Renowned the world over for its excellence, originality and creativity, Puy du Fou has won numerous awards including “Best Theme Park in the World” twice. Originally designed to be open for just one summer, the Vendée park has now been thrilling people for 45 years, and boasts unrivaled popularity. Logically, this success places an ever-increasing burden on the group's IT infrastructure, which must absorb numerous spikes in activity and increasing demand every year. Perfectly suited to the group's seasonal nature, and its responsiveness needs, the Cloud quickly became the obvious choice and, in 2021, the decision was taken to migrate the first component: the online merchandising store.

Among the providers consulted to conduct this strategic migration, Amazon Web Services (AWS) quickly demonstrated the relevance of its offering. The technology was a good fit, but so too was the human element, supported by the geographical proximity of AWS, which was just about to open its Nantes branch. With its strong local roots, Puy du Fou also has an ambitious international outlook, making AWS the ideal partner.

Combining agility and stability

“Above all, we were looking for a technological relationship,” recalls Yvelain Naudé, Information Systems Director at Puy du Fou. Especially since our pilot project involved very tight deadlines: having launched in May, it had to be operational by July! Not only did AWS rise to the challenge in time, but their pairing of a solution architect and an account manager, proved to be a driving force behind the change. We were able to benefit from the best of both worlds: strong technical skills on one hand, and an excellent human relationship on the other. This close relationship between our two teams enabled us all to make rapid progress”. The result: greater agility in the face of connection spikes, combined with a more innovative and “user friendly” site.

This initial success paved the way for Puy du Fou’s other migration projects. The redesign of the booking site was launched in 2022, with the aim of improving the overall quality of service. Migration of the mobile application followed in 2023. “Previously, service disruptions were common and almost systematic following a marketing campaign or media coverage. The puydufou.com website has therefore also been migrated, as have almost all our public websites. Our strategy is one of continuous improvement of the “lift and shift” type, the idea being to go even further in the use of the AWS platform with each new project, for example with a FinOps approach.”

The AWS Cloud helps to create a virtuous global dynamic

The strategy paid off immediately, with the ticketing site recording an 81% increase in sales from January onwards, without any interruption to service. The sites now boast 100% service quality. Two benefits of the AWS Cloud stand out in particular: the first is time-to-market and scalability; the second is continuous improvement and the sustainable dimension of the cloud. Environmental concerns are in Puy du Fou’s DNS. The IT department is subject to a high level of seasonal activity, and thanks to the cloud, it can adapt its infrastructure as and when required, as closely as possible to traffic levels, so that it can respond precisely to meet its needs without consuming resources unnecessarily.

This new base means that park managers can built on stable, responsive foundations as they look ahead to the next stages of their development: “As our ambition is based on growth and international expansion, we needed to overcome the initial technical limitations,” notes Yvelain Naudé. With the AWS cloud, we are able to scale up very quickly and almost limitlessly. Ultimately, my aim is to move toward a “park-as-a-service” type application catalog integrating all the multilingual tools and platforms, on which we can draw to accelerate our time-to-market and open new parks anywhere in the world in just a few clicks.”

No more long waits before being able to launch a new project. With the AWS Cloud, the average time-to-market for a website project has been halved. Another significant asset is the size of the platform and the number of services available. With almost 300 technological building blocks at its fingertips, the Puy du Fou IT department can meet all its internal needs, irrespective of the project. “We started small, then we worked on an “on-demand” basis and on pricing, before launching other projects... This approach fits in well with our philosophy and our desire to make the digital experience as seamless as possible. And faster means more efficient: our sales have increased by 20%.”

Full cloud by 2024

With a record attendance of more than 2.5 million visitors in 2023, Puy du Fou is already looking to the future, with plans to migrate 100% of its infrastructure to the AWS Cloud. Another project under consideration is the creation of a data platform on AWS.

“The AWS platform now offers a real convergence of the technologies used: software, infrastructure, network, system etc. We’re all moving forward together using the same tool,” says the CIO with satisfaction. We have big goals, including opening several parks around the world, while continuing our steady growth based on our live performance model rooted in local history. This growth is supported by the internationalization and duplication of this model. But what used to require very heavy investment is now accessible and adapted to the size of each IT requirement. In the long term, IT will no longer be an issue at all and everyone will be able to focus on Puy du Fou’s core business, namely live entertainment.”

The AWS Cloud, an innovation accelerator

Through the AWS Cloud, Puy du Fou intends to accelerate its transition to a “data-driven” business but above all to boost its capacity for innovation. These days, no show can get off the ground without IT. In this context, the AWS Cloud is positioning itself as a real driver of creativity, like with the launch of the park's new rail feature, Le Grand Tour, whose site was developed entirely in the cloud. In the first half of 2023, no fewer than three other new attractions will be released: a movie and two new shows, one in France and the other in Spain.

“The AWS Cloud makes it easier to innovate, both in terms of performances and user experience. AWS has supported us in modernizing our infrastructure, enabling us to continue innovating and to pursue our expansion abroad with complete peace of mind.”