August 15, 2025, 1:44 PM ·

Parc Astérix on Monday officially opens its new Gerstlauer spinning coaster, Cétautomatix.The 46-foot-tall coaster reaches a top speed of 28 mph on its 1,378 feet of track. As with many attractions at Parc Astérix, however, the appeal is not in the stats, but in the ride’s theming and decoration.Themed to Parc Astérix’s village blacksmith, the ride depicts the test track outside his garage, where he makes and refurbishes this unique, spinning carts. (Who knew we would be getting not one, but two, “test track” attractions this summer?) And yes, the punny name is meant to evoke “It’s automatic,” which, of course, things rarely are in the “what possibly could go wrong” world of theme park thrill rides. With a height restriction of one meter (39 inches), the ride should be accessible to all but the youngest visitors. You can see off- and on-ride vides of the fancifully decorated family spinning coaster in Parc Astérix’s hype video:Located just north of Paris, Parc Astérix is inspired by the French comic book series Astérix, which involves an ancient Gaulish village, a magic potion and a lot of non-historical history. (Think, if Jay Ward’s Improbable History was French, and you get the idea.) The park last year opened Toutatis, an Intamin launch coaster that landed on our readers’ global top 20 list of the world’s best roller coasters. So this is definitely a park worth visiting for fans looking for well-themed adventures beyond the worlds of Disney and Universal.For tickets to the park, starting at US$64, please visit our partner’s Parc Astérix Tickets page. Remember that whenever you buy tickets or book vacations through our partners, a small portion of that goes to support Theme Park Insider. So you can support independent media while getting a great deal at the same time.For more travel and theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider’s weekly newsletter.

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