What does Bart say? – A Theme Park blog!

If you’re looking for adventure in the Wild West, Mer de Sable is the place to be! This small-scale amusement park is located about a 25-minute drive from Parc Astérix, in Ermenonville to be exact. I must admit that I never heard about this park before, until I discovered the “parks nearby” feature on RCDB. I was planning to extend my trip to France by a few days, and this seemed like a suitable park to do so. After spending a few days in Paris, I left for the Netherlands with a stop in Mer de Sable. Is Mer de Sable worth a visit, or is Mer de Sable a park to avoid while you’re in France?

Mer de Sable is an amusement park that mainly focuses on families with younger children. There are, of course, some thrill rides in the park. However, most attractions in the park are suitable for the entire family. Upon entering the park, you were immediately immersed in the Wild West atmosphere, with themed houses offering food and beverages, merchandise and an information point. I know Bobbejaanland and Slagharen as amusement parks with a Wild West theme, so my expectations of Mer de Sable were high. I was therefore a little shocked when I saw a large sandy plain with no attractions. I had seen photos of this sandy plain, but I hadn’t expected it to be on this scale. The sandy plain was quickly made up for when I saw Wild Buffalo, the park’s newest wooden (!) roller coaster. In recent years, wooden roller coasters have become increasingly rare in amusement parks. They are disappearing more and more often, being partially upgraded with titan track or receiving an RMC treatment instead of their usual retrack. 

Wild Buffalo is the fourth roller coaster in the park, and one of the reasons why I travelled to Mer de Sable. The other three roller coasters (I’ll come back to these in a moment) are a nice bonus, +3 credits, but not specifically worth travelling to Mer de Sable for. It was still uncertain whether Wild Buffalo would be open on the day of my visit. I arrived at the park gate at 10:00 a.m. with the intention of walking straight to Wild Buffalo to avoid any crowds, but to no avail. Wilf Buffalo was closed due to technical problems. I started to panic a little and had flashbacks to my visit to Jardin d’Acclimatation. Fortunately, the staff here were very friendly. They made it clear that it wasn’t certain whether Wild Buffalo would open today, but they were doing everything they could to make it happen. And to my great surprise, Wild Buffalo opened in the early afternoon.

If you visit amusement parks often, you know that when a roller coaster has been closed all morning, there can be a long queue once it finally opens. Unfortunately, that was also the case here, but after a 20-minute wait, it was time to take a ride. Don’t expect Wild Buffalo to be like Troy (Toverland), but it does have some similarities. I would say that it is Troy’s little brother. Wild Buffalo is a fun family roller coaster. Pegasus was my first (wooden) roller coaster, and I can imagine that Wild Buffalo will be the first roller coaster for many young amusement park enthusiasts.

The Wild West is not known as a green environment so I was glad to see that the park was not just made up of a large expanse of sand, but also a section of greenery. In this part of the park you mainly have flat rides and, to my surprise, a dark ride! As I had also mentioned in the introduction, I did not know about the existence of Mer de Sable, let alone about the attractions the park had to offer (apart from the rollercoasters). Finding a dark ride in the park came as a nice surprise to me. With a walk-on queue I had to give the dark ride a go. The park describes “The Bayou of Chikapas” as a boat ride down the Mississippi River to a strange monkey tribe, and the question is.. will they accept us? If you are a fan of darkrides, this is a dark ride you must have visited. The technology is anything but contemporary, which is what makes the dark ride so unique. All the effects seemed to work, and the animatronics and props that were supposed to move, moved.

A distinct choice for a Wild West park, I found the Chinese section where “Tiger Express” stood. This rollercoaster has previously stood in Walibi Holland under the name “Flying Dutchman Gold Mine”. In my opinion the theme used in Walibi Holland fits better in Mer de Sable than the Chinese theme used now. I couldn’t find any information why Mer de Sable chose a Chinese-themed section here on their website. Don’t get me wrong, the section is decorated well, but it’s a bit odd in a Wild West park. I do want to add my compliments to the operator here. She was very enthusiastic and you could tell she really likes her job. When she asked where we were from, we had a nice conversation about other theme parks, and the parks I already visited on my trip in France. When I told her I was from the Netherlands, she started talking enthusiastically about her trip to the Netherlands, and the theme parks she visited here. Even the smaller amusement parks she knew how to name.

Mer de Sable is partly located on a hill, the park made good use of the hill for their log flume. It takes a few minutes to reach the top, unfortunately the park has not chosen to add decoration along the track here which makes the ride experience a bit boring. A few decorations and music could already improve the ride experience. But once you reach the top, a steep drop awaits you, one that ensures you get well wet. And that’s why you ride a log flume, right? If the drop of log flume is a little too intense for you, but still want to get wet. You can choose to take a ride in the park’s rapid river. The layout is not too long, but long enough to get well wet.

When you leave one of the two water rides with a wet suit, nothing is better than to dry off with a rollercoaster ride! At the highest point of the park, you’ll find Silver Mountain Mine. This rollercoaster is, like the name said, thought of as a gold mine, and with its 15-metre drop, it gives you a great view over the park. You don’t have to be a daredevil to take a ride on this rollercoaster. Although it never ceases to surprise me that these family roller coasters go unexpectedly faster than you think. As you stand watching it, it doesn’t seem too bad, until you take a ride yourself, haha.

I only spent a few hours in Mer de Sable, but it is certainly possible to fill a day in this park. The park offers several shows (spread throughout the day) and attractions that are definitely worth several rides. Conclusion: is Mer de Sable worth visiting if you are in France? Yes! If you are in the area, I definitely recommend visiting this park. Parking is free and the entrance fee for this park is more than worth it. If you visit the park for a few hours like me, or you plan on visiting the park for the whole day? No matter your time in the park, I am sure you will have a great time in the Wild West. N

Are you planning to visit the Wild West in Mer de Sable? Let me know!
Bart