Efteling: General Discussion

Their fans are moaning about that Villa Volta sign?

Also, that map seems to show that Flying Dutchman opens over the Winter time... I thought it didn't...

I really need to get over there mind...

Benzin said:

Also, that map seems to show that Flying Dutchman opens over the Winter time... I thought it didn't...

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From reading the translated Dutch forums, I think that the Flying Dutchman is operating for the first week of winter opening to make up for the closure of Dreamflight, which re-opens on Monday 25th.

Fair play to them...

The question really is when does the Dutchman re-open? As Feb 2nd is the end of Winter Efteling... Wonder if it opens then or not until a sensible time...

My god, a park map that is actually useful? O_O

Has anyone checked to see if Orphan Rocker is open yet?

The brand-new Efteling app went online a few hours ago. You can find it here for Android, though it doesn't seem to be available for iOS yet.

Just downloaded and had a play about with it. Although it's a little short on features, the actual map element (which is combined with queue times) is a really high quality product, probably the best of any theme park app.

You can select different layers (attractions, food & drinks, toilets for example) to control how you want the map to look, and each little 'bubble' for an attraction or restaurant will pop up with all the details such as waiting time, height requirement and even whether there is Halal food available or not.

There's also some sort of day planner thing, which works really well and lets you create a 'checklist' of must-visit attractions, as well as telling you the weather forecast for the day and welcoming you when you arrive at the park. It's also all in English, which is great. Some screenshots below.









If you like Efteling, I advise that you download this app as it's really great! We'll see tomorrow if you can view queuetimes from outside the park, fingers crossed.

One of Europe's best dark rides re-opened to the public today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ruqjq8I5x5U#ws

Some things that jump out at me right away:

- The new grass greenery on the ceiling of that horrible cattlepen. It's a start.
- Those two beautiful new doors in that cattlepen! Exquisite!
- The new star tunnel between the 'forest' scene and the 'space' scene is vastly improved.

Compare 3:40 in the above video (new) to 4:40 on the below video (old):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoS4iT9RPq4#ws

- New queueline shop.



- New more colourful lighting in the main forest scene.



Gorgeous.

Posted by Efteling's Facebook:



Hopefully after Pirana, it'll be Fata Morgana's turn next!

I'm so pleased that Dreamflight has kept it's original charm. I was worried that Efteling would give it a complete overhaul, instead I'm left very happy with the subtle improvements.

'If it aint broke, don't fix it'

It does look rather nice hoping to go next year

A new clock has been installed in the station near Joris, to tell you when the last train is.



Efteling have also released this video about Dreamflight's refurbishment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtVgWcEc5Xc#ws

I think they're probably pushing it a little far, this is very much a Dreamflight 1.1 yet you'd think from that video it was a Dreamflight 2.0!

As Dom said, glad they've kept the charm of the original.

Whilst what they've done to Droomvlucht is beautiful, and hopefully they'll do the same to Pirana, it's hard to ignore the fact that they'll seemingly never build Hartenhof.

Quetzal said:

Whilst what they've done to Droomvlucht is beautiful, and hopefully they'll do the same to Pirana, it's hard to ignore the fact that they'll seemingly never build Hartenhof.

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I've been reading a lot of the Efteling fan-forums to try and figure out what's going on. With the exit of Bart de Boar, who captained the park through an unprecedented period of growth, they are now in what they are calling a phase of 'consolidation'. This means basically that they're having a look at everything they've got and bringing it up to the current standard, starting with these two refurbishments and a series of refurbs in the Fairytale Forest. I think the fear was that they'd end up with a 'park of two halves', where you'd have all the old attractions tired and tatty, with stuff like Aquanura, Raveleijn and Joris feeling like they belong to a different park entirely.

There are rumours that once they've finished this process of consolidation, they might revive plans for Hartenhof. Remember, if all they're doing is refurbs for the next few years, they'll be able to save a lot of money compared to the cost of building new attractions, and this money could be spent on Hartenhof. This refurb program also ensures that if Hartenhof does get built, the other dark rides won't just look crap in comparison.

A few photos from forum user Tjomme of the Pirana work:













The dragon in the middle of Joris is also being refurbished:

Oh right, that makes sense! I'd heard that BDB had left but my attempts to understand dutch forums were not too successful. I'm happier to hear that they're working on the older rides rather than just not investing in the park.

I wonder if they've got plans to renovate the square by Vogel Rok and Monsieur Cannibale. That corner of the park (especially the restaurant) really contrasts with the fairytale image of the rest of the park.

Still a new attraction somewhere wouldn't go amiss, surely?

Eftelist.nl have discovered the plans for the Pirana refurb.



New entrance?



The area around the last bit, including some sort of 'grandstand'



New queueline.

Thanks for the updates.

We went to the park on Sunday and saw all the construction work around Piranha.

However, wasnt very good ride operations. Single train on each side of Joris, resulted in a 60 minute queue, which was very annoying especially with the trains just sat there waiting to be used. Dreamflight had a 45minute queue and its refurbishment has been very tastefully done. Also Bob had a 30 min queue. Other than that, everything else was walk on.

We both love Efteling, however, we both left feeling a little flat... Cant quite put my finger on it as to why....

Looopings has a story on the current state of Villa Volta.

A trusted source has revealed that the ride will be the next to be overhauled.

Pirana refurb update.



Old Pirana on the right, new Pirana on the left!





More in this thread.

The last three posts have been me.

Anyway, there's some news about a (sort of) new attraction for next year: Aquanura 2.

De Vijf Zintuigen said:

Aquanura second Efteling symphony goes from April 1st

From April 1, the second is Aquanura Efteling symphony starts. The first time will only see the new show are, reports the Efteling. Or thereafter both a symphony and two alternate, is not yet known.

The first rehearsal of the show took place during the Sandman-weeks last year. The intro was adapted to the theme of the sand gnome. Namely the sand gnomes had "sleeping sand" thrown into the pond and therefore the Aquanura pond had fallen asleep. Only Sandman could awaken the pond, and was to see the new version of the show. The show is filled with new musical pieces ao:. Fata Morgana, George and the Dragon and Monsieur Cannibale Below is a recording of that show:

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Can't embed that video, but you can see it here.

Also, a few new photos of the Pirana refurb here that finally show some of the details of the new theming.

Really looking forward to refurbished Pirana!

Looking good. Hopefully it'll be Villa Volta up next for some tender loving care.

The Piraña refurb is nearly complete, and the wraps are starting to come off. Notable changes to look out for including the rebuilt walkway around the outside of the station, the new entrance gate, and the beginnings of the new bridge round the back.

Photos from this topic.

The bridge.













The gate.















































Sorry for the huge post, I just get so excited about improvements to this great ride and amazing park! For any real Eftefreaks, check out this topic for photo updates of the ongoing €2m refurbishment to the White Horse restaurant.