Thrills, Futuroscope intends to make its visitors experience them with its new attraction called Chasseurs de tornades. Open this summer, it uses technologies never before seen in a park. CNEWS was able to test it and discover behind the scenes.
Four years of work and an investment of 21 million euros were necessary to create the new flagship attraction of Futuroscope: Tornado Hunters. Inaugurated on July 2, it stands out as a world first with technologies demonstrating the Vienne park’s know-how in this area. The idea? Immerse visitors in the heart of this weather phenomenon and become the witness of an apocalyptic scene.
The scenario is also reminiscent of that of Twister, a famous disaster film which won the box office in 1996. We thus find ourselves following a team of meteorologists responsible for studying tornadoes and finding a solution to avoid the worst.
We then take place in a circular room with 120 seats, surrounded by a cylindrical LED screen of 420 m2 and 8 meters high – the largest in Europe. Above all, the entire floor is mounted on a system of motors and cylinders to make us spin and rise in the air, depending on the strong winds.
40 fans in action
“The platform is rotating and turns on itself at a speed of 30 km/h. To reinforce the immersion effect, we added a lot of special effects, in particular water-based, spark machines and a lot of wind since 40 fans blow on the visitors”, explains for CNEWS, Rémi Codron, head of projects in charge of this attraction. We come out disheveled and impressed by this gigantic sensation machine.
Only downside, the 360 degree cylindrical screen as well as the scenario of which we are a spectator do not allow us to retain all the information available to us. Carried away by the flurry of events, wonder takes precedence over the story. But it is also one of the strengths of this attraction which, in the end, deserves to be done several times to be appreciated in its entirety.
Our advice: for maximum sensations, sit at the back of the room, if you can, or prefer the center of the room to take advantage of the simulated weather phenomena.
Tornado hunters is the symbol of revival of Futuroscope, two years after the launch of Objectif Mars, the park’s very successful roller coaster. The latter has also just opened a hotel, Station Cosmos, as well as a Space Loop restaurant and a bar focusing on space pilots.
But the Futuroscope also aims to open a water park as well as a new themed hotel around ecology. This expansion program entitled Vision 2025 provides for a massive investment of 300 million euros in and around the park, which ultimately expects to attract more than 2.5 million visitors per year.
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Futuroscope: we tested the new Tornado Hunters attraction
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