Jessica Gibb travelled to France to discover the delights of Futuroscope Dancing with robots, eating blue food and riding a giant ladybird all sounds like a strange dream, but this took place within hours of my arrival at a futuristic theme park in France.

One thing is now clear – when visiting Futuroscope you have to embrace the madness and be ready for whatever this unconventional park throws at you.

To start the outlandish experience, I recommend an attraction you might recognise from the popular children’s film, Arthur and the Invisibles.

In the queue you will shrink – remember, embrace the madness – to the size of the Minimoys, tiny troll-like beings living in the soil.

If you need further convincing, a scales hidden under towering green grass will tell you your weight is less than a gram.

Once your 4D adventure is ready to begin, you will be strapped into a giant ladybird (technically a synchronised motion simulator) in front of an animated film on a 9,700 ft domed IMAX screen.

Within seconds the shaky ladybird ride will have you soaring through Arthur’s world and screaming with joy and terror as you are almost eaten by a giant rat and chased by huge insects.

If you have gone this far – and screamed with the others – you are now ready to continue your adventure through the theme park that aims to give visitors a taste of what the future might have to offer.

Next up is the park’s showpiece attraction Dances with Robots, where the madness really steps up a notch.

In the vast ballroom, ten 23-foot-high articulated robot arms stand ready for pairs of visitors to take their seats in their giant palms.

Then in what is described as a ‘vigorous airborne dance routine’ visitors are swung around and moved in all directions to the sound of disco or waltz music.

If you are not brave (or stupid) enough to be thrown around upside down, there is an overhead balcony which makes for hilarious viewing of less fortunate friends or family members.

When you are hungry think again before heading for the hotdog stand – Futuroscope has much more to offer and Le Cristal, the park’s art and experiment restaurant, is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Expect themed menus featuring squid stuffed with blue mushroom paste, cones of purple mash and pepper flavour ice cream.

After dark prepare for the evening show where lasers, giant images on water screens, jets of flame and bursts of light make up the spectacle that is the Blue Note Mystery show.

As I watch the tale’s blue fairy dance across fountains of water and finally disappear, I wonder how I’ll be able to describe the park when I get home. The answer is it’s just like a dream: totally unique and quite frankly mad.

Fact file

  • Futuroscope is located in mid-west France between the Loire Valley, Cognac and the Dordogne.
  • TGV high-speed train from Paris to Futuruscope’s own train station - 1 hour 20 minutes
  • London Stansted to Poitiers airport - 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Admission costs €36 for adults, €27 for children aged 16 or under and entry is free for children aged 5 or under.
  • The Blue Note Mystery evening show is included in the price of all entry tickets.
  • Visit www.futuroscope.com for more information.