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Efteling


Cringle

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Baron, it's a grower like thirteen after you get over the initial disappointment - just a shame people were praising it like its the best thing since sliced bread beforehand! After the initial 1st go it was better than what I was expecting partly down to their being a bit more between the station and lift hill. But as I find other enthusiasts (from my experience) make it sound better than what it actually is. But after I rode it a few more times and took it for what it is it had grown to be my second favourite coaster at the park.

The coasters at the park are all good coasters but nothing special apart from in my opinion the Flying Dutchman. If people are talking about the theming for Baron it's not got a patch on the Dutchman. Yes the coaster element is not as good as Baron and I would probably find the duelling woodies there to be the best coaster (fire preferably) but as a package the Flying Dutchman was my favourite by far!

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seeing that I enjoy Swarm, I'd probably like Baron when/if I get to ride it (big emphasis on the if)

I actually like Thirteen (too), yes it could be better, but I still find a great family thrill coaster with a decent chunk of effects and theming.

Of course, I try to leave judgement until I've actually experienced an attraction, even then it might need several rides on something to get an opinion, like how on my second ride on Valhalla made it go to the top of the top 10 UK dark ride list and in my first three rides on Smiler the ride went from no.1 to 5th and then off the top ten altogether.

From what I've seen and heard, Efteling isn't a park renowned for leading innovative rides like phantasia, Europa or even (to a lesser extent) Alton Towers, but one that's full of charm, history and creative quirky themes and stories. I'd ride Droomvluct, Vogel & Fate Morgana anyday.

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Given Efteling's history as a family based park, it was never going to be an absolute thrill ride, anyone with the expectation of that would be bitterly disappointed by a ride like Baron...

 

For Holland (and Efteling itself) though, Baron is perhaps a new benchmark and turning point in their side of the industry, since the biggest ride really prior to it is Goliath, and that was when Six Flags owned Walibi! I certainly know that when it was announced I thought it was a joke, "How could Efteling fit a B&M into their park?" I said, with people concuring with me about that question... By the looks of things, they've managed to do what many thought was less likely than Hartenhof being built this century...

 

I often think as enthusiasts that our well-travelled side of life often does get the better of our opinions... There might be bigger or more intense variants on Baron (certainly none look as well themed as it mind), the layout might be 'dull' comparatively to other parks who have the space or don't particularly care about the overall aesthical effect a towering ride might have on the nearby area... But do the locals care about a bigger Dive Machine ride hundreds of miles and £3'000 worth of holiday away?

 

Krake is probably my favourite example of this issue, and perhaps is why I like the ride so much... It's because of the atmosphere it created with the guests, something I didn't experience with Sheikra or Griffon, there was a tangible excitement about Krake, lots of spectators getting excited over the prospect of riding it, and many enthusiasts would probably go "why get excited over a tiny Dive Machine?"...

 

If other rumours are to be believed though, Efteling were very impressed with B&M over the construction of Baron (when originally rumours were said that the higher management weren't particularly impressed with the idea, what with the whole massive clash of ideals), so impressed they might consider them again... If Baron means more B&Ms in Holland, then it is perhaps the best addition that country will ever see...

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I often think as enthusiasts that our well-travelled side of life often does get the better of our opinions... There might be bigger or more intense variants on Baron (certainly none look as well themed as it mind), the layout might be 'dull' comparatively to other parks who have the space or don't particularly care about the overall aesthical effect a towering ride might have on the nearby area... But do the locals care about a bigger Dive Machine ride hundreds of miles and £3'000 worth of holiday away?

 

I was waiting for someone to come at it from a 'but the locals will love it' angle because its something that does make me chuckle. As if my opinion that it's just a well dressed dive machine gives any detriment to the ride or the Dutch who will enjoy it. As if someone from the Netherlands is going to pay £3000 to go and solely ride Sheikra or Griffon too. 

 

Still I'll remember this next time you give Colossus or Saw a good bashing, the locals love them after all  ;)

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As an overall experience, Baron is quite possibly my favourite attraction. The ride itself is a little short, but great fun and very graceful. The theming, effects and story are perfect though.

Others didn't love it as much as me, but each to their own. I think it depends on what you want from a coaster.

 

Was planning on wait till I got my Efteling TR up before giving a fuller review, but since it's going to be ages before I get round to that, may as well give a fuller review now.  I've tried to avoid spoilers of the indoors section, but read at your own risk I guess...

 

Simply put, I loved Baron.  Yes, it's not a very long ride.  Yes, the layout is nothing special.  Yes, the ride isn't that long.  But I'm not so fussed with that sort of stuff.  I look for a fun ride, with a good story and good theming.  So the layout isn't so important to me.

 

I was a bit disappointed with the queue line though.  Very away from the good bits, but I guess you can't have everything.  I thought that the split for front row and rows 2 and 3 was a bit too soon as well - it says it's a 20 minute wait for front row from the split point, but it was longer last week (understandable, given staff were still getting used to the ride).  Interestingly, they give you a ticket to show your row before you enter the building, and take it away from you before you enter the station.  Hopefully it will work in the long term for them..

 

The pre-shows are fab - even better that there's English translations for it too!  Even after 5 rides last week, I kept finding loads of little details dotted around them which just made the whole story so believable and real.  There's an animatronic of the Baron just before you enter the station which I adored and found quite life-like!

 

As for the ride itself, I liked the pre-lift section; very fitting for the overall experience.  One thing which I loved most about the overall experience was the sound of the ringing bell at the top of the lift hill, and just before you drop.  It's such a simple effect, but it just fits beautifully with the whole ride.  I found the drop to be very floaty and fun on the way down, followed by a bit of force as you exit into the Immelmann.  The Immelmann and zero-g roll had nice pops of airtime floatyness too actually.  The helix had a bit of force too (especially at the back!) and even gives a pop of airtime as you leave.  The airtime hill at the end caught me a bit off guard too - it gave a surprising amount of airtime for something at the end of the ride!

 

All in all, I just adored the experience.  The ride is very "floaty" and fun, has a great story that flows throughout the entire area and has some wonderful bits of theming.  I personally can't ask for any more in a coaster.  Oh, I also just have to add in that the milkshake and pizza place underneath the lift hill is just amazing :wub:

 

I know others won't have as much love for the ride as I do.  It's probably been a bit overhyped too during construction, and some may be left a bit underwhelmed.  But at the same time, I do think everyone will still be able to enjoy it for what it is and Efteling really are onto a winner with this!

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See I liked Baron. It's a good ride and definitely one that grows on you. Go without any hype and you'll probably love it from the start but for me it was over hyped as a ride (looks as beautiful in person as I'd imagined though which is what I was looking forward to seeing most). Plus, we had just driven for an hour in 34 degrees from Toverland to then join a 60 minute queue in the heat for it which was a downer (they installed misters, fans and covers that night though which made it much more bearable). 

 

Ticket thing is nice, like your clocking in and out tag for work. Just inside the building you wait for the preshow with lots of details like staff clocking in and out tags, the machine, phones etc, all very very nice. Preshow is excellent! So many details in the room (and all the others) so each time we rode it we'd notice a lot more. Great storyline throughout as well for the mining for gold etc (the mist is basically a character so make sure you get your photo taken with it ;) ).

 

Baron animatronic is cool, very neat. The batching is clever too so you wait behind these doors which are essentially air gates and the light goes green when it's your turn and you walk down to the vehicle. Trains are nice, floorless is a pointless gimmick but luckily the B&M system is very quick so it's not a problem. The dispatch button people can see is on a lever that the staff pull which is brilliant! Before going up the lift hill is cool too, all very nice and it's the little touches throughout the ride. The ride for me is just a bit lacklustre, very floaty and eh, not bad just not amazing in any way. 

 

Was a shame the wheels throughout the station weren't turning as that would have made it just a bit more complete (although in one of the making of videos they said they were struggling with syncing them together properly). It's a solid ride.

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It's so catchy.  Noticed a lot of people whistling along to it when in the queue line after a while.   :wub:

I may or may not have been whistling along to it myself in the toilets at Legoland last week... :rolleyes:

 

 

Lots of nice brass there!  :D   Is that the complete soundtrack or is there a longer one?

That's the main theme played in the queue and surrounding area (I believe). There are other tracks played throughout the experience as well! These are from the preshow and prelift sequences for instance:

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Really hoping that it's just a really dodgy translation. From I read, I interpreted it as the ride having an evac with people onboard.

All rides have breakdowns from time to time (even B&Ms). Hopefully this was just a standard breakdown evac occurrence and the Dutch press have just escalated the incident.

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I had my doubts about the music for this ride, as I thought it sounded a bit out of place. That was all from the sample pieces I heard in the making of videos. But after listening to all of the music from the links posted above, it all sounds very cheerful and has suspense which is great for this ride. I quite like the fact they hid a suspenseful feeling in the music until you enter the ride building (I presume), which is a nice touch to the experience.

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This POV shows the wheels before the lift hill turning!

 

 

Does anyone know what the song translates to in English? I know the line at the end says something like "Pride comes before the fall" but I'd love to know what the actual song means!

 

Also Josh (or others who have ridden it) is there a fire effect behind the train on the preshow? I don't trust Wikipedia so I'll believe it when I hear it from here!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_1898

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Fire effect behind the train? Well directly behind the train in pre show is the station with only a massive holey gate between the two (does a good job at blocking the view of train and preshow but definitely wouldn't do so for fire). Plus behind the train would seem a bit... pointless. Like Josh has said I don't see how fire would fit in.

Nice to see the other wheels turning though! :)

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