The park opened in 1979 under the name Avenir Land. The Walibi group acquired the park in 1989 and renamed it Walibi Rhône-Alpes.

In 1986, Walibi introduced water rides with the creation of a water park called Aqualibi. It would be given a makeover in 2006, becoming L'Île aux Pirates (French for Pirates' Island), and featuring a Caribbean theme.

In 1998, the park changed hands once again when it was bought by Six Flags as part of the American company's international expansion.

However, six years later, in 2004, Six Flags sold most of its European parks (including Walibi Rhône-Alpes) to Star Parks. The exception was Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid, which was sold back to Time Warner and renamed Warner Bros. Park and later Parque Warner Madrid in 2006. The Walibi parks were transferred to Compagnie des Alpes the following year and have belonged to the French company ever since.

On June 20, 2009, six park employees lost their lives in a helicopter crash. Due to this incident, the park was closed to the public from June 21, 2009 to June 26, 2009.

Like its sister parks in Belgium and Holland, the park began to go down a more themed route in the 2010s. Despite being a smaller park, the park still received regular investments, including two roller coasters, Timber (anchoring a farm-themed area) and Mystic (anchoring a horror retheme of the front right of the park). The water park closed with the park after the 2019 season and was replaced by the themed area Exotic Land for the 2022 season.