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To me, Symbolica was the biggest new European attraction for 2017 for theme parks. It's not exactly a difficult feat to achieve, with little of note actually happening this year. But I found the prospect of Efteling, a park known for creating highly detailed and love dark rides, investing their biggest sum in a ride ever, much more exciting than Port Aventura sticking Ferrari Land at the edge of their park and adding a taller and faster Stealth to their line up. It's difficult to review a dark ride without giving spoilers, but I'm going to try my best to not spoil anything. Knowing as little about Symbolica will, of course, be advantageous if you come to ride it - though if spoilers are really your thing, just check out Efteling's YouTube... For some context, the storyline of Symbolica is simple - you're have a feast with the King, but Pardoes, the King's jester, has other ideas and takes you on a behind the scenes tour of the 'Palace of Fantasy'. The pre show sets this story up brilliantly, is easily understood in any language, includes 2 incredible animatronics and a real piece of magic which bought a huge smile to my face. After the pre show, you make your way down the cellars of the palace towards the station. Symbolica has 3 slightly different routes you can take (themed as 'tours' - Music, Knights and Treasure), and you choose these after the pre show but before you board. After doing all 3, they're all of equal standard, and don't differ THAT much, but each one has its own special little feature. The ride itself is trackless, with 2 rows of 3. You go around the palace, exploring several different rooms, whilst Pardoes makes an appearance and does some magical stuff. Each scene is very Efteling, in that it's just whimsical, magical and doesn't quite make sense (in a good way!). Most importantly to me though, there are no dead spots and no wasted moments. Each transition between scenes is themed and makes sense. Each scene is themed 360 degrees. Everything flows in its own weird sort of way. This was a huge issue I had with all other Efteling dark rides (and indeed many dark rides in general) - they either have dead spots where nothing happens, other there's some part of the rooms which are unthemed and make no sense with what's going on. Symbolica, in that sense, is perfect to me. An interesting feature is that the front row has 2 touchscreens. These screens allow the front row to choose their language (it doesn't affect any audio, it's just a message at the start and end of ride), make some of the animatronics do 'things' during the ride, and make your vehicle 'dance' during the finale. It's an interesting idea, but doesn't quite work - I found it more of a distraction during the ride, and it never really added much. Also, it leaves the back row a bit left out - why they couldn't have one screen per row confuses me. So yeah, in short - Symbolica really is a fab attraction. It's clear to see where the 35 million euro budget went, it looks and feels great, it's interesting and immersive to be in and, most importantly, it is fun. Efteling are onto a winner of an attraction, and definitely worth a trip!

A few weeks ago I returned from a holiday to Amsterdam which of course included a trip to Efteling, one of the biggest theme parks in Europe. I'd read a bit about the park beforehand and wasn't too sure what to expect. On the one hand Baron looked like an excellent coaster and the atmosphere seemed so quaint and lovely but I was worried that the park would be too kiddie focused and as an adult there wouldn't be enough to interest me. Quick spoiler warning, I will be discussing parts of some attractions which I wouldn't have wanted spoiling myself so if you've got a trip planned please don't read this! The day started with an early wake up and by 7AM we were out of the apartment and on our way to Amsterdam Central Station. From here the journey is two trains and a bus which took around 1:45 from the station to the park gates which isn't too bad considering it's literally on the other side of the country! My park buddy today was my lovely girlfriend Laura who holds a single figure coaster count and isn't really a theme park fan at all so I was interested to see what she made of the place. The journey went by fairly quickly on the comfy Dutch double decker trains and the bus from the train station to the park was blissfully peaceful compared to the rowdy Thorpe bus. The whole Dutch culture is just so pleasant and this really reflected in the park too. Anyway the bus soon arrived fifteen minutes before park opening and we were strolling up the path towards the ridiculously huge and grand entrance (pictured later). Now this is how you make a first impression and a statement about the quality of your park, it built up the hype so much and once inside the structure we were through the turnstiles quickly and into the park. First up was Bob which was a decent bobsleigh. My only point of comparison here is Avalanche at Blackpool and I preferred Bob as the smaller cars made you feel much more vulnerable and like you're on a real life bobsleigh. It's a fun ride with some good swing up the corners and the theming was minimal but still managed to create an atmosphere. The queue line meanders through a forest, the station is nicely Swiss themed and there's a good soundtrack. From here it was a short walk to Baron 1898 (the lovely new B&M dive coaster) which unfortunately was not yet ready to open so we carried on to The Flying Dutchman, the parks rather unique dark ride/roller coaster/water ride hybrid and it absolutely blew me away. I'm talking Universal/Disney levels of quality here in terms of theming and atmosphere which I just was not expecting from this park. From the highly detailed facade outside the entrance you could tell it was going to be good and the theming continues inside as you walk through a dungeon and a 17th century pub before reaching the huge nighttime harbour where the ride loads. Once you leave the harbour it's pitch black and very foggy with only a dim lamp at the front of the boat illuminating the scene and nothing else around. All you can see is the fog surrounding the boat as it creeps forward into the darkness and even though you're just sitting inside a big warehouse in Holland you genuinely feel isolated and out at sea. After this was the most convincing fog projection screen I've ever seen where the Flying Dutchman jumps out of the sea and right into your face then there's two lift hills and a surprise drop where various ghosts and ships are flying around while rain effects beat down on you. There's also some great projection mapping of a ghostly demon sentencing you just before the doors open and you're thrust into the coaster section which was good for what it was, the camelback had a bit of airtime and the overbank was fun. It wouldn't work as a standalone coaster but as a small piece of a larger attraction it fits in well. I was fully ready to brace myself for the splashdown but weirdly all the water falls outside the boat however it still looks cool and is the perfect finale for the ride. Finally, after all the action there's a long, slow float along the lake back into the station. The whole thing is just so immersive and really varied. I love how quickly the atmosphere changes from the station in the lively harbour with its jaunty soundtrack to the cold emptiness of the out at sea section to the action packed and intense section with the lift hills. It moves along at such a quick pace and the roller coaster is the perfect cherry on top. My only complaint is that the dark ride section is a little short but I'd rather take a few minutes of brilliance over something longer and dragged out. While in the queue for Dutchman they announced over the PA that Baron had opened so that was our next stop. Unfortunately, Laura wasn't feeling up for this one so I made use of the single rider line. There's a very unique (notice I say this word a lot during this report!) loading system where at the front of the queueline before you enter the building you're batched and given a ticket with your row number on. After this you're then sent into the building with just two trains worth of guests and after the pre-show you hand an attendant your ticket and line up at the right airgate. This is a great idea as it means once you're inside the ride and immersed in the story and theming there's not a break in the flow where you're asked how many's in your group and sent to a gate, you just flow straight from the pre-show to the coaster itself without any faff. The first pre-show sets the tone nicely and introduces the story of a new mining site plagued with ghosts called the White Ladies. There's some jaw droppingly smooth projection mapping that interacts nicely with the shape of the room as the ghosts hijack the baron's introductory video and float around the room singing a haunting chant. The room is then plunged into darkness before the lights come back on revealing no sign of the ghosts. Next you walk up some stairs where an animatronic of the baron shouts Dutch things at you then it's time to wait behind your gate to board the coaster. Unlike most coasters the gates aren't these flimsy looking chest height things but actual doors that block off your view to the loading area so when you're waiting for them to open you feel like a mine worker about to enter a mine as opposed to a punter waiting to ride a coaster. Once on board the train stops after leaving the station and the White Ladies appear once again to attack the car. Here there's another projection mapping scene with lots of subtle animation in the room to accompany the projections which really makes you feel that the ghosts are there with you. The car then rises up the lift hill and the coaster begins. The ride itself is very good but nothing extraordinary, it's very standard smooth and floaty B&M stuff which definitely isn't a bad thing. The drop is very much like Oblivions but not quite as sustained, the zero G roll is nice and snappy and there's a very small bunny hop towards the end which doesn't look like much but gives some quite intense floater. I think my thoughts on Baron can be summed up by how much I've written about the overall experience of the ride compared to how little I've written about the actual coaster itself. If this was bare and just plonked on a slab of concrete it would still be a very decent ride but the theming and pre-shows bring it up to a whole other level. Next up was Carnaval Festival, the parks It's a Small World knock off. It's a fun and colourful ride but there's no plot, it's just six minutes of travelling past various animatronics and models of different nationalities. I enjoyed my ride but felt no need to reride later in the day. Just next door was another indoor ride, the Vogel Rok coaster. I went in expecting it to be a slightly improved X but it was actually a brilliant ride. The enormous bird outside is an awesome entrance but once inside the queue is pretty much a cattlepen, however it moves quickly enough to not feel tiresome. The ride itself feels a little taller than X, the swoops are much bigger and the ride feels a lot faster and more forceful. It's still very much a family coaster but being in the dark completely unaware of the layout to come is a thrilling feeling. Dotted around the coaster are a few laser effects and some large bird models that light up and appear to swoop very near to the train and the whole experience is wrapped up nicely by a rather grand on board soundtrack which adds so much to the ride. From here it was a long walk to the bottom left corner of the park where the next bunch of attractions we wanted to do were. In terms of size the park feels slightly larger than Alton Towers but every inch of path is so beautifully landscaped and in a lot of cases themed with lots of interesting buildings to look at meaning there's no long boring walks to the next ride. There's also no deadspots such as the walk from Gloomy Wood to Forbidden Valley, it's just a really pleasant park to spend time in even when not on the rides. Soon we made it to the Marerijk area of the park where we got our Raveleijn show tickets from the dispenser then rode the rides nearby while waiting for the show to start. First up was Dreamflight, a suspended dark ride which takes you through various fairy tale landscapes. Within the opening few scenes I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy a ride about fairies in their forests but I got so immersed and engrossed in the rides world. The ride consists of about five or six really large room sets that you fly around connected by tunnels between each scene and each one is so richly themed everywhere you look. Each scene is quite different, there's some forests and gardens but also a castle one and an absolutely stunning nighttime scene where you fly past a hub of floating cities in the sky. Over the course of the ride you gradually gain height which leads to a finale where you spiral down through a huge forest (this bit picks up some speed and felt so coaster like that I had to check the RCDB after) which works well as the bottom of the forest is so detailed that you notice more and more things the lower down you spiral. All in all a really beautiful dark ride. Next we had a ride on Villa Volta, a madhouse with a very long and drawn out series of pre-shows in Dutch which went completely over our heads. The ride itself was worth the wait though as it's a fantastic illusion. I don't really know what else to say here as minus the pre-shows it was pretty much just Hex which you've all experienced! Upon exiting there was a huge downpour of rain so we hid under the edge of a stall and ate a huge strip of friend potato wrapped around a stick and covered in BBQ powder. It tasted great and soon the rain cleared and it was time to make our way into the Raveleijn arena. I'm normally not a fan of theme park shows, I'd rather skip them to get more rides in but this is an absolute must do at Efteling. There's horses on fire, really intense swordfights and then suddenly an enormous fire breathing dragon just pops out of nowhere and a load of knights take it on! There's so many different stunts and effects going on and once it gets going its just nonstop action, you can tell the park blew so much money on the production and it was really worth it. At this point we'd almost finished a lap of the park so headed back towards the entrance via the Fairytale Forest. I was vaguely aware of its existence but I was shocked at the scale of it, it's absolutely huge and offers so many different routes. We only stumbled across our route by accident as we were lost and it was the quickest way to our next ride but I'm glad we did as we probably wouldn't have bothered with this area of the park otherwise. All the scenes are nicely animated and it's all very charming and quirky, if I had more time in the park I would have definitely liked to see more. Fata Morgana was next and the palace the ride is housed in looked amazing across the lake as we approached it. The ride uses a tow boat system and has a very PoTC feel to it despite being Arabian Nights themed but it had enough unique stuff in it to not feel like too much of a Disney rip off. You start off in a dense jungle with a pretty intimidating snake animatronic and progress through various Arabian slums and city streets before entering the palace where a tiger suddenly appears followed by a strange scene where lasers start firing near your boat causing the water to splash up. I couldn't quite follow the plot but this ride is so detailed, I think it's probably the most animatronics crammed into one ride I've ever seen and you really feel like you're going on an adventure. It's a long ride too clocking in at around eight minutes which you just don't get enough of with dark rides. After this it was a short walk to the rapids which were great, again a nicely long ride and it had lots of big open wave machine sections where there's lots of bumping and overtaking and general rapids based carnage. I got pretty soaked compared to everyone else on the boat but sometimes that's just how it is! The rain earlier had cleared the park out despite only being at 2PM meaning Baron had a fifteen minute queue at this point so it would have been rude not to re-ride. Laura joined me this time and really enjoyed it too. Next up was a coaster I was really looking forward to riding, George and the Dragon GCI woodie. I haven’t been on many quality woodies so to ride something so modern and smooth but also fairly intense was such a treat. Highlights here included the first drop which is steep with the crest taken at a good speed and any point where the track turns while also going up or down which being a GCI there are a lot of moments of! It’s such a smooth coaster and throws you around so much without feeling unpleasant in the slightest. While there were no real standout moments in terms of airtime you do still spend a lot of the ride with your thighs firmly planted against the lapbar so it definitely does its job in that department. One other thing to note that really threw me off guard was an outwardly banked RMC style turn near the end which was a strange sensation and like nothing I had ever ridden before. The final new ride we rode was Python, a really old school Vekoma double loop, double corkscrew. I’d ridden a clone of this before and got absolutely battered but the new trains and vest restraints actually make this about as smooth as a 90s B&M and the lack of headbanging is an absolute godsend. The layout is still pretty dull and leaves a lot to be desired but for a classic coaster this definitely does the trick. To cap the day off we had a reride on George and the Dragon and Flying Dutchman then hit the pancake house for the sickliest biggest pancake I’ve ever eaten. My initial reaction on the way home was OMG this is the greatest park I’ve ever been to and even after a few weeks of reflection I still think this is the case. The rides are of a very high standard (I’d say the execution of Flying Dutchman and Baron is definitely world class) and the rest of the line up is very very strong. There’s also so much to do, thankfully we didn’t have to queue for too long so were able to knock all the major rides out in one day with a few rerides but the quantity of stuff to do in the park is staggering. Things we didn’t ride included the worlds largest pirate ship, a heavily themed Seastorm esque flat, a 4D cinema, a haunted house attraction and of course we didn’t have time to fully explore the park and the Fairytale Forest. It’s a park worth far more than the sum of its parts and this is in part due to the operations and how the park is run. The entrance fee is very reasonable, the food was the same price as stuff in Amsterdam, there’s no fasttrack system and you never feel like you’re being upsold. It feels like every decision made by management is to enhance the guest experience and make the park as perfect as it can possibly be as opposed to just extracting money out of you like a certain UK operator. It’s so lovely to not see ‘Get your annual pass today!’ posters everywhere or have HB Leisure people hassle you on the pathways, you’re just free to escape from the world and enjoy the park without having to worry about things. I feel I’ve gushed enough now so I’ll leave it at that, if you’re still here thank you so much for reading!

Efteling is more than just about the rides, especially when a large chunk of park comprises of the Fairy Tale Forest. The Fairy Tale Forest is a massive forested area in the park which features a large array of animatronics and models telling the story of numerous fairy tales. There are different types of settings, some that are outdoors, others that are inside and some that are somewhat a mixture of both. Some have said to me how you can spend hours looking around the whole area. Believe me, it's no joke as it took me around two hours to polish the whole area whilst taking everything in from the charm and overall atmosphere of the area and believe me, it didn't feel like a waste of time at all and was an intriguing experience in the wacky yet wonderful world of the Fairy Tale Forest as there was just so much to see. As a result of this, I shall only be showing some of the best fairy tales. if anyone wants to see any more of the missing, just let me know. The iconic tree is one of the main centrepieces. To me, he comes across as wise and intelligent. Could This Dragon be the influence for the creation of Joris? One of the most interesting ones, the Chinese Nightingale. The way they did the carpet on this one still remains interesting today. The Emperors New Clothes, One of the more modern fairy tales in the forest.The effects and animatronics used here were nothing short of impressive. There's some giant bits of theming in here [pun intended]. One of the most famous ones I think, the dancing water lilies I think. The track is included on the park CD. The insppiration for Aquanura surely? On of the more familiar ones, Cinderella. I like how the castle appears at the end. I think Europa park got some influence from this one. One of the more simple but effective ones here. And who could forget this fellow? One of the original ones here [Anton Pieck anyone]? And of course this guy, who is one of the first characters you will encounter in the forest. But there's more than just dozens of fairy tale models and characters in this forest. There's a full scale theatre right in the middle where a puppet show aires every so often. Great show for young families, although the position of the dragon puppet is debatable. But there's more to just the Fairy Tale Forest and the rides. Ravelijan, a full scale live action show featuring numerous impressive live stunts and effects addition to theming and a soundtrack that are superb. Whilst I didn't understand the what was being said, the choreography and everything else was enough for me to know what was going on. Ravelijan as a result of it's greatness is now my favourite theme park show [that doesn't use fountains & projections] and that includes Lights Motors Action too. Amazing show. Like many of the best parks, Efteling features many random wonderful attractions around. One of these is this walk-through which depicts numerous fairy tale diorama scenes. An interesting distraction. There was also an indoor carousel in the same complex which made me think of the long closed Carousel Kingdom at Thorpe Park. Naturally during a busy day out, the need to have a bite to eat becomes inevitable. but Efteling, it's not all 'shove it down your mouth' at the park eateries. Like a lot of the park, it is a unique experience. Polle's Kitchen is a must do on anyone's visit to Efteling. Because they do the most amazing pancakes you've seen and eaten. They do savoury ones. Or sweet ones. Both I had during my trip were absolutely fantastic. It's one the best places I've ever eaten at within a theme park and the theming and turning gears which will speed up and react to the music every so often help significantly. You can also buy pancake mix in the shops and restaurant as well, to yours heart's desire. There's even a small museum in the park dedicated to the history of the park. It may not be for everyone but is nice to see the park keep such a historic addition. Now on to one of the most ambiguous additions in the park, Spooksplot. Which down to interpretation can be seen as a show or an attraction. I see it personally as a show [though maybe not in the traditional sense]. This is because you enter an unguarded entrance way, which adds to the mysterious atmosphere, wait and then enter where you are then shown a series of interesting effects in a spooky gothic setting whilst the music of Dance Macabre [Jonathan [Matt] Creek] plays. Despite it's unknown entrance way, it fits in to the park very well even today as a sign of one of the first stepping stones where Efteling started expanding from the fairy tale forest in to the large world class park it is today. The effects there are still intriguing from the peppers ghost to the moving stairs especially considering this is nearly 40 years old, being the first projected created by the now late Tony Van De Ven, the successor to the park's original creative artist. This attraction was also one of the set pieces to the music video to Kate Bush's first tv appearance [type Kate Bush Efteling in youtube]. But no visit to Efteling would be complete without watching the shows fantastic fountain show Aquanura, the largest fountain show in Europe [third in the world]. It's an absolutely fantastic show, especially how they synchronise all the different fountains and colours to the music which are all ride themes from the park. These include The Flying Dutchman, Joris and Dream Flight, all of which are re-orchestrated to transition better but still retain their original features. And some beautiful night shots to close my Efteling report, because this is one of the most picturesque parks I have ever visited [probably overtaking even Towers on that one]. Efteling is an underrated park. It features some fantastic theming and impressive rides alongside some excellent shows, entertainment and even eateries and as a result is one of my favourite park's I have ever visited. My favourite rides were easily Joris, Dutchman, Baron & Fate Morgana amongst many others. Not many weak rides in this park here, Monseur Carnival comes across as the only ride I did not really like and though Python was a little dull, I did not dislike it. My only criticisms to the park would be the park closes rides at closing times [not the queue like many others], which would be nice if they took up the Towers way of closing things and the merch. Whilst there was some merch there to buy [notably Baron & CDs], I did not find there was a great selection and actually found it quite difficult choosing stuff to buy in the wrong sort of way. If the park could do more ride branded items like pens, mugs, t-shirts and even badges, it would be so much better. Aside from these few floors, this park like Disney [ in it's own way], wipes the floor with much of the current UK offering. A lot of UK parks could learn many things if they took a leaf out of Efteling's book.

For the best part of at least three years, I have been looking at spiralling out of the UK circle of Theme Parks. Though doing Tivoli World many times [part of annual family holidays], it wasn't really to count as at the end of the day it was little more than a glorified fair ground [though the shows & fountains were half decent]. It was not until this year where I managed my first large non UK park in the form of DLP which was achieved in April this year, however this was to only mark the beginning of a brand new era. It is here where MC16 is set to begin [MC16 meaning Matt Creek, Mega Creds, or Mighty Coasters 2016]. The next steps of which park to do after DLP was an interesting one, with Europa Park & Liseberg initially projected as the next parks to do. However in the end Efteling was decided as the next park to do, with the great incentive to experience the impressive looking Baron 1898 coaster amongst those lucky enough to do this park amongst others on a long trip this summer. I will not name any names see [C] here. It was also Benin's loverly TR from a few years ago that gave me the incentive to visit here as until then I didn't really know of this place. Part 1 of this report will focus on the rides. Part 2 will mostly look at the shows and anything else worth noting about the park Moving On to the report then! After a loverly cheeky night ride on the eye, we stayed over night at the Stansted Premier Inn with a train journey, sleep and bus shuttle that left very little to be desired. However after munching down a slightly overpriced Weatherspoons Eggs Benedict & taking the train to our gate [not a cred surely] we were on our plane and made it to Eindhoven in a remarkably quick 35 minutes. Ryanair aren't as bad as they are geared up to be. A short'ish sight seeing tour and a generally easy commute [despite train problems] followed before we reached our port of call. EFTELING! Don't think I had been so excited seeing this since spotting those spotlights of Tower Of Terror at Disney. Since we weren't visiting the park until the next day, we walked to our hotel, checked in before finding a Steak House for tea [which was quite good actually] before hitting the sack for the next day ahead. One thing to note is, how the area is quite rural and very much in the middle of nowhere where aside from the roaring motorway, a couple of restaurants and a petrol garage [though not quite to the level of Towers perhaps]. Walking from our hotel to the guests of the park [NH Waalwijk [which is a very good hotel and decent for the price]], we arrived at Efteling. One of the first things to spot upon entering the mighty impressive curved building which stands out from quite a distance away. Accompanied by some appropriate yet subtle music brought out excitement levels on a similar level yet different feel to that of walking in to a Disney park. Impressive is an understatement. Much of the rest of the park architecture upkeeps this fantastic standard. Upon entering we swapped in our printed e-tickets for actual tickets [which didn't work], however we were given a signed note from turnstile staff to enter for ERT, which we technically missed due to a mixture of poor/confused organisation [from us] and one of the entrances being closed due to the new Pinocchio element in the Fairy Tale Forest. No Strings holding down this one then. First stop is what could be called the chase. Baron 1898. Amazing architecture again, very much near Disney standards here and superier to much of what the Uk currently offers. That animatronic though Saw Alive, eat your heart out! So Photo friendly. Efteling have created half a masterpiece here; why half I hear you ask? Well, two things struck out for me on Baron; the experience and the ride. Baron as an exprience is absolutely fantastic, from the moment you approach the surrounding area and landscape, you can tell lots of effort and dedication went in to not just building up the impressive steampunk style building/life structure but the small details such as the lights at the top, the turning wheels and even the smaller details all over the building. The preshows too are also of very high quality. The first in where the Baron introduces us to his mine, where we briefly meet the white women is superb and the descrete touch of a more tinny recording of the soundtrack in order to give the attraction a nostalgic feel only helps it better and better. The second pre-show keeps up this with a high quality of the Baron himself where after setting in your rows, doors open shortly taking you directly to the station [with a smaller bag drop for smaller things] in a fashion of entering a ride station never ever seen before. The third and final pre-show occurs on the ride itself, which is where the white women sing and curse riders before the main cut of the ride begins. The layout though, left seeking for more. The drop at the top is impressive in the that the rest of the park is surrounding you before you enter the mine, but then it's it's goes through a few inversions, airtime hill, helix and then the ride is pretty much over. For me, it was sort of like the ride finished as I had just got in to it really. Though it surpassed Blivvy [though the drop was better], I would rate Inferno better at least on the layout. The ride however as I rode later in the trip though did grow on me quite a lot more though as I re-did the ride in different rows [once at night] and have since rated it better, to the degree it has just made it in to my Top 10 [however that's not hard so far]. Baron is a stunning ride at the park and everything about it has been polished to a remarkable standard that has rarely been seen outside of the giants of Disney & Universal and once again proves that the difference between small details can make the difference between a ride that is average to something which is great. The park should be proud of their baby right now [if only we had seen this details on the Smiler station]. Efteling of course has many other coasters, most of which comprise the park's coaster corner where all the coasters except Bob can be found. One of those is the Flying Dutchman [ or De Vilegende Hollander if you prefer], which is a water coaster at the park [and my first such cred too]. Opening in 2007 by Intamin, this ride was supposed to open a year before hand, but numerous problems occurred with the ride's original manufacturer Kumbak [who make Intamin look like B&M in many ways] had problems and Intamin stepped in. Fantastic indoor queue line theming. Wouldn't see that at Merlin, you'd be waiting outside in a hideous cattle pen before hand. Or station for that matter. Flying Dutchman was a ride I really enjoyed and passed my expectations. The theming and effects featured in the ride again are superb and of high quality. The dark ride parts actually reminded me of Valhalla a little acutally. After going through the fantastic theming parts, the ride cascades in to a roller coaster section with twists and turns with drops before splashing in to the lake below. One of my favourites at the park for certain [and has made it in to my top 10 water rides]. Incidentally got stuck on this ride when it broke down just as our boat reached the station. Not sure what happened but a bright halogen light was on when we reached the brake run. Fixing took a while at this time, so candy crush was the only way to pass the time. Two down and town to go. There are two more coasters to knucle in this area of the park, so which we we do next. Hint- It's not the one with all the loops Joris of course, the park's duel racing woodie. Built in 2010 by GCI, this beast replaced the ageing Pegasus coaster [which I hear was boring & rough]. Though this wouldn't be my first racing woodie, it would be my first GCI [aside from the first outside the UK too]. First ride over, this ride didn't impress me, IT BLEW ME AWAY! This coaster is superb, the way everything has been knotted is so creative from it's swampy queueline building up the ride to the touches so small yet effective. There is far more fanfare on this ride when a train wins [than on the likes of National] as not only does a sign notify which train won, but the winners come back to flags and cheers whilst the losing trains arrives to booes and jeers, and that's before I start talking about the nicely themed station, impressive soundtrack or that this is a coaster smooth as silk yet is so forceful when it rides though the corners. It may well be my favourite woodie now on the basis alone of it's use of simple theatrical effects and smoothness. It is also possible this was the ride to heavilly influence Wodan as well. Last & least of the coaster corner is Pyphon, the park's original coaster which opened in 1981 & made by Vekoma. Well it was no surprise that this was my least favourite coaster at the park [and that's before we review the other two]. Aside from the lacking the overall theatre,theming & atmosphere due to being an older addition, the ride just feels rather short and a little dull, however the helix at the end was pretty good, least the ride was very smooth thanks to it's decent train designs. Speaking on trains, I think this is the third or even fourth carnation of trains they have here two as the original trains were replaced at somepoint in the early 2000's by some form of vile Kumbak ones then may have been re-replaced by Vekoma ones before the current ones replaced them I think. Whilst it's noticeably weaker than it's other coaster counterparts, I am sort of glad they've still got a ride like this in the park. Not just is it showing how much the park have progressed since it's early days amongst it's original coaster, but also a type of generic ride that seems to be sort of in a position of being endangered seeing how both Uk corkscrews removed [though one may have been spared], Walibi's Tornado & Holiday Land's corky coasters torn down. It's makes me question how long Heide's & even Garda's have left. I can see Efteling happily keeping theirs though for a while, especilly with the trains which were probably one of the best things about the ride. The park's second classic coaster was Bob, built by Intamin a few years after Pyphon. This seems to Efteling's equivalent to Spinball, Crush or Boating School. Not so much in style but more so it suffers from having a high popularity but a low throughput. Fortunately a few years ago, the trains were replaced by newer ones which can take 6 instead of 4 people marking the throughput to a slightly better 850 PPH aprox. It's still the lowest throughput coaster though. The ride still entails some fairly nice theming [though not a patch on the other coasters]. Bob was a fun ride, it really pulled some force when it went round it's corners and helixes. Slightly prefer this to Avalanche, whether that's due to one being in a picturesque forest & the other in the middle a grotty seaside town who knows, but I found this one to retain a better pace and the 'semi' night ride only helped add brownie points to this. The final coaster at the park to do was Vogel Rok, a Vekoma indoor coaster which opened in 2001. This would by my fourth indoor coaster [and indoor Vekoma too for that matter as I'm yet to do an indoor coaster that isn't a Vekoma]. Didn't take many pics of this one for some reason, probably either due to my phone running out of storage or rushing the ERTs on day two. A really great coaster here, packs a punch for it's short but sweet cycle and the music throughout the ride like most others at the park is superb, especially the fanfare'ish bit at the end. Reminds me a bit of a family/ non looping Space Mountain in a few ways here, no idea why. It's probably my join second favourite indoor coaster right now after DLP's Space Mountain with RNR on the same place and X at Thorpe taking last place, the 2 people blanket rule probably hasn't helped it for me either [sorry X]. Moving from coasters now to dark rides [Vogel transitions this quite well really] where the park has a great selection. First off the highly impressive Fate Morgana, an Intamin tow boat ride which opened in 1986. Essentially an Arabian equivalent of Pirates Of The Caribbean, the ride is pure perfection. The intimate yet high quality scenes and story of the landscape is so perfectly paced throughout the whole ride, starting in a jungle, heading in to town, jungle & palace landscapes before ending in jungle again which makes you wonder almost 'was what I experienced real'? Another sublime attraction, one of my favourite dark rides I have done. It obviously doesn't top tower but is definitely in my dark ride top 10's. The next dark ride takes us away from the east to somewhere a lot more dreamy. It's Dream Flight [Droomvlucht]. This one opened in 1993. Cattle Pens! least they're not like Saws. I think they were added after the ride opened due to it's popularity I believe. I have never seen so much charm built in to a dark on such a large scale. Whilst it doesn't top Fate Morgana, I adored Dream Flight, from it's astounding soundtrack, large, high quality set pieces and lighting affects alongside the coaster section at the end [which is a lot faster in person the POV's suggest]. Was unsure on this ride on my first go what to think of it, but grew on me a lot more on the second go to become one of my park favourites and at nearly 25 years old [scary the fact the ride is the same age as me ], in no way does the attraction appear dated in anyway. Liseberg's Fairy Tale ride is surely a patronising insult in comparison. after the charming forests of Dream Flight, we move on to the comical world of Festival Carnival which is one of the park's most famous rides. Definitely one of the park's more comical attractions, and unPC to say the least. Apparently a critic slated this ride for it's subtle racism a few years ago [despite praising the rest of the park] and as a result received lots of backslash and even death threats. Carnival Festival is such a fun ride, from it's bright colours, catchy soundtrack to amusing depications of the world. It feels like an It's A Small World style ride done in a Bubbleworks [pre 2006] format. Though it's not making the top list, it's a dark ride I strongly enjoy. This was Daniel Sheldrake's favourite ride of the trip too [who as a result bought the ride's music at the end]. The park's final dark ride is nestled in the forest on this cold autumn day. [note the failed Hex reference]. It's Villa Volta, the park's mad house which opened in 1996. Although it preceeded it by four years, the ride's biggest problem is it's frequently compared to Hex at Alton Towers which unfortunately affects the ride's experience, at least to begin with. Unfortunately, I too was in that camp of comparing, however before hand, here's what I thought. Villa Volta is definitely a beautifully detailed attraction, the facade fits in perfectly with the nearby Ravelijan & Dream Flight, not to mention the animatronic figure in the second pre-show is of high quality. Unfortunately, this was potentially my lesser favourite of the dark rides, not so much that this was a bad ride [far from it], but I struggled getting the storyline really, however reading up after my trip I believe the basic story is of some gang robbing a town or something [ with Villa Volta being the leader's home] and a woman cursing them with that the leader will never have peace or something like that]. Looking back at the pre-shows which I vaguely remember, this seems accurate especially with the animatronic being the gang leader himself. I probably should've done a re-ride to be fair as you can't really judge a ride on just one go. Soundtrack though was impressive as was the decor in the ride itself. However unfortunately on these grounds mentioned earlier, Hex still wins the battle by a long shot. Hex features some amazing theatrical build up's aside from it's also just as impressive soundtrack and even the subtle things like the evil face when the room turns upside down. But enough review of Hex now. The last notable ride yet to be ventured at the park is the Pirana Rapids, a massive wild water set of rapids which is the park's main water ride. Safe to say is now my favourite Rapids rides, and probably the roughest too. Quite often our boat was get stuck in different pockets throughout the ride and may sometimes take a while to get out too. Wetness levels were mild-moderate soaking [ around Dragon Falls soaking level] which was refreshing to say the least. a slightly better Congo or themed Viking River Splash essentially. Amongst other rides at the park include, this impressive Pirate Ship [second after Buccaneer]. The strangest carnation of a sea storm ride, it doesn't go too fast nor does it turn backwards [the theming is decent though]. These very very stiff tea cups which for that alone make it my least favourite ride on park. The theming & soundtrack were still good though. Too many caroulsels to count. This Get Set Go style ride This boating ride [one of the few attractions I didn't do at the park]. There was a sky view ride called Pagoda, but sadly this one was closed for refurbishment during the visit. Efteling has some really good rides there amongst some which are just ok. You can definitely see which rides are the more recent ones with all the intricate details and elements included and those that are park veterans and stick out more than others and not so much in a good way. However, the rides at Efteling are only half the experience as there's lots more to experience than just rides. And that's what we will look in to in Part 2 where we look in to what flipping forests of fairytale fountains can be discovered at Efteling apart from it's decent selection of rides.

Better late than never ey? I've condensed down this entry so that it's easier for me to write / more people read it / I actually decide to write it... With Baron already ridden, and 2 full days (10-8) at Efteling left, we knew we'd be able to take our time with the park, and were in no rush to do anything straight away. We covered the whole park easily within those two days, and had plenty of time to reride our favourites too. So, to cut to the chase, I adored Efteling. I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did, as usually the fairytale thing isn't always my 'thing', but I just loved the place. From the rides, to the ride themes, to just the general setting and atmosphere of the park - it's all just beautiful and brilliant. I won't go through both days extensively like I did with the other days, but just touch on some stand out attractions to me... Vogel Rok, the park's indoor coaster, was surprisingly fab, mixing a fun layout, with nice theming and effects, and pretty cool onboard audio too (and you don't realise just how loud it is until you get back into the station!). Solid ride. Whilst Vogel Rok was an instant hit for me, Droomvlucht left me a bit unsure after my first go. Droomvlucht is an awesomely themed dark ride with a great story and neat finale. But after my first go, I was left a bit unsure what to think of it; I could really appreciate the theming and everything, but the ride didn't leave me with as big a smile as everyone else in the group. I'm not too sure why; I think it might have been because it was one of the first rides we did on our first day there, and I still hadn't got into the proper fairytale mindset (if that makes sense). I enjoyed it more on the second day, but again, still not as much as everyone else. I can really appreciate it as a ride, and do think it is a great attraction, but I guess it's just not really my cup of tea.. Had a mighty impressive entrance though! Sticking to the dark ride theme, Villa Volta - the park's madhouse - was a ride that left me a bit disappointed. The ride itself was actually great and I really enjoyed it, but one thing which really ruined the overall experience for me was the doors. You could easily see that there were two sets of doors to the ride area when they opened and closed, and it spoils the illusion completely for me. Maybe because this was my 4th madhouse in 5 days I was subconsciously looking for flaws, but it's just a shame really, as it did let the experience down for me a bit. To round off my noteworthy dark rides from Efteling, I'd have to mention Fata Morgana, the absolutely fab boat ride. The sets, theming and effects are just outstanding, and I really was blown away by the quality of it! The park's headline show, Raveleijn, has clearly had a pretty penny Euro spent on it. It's a good show, and it was easy enough to follow the plot despite the language barrier. Some real top quality effects used as well. But at times, it felt like there was just too much going on, and you just didn't know where to look. Maybe not necessarily a bad thing to some people, but it just felt like too much was being crammed in at times. Turning attentions to a couple of the more thrilling rides the park has to offer, the first ride we headed to was De Vliegende Hollander (aka Flying Dutchman). This water coaster was beautifully themed (naturally) and had a decent outdoor section to go with it. Unfortunately, much like Supersplash at Plopsaland, I found the actual coaster somewhat uncomfortable, which is a shame. The thoughts of the discomfort have stayed with me almost as much as the amazing effects, theming and atmosphere inside the attraction, so it's just a bit of a shame. I did really enjoy it, and did it a couple of times of course, but the discomfort just stops it from being a truly magnificent ride for me. The park's duelling GCI woodies, Joris en de Draak, were much more of an overall hit with me however. The layouts of both the coasters are brilliant fun with some good airtime moments. I do like how the coasters do actually 'race' as well, with the winner being announced and everything. Originally, we thought it was fixed to some degree (as we were seeing alternate sides winning), but it does seem to be a true race? Of the two sides - fire and water - I slightly preferred the fire side, just because it seemed to have slightly better airtime. I also enjoyed the theming for the ride, including a fully animatronic, fire-breathing dragon, though I guess it's a bit of a shame you don't really notice it on ride. (As a side note...After being treated to brilliant rides on Troy as well, it was hard to tell which woodie I preferred. I think if you had asked me after my first day at Efteling, I'd have said Troy. However, after my second day, I would have to say Joris; it's just got sheer fun and joy factor in its side!). The other attractions on park are a bit of a mixture. I enjoyed Piraña, the park's rapids, but then rides like Python (Vekoma looping coaster), Carnival Festival (carnival-themed dark ride) and Bob left no impression on me other than disappointment unfortunately. Some of the other filler rides are fun though. Worst attraction in the park goes to Spookslot, a completely random 'show' which was laughable for all the wrong reasons. The Fairytale Forest area, however, was absolutely fantastic - we spent a good couple of hours walking round on our second day! Also loved the Aquanura fountain show; fantastic way to end the day. The only good thing about Python is the signage. Fairytale Forest is full of characters. And, because I love it so much, just one final word about Baron. Despite the lengthy queues during our visit for it, I ended up riding it 5 times. I guess that it speaks volumes about how much I enjoyed it that I was happy to wait up to an hour for it when other rides on park had 10 minute queues, and even leave the rest of the group to join the single rider queue whilst they did other rides.. Overall Efteling thoughts: Like I said at the beginning, I adored Efteling, perhaps more than I thought I would. Genuinely somewhere that I just love and can't wait to go back to. --- Leaving Efteling was a hard thing to do, and after having dinner at the Bosrijk restaurant, we left and set our sights back to Belgium. We arrived at our last hotel of the trip just before 11pm, and fortunately was only 10 minutes away from Bobbejaanland.. Though more on that park next time...

*Once again, a long time between entries into this trip - sorry to anyone who is still reading this! Reports will probably be shorter from now on so I can finish this thing before Christmas...* After a nice sleep in Dusseldorf, we said out goodbyes to Germany and ventured into The Netherlands. Out first stop was Toverland, which, despite being a relatively small park, was one I was looking forward to a lot. The 10-6 opening time would surely give plenty of time to give everything a couple of rides, before heading off to try and get a sneaky ride in on Baron at Efteling for its opening day (yes, this report is all the way back from July 1st). We arrived to a very empty-looking car park at opening, and got in. We were told that the ropes course was closed for the day and that the park's signature coaster, Troy, would only be open 12-5. With half of the park basically being indoors, we decided to start off in there and do the big rides that there were. We started the day off with Boomerang, a Vekoma junior coaster. A neat little coaster which feels surprisingly high when at the top. After a quick ride on the Teacups - where my bag flew out of mine and Adam's cup despite minimal spinning! - we did the nearby waterslides, which were good fun. We then ventured outside and did the random hedge maze, before heading to the second half of the indoor part of the park. We had planned to get the bobsleigh ride done, but it has suffered a technical fault, so we instead did the adjacent funhouse and the nearby logflume, Backstroke. It was a nice flume, with it being partially indoors and outdoors, and has a nice bit of theming. It doesn't get you very wet, but has a nice backwards drop and a weird turntable mid lift to turn you forwards... Blitz Bahn, the redone bobsleigh ride, has opened by the time we were done with this. It had a nicely themed queue, which was good as this had the longest queue of the day at a staggering 15 minutes. The ride itself was fun, can't really add much more to it than that really! I was rather happy to see some maths on a 'chalkboard' in the queue... With the noteworthy things inside done, we ventured outside and headed over to the Magic Valley to ride the park's newest coaster, Dwervelwind, a Mack spinning coaster. Rather unsurprisingly, it was practically a walk on, so we made our way through the nicely themed queue and into the station building. I really loved the station; nicely styled and there's a neat little dispatch sequence with some lights when a train leaves. The ride itself was pretty fun with a nice layout that even could be enjoyed on a non-spinning coaster. We got some decent spinning on our first ride too. Temperatures we soaring, so we went and did Djengu River, the park's rapids. Again, not a particularly wet ride, but they were a fun set of rapids with some good spinning in the boats. Certainly a much more welcome rapids ride than River Quest to me! The queue line was themed beautifully as well, which was a bonus. We went back on ourselves to Booster Bike, a motorbike coaster, which was now open following a small closure. I've wanted to try one of these out for a while, for the obvious novelty factor of them, so was a bit excited. I was surprised at how comfortable the seating arrangement was, which was a bonus. The ride's layout was fun, but I just can't help but feel the ride would be much better if it just had a normal seating arrangement with lapbars. The novelty is alright, but I think I'd have enjoyed the ride so much more with just lap bars. 12 o'clock was approaching, so we headed over to the Troy Area to get ready for Troy's opening. Before that, we did Scorpios, a pirate ship with some cool water effects. I wear I read somewhere a couple of years back that this was the tallest or the steepest pirate ship in Europe, so the whole group was really excited for this, but was understandably underwhelmed when we were greeted by a quaint little ride. Don't trust everything you read on the internet guys... It was now time for pretty much the main reason why we visited the park - Troy. The coaster really does dominate the park and the immediate surrounding area, and it really does look impressive. Again, the ride was basically a walk on, which was fab. Back row awaited us, and off we went. And wow. The ride is truly relentless, with a great first drop, awesome speedy moments, nice pops of airtime, and the out-of-control feeling woodies are known for it. The ride really is fab, and shot straight up to my favourite ride of the trip so far. *ORP to come here soon..* With no queue and everyone loving Troy, we went straight back on for another go, and all loved it again (I think I got front row this time and it was still fab). We then decided to retreat indoors and have some lunch; I had some form of spaghetti and it was nice and reasonably priced. It was just coming up to 1 o'clock now, and we'd done everything major already. We stayed inside for a bit and did a couple of the smaller rides in there that we missed out on, before doing some rerides. According to my ride count I wrote up in the car to Efteling, we'd done all the coasters multiple more times, and the water rides again (including the surprisingly wet indoor water slide which was so much fun!). I remember riding Dwervelwind one time and smacking the back of my head against the seat quite hard mid-way through the ride, and the rest of the ride being quite uncomfortable. The rest of the group did another ride on it straight away whilst I sat out. Troy was the most ridden ride on the day, and despite the temperatures soaring (34-35 degrees; possibly the hottest I've experienced in my life..), I was happy to keep on riding it during the day. We also watched the Fountain show, and in general had some fun by the fountains, which was nice. Pictures don't really do the show justice... I continued doing all the rides till about half 4, before the constant high temperature had finally gotten to me and I had to stay inside. It was a shame to miss out on a couple more rides on Troy, but despite staying well hydrated during the day, the heat had really just gotten to me. We left the park not long after 5, so that we could set off to Efteling to try and get the ride on Baron... Final Toverland thoughts: Toverland is a fantastic little park with some really good attractions. Their coasters are all good fun, and having pretty much half the park indoors is great too. One or two more attractions would be nice to help give the park just that little bit more ride-wise, but still is a great little park as it is! Not a park I'm dying to visit again any time soon, but that's not a bad thing I suppose. --- Now, I don't want to steal the thunder from Toverland, but since I'm doing these blogs in days, I can't not put a bit about Baron here. With Efteling a little over an hour away from Toverland, we made our way to the park, hoping that we'd be able to get to the park before the 8pm close and sneak a quick ride in on Baron, on it's opening day. We made good time on the road, and checked into our room in the Efteling Bosrijk Village (which was lovely!). By the time that was all done, we got into the park just after 7 and headed straight to Baron. I won't go into it too much, since my ride review is here, but the hour-or-so queue for front row in the heat made it quite a long and gruelling experience, but oh so worth it! We then went to the nearby town to try and find dinner, and almost had no luck before finding a kebab shop which did nice and cheap-ish food. A short walk back to our room and I quite happily collapsed into bed at some point around 1am I think (goodness knows where all the time had gone...). And that's where I'll leave it for now. The next report will combine our 2 days at Efteling, and hopefully shouldn't be too long before I post it!

Day 1 What better way to spend the UK closed season than by visiting a park that doesn’t close? Goodbye depressing Merlin situations and hello Efteling, who certainly are the opposite end of the ownership scale, what with being owned by a non-for-profit organisation who happily throw €42 million on a show. So a blustery Saturday morning greeted us, with a flight to remember as the winds took hold of our plane throughout, providing an intense experience I never wish to repeat again in my life. But fortunately the flight was short and Rotterdam was reached (just). A bus to the train station, a train to Tilburg and another bus (Total of about 90 minutes travel time, especially if you get the connections right), and we had reached our destination of the Efteling Hotel! We got our park tickets and through the super secret mini-gate we were in, greeted by a DJ Set-up in front of our first coaster, Vogel Rok. This Vekoma indoor variant is hidden behind a fantastic entrance background and a giant animatronic bird welcoming you into his giant building. A short indoor queue led us into the station and the cattlepen of death (Efteling LOVE hidden cattlepens of death, fortunately we used none of them), and before long we were sat on the ridiculously spacious seats (pros of lap-bars of OTSRs on a Vekoma, given the way Space Mountain at DLP is), and sent off into the pitch black. The ride itself is fun, with a few laser effects and animatronics dotted around as you swoop around the building accompanied by some fantastic music. Very re-rideable (as we found out during the ERT sessions for hotel guests), and probably the smoothest Vekoma I’ve ever ridden. Solid ride and a solid start for Efteling. 7/10 Next door was our first dark ride in Carnival Festival, which is a Small World rip-off in Omnimover form. A really fascinating dark ride; and something that seems to be an institution in Efteling as Bubbleworks once was to Chessington. Catchy theme music, bright colours, moving sets/animatronics, this ride has it all, even some good old-fashioned racism (bless Continental Europe) fill this tour of the world up, from Holland to France (complete with prostitute), London, Japan and Africa; certainly a classic example of a classic style dark ride. Moving on from the area in search of other coasters, we wandered through the park to the opposite corner, taking in the lovely setting of lakes and woodland, before arriving at our second Vekoma, Python. In classic Vekoma white and green, this ride is famous for THAT incident where during an evacuation on the lift hill the train suddenly moved forward due to the unloading procedure. Since then though, it’s had the new Vekoma trains added on with a sexy looking vinyl finish to it. The new trains help this ride a lot though, whilst not as smooth as Vogel, it was certainly the best Vekoma looping thing I’ve been on in a while. Can all of the existing ones have these trains please? A decent helix finale too, but an amazingly bland layout cannot be held up by such an alright finish. 6/10 Efteling have a coaster corner, with Python, Flying Dutchman (closed for off-season maintenance during our visit, so didn’t get to ride it), and Joris en de Draak, the racing GCIs. At the end of last year I thought Stampida was the best example of a well designed (at least, initially) racing style coaster, however, Joris has taken over that mantle exceedingly well, with a layout that is atypical of GCI, and adding in a finish that is often tighter than Merlin’s purse-strings. Even added onto that is the return of the trains to the station; where the winner returns to unfurling banners and cheers, whilst the loser trots in afterwards to boos and jeers. Simple additions that would be deemed as unnecessary in certain parks, but not here; and obviously capped off by a giant animatronic dragon that breathes fire. The choices here are Water and Fire, and generally they don’t differ that much until after the journey back over the station. With the usual array of quick turns, airtime dips and near-misses, it was hard to determine which of the two was preferred to the other. Water tends to gain some lead, but the finale removes that as it goes on a longer journey around the lake next door, where Fire holds back into tighter turns and drops (arguable holding the best drop of both as it dives under the lift hills). In the end they are both excellent coasters, and certainly with the 1.1m restriction they fit into Efteling immensely well. I also get the feeling that Europa were inspired by it slightly, as the swampy queue-line looked very familiar. 9/10 We continued our circuit around the park, walking the long way around due to the mass of construction happening at the Rapids, ending next at the final coaster of the trip, Bob, the Intamin Bobsleigh. I remember enjoying Disaster Transport before Cedar Point spited it so I was looking forward to riding another one. An enjoyable romp through the woods followed, with some surprisingly large drops and some fair amount of lateral Gs. Part of me thinks that these single car versions are better than Mack’s multiple car trains, mainly down to the speed this one achieved, but Avalanche at Blackpool is similar. Oh well, either way, a solid enough ride. 7/10 How to refurb your ride 101 Pictures of Bob are extremely difficult We were hungry at this point, so food was required, and there was a place I had been told (read, ordered) to eat at, Polle’s Keuchen. A pancake place of sheer and utter deliciousness that you so rarely see in a theme park. Heavily themed with a central feature that spun in time to music, open cooking area, waiter service and a bar, all for one little pancake place? Truly, this is the stuff of rare legend. After stuffing ourselves full of pancake goodness, a dark ride was required, so step forward Fata Morgana, Efteling’s answer to Pirates of the Caribbean. From an unassuming queueline of relative blandness around the loading platform, into one of the most well themed dark rides I’ve seen. It uses the tow boat system to its complete advantage, making the scenes feel a lot more involving of the rider for the majority, yet still managed to pull off the impressive large set pieces off as well. Plus some excellent bonus effects were used throughout it. I’ve never been so surprised by a dark ride since Gardaland’s pirate effort, but this is another level. This is truly Disney level dark ride goodness, which resulted in me sitting in awe of the entire thing. Yay for random park entertainment! We had a quick look at the main entrance building (House of the 5 Senses, the most impressive park entrance architecturally speaking) before moving along to the opposite corner of the park again, home to 3 of Efteling’s well-known attractions (unfortunately Ravelijn, the €42 million show, was closed, but the outside of it looks incredible). From one amazing dark ride, to another, this time Dreamflight, an inverted dark ride with an extremely bland cattlepen queue of death (apparently it was once actually themed and didn’t use a side-door) and a station that shared its locale with a café (a very weird one there Efteling), so not the most enticing of starts. Then the ride begins. And after the impressiveness of Fata Morgana, this continued the theme, I was once again blown away by the details, multiple animated characters, the size of the set pieces, and of course the infamous coaster-like finale. It had recently had a bit of a refurb, which did show, but still, my first ride of it, full of the unknown led to even more jaw-dropping moments as gigantic set-pieces revealed themselves. Again, this was some Disney level stuff going on, if not vastly superior. This photo is blurry because it’s the coaster section After a second go on Dreamflight, it was time for another famous one in Villa Volta, the first Vekoma Madhouse. Said to be one of the best ones, it unfortunately suffers from the same issues as the rest, dialogue heavy story-telling. Granted, most Madhouse stories are reduced to “The place is cursed”, but the interesting part is always, “Why is the place cursed?” “Why did the Earl lock up a branch?” “Why is there a Pervy Wizard?” all important questions that rarely get answered if you don’t speak the local lingo. Villa Volta’s first room is an exceptionally bad example of this, as the dialogue comes from speakers in the roof, so you have nothing but people talking about the feared Goat-Riders. The next room improves slightly with the addition of Hugo, the main character and his fabulous animatronic (again, Disney standard), but it still involves a LOT of dialogue. Hex is probably the only Madhouse which manages to get the balance right, as the first pre-show has the accompanying video to tell the story, and the second show has minimal dialogue and is obvious as to what is happening. The ride room though is beautifully themed, and a slightly different (and more forceful) ride cycle to go with it. The music is another feather in the bow of the ride, with another catchy theme which fits the ride perfectly. I would easily say Hex is a better overall product that Volta, but that’s not to say it is bad, indeed, it’s better than its Italian cousins and Feng Ju Palace. But the dialogue is the issue more than the ride itself. Projection Mapping screens live here We had some time to kill so we wandered around to the Laaf Village and did their Monorail thing, which was alright, a very required sit-down attraction. Another go on Vogel Rok followed as we were nearby before walking back to the park entrance for Aquanura, Efteling’s answer to World of Colour, only without projections and just pure fountain action so amazing Amanda Thompson would never leave it alone. Set to various classical music and some of the park’s own music (Villa Volta, Ravelijn, Carnival Festival), it really is a fantastic show, though the wind at this point was problematic and got us extremely wet in the “Optimal Viewing Area”. Nowhere near as bad as watching Disney Dreams in a blizzard that’s for certain, but the timing, colours and various fountain type (and FIRE, because it makes everything better) worked together to create an entertaining spectacle. And that was it for the first day, finding an empty park was not what I was expecting, as was getting every major ride done in a few hours. But we still had 2 whole days, and a Fairytale Forest to visit, so we checked into the hotel, had a nice meal and looked forward to another day of pancakes.