Summer holidays are child’s play at Futuroscope

Futuroscope has always maintained a strong reputation in the leisure park sector by providing fun attractions especially suited to youngsters but which kids and grown-ups can enjoy together. Futuroscope has been expanding its range of family attractions over the last three years, bringing in original and stunning experiences designed to nurture the imaginations and creative skills of young visitors.

In 1989, architect Claude O’Byrne designed a separate area – Children’s World. He let his imagination run free to offer a unique open-air zone for the youngest visitors to enjoy. Since then, the number of attractions in this family-fun zone have increased with the addition of: Mission: Eclabousse!, The Tram of the Brave and The Strong Men’s Tower.

Today, Children’s World is a games area set in two hectares with over 20 activities that are fun, free and just for young visitors under the age of 12. Futuroscope is continuing to expand Children’s World in 2008 with the introduction of three new activities: The Daredevils’ Quiz, Budding Drivers and Objective Lyoko. Entry to all the attractions in Children’s World is now free.

Objective Lyoko
Futuroscope has teamed up with the virtual, hi-tech world of Code Lyoko (a popular French cartoon series) to create a 3,230 square foot two-floor indoor world that can hold 100 children aged five to 12 and offer them a range of activities that recreate the different worlds seen in the Code Lyoko television series: the territory colour codes and mega-big characters and monsters.

Budding Drivers
Budding Drivers is an attraction promoting safe and responsible driving at an early age. It is a 7,530 square foot learning circuit that simulates an urban setting where young visitors aged five to 12 can get a taste of driving in road traffic and learn the rules of the road during the ten-minute lesson.

The children receive video explanations on basic driving rules before taking to the road, and then get in the specially adapted, non-polluting single-seater electric cars, fitted with a safety belt and a drive/brake pedal. As they drive along at a top speed of two and a half miles per hour, they come up to road signs and traffic lights. The aim is for them to keep control of the vehicle while keeping to the highway code.

The Daredevils’ Quiz
Out in the open air, youngsters can check out this games’ area that will get their body and mind racing. They choose from a range of challenges on the interactive screen, and then go dashing around to win territory, bouncing around on the interactive hopscotch grid in a test of speed and memory, all during a fun learning experience!

Futuroscope, near Poitiers in the Poitou-Charentes region of France, opened to the public in June 1987 with the aim to “harness the future”. Since it opened, the park has welcomed over 35 million visitors, making it the second largest leisure park in France. It is substantially different from any other “theme park” as it is based on the visual and the senses, thus appealing to a very wide audience of all age groups.

For further information on all of the above, visit Futuroscope.com.