold up. I've somehow gotten this far in to writing about the park without talking about what is without a doubt the greatest attraction in Paris, if not the entirety of Europe. A ride entitled 'The River of the Goats'. Already sounds like a masterpiece huh? For those familiar with River Rafts at Chessington World of Adventures (a ride very close to my heart), we're talking about a very similar concept here (a log flume with animal interaction, for those unfamiliar!) Except in the place of a log to facilitate the crossing of Coatis, this flume houses an entire rope bridge system. A rope bridge system for pygmy goats.
Sadly my ride did not feature any goats overhead - the bridge was being blocked by two goats chilling out on the access steps - but it was a cute little log flume that offered a little splash without too much of a soak. Had there been a goat using the bridge, I would quite happily have ridden several times without worrying about getting uncomfortably wet.
Food-wise, I'd seen word previously about the options here being super expensive but I didn't really find that to be the case. Whilst I didn't buy a main meal (veggie options, as well as my French, were in short supply making an attempt to order feel quite risky) I did summon up enough French to be able to order a caramel apple crepe. The creperie is located in the farm area of the park and is gorgeously picturesque, plus sells extremely good crepes! The caramel apple tasted just like a werthers original and cost 3.80€ which I didn't think was bad at all.
Before returning to the main ride area for some last re-rides, I took a stroll around the gardens. These were beautifully kept and offered a great escape from all the noise and excitement of the main 'ride village'. Nestled in amongst all the manicured gardens was also an alpaca paddock, which for most of the day allows guests to enter and get up-close with the animals. Sadly, I reached this whilst the staff were at lunch but I still enjoyed watching the alpacas from the outside. The gardens offered perfect balance for a family day out that isn't necessarily all about rides.
Is it just me, or does this formation give anyone else major floating mountains vibes? Beautiful.
Price-wise, this is definitely not the cheapest place you'll ever visit but it is possible to get a good value ticket. With things the way they currently are, I left my ticket purchase until the last minute which meant having to shell out an entire 40€ for my admission and unlimited ride wristband. For reference, on the same day just 4€ more would have granted me admission to Efteling. Whilst the park is charming, that still feels steep. However, if you purchase your ride wristband more than 7 days in advance you can score one for 29€ which I feel is a very fair price. Alternatively, admission to the park alone is available for 7€ with ride tickets costing 3€ each (most rides cost 1 ticket, with major rides costing 2).
Jardin d'Acclimatation was a park I visited because it was nearby and it had some creds. I really didn't know what to expect prior to visiting. But I'm happy to say that I came away completely enamoured with this wonderful place. If I had to compare it to any other park, I'd probably pick Paultons Park over here in the UK. Jardin is immaculate, with beautiful theming and enough non-ride attractions that the entire family can enjoy a lovely balanced day out, just like the day offered down in Romsey. Both parks also share a lovely chilled atmosphere, with pretty much all rides being available to ride as and when you choose, even at the weekend. For me, this made it the perfect escape from the mania of Disneyland Paris during the Easter holidays and I cannot recommend it enough for anyone visiting at peak time. The change of pace worked wonders and I left the park feeling joyous and refreshed. What more could you want from a city park?
Speak again soon,
Claire
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