With almost two million visitors, the French theme park dedicated to virtual reality and technology, Futuroscope, has decided to draw on its history to devise its new attraction for the season, which connects with the great tradition that exists in the country in as for bandes dessinées (comics).
After World War II, on July 16, 1949, superhero comics deemed violent or scientifically questionable were censored by the authorities in accordance with the new law on publications intended for young people. Thus, characters like the weretiger Félifax, Fantax, one of the first costumed heroes published in the French press and undoubtedly the best known of his time, or Véga la Magicienne, also known as Lady Bird, educated in telepathic practices and other scientific mysteries.
Futuroscope’s new bet -it is already up and running- recovers and pays homage to these superheroes with a character, Alice, who becomes the park’s new superheroine. A protagonist with her own comic whose electric powers turn her into Etincelle. The new attraction, which replaces the one in Ice Age, continues to explore the possibilities of 4D with a platform where visitors, standing up, will follow the adventures of the protagonist.
Named Etincelle, the Curse of the Black Opal, it stars Alice, the superhero museum guide, who decides to borrow a costume to attend a costume party. It is an immersive experience enriched with sensory effects and laser beams, spatial sound diffused through 54 diffusion points and relief effects created by double lasers to make the immersion more realistic.
In addition to the attraction, the theme park inaugurates a hotel, a new accommodation concept based mainly on ecology that has involved an investment of 18.5 million euros. In fact, its name is Village Ecolodge and it is made up of a series of cabins where the peaceful environment is a guarantee seal. The hotel will open its doors in June of this year, and will add to the park’s own accommodation offer, which last year already added content with a spectacular proposal, the Station Cosmos hotel, dedicated to the world of astronauts and space .
Another unique feature of Futuroscope for this year is the installation of a completely upside-down house, designed to delight instagramers. A house that is more of an amusement than an attraction in itself, but that there is no doubt that it will be one of the most photographed corners of the park.
With 40,000 more visitors this 2022, the French park has managed to stabilize its figures and reach pre-pandemic levels, close to two million annual visitors. This was stated by the director of marketing and communication of Futuroscope, Laure Mosseron, and the director of Spain and Portugal of the park, Montse Balaguer, who also announced that the park is in luck. The Tornado Hunters attraction, the big star of last season, has won the jackpot from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), which has awarded it the distinction of the best attraction in the world in 2022 together with Jurassic World Adventure, at Universal Studios Beijing (Beijing).
Despite being located in the neighboring country and with a direct Barcelona-Poitiers connection from the hand of Ryanair for the second consecutive season, Futuroscope barely receives 6% of foreign tourists, being Spain, and especially Catalonia, its main issuing market.
