If you are Australian then you would have never heard about Puy du Fou, yet.  But I am positive that in the coming years this place will be as popular as EuroDisney and Mont Saint Michel for international visitors.  Even then it is the 4th most visited park in France because of the reputation that it has built up over the last 30 years here.  It is basically a park that you can go and watch little 30 minute spectaculars.  I can't think of the equilavent in Australia (maybe Dreamworld on the Gold Coast) or more accurately, I don't know of one in Australia, definately not around Adelaide anyway.  When Audrey explained the concept to me, and her desire to go there, once again I was not sure whether or not it was something that I'd like but as always, I agreed to go along.  From Mont Saint Michel, Puy du Fou was a solid 4 hours so we managed to arrive in the early afternoon.  This meant that we went straight into the Park to see what it was all about.  The first show that we went to was "Le Signe du Triomphe", in English "Triumph's Sign".  It was staged inside a reconstructed Gladiatoral Stadium, some 70m long by 40m wide.  The story went something like the one you see in 'Gladiator', a General falls in love with Gaul, gets outed, fights for his freedom and that of the women he loves, wins and then becomes the new leader.  For 42 minutes we were treated to fighting, chariot racing and live animals, including Lions.  It really was spectacular and you could easily stay and watch the show again.  It was obvious that the actors weren't hitting each other but there was no extra sounds associated with the fights so that when you heard metal hitting metal that is exactly what was happening.  Plus the Lions looked so cute.
Next show was "Les Vikings", in English "The Vikings".  Arrows, horses, people and fire, horses dragging people and even 2 Viking ships, one that magically appeard from the water (which had real actors on it when it did) and a disappearing shaman.  It had it all.  During that shows I was sitting in silence watching which Audrey took as me not enjoying the show, but it was quite the contrary, I was in raptures.  I found the whole thing amazing.  You see a lot of movies action on the TV or the big screen but you know that it is take after take or CGI but what we were watching was real and that mistakes could be made.
The Park has 5 main shows which Audrey and I saw all over the 3 day pass that we had plus numerous other smaller attractions to pass the time away.  The other 3 where "The Phantom Bird's Dance", held over the old Puy de Fou Castle ruins and starring over 200 birds including my 2 favourites, the Owl and the Peregrin Falcon, "The Secret of The Lance", a horse riding stunt show with lots of fire and a moving castle and "Richelieu's Musketeers", a spanish love story featuring Athos, Porthos and Aramis and indoor horse riding in the water.  Go figure.  But it all wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the Main Show and the help of the local Townspeople.  30 years ago an idea was born that required a lot of people to make it work and the villages around Puy du Fou answered the call.  During the summer period, over 1000 people help in the Main Show, "The Cinescenie".  We never got to see this as all the shows get sold out as soon as they become available and since we decided to come here only 1 week earlier, we had Buckley's of getting a ticket.  So all I can tell you is what I've heard, and that it is brilliant.  We will have to go back in a few years time, we just have to book tickets now.  Everything that has occured since that start is because of the success of the Cinescenie.