Day 17 - Efteling
Our (unanticipated) last park of the trip would turn out to be Efteling, and even though we missed out on 2 parks at the end, it was very nice to end on a high, with possibly Europe's most beautiful theme park. I had apprehensions that the park wouldn't be as pristine as it usually is, what with their somewhat brazen attempt at social distancing measures, and unfortunately this was the case in a lot of areas.
The majority of the park was looking lovely, but instead of floor markers, which we'd seen in various forms along the trip, Efteling had decided to stick red and white tape all along the walls and fences in queue lines. Combined with the additions of perspex walls between every switchback in cattle pen queues, this looked really ugly and horrendously out of place at such a lovely park. The only thing was, that these measures seemed to be the most effective in terms of keeping groups distanced and people were following the red and white markers very well on the whole.
For lunch, we ate at Polles Keuken, which I'd been eager to visit on my last 2 trips to the park but the queues had always been far too long. I had a savoury pancake which was nice, although next time I think I'd opt for a sweet option as they seem to have better reviews. Of course the main attraction of eating at this restaurant is the massive animatronic theming element in the middle!
Rides
De Vliegende Hollander (x1) - Such a fantastic dark ride! The mist room is especially eerie and it does its job really well. And then... it remembers it's trying to be a roller coaster, and fails miserably.
Joris en de Draak (x1) - We did the fire side, though none of us could remember which side was ostensibly better. This had the longest wait in the park, and I
think we queued over an hour in the end. They had built a couple of extra cattle pen queue lines round the back which made the wait somewhat insufferable, especially when
both sides of the coaster combined were only getting about 300pph.
Python (x1) - A nice and smooth Vekoma, though perhaps a little too short. When they retracked it it's a shame they didn't add a bit more on to the layout.
Vogel Rok (x2) - What Nighthawk should have been. I have a real soft spot for this ride, and when on the front row the illumination of the scenery items is really quite magical.
Baron 1898 (x1) - Urgh, I really want to like this but I don't particularly. The theming inside is obviously stunning, but the coaster is terrible. Definitely the worst B&M Dive coaster I've been on, and I'd go so far as to say that track and train I prefer Krake at Heide.
Max + Moritz (x2) - I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. We did one ride on each side and I found them both to be good fun! I quite like how it speeds up for the second lap, and the onboard audio really adds to the experience. I'm not too offended by the lack of theming on the ride itself as I'm sure it'll grow in in time, and the station is great! The queue line is woeful though, despite that it has a few interactive theming elements to keep you occupied, it's not charming in any way and feels somewhat temporary. It's made up for though by the high throughputs, so you never really stop moving.
Carnaval Festival (x1) - Last year the ride was touched up to be less, erm, racist? It's still not perfect but it's better than it was. I also love the music they play when the ride has to stop for accessibility. "Attention, the gondolas are stopping for a fanfare!"
Diorama (x1) - A delightful exhibition that's somewhat hidden away off the beaten track, but certainly worth a wander around. The attention to detail is amazing.
Droomvlucht (x2) - I really like this ride. The set designs are absolutely beautiful, and the scale of them is very impressive. Favourite bit being the helix in the final scene.
Fata Morgana (x1) - Fat MORGAN! Another stunning dark ride with one of the best, most subtle effects I've ever scene on a ride, with that tilting room near the end. Superb.
Pagode (x1) - Got to love an observation tower, but it's a shame you don't get to complete a full rotation before you're coming back down to the ground again. I like how this model of ride is very hidden away when not in operation and isn't dominating the skyline like most others do.
Symbolica (x2) - A work of art that even Efteling have done a fantastic job of pulling off. A pity that the pre-show isn't operating properly at the minute as that is the single most magical moment in the whole ride in my view.
Stoomtrein (x1) - With only one station in use, the steam train is just an observation ride now, though not like it's particularly useful as a transport ride in the first place. It was nice to do a full lap, but about half of it is behind trees where you can't really see a lot.
Ridecount:
17
The park was open until 10pm, but by 8pm it was time for Dan, John and I to leave in order to make our rescheduled Eurotunnel booking at silly-o-clock in the morning. We fueled up and got food at the last possible moment, around 250m from the Belgian border. We got to the terminal about 90 minutes before our crossing, but there was a further delay of another 90 minutes in the end before we got on, meaning we didn't get back to the UK until 2.15am, cutting it fine for the 4am deadline!
Day 18 - Bellewaerde Travel home
We'd booked a Holiday Inn next to the UK terminal where we crashed for the night before getting woken up by housekeeping shortly before our check-out time! While Danny, Dan, Mike and Pierre were enjoying their meal at Toverland's Flaming Feather, we dined in style at Nando's Ashford. A delight.
So, after 2 weeks the park reviews are complete! Thank you for keeping up with this extended trip report, if indeed you have been! Despite the additional stresses of the trip and the fact that none of the parks were at their best, we had a truly wonderful time, and it was a blessing to be able to escape the UK while we could. There's a compilation video of the holiday currently in the works which I'll post here in due course.
