Day 6: Vulcania

Who decides it's a good idea to put giant sized photos of faces at the end of hotel corridors? It scared the shit out me first thing in the morning!

Vulcania, Day 6's park was only a short drive - admittedly up some twisty winding roads which put the coach through its paces - from our hotel

A special queue reserved just for us

You need to get a handstamp if you want to leave and re-enter the park. Why, what did you think that was about?

We were told we'd be given a behind the scenes tour of their rollercoaster. After yesterday's epic technical tour we were a little hesitant, but our worries were unfounded.

This morning's tour was really interesting. We started with a quick look inside the maintenance area.

Then we were allowed to stand next to the coaster's vertical drop track section ...

... before being taken underneath to see the huge mechanics in action

Following that we went through to take a ride on the coaster itself

Namazu was excellent

So good in fact, we went around for a second ride. Looking back, that was probably a mistake. Not because Namazu was not fantastic, but because it left us with less time to explore the rest of Vulcania.

Most of the other attractions were housed inside a huge multi-level building partially underground

Terre en colère had us answering multiple choice questions and experiencing the power of tornadoes, earthquakes and the like

Waiting for the Premier Envol flying cinema

Volcans sacrés was a dark ride looking at the connection between volcanoes, legends and spirituality

Abyss Explorer took us diving beneath the ocean in a submarine simulator

Inside the 3D cinema showing Réveil des géants d'Auvergne

Dragon Ride 2 had a cool themed queueline

We had just managed to squeeze in all the "unavoidable dynamic attractions" (according to the Vulcania website) in our time at the park

Just time to pick up a takeaway baguette from the Magma Cafe

Vulcania was hosting the start of one of the Tour de France stages a few days after we visited

We left the park at 2:30pm

We arrived at our next hotel just before 6pm, after a long 3 hour coach journey

The early evening arrival meant we were able to have dinner at the hotel, which offered a decent sized buffet spread

Home for the night ... basic but functional