DESPITE most of my friends having never heard of it, the indoor waterpark Aquascope has been named the “best waterpark in the world”; – so I had to find out for myself.
Eight miles north of Poitiers in France, there are three things that make this water park stand out from the crowd.
Firstly, Aquascope is an indoor attraction – an absolute blessing for us in the 35C heat in France at the time so no chasing everyone around with the factor 50.
It is also is on the same site as major French attraction Futuroscope, if you wanted more theme park elements.
But by far the most appealing thing about Aquascope is that it combines its hardcore water features with truly impressive tech effects, so it feels, in the words of my youngest, “like you’re swimming around inside a cool video game”;.
Think lights, screens and cascading colour and you’re on the right lines.
Picture the scene. Two spiral stairways, each signposting a route to the top of a different slide.
Everyone carries their inflatable rafts up (depending on the slide, there are four-seater inflatables, two-seaters; one-seaters; mats with handlebars; and slides that you don’t need any accessory for).
You can even watch through the transparent tubes, showing you the people ahead of you squealing down.
We counted eight slides in total, each offering a completely different thrill.
We loved ‘Alien’ (a tube raft race with some serious skids and swirls) and ‘Sprint’ (like head-first bodyboarding).
‘Quick’ was exactly as it sounds, a short sharp bolt with one free-fall funnel stretch. After four goes, I lost count of how many times we waited in line for that one.
The most adrenaline-pumping? For us, that was a toss-up between ‘Spiral’, a 130m of giddy twists, nail-biting speed, and deep-pool plunge.
And ‘Rocket’, where you step inside a space capsule and count down to lift-off when the floor disappears beneath your feet.
The most impressive thing about Aquascope was that in addition to the crazy slides there’s a totally different change of pace and vibe at Aquascope’s Abysses-de-Lumière, an underworld of fairytale caves and canyons.
One minute you’re swimming right up to a massive, mesmerising screen, then meteors crash around you, then you feel like you’re swimming underwater with cute sea creatures.
There’s a lazy river too that carries you along in floats beneath a magical sky.
There is also an outdoor section with a hotel-style pool where I managed to get my sun-lounger fix for a while.
Little ones meanwhile will be in their element in the minis zone with water maze, overhead soakers and a musical grotto.
As for Futuroscope next-door, that was surprising, because if you thought that a virtual-reality ride couldn’t be as exhilarating as a rollercoaster, Futuroscope will make you eat your words.
In ‘Extraordinary Journey’ for example you whizz at breakneck speed around all the world’s sights, sounds and even smells without leaving your seat.
It’s just one of Futuroscope’s 40 experiences, some of the type you’d expect at a theme park (‘Destination Mars’ your rollercoaster, brand-new ‘Mission Bermuda’ your aqua-flume),.
We couldn’t get enough of Tornado Chasers (flee the storm before it swallows you!) and Robot Dance (its arm throwing you around to the DJ’s beat drop).
The verdict? For us the combination of speed and special effects was a winning formula and so worth the drive.
If my grown-up kids AND my 58-year old husband had to be dragged away (the biggest kid of all), that tells you pretty much everything you need to know, right?
