Futuroscope, located in the French region of Vienne, close to Poitiers, is renowned for creatively combining cutting-edge technology, education, and entertainment. It is one of the first theme parks in the world devoted to multimedia, cinematography, and emerging technologies, and it is designed to appeal to both children and adults.
Since its inception in 1987, Futuroscope has been a trailblazer. It became the first major amusement park in France, preceding Parc Astérix (1989) and Disneyland (1992). Under the stewardship of Compagnie des Alpes, the park has seen a steady rise in attendance, welcoming over 60 million visitors since opening and reaching a milestone of 1,975,000 visitors in 2023.
Over the years, new attractions have been added. These include Objectif Mars in 2020, the Station Cosmos Hotel and the Tornado Chasers attraction in 2022, and Hôtel Ecolodgee in 2023. This summer, Futuroscope opened its eagerly awaited second gate: Aquascope, a unique indoor water park.
We spoke to Rodolphe Bouin, the park’s CEO, to learn more about its recent additions and future plans.
A one-of-a-kind park
Unlike traditional parks that focus solely on rides and thrills, Futuroscope offers diverse but always immersive experiences. These experiences use advanced technologies (such as giant screens, motion simulators, and robotic arms) to tell untold stories and fully engage the senses. They transport guests to a different world, making them feel part of the story.
“Attractions such as L’Extraordinaire Voyage and Tornado Chasers perfectly illustrate this approach,” says Bouin. “Futuroscope is unique because it aims to develop visitors’ curiosity, not just entertain them.”
Moreover, each attraction is a prototype: “We never reproduce the same thing twice, even if it has been a success.”
In addition, the park’s avant-garde architecture and extensive gardens reinforce the futuristic atmosphere that sets it apart.
“And since we’re in France, we attach great importance to food,” adds Bouin. “Which is rarely the case in theme parks. Here, we have chefs who also invent gastronomic experiences.”
This unique blend of innovation, entertainment and education, sensory experience, and good food make Futuroscope a truly one-of-a-kind park.
Part of the Futuroscope family
Bouin has been with Futuroscope for over 16 years, including six and a half years in his current role. Talking about some of the highlights along the way, he says:
“I started my career at Futuroscope with an internship. I didn’t necessarily think I would spend my whole career there. But Futuroscope is like a family that you get attached to.”
He held various positions in management control, the store department and human resources before becoming executive vice president and CEO.
“I think this gives me a good overall view of the company and a good grasp of its management. My objective was to propose a major development plan for the park, for which we had to convince the shareholders to invest 300 million euros. Being a good manager means talking to bankers or shareholders.
“I’m used to saying that at Futuroscope, we’re just passing through and that my aim is for Futuroscope to have a long life beyond my professional career. Over and above the growth in sales needed to invest, my aim is to create and sustain jobs and thus expand the Futuroscope family.”
New attractions
The park is now halfway through the aforementioned investment plan, which covers the period from 2020 to 2030. Reflecting on what has been achieved so far, Bouin says:
“Everything we had planned has been built, despite the Covid episode, which severely penalised us in 2020 and 2021.”
This includes Futuroscope’s first coaster, Objectif Mars, which opened in 2020. The family-friendly ride immerses guests in a space training centre as they become future astronauts and measure their ability to go on a mission. It includes unique special effects, such as indoor fire. Objectif Mars was, at the time, Futuroscope’s most significant investment since opening.
In 2022, the park opened the Station Cosmos Hotel as well as the Thea Award-winning Chasseurs de Tornades (Tornado Chasers) attraction. This Dynamic Motion Theater from Dynamic Attractions puts visitors at the heart of the action. Here, they are surrounded by a 470-square-meter circular screen showing live-action scenes, LED projections, and special effects. They also experience motion as the circular platform that goes up, down, tilts and turns.
Next, in 2023, the park celebrated the opening of the Hôtel Ecolodgee. This features 120 wooden lodges within a biodiversity-friendly site, with woodland and river views. Bouin previously called it “a haven of peace after the day’s excitement,” adding that “we have chosen not to install any TVs or air conditioning in line with our eco-responsible positioning.”
Aquascope at Futuroscope
However, the biggest and most recent addition is Aquascope, a unique 6,000-square-metre indoor water park at the gateway to Futuroscope. Bouin had previously stated that his goal was to create a water park “unlike anything done before in France or Europe.”
Speaking now about how the park has achieved this aim, he says: “When we thought about this project, we didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of our competitors and propose yet another park with palm trees and pirate ships.”
“Futuroscope stands out for its architecture. And so does Aquascope, with its tower that provides access to the slides and is aesthetically pleasing, not just practical. We’ve paid particular attention to the aesthetics of the building. We specialise in attractions that immerse you through images. So, we decided to offer an extremely immersive experience never done before in Europe.”
An immersive indoor water park
The indoor water park has three immersive indoor areas, 13 waterslides, and an outdoor area.
Les Abysses de Lumière is an immersive zone with digital technologies like projection mapping, lighting, and choreographed water effects. This multimedia experience allows guests to venture into a constantly changing world. Here, alongside the otherworldly Kraki, they can explore the Crique and its underwater beaches, a secret cove teeming with wondrous plants and animals, the Eauculus and its unusual seabed, and more.
“The Abysses de Lumière immersive space is a fusion of water and digital art. I like to say that visitors are literally swimming in the image. The spectacular backdrops created by the mappings, the soundtrack and the interactive areas all combine to transport the public into an imaginary, poetic world where the real and the imaginary merge.
“We’ve even imagined a pool where the image comes to life underfoot, thanks to a screen hidden beneath the floor, and invented the first aquatic cinema!”
Moment Factory, the multimedia entertainment studio specialising in conceiving and producing immersive environments, worked on the park’s immersive area.
“Never before has Moment Factory created such a vast immersive zone in an aquatic setting,” says Moment Factory. “This boldly innovative project brings together state-of-the-art multimedia technologies, including video-mapping, immersive lighting, spatialized sound, and interactivity. In the Eauculus, for instance, an underwater video feed gives rise to wondrous optical illusions.
Another area is for thrill-seekers, with eight waterslides. Meanwhile, ‘La Faille de Kraki’ is a colourful world for children with aquatic play experiences, five waterslides and interactive games. In the 4,500-square-metre outdoor area, guests can enjoy a lazy river, a swimming pool and a beach. These are only open during the summer months.
Universal Rocks, an expert in planning, building and developing themed areas to reproduce the beauty of nature, participated in the construction of Aquascope. The team built the rock scenery of La Faille de Kraki, Les Abysses de Lumière, and the shower room.
Family-friendly experiences
A new indoor show also opened earlier this year:
“In addition to the main attractions, we also offer shows. This year, we’ve innovated with a live show called Eclipse, created for us by Canada’s Cirque Éloize,” says Bouin. “In this show, featuring video mapping, lasers and special effects, we witness the duet of a dancer, a robotic genius, and his latest invention, the R30 robot, an articulated arm robot.”
Futuroscope clearly positions itself as a family park, he adds:
“We’ve always designed our attractions to be accessible to as many people as possible. Most are accessible from 1.05 metres tall, or around five years old. We have also developed a whole range of attractions specifically for children in the Futuropolis zone.”
In this 3-hectare area, almost half the attractions and games are accessible to children from 0.90 metres tall accompanied by an adult.
“This year, we welcome the Rivière des Bucherons, a log ride for toddlers from 90 centimetres upwards, while Hydrodynamo is a giant swing for older children, from 1.05 metres. And both are real successes; you can hear the children laughing in the area.”
Sustainability at Futuroscope
Sustainability is important to Futuroscope, and the park aims to be carbon-neutral soon.
“Futuroscope is a committed player in the energy and ecological transition,” says Bouin. “Certified ISO 50001 for its energy performance management since 2019, Futuroscope aims for carbon neutrality by 2025. To achieve this, it is making significant investments (around 10% of the overall investment plan of 300 million).”
In terms of energy, since 2020, the park has purchased 100% of its electricity from renewable sources. It also aims to achieve 70% self-consumption and only 30% purchased externally.
“To achieve carbon neutrality, we need both to embark on a program to reduce our consumption and to develop our carbon-free energy production. For example, in June 2022, the park installed giant heat pumps to heat the entire extension, including the water park and hotels.”
A biomass boiler has also been operational since 2023. From the end of 2024, Futuroscope will equip its visitor parking lots with photovoltaic panels to generate electricity. It will eventually produce more than 20 MW of photovoltaic power for its own consumption.
“This was impossible before all the work had been completed, but we have already done it at our Station Cosmos hotel where the shades installed on the parking lot produce more than 100% of the energy consumed by the hotel and the Space Loop restaurant.
“To offset the carbon footprint of our new buildings, Futuroscope is also financing carbon sinks, with the planting of 27 hectares of forest in Oyré, Mouterre-sur-Blourde and Savigny-Lévescault. This is in partnership with the Centre National de la propriété forestière.”
At Hôtel Ecolodgee, 1.8 hectares of the 3.5-hectare site are set aside for 15,000 trees and dry and wet meadows.
Reaching a milestone
Speaking about what is next for the park, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in three years, Bouin says:
“We are currently preparing a new investment plan with our shareholders. But it is too early to talk about it, as nothing has yet been validated. We still have to deliver the next big attraction in 2025 and consider our next development plan up to 2030.”
In addition:
“Now that we’ve built it, we need to let future visitors know that Futuroscope has changed a lot and that it’s worth coming to see us for two or three days, even from abroad. We want to position ourselves as a European-level resort.
“In 2019, sales were €92 million; we should be at almost €130 million this year. We have made great strides, and now we need to stabilise them. In 2027, Futuroscope will be 40 years old, the age of maturity!”
