The Les Animaux du Futur pavilion.
Les Animaux du Futur (French: The Animals of the Future) was an interactive dark ride attraction at the French theme park Futuroscope, featuring a number of animals from The Future Is Wild brought to life with augmented reality. It first opened its doors on 5 April 2008, before closing for renovation on 4 January 2009 and reopening on 4 April of the same year, with redesigned animals. It was shut down for good on 30 September 2012, to make way for a new attraction, The Time Machine.
Architecture[]
The Les Animaux du Futur pavilion, like the other Futuroscope pavilions, was designed by French architect Denis Laming and was built to resemble a Noah's Ark of the future. The exterior of the building featured a timeline beginning at 200 million years ago, and ending at 200 million AD, with metal silhouettes of extinct animals (an amphibian, a sauropod, and a mammoth), a modern human, and future animals (a carakiller, a toraton, and a megasquid).
The attraction[]
Animals[]
Pre-show[]
The pre-show gannetwhale model.
The rattleback model in the shop.
In four video clips, these animals were described by journalist Jamy Gourmaud, who also interacted with a "small character". In the original version of the attraction, models of these four animals created by Alain Dalis were exhibited in a showcase in the middle of the pre-show room. However, following reorganisation in 2009, the models were moved to shops near the entrance of the Futuroscope: the rattleback to the shop of Signes du Monde, the gannetwhale to the H20 shop.
Arid Amazon Savannah[]
The redesigned carakiller as depicted in Les Animaux du Futur.
- Babookari
- Carakiller
- South American rattleback
- Cryptile (added in 2009)
Marshy Cave[]
The Futuroscope's more tortoise-like version of the toraton.
- Spitfire bird
- Great blue windrunner
- Toraton
- Silver spider (added in 2009)
Seabed of the Global Ocean[]
- Common silverswimmer
- Rainbow squid
- Sharkopath
- Sea anemones (added in 2009)
Tropical Jungle[]
Post-show[]
The carakiller and toraton were animatronic models, whilst the silverswimmers and rainbow squid appeared in videos played on a screen in the floor.
Augmented reality applications[]
Two augmented reality applications could formerly be downloaded on the attraction's official website, which is no longer online. The first program used printable cards to generate The Future Is Wild animals, some of which would interact with one another (for example, the rattleback and the carakiller would fight), on the computer's webcam. The second program, also using the computer's webcam, generated a squibbon sitting on the head of the person being filmed. As the official website has since closed and was improperly archived, these applications are no longer available to download.
Merchandise[]
Alongside common amusement park merchandise such as decorative mugs, an exclusive 13'' poggle plush was sold in Les Animaux du Futur's shop. In 2008, a special souvenir jetton "tourist token" was created by Monnaie de Paris, depicting the toraton, windrunner, babookari, and ocean flish. Similar jetons were created for other Futuroscope attractions.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
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