Puy Du Fou or Futuroscope?

[IWasThere4Aug12]

Looking to do something different with DS10&8 next summer on way back from SW France. Puy du Fou gets great reviews but seems SO expensive - is it really worth it? Is there anywhere reasonably priced to stay nearby?
The other option I was thinking about was Futuroscope but wasn't sure how much we'd get out of it given our French is limited - anyone been and what did you think?

Futuroscope has lots of films which don't rely on knowledge of French. There are hotels on site if you want to stay there.

It wasn't my thing, but I plan to go back with DH and DS now he's older.

we loved puy du fou. it was the highlight of our holiday. i pre-booked tickets and the kids moaned about going, but they loved it. we only did the daytime but a friend said the evening is amazing too. we were in a mobile about 30 minutes away - eurosite type place

They are both great.
Futuroscope has rides, puy du flu is all shows, but amazing ones.

I'd recommend les lapins cretins at Futuroscope and the roman and Viking shows at puy du fou.

Apologies for autocorrect

Put du fou is fantastic and well worth the money. They do headsets which give you English commentary but to be honest the spectacle supersedes language.
Can't comment on futurescope though as I haven't been there

Can't comment on Futuroscope but Puy Du Fou is absolutely fantastic. Check it's open on the day you want to go. We didn't and were lucky as we didn't realise it was closed on some days, however it may have changed since then.

I've not been to Futuroscope for more years than I care to remember so it may well have changed drastically. However, I'd probably go to Puy de Fou unless your French is pretty good. As I recall Futuroscope had one of the first gigantic imax screens. They choose to showcase this amazing technology by showing a documentary about a ballet dancer, in French obviously. . . Puy de Fou on the other hand, is an amazing spectacle.

Oh, but you'll bake if it's very hot as there's not much shade. We declined to go this August as it was 38 degrees.

Put de Fou is amazing, worth every penny x

Put de Fou is amazing, worth every penny x

Haven't been to Futuroscope, but we all loved Puy du Fou.

Both are fab, but I'd pick Futuroscope for the range of entertainment, flexibility if the weather is wet or too hot, availability of hotels, also there is a fantastic seafood restaurant nearby for an adult treat.

Both are great, but the Puy du Fou is like nothing else in the world.

I'm surprised you think it is expensive TBH. If you reserve ahead the Puy du Fou is 33€ per person (vs 39€ for futuroscope and 47€ for disneyland). We have many visitors who have done both Disney and the Puy du Fou and have much prefer the Puy du Fou as a family day out.

My advice is to do the day parc rather than the evening show (which starts very late and IMO is not as good as the parc). Certainly do not try to do both in one day, it is much too tiring.

If you don't want to stay on site my advice would be to look for accommodation near Fontenay le Comte, then you could do the Puy du Fou (45 mins drive) and La Rochelle from the same base. If you wanted you could do Futuroscope on the same visit.

I love Puy du Fou. I took the DC for the day when they were about 5 or 6, then we went back last year for 3 days.
I booked a equipped tent on a nearby campsite as we had all our stuff from staying in a mobile him elsewhere.
The nighttime show is spectacular but don't do it after a day in the parc, as it's a late night. Tickets sell out fast so book that in advance. I thought prices were reasonable.
We also did a themed dinner show, which was good fun.

We thought futuroscope was an absolute waste of money. Dcs were 8 & 11. If was August, but the queues were ridiculous and the headsets didn't override the French speech.
It's our thing now, when a day out doesn't go as expected we compare it to futuroscope!

We pre-booked tickets for Puy Du Fou last summer. On the day the temp was 38C and we debated not going. In the end we went, planning to just stay for the morning, and it was great. There was generally shade and some indoor shows so we managed the whole day. We are from Scotland too so in no way used to high temps!