Efteling Trip Report - July 2016

[ben199]

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!

[ben199]

Here's our ORP on George and the Dragon as well as me looking very excited outside the entrance

[Matt 236]

Glad you had a great time at the park.

 

Agree, Efteling is such a loverly place to visit and a very relaxing place to be in, despite crowds and size. As you mentioned, it's great to see a park with so much dedication to the experience where upselling (like Merlin's) is practically non existent. Alongside, they put in much care and effort into all there attractions new and old. 

 

Agree with Baron, the top notch pre shows make alone make Baron an outstanding ride and Dutchman is easily one of the best non Disney experience rides out there. I don't think there's any rides you could really fault at Efteling as being dull, let alone terrible.

 

Did you watch the Aquanura water show there? As that's absolutely superb and is one my favourite park shows. Which fairy tales did you manage to see there? It's definitely an area where you need a good 2 hours to take everything in.

[ben199]

The only ride I found slightly sub par was Carnaval Festival. It's in no way a bad ride, I'd just been so spoiled by the other stuff.

It is great how much care they take over the older rides, I had a quick look online at what rides used to be there and over the 50+ years they've only removed two rides which is just astounding. I imagine this is partly due to how much space they have but it's good to see them put the effort into keeping such a rounded selection of attractions open.

Unfortunately we had to miss Aquanura so we could get back at a reasonable time but it just gives me another reason to visit again, this is definitely a two day park so trying and failing to get everything done in about nine hours like I did was a bit frustrating to say the least.

Lovely to see another Efteling fan on the forum!