'New type of terror thrilled my kids at theme park two hours from UK'

Futuroscope is a theme park with a difference – the rides are shows too, awakening all your senses on this sprawling French site, which boasts futuristic-style architecture.

Think 4D and IMAX motion simulators, and terrifying rides combined with huge screens, so the tornado chaser takes you right into the eye of a (digital) storm. I booked a two-night break with my 11-year-old son, Otto, and we were keen to try an alternative type of terror. The park is in southwest France, a few miles from Poitiers, and also includes a “digital” water park.

Arriving at the theme park, we picked up translation headsets first – the screens that accompany almost every ride have commentaries. We ventured into The Time Machine and sat on a moving conveyor, facing the 4D film with the Raving Rabbids, feeling the wind and travelling into a snapshot of the future.

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Most kids will recognise the Rabbids from the video-game series, and they are a huge feature of the park – naughty rabbit-like creatures scream and gibber at you from screens around the site.

Next up was the €20million attraction, Destination Mars. We become astronauts at the space training centre, before bracing ourselves for a shuttle ride into orbit. The roller-coaster carriages spin you senseless and launch you down an indoor, vertical free-fall drop, right at the end. Looking back on the Earth, as we hurtled away, added a great touch.

I staggered out, dazed, and Otto dragged me to one of the omnipresent burger stands. A huge theatre with a 4D nature documentary didn’t just provide respite from the adrenaline adventures. The screen rolls under your feet as you fly over mountains and immerse yourself in life under the sea.

Danse Avec Les Robots had all the mad futuristic feels you could hope for – giant robotic arms flipped us upside down and high into the air. Dancing to the thumping beats, attached to the arm of this monster, was one unpredictable ride.

We watched Cosmic Collisions in the Planetarium and sat back in reclining seats, staring at a journey around the planets, on the ceiling, all translated via the app into headsets. At the Space Loop restaurant, meals hurtle down from the kitchen on a mini roller coaster towards sets of tables, some doing a loop the loop. Get them quick because incoming containers knocked a few of our side dishes off the track.

Retrieving them from the floor, we roared with laughter alongside the other diners served by the same metal track, trying to work out which meal was spiralling down at us at an alarming rate. You order through the screens on each table – and the blue-bunned burgers are fun.

Having walked around what felt like every inch of the 148-acre park, we headed, with aching feet, to the nearby Eco Lodges, set around a lake with a small waterfall. The wooden hut has a separate kids’ sleeping area and glass doors open out on to a balcony, overlooking water.

So far, so good. I was longing for a cup of tea, but in true environmental style, there are no kettles. The lack of a TV was refreshing, though, and I decided to have a long, hot shower and sit outside, in the tranquillity of nature, after a day of non-stop thrills.

A firm advocate of the sacrifices we must all make in the face of climate change, the Eco Lodge quickly showed me up to be a complete fraud. We were in for a short, sharp shock. After a few moments of bliss, the shower turned cold as hot water is limited to a few minutes to keep the carbon footprint low. Otto screamed his way through his freezing wash!

At night the lodge was sweltering. I opened the French doors at around midnight and the cold air was a delight. I even noticed three frogs on our balcony.

Breakfast arrived – croissants and yogurt – in a wicker basket and the tea and hot chocolate we had ordered came in flasks. Unfortunately, the drinks were stone cold. I bought a cup of tea at the lodge reception area and armed with swimming gear, we walked to Aquascope water park.

There’s a choice of eight huge waterslides, with light displays as you whizz down the tunnels. The Rocket involves a 400ft free fall. The Lazy River circles the whole site, and Aquadynamic’s currents push you through an outside “river”. There’s a fun tots’ area too.

It was very busy and we jostled into others in the wave pool, before discovering the magical cavern around the corner.

Ideal for younger swimmers, a huge aquatic cinema envelops the pool, showing a mix of cartoons and the ocean, set against a starry night sky. There are underwater lights and random bubbles and we watched the sun rise on the screen, floating, mesmerised. I honestly felt as if I was in the sea.

We’ve enjoyed a number of family holidays with water slides in Europe, but have never been to a digital water park. It’s impressive and very clean but the queues were long. We visited at Easter, but careful timing could avoid the region’s school holidays and crowds.

We rounded off our trip with the late-night light show at the theme park, which takes place in an open-air arena. The seats filled up quickly, and no wonder. The display, which played out on giant screens over water, was an explosion of digital illusion and sound. It was absolutely spectacular.

Futuroscope is the ideal place for space-mad pre-teens and theme-park fanatics because it’s totally different from anything the UK has to offer. I’d recommend Hotel Ecolodgee for true climate zealots, but there are hotels dotted around the site, including a space-themed one, so you can truly carry on embracing that Futuroscope feeling. The fun definitely landed.

Book the holiday

• Fly from Stansted or Edinburgh to Poitiers, or get the Eurostar from London St Pancras International to Lille Europe then connect via a TGV to Poitiers.
• Stay two nights at Futuroscope Experiences from around £724 for a family of two adults and two children under 12. Includes two nights at Ecolodgee on B&B, two-day tickets to Futuroscope and tickets to Aquascope. Price based on September dates. booking.futuroscope.com
• More info at france.fr/en