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[Columbiad]

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to Nantes, in France, the birthplace of Jules Verne, and there discovered an extraordinary exhibition experience called Les Machines de I'Ile.

The project involved a series of artists populating an old disused shipyard, with an incredible "bestiary of living machines".

Inspired by the work of Jules Verne it involved a series of incredible creations and kinetic sculptures, and is something that I think would make a fantastic permanent exhibition in Discoveryland. The majority of the creations are moving vehicles, with the guests allowed to climb up and control them (don't think I'm explaining this too well - there are videos below!)







I believe the best place for Les Machines de L'Ile to be, would be in the Hyperion Theatre. Restructure the interior to turn it into some sort of inventors convention, and use the Captain EO theatre as the main theatre in the area. Perhaps even have some of the smaller vehicles roam the land itself.

Here are a few videos. The first is a fantastic "storm boat".

[youtube:3kt6i362]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5TW9MBc0Dw[/youtube:3kt6i362]

[youtube:3kt6i362]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEdiScrBq4&feature=related[/youtube:3kt6i362]

And did I mention the experience features a giant elephant, based on Verne's "The Sultan's Elephant?"

[youtube:3kt6i362]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRck18x85gI&feature=related[/youtube:3kt6i362]

The official site: //http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/english/

[davewasbaloo]

Now that looks really cool. Is it a permanent exhibit?

[Columbiad]

I think so. It opened in 2007.

I found a wikipedia page about it, which sheds some more light on it. It describes it as " a travel-through-time world at the crossroads of the "imaginary worlds" of Jules Verne and the mechanical universe of Leonardo da Vinci."Could this be better suited for Discoveryland?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machines_o ... _of_Nantes

[peter]

Eurodisney, buy it...BUY IT NOW!

[Columbiad]

Eurodisney, buy it...BUY IT NOW!

It seems perfect! It even comes with its own gorgeous attraction poster.

[Vegitabeta]

That Elephant is awesome!

[DopeyDad]

Here's a nice video showing how the elephant can look 'parading' so to speak

[youtube:3hmxo1xe]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ2elHYRJf4[/youtube:3hmxo1xe]

imagine that walking around Colonel Hathi's  

[davewasbaloo]

Hmm, we were considering Nantes as a part of our trip at Easter, I think this has clinched it!

[aklyja]

My jaw literally just dropped.  That is absolutely amazing, wonder if I could convince hubby that we must see that next year...

[DopeyDad]

This is by the same group of techno-puppeteers I guess?

[youtube:2b3lxyfi]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znh4i-T6J0c&feature=related[/youtube:2b3lxyfi]

[JelleP]

This is just one of the most amazing things I've even seen... 0.o
I should comvince my family to go there some day ;-)