Efteling Discussion Thread

Today Efteling revealed the first concept art of there new restaurant:

(Big: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgtIvLLWsAEOEO8.jpg:large)

The restaurant will open next month (July 26) in collaboration with an external food company (La Place)

Efteling introduces wands in and around Symbolica

The Efteling will sell interactive wands next autumn. With the so-called Twinkeltoortsen visitors will soon be able to activate special effects in and around the newest Efteling attraction Symbolica. That was announced by the Dutch theme park.

The Twinkeltoorts is the magic weapon of Pardoes de Tovernar, the main character of Symbolica. He treats guests to a guided tour through the secret rooms of the Palace of Fantasy. In the attraction, the jester keeps the striking attribute in his hand.

"With an interactive Twinkeltoorts you will be able to bring the magic to life at seven points in the themed area Fantasierijk", says design coordinator Peter Koppelmans. "In the scenes of Symbolica, the interactive torches clearly respond to the magic of Pardoes." He promises that the work will take place as much as possible outside the opening hours.

A year after the opening, the Efteling is still not entirely satisfied with the dark ride of 35 million euros. "Certainly at a new attraction like Symbolica we keep a close eye on whether there are any improvement points," says Koppelmans. Multiple new lights, a moving car in the queue and a floating cake have been added in recent months. From today, passengers will also feel falling drops in one of the scenes. "This way we want to immerse our guests even more."

Source

Efteling has placed a magical telescope. When you look through this telescope, you see flying dragons.

Apparently the Bob is now having problems with its chain lift.

They're being oddly open about it on Twitter today:

Efteling: A couple years ago, Efteling made an adjustment to the Bob's lift mechanism, in order to decrease noise. This worked completely satisfactory. A while ago, a bobsled rolled back while getting pulled up the lift hill. 1/2

 

This is now being investigated. Safety is always first at Efteling, which is why we will take the time to find a good solution. Nobody's safety was ever at risk. 2/2

Q: How was nobody's safety at risk if a bob rolled back?

Efteling: We're not comfortable saying exactly what happened, but if a Bob for example were to roll back a few centimeters, this would not pose a safety risk. It is a signal for research to be done. This is just speculation however.

Q: So the rollback engaged from there?

Efteling: Like we've said, we don't know exactly and it's just speculative, but even when a part were to fail, we always have a back-up to keep things safe. Of course, that's sadly not a permanent solution.

I think it is pretty neat that the park continues to plus Symbolica even after its original opening. This continues to look like one of Europe's finest theme parks, if not one of the world's.

Bob stuff

The reopening has been delayed 3 weekends in a row without any good sign that it will open soon. This coupled with the fact that the ride isn't allowed to operate with rain makes me much rather see it get broken down and replaced before the park adds another attraction. It now wastes space and money.

The interactive stage before Symbolica is done!

Pictures:

Source: @cindy_ve & @eftelwesley

We made it to Efteling! Super excited to check out this bucket-list place! Rikki is totally sold so far!

Any news about Bob? The coaster, not anyone by that name

I'm heading to Efteling tomorrow from the UK! I'm flying into Schipol and expecting to take the train and then the bus. Any tips on how to manage the travel? Can I get a travel card which covers the train and the bus or are they separate payments?

I am in the Efteling hotel for the night so hope to get two reasonably full days to check it out, though it'll be a little odd being on my own. Any single rider queues?

Can't wait - it is very exciting to get to visit this amazing-sounding place!

I can't help you on the public transport, because I never used it myself. I guess it'll be pretty straight forward, though. There are plenty of ticket machines at Schiphol.

Don't worry about being on your own, I go on my own to Efteling all the time (it is my home park). For the single rider queues, most major rides have them;

- Symbolica

- Joris & De Draak

- Baron 1898

- Python

- Bob (but that ride will be closed)

I hope you have fun! It is an awesome park, still one of my favourites.

Public transport in the Netherlands is super easy, but the bus and train tickets are separate. I wouldn't worry about it, though. The train ticket you can buy at the airport, and you can just pay the bus driver directly with a credit or debit card. That's what we did back in July and we had no hiccups.

I'd advise you to take the Efteling bus (efteling express) instead of the regular bus line if you are traveling via den bosch. Because the regular bus line will add at least half an hour to your travel.

I'm heading to Efteling tomorrow from the UK! I'm flying into Schipol and expecting to take the train and then the bus. Any tips on how to manage the travel? Can I get a travel card which covers the train and the bus or are they separate payments?

 

I am in the Efteling hotel for the night so hope to get two reasonably full days to check it out, though it'll be a little odd being on my own. Any single rider queues?

 

Can't wait - it is very exciting to get to visit this amazing-sounding place!

I can reccomand this site: https://9292.nl/en

It's a travel planner that includes all trains and busses in the netherlands. Easy to get some advice from it to go from Schiphol to the Efteling. (you can simply type in 'Schiphol' and 'Efteling' and pick a date/time)

^ Also, if you're on the go, I had a lot of success with the mobile app NS Reisplanner Xtra. Trains and bus schedule, very easy to use, very up-to-date. Even gave estimated fares, too.

Thanks everyone for your help. Actually Google Maps was pretty good at all the train and bus information, even advising me to get off the bus a stop early to be nearer the Efteling hotel which was a great help. The bus was very easy, paying with credit card. I bought a train ticket from a machine at Schipol (17.50 euros) and was slightly confused as it offered two Hertogenbosch stations, neither being s'-Hertogenbosch but in the end I went for just the straight Hertogenbosch option and when the ticket printed it had the s'- bit so that was obviously right.

From Schipol I was at the hotel in about two hours which was amazing. The staff at the hotel gave me the park ticket and I left my luggage in a room. There's a back entrance into to park 5minutes walk away so then the only decisions left was what order to explore! I rode the indoor coaster which I enjoyed. It was very dark and from my middle of the train seat I could see nothing. No crazy elements so perfect for younger kids. Next I did the Carnival dark ride which I thought was very enjoyable. There are some delightfully suspect bits - did I see a doll urinating on another, and I'm sure there was another doll stroking its nipple suggestively? Next was the Pagoda to get a nice view. Single rider for Symbolica which likely had the longest main queue of the day at around 25 minutes - wow this really lived up to my expectations. Such incredible detail in all the scenes. I'm looking forward to riding this a few more times today to see how it varies.

Then it was as a pancake for lunch, a quick walk round to catch the 1400 outdoor show in the amphitheatre. As everywhere the detail in the architecture was spectacular - and the show was good fun even if I didn't understand a word. I had the English headset but I gave up with that after failing to get any sound out of it for the first 5 minutes. The fire-breathing multi-headed beast was very impressive, and I loved that the effectively killed this by dousing it in water!

Walking out of this I went into the fairy dark ride - again quite spectacular with a beautiful atmosphere. My daughter will love this when I bring her. The finishing section was really unique. I then decided to do some water rides and cut through the Enchanted Forest bit to the Central American land to do Pirana. This had a 15minute queue perhaps so again it was pretty swift and my rain coat proved useful for the times it drifted very close to some waterfalls. Then it was a short walk to do the Flying Dutchman - a highly-anticipated ride for me. My mouth was hanging open once again at the themeing and atmosphere of this ride. 15minute queue perhaps - but I would have been happy if it was longer so I could take in more detail in the earlier rooms. And the ride itself - going through the thick fog with just the lantern at the front of the boat was incredible. The track section is short but those boats must be incredibly heavy so it likely does just about as much as it can and it was still more fun than the usual big boat splash.

It was now getting time to head back to check into the hotel properly but I couldn't walk past Jorik en der draak as soon as I noticed it had the same articulated trains as Twisted Timbers. Wow - the most fun I've ever had on a racing coaster since doing Blackpool's Grand National too many times as a kid. Gwazi contributed to my slipped disc I'm sure when I rode it in 2008, and the three I did in an earlier trip this year at KW, KD and KI were all mirror layouts and pretty dull if classic like Blackpool. This feels as if the two tracks are properly unique layouts like Gwazi (did), and the trains allow it to have a tight, twisting and fast layout like Twisted Timbers. I'll be definitely back on this today to do the other track. Given that the last woodies I rode were at HW it was nice to experience one again where I wasn't hanging on for dear life (not that that is a criticism!).

On returning to the park I headed straight through to go and see Caro, the evening show, which was only 6.5 euros with my hotel booking so an easy box to tick on the order page. I had wondered whether to bother as it had been a long day with a 6am flight from the UK, but it was so worth it. What a spectacular show. Don't miss it. I've seen a large number of the Vegas Cirque shows, and others, and this was easily up there in terms of invention and visual spectacle if on a smaller scan, but the show still felt unique and most importantly had real heart with a genuine European flair rather than being a copy-cat. I was really quite stunned by it.

So another day in Efteling now, then back to Amsterdam for work. This place has lived up to my expectations - it is so beautiful and the quality of the architecture and theming is up there with Disney - but it has its own unique style too. All the staff I've interacted with are very friendly and seems happy to be working here. I can't wait to return with my wife and daughter. Queues can obviously be long but all the shortcuts were open yesterday so it is definitely out of season and nothing seemed too long to skip. Lots more to do today (including Baron of course).

I did a US trip with my brother in early June and we did KD, KW, CP, KI and HW and all the parks were brilliant of course but the dark ride count was low. Just KW and HW felt like they had the odd unique experiences in that area, so booking to come to Efteling on my return was an attempt to address that balance. It was a really good decision! Make sure you have it on your European tour list (and don't skip Caro).

Glad you are having a great time at my home park! Efteling really is known for its numerous dark rides, I love them all. Symbolica is my favourite dark ride overall, and my favourite ride at Efteling. It really is stunning.

I feel like Joris & de Draak doesn't get as much love as it deserves. It is easily one of the best GCI's I have done. So great to hear you loved it too.

I saw Caro already 2 times, and like you said, it is fantastic. It is very unique, but at the same time also very "Efteling". I have seen numerous shows of Cirque du Soleil, and Caro is easily up there.

Efteling isn't a park for everyone. If you want massive thrill rides and big coasters, then this isn't the place for you. Efteling is a place to relax, enjoy the landscaping, ride the stunningly themed rides and admire how unique this park is. This park is all about the overall experience, and not everyone seems to appreciate that, sadly. I know people who skip Efteling on their trip because it doesn't have "a massive coaster". Same with Disney; "They don't have a big coaster, so I won't go there". Then I just shake my head... But I get it. Everyone likes different things. Most of the time, I rather ride a world class overall experience (like Symbolica, Baron, DVH) than a coaster with barely and theming. But hey, that is just me. What I am trying to say is that I am happy you are enjoying your time at Efteling, and that you appreciate what this park is all about.

Thanks for sharing your review!

Efteling will open a new fairytale in 2019!

(Bigger size: https://www.efteling.com/nl/-/media/files/attracties/efteling-de-zes-zwanen-artist-impression.jpg?la=nl&hash=DDF8E01A2361D4707D77AC3CED73C30E6DB507CC)

The fairy tale is based on a story of the brothers grimm, called the six swans. Under the fairytale is a boat trip for children with 6 swans.

Openings date: autumn 2019

^ I was surprised by this news didn't think we would get a attraction or fairytale before 2020.

In other big news:

Yesterday night the local government has approved the Efteling for expansion, this doesn't mean they can start to dig in the new ground. People in the neighborhood can still go to court and one person (With some other locals) has hinted before that he Might do that, although he stated that he believed they already have done and changed all they could. Also each attraction still needs to be approved separately.

The local government has now approved the expansion of park borders and the growth of 5 million to 7 million by 2030. There was some concern about the extra traffic and (sound) pollution. The expanded borders also means a roadway (de Horst) has to move to the new edge of the park.

Park borders are now allowed to expand to the east and the west, also to the west the park plans to add more park space.

Overall I think it's just a waiting game now till the park announces a new attraction on the news land. Which is the rumored Intamin family launched coaster for 2020.

^And after that family launched coaster for 2020, a B&M is rumored to replace Bob. They first want to build the family coaster, though. Otherwise, they'd lose one.

Here is an overview of the expansion plan of the park:

^ I heard that rumor of the B&M replacing Bob earlier today, funny thing about 3 to 4 years ago I once came up with an idea: A B&M flying coaster with a Phoenix burning down the Bob theme. But if the Bob gets replaced by a B&M I still had my dream come true it just was in 3 diffrent parks that are closeby.

1. B&M replaced Bob.

2. Flying coaster in Phantasialand.

3. Fenix theme in Toverland.

Back on topic. I also read today that the plan also promises a new attration every year till 2030, I don't know I never fully read the entire plan (To much text for me to care). But if that's true I really look forward to the upcoming 12 years, even more if that includes 2 roller coasters and I wouldn't be surprised if there is a third one in those years, and yes I also look forward to the 4 to 5 fairytales that no doubt are calculated into that. Also I expect 1 darkride in those 12 years. That still leaves 3 to 5 unknowns, Log-flume?

Funny, other sources sad that there are some plans to replace the Bob for an lug flume, ofcourse rumours are rumours

Efteling really needs another water ride. So I will never say no to a log flume. Chiapas 2.0?

Jesus, and I thought this park was huge already. This is insane! I knew some of this was in the works but didn't realize they were going to be this ambitious! Surely will love to follow along with this and hopefully get back over there in a few years!

The Dutch website ad.nl made an nice overview of the new expansions: