Ride Profile
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What happens when you let a bunch of mad rabbits loose inside a museum? The result is the dark ride experience La Machine à Voyager dans le Temps (The Time Machine), entertaining visitors since December at the French film and technology park Futuroscope
The trick “direct access” door in the queue line
eaturing characters from the computer game and animated kids’ TV series Les Lapins Crétins (“Idiot Rabbits”), the new attraction officially opened on 21 December and replaces the augmented reality (AR) experience Les Animaux du Futur, which opened at the park in Poitou-Charentes just five years ago. The curse of having the latest technology, of course, is that it’s out of date almost as soon as it’s launched and so, in an age when AR is now deployed commonly on smartphones and in other common applications, it was deemed no longer to represent the future for Futuroscope.
MAD RABBITS! F
Futuroscope’s time machine takeover
Orlando and its upcoming launch this year at the sister park in Hollywood, it seems only fitting that a French venue should choose to introduce the mischievous rabbits to its guests. The resulting attraction is packed full of gags that everyone can enjoy and is perhaps one of the most colourful, fun and unashamedly theme park style experiences now offered as part of the Futuroscope line-up.
Turning back time
Housed inside a building designed, like most others at the park, by architect Denis Laming, La Machine à Voyager dans le Temps incorporates the same custom- built ETF ride system as Les Animaux du Futur, but pretty much everything else is new. Responsible for the rabbit-themed refurbishment was the Dutch design firm Jora Vision, working alongside Les Lapins Crétins rights holder Ubisoft. Jora’s previous credits at the park includes attractions such as Les Petit Prince, Le 8ème Continent and the top-rated Arthur, L’Aventure 4D. Famous for their cheeky “bwaaah!” greeting, the
boggle-eyed rabbits known outside France as the Raving Rabbids (sic), cause mischief wherever they go. Created in 2006, originally as part of the computer game Rayman, they went on to become stars of their own series of games, TV shows, commercials, parody videos and comic books, and are credited as influencing the Minion characters in the hit movie Despicable Me. To date over 65 million Les Lapins Crétins videos have been watched on YouTube, over 14 console and app games played, while their official Facebook page has over 1.3 million fans. Given the introduction of the 3D attraction Despicable Me Minion Mayhem in 2012 at Universal Studios in
ABOVE: Some of the wacky merchandise avaialble in the gift shop
“Since time immemorial, time travel has been a great human dream,” observes park president Dominique Hummel. “Although many researchers are still trying, the invention of a time machine is technically impossible. That is why we decided to treat time travel in a humorous way. Also, against the disenchantment of a society in crisis, people are looking for experiences that offer an element of escape and laughter. Our collaboration with Ubisoft has allowed us once again to showcase French artistic and technological expertise whilst providing a really fun and engaging experience for our guests.” “Futuroscope was looking for an attraction with humour,” adds Jora Vision CEO Jan Maarten de Rad, “with the Lapin Crétins the park has definitely found that. Thanks to their daredevil attitude, their crazy ‘bwaaah’ yell and their sense of humour, the little creatures have developed a wide fan base. This project was a special one for Jora Vision.” The six-minute-long Machine à Voyager dans le
Temps experience begins as a television newsflash reports on the rabbit invasion of Futuroscope. An entertaining queue line features such diversions as a hall of famous classical paintings defaced by the crazy creatures, leading into a room of artefacts and curiosities, all with a little added Lapins Crétins flavour.
Futuroscope president Dominique Hummel
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JANUARY 2014
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