The Pavilions of Bercy - Museum of Fairground Arts

Visits open to the general public used to be very rare. Now it's a bit more open, you can book online for selected days up to three weeks ahead.
I went on a private group tour. It was absolutely amazing, highly recommended!

I tried getting tickets to this for over a decade and then finally was able to snag 4 slots for us and friends with a French Tour about 10 years ago. Unfortunately only one of our group was fluent enough in French to understand the very long winded guide but it was still very interesting. He blathered endlessly and those who understood him seem delighted with his jokes but it was a long tour for me LOL. Here was our tour:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/magic-at-musee-des-arts-forains/
When they open more generally to the public around Christmas I think they have everything operating. When we were there with the private tour, the slot racers, a merry go round and the bicycle racers were the only rides operating and the guide demonstrated a lot of the mechanicals.

It is fun and interesting and I definitely recommend getting tickets if you can -- but it is not a drop in sort of thing.

Another spot even more interesting is the marine carousel and mechanical elephant in Nantes. If you are doing any traveling around the countryside it is worth a stop. We did a side trip from Paris to Angers and Nantes several years ago and this was our visit to Nantes
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/magic-at-musee-des-arts-forains/
I did a day trip to Nantes with my granddaughter last spring to do the elephant walk and carousel and she just loved it. You do have to make sure you book the elephant ahead and go on a day when the carousel if operating for riders.

We enjoyed it very much but we speak French. It's really a tour and does have a lot of historical explanations but also a lot of amusements. I think it would be boring if you couldn't understand the language.

I visited a few years ago with a friend and enjoyed it very much. I’m sure the tour we had was in English. The museum was featured in the film Midnight in Paris.

Thanks all for your thoughts. After some research, it seems like prior to the pandemic they had more hours in the busier summer season and that one day tours were in english. Given that they only open tickets 3 weeks in advance, hopefully by the time we are there in June, we can find out if this is an option. Thanks again. Hope to be able to get there; it does look very interesting.

Lisa, a few friends and I did this tour about 4 years ago and loved it. It's a unique place.
Tickets will sell out quickly, so if you want to go, do book them in advance before you leave home.
RS guide Vero (France with Vero) did a virtual tour a year or so ago. You might be able to find it on YouTube. If I can locate it I'll come back and post the link.

Lisa, I went to this Museum on a French speaking only tour. I understand enough French to thoroughly enjoy the tour, without getting bogged down in minutia. It is a highly visual tour. We played at some of the games and rode at least 1 merry-go-round. I have been to Paris 4 times, total of 7 weeks. This Museum is one of my favorite things about Paris. Perhaps your hotel concierge could assist you with tickets.