Efteling: General Discussion

[Rojo]

With the bus and now appearing in the rags, I'm guessing that Efteling are going big on the UK market this year.

Spoiler: As its the sun I'll save you a click

A MAGICAL theme park in The Netherlands is being hailed by parents as “better than Disney” – and it’s only an hour’s flight away.

What’s more, Efteling has just announced a brand new ride that will open this year – the 30th new attraction in the park since it debuted in 1952.



�MARIJN DE WIJS PHOTOGRAPHY
The new ride in Efteling will open later this year


The park has been open for over 60 years


ALAMY
Parents have called the park the anti-Disney – and claim it is even better

The new ride will feature a large castle attraction and six swan boats
Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy-tale The Six Swans, the new attraction will feature a large castle monument home to the King and a miniature ride.

The Six Swans tale sees a princess rescue her six brothers, who have been turned into swans by an evil witch, breaking the spell by spending six years in silence while sewing six shirts from flowers.

Discover the World of Wonders with Efteling Theme Park Resort

MOST READ IN TRAVEL
Some of the weirdest theme parks can be found in the UK, from Diggerland to Chester Ice Cream Farm.

A brand new theme park is coming to Britain in 2020.

The new Gulliver’s Valley Resort will open in Yorkshire next year with 70 rides and attractions.

Source

 

[D4n]

Really pushing that "parents say it's better than Disney" line in the article... with absolutely no source or reference for that particular claim

Good to see a major European theme park trying to branch out into the UK market though, any competition is always a good thing for the industry,

 

[ChristmasPud]

Really pushing that "parents say it's better than Disney" line in the article... with absolutely no source or reference for that particular claim

Regardless of how the Sun have reported it (shoddily no doubt) I've heard that said in person quite a few times from everyday people in the Netherlands

 

[DiogoJ42]

Personally, I would rate Dunes Leasure over Disney. And do keep in mind that we were only there for 20 minutes tops. But that was enough time for some scally to nick the aerial off out car, barely 20m from the ride we were on.

And as for Dunes Leasure....

 

[Rowe]

Efteling has registered the official logo for double powered Mack coaster Max & Moritz, with the slogan "2 achtbanen voor donderstenen". The English translation "2 rolller coasters for thunderstorms" sounds quite strange. Looopings source.

The park has also registered the working titles for their next roller coaster, a circus themed family launch, which was supposed to be announced earlier this year as a Reizenrijk realm expansion. Unfortunately issues have been raised regarding the park's expansion and zoning plans, so we may not see this until after 2021. Looopings source.

 

[Burbs]

Efteling categorically does not need an expansion!

 

[Sam]

Efteling is way better than DLP - no doubt about it.

 

[Dave]

Efteling is way better than DLP - no doubt about it.

Well these things are subjective but I would place some doubt. I find Efteling to be a bit mediocre if I’m honest. It’s pleasant enough but it has never blown me away.

 

[D4n]

I've never understood the Efteling hype, it's just... perfectly pleasant. There really is nothing special whatsoever about the place, and Symbolica has to be the most overrated dark ride ever created.

DLP is leagues ahead.

 

[Dave]

I've never understood the Efteling hype, it's just... perfectly pleasant. There really is nothing special whatsoever about the place, and Symbolica has to be the most overrated dark ride ever created.

DLP is leagues ahead.

I think generally there is often a backlash to Disney because of its “corporate” nature. Efteling is a good park, with 2 stand out attractions (Baron and Dutchman), but I would put quite a few parks ahead in terms of the pleasure I get out of a visit.

Symbolica is very overrated.

 

[ChristmasPud]

Efteling is a beautiful park, a wonderful place to spend time in (best at night) and very easy to have fun. Almost every ride is a complete classic, old and new. It's surprising just how old some of it actually is, it doesnt look it. The quality and imagination is also excellent.

I wouldnt say there are just 2 stand outs at all, Baron I don't find quite as fun as Vogel Rok, Joris etc. Nearly every dark ride is a real classic and a surprise.

I couldnt care less if something is "overrated" because that only depends on what you're listening to. Mingle with too many enthusiasts all the time and everything becomes "overrated" or "underrated". But if you ride something for what it's worth then Symbolica is an fantastic dark ride and very entertaining.

The park overall reminds me of what Alton Towers could have been had it developed more imaginatively and more genuine. You've got to remember as well, it's a family theme park, and it doesnt go for extremes and superlatives to make it stand out—it just does good ideas very well.

Personally it's my favourite park in Europe behind Europa-Park, or maybe tied with Phantasialand—two different parks with two different styles

 

[Benzin]

Until DLP opens something as good as Polle's Kuchen then Efteling will be better...

Think there's a few reasons behind the recent preference over it, especially if British media, as it's still the unheard of gem that's a cheaper (and better value) variant of Disney... There's just as much for kids to do, few more "big" rides and one of the best Pirates knock-offs...

To just link it to Disney being too "corporate" is just weird...

 

[ChristmasPud]

I guess another reason people may have more fondness for it is that it's a part of the country, it's not an American corporate venture that's come in to build a park on the continent for the sake of it (though that's not to say Disneyland Paris isnt a good park).

Efteling started out and grew into what it is today very organically, it's the real deal, even Disneyland was inspired by it in the first place (not something you often hear from Disney fans)

But putting all that aside (and fantastic value for what you pay), the main reason is that it's a great park. Even if you dont care much for dark rides, it's got great coasters—if you don't care/too young for coasters, it's got some of the best dark rides in the world. There isn't a solid line between the two either, Dutchman is just as much a dark ride and all that

If I listened to all the Symbolica hype before I went I'd probably have gotten sick of it before I arrived. That's just the internet surely, and goes for anything, not just theme parks. If it's just not your cup of tea that's fine too

 

[Dave]

Efteling is a beautiful park, a wonderful place to spend time in (best at night) and very easy to have fun. Almost every ride is a complete classic, old and new. It's surprising just how old some of it actually is, it doesnt look it. The quality and imagination is also excellent.

I wouldnt say there are just 2 stand outs at all, Baron I don't find quite as fun as Vogel Rok, Joris etc. Nearly every dark ride is a real classic and a surprise.

I couldnt care less if something is "overrated" because that only depends on what you're listening to. Mingle with too many enthusiasts all the time and everything becomes "overrated" or "underrated". But if you ride something for what it's worth then Symbolica is an fantastic dark ride and very entertaining.

The park overall reminds me of what Alton Towers could have been had it developed more imaginatively and more genuine. You've got to remember as well, it's a family theme park, and it doesnt go for extremes and superlatives to make it stand out—it just does good ideas very well.

Personally it's my favourite park in Europe behind Europa-Park, or maybe tied with Phantasialand—two different parks with two different styles

Yes that’s my point it’s subjective.

 

[ChristmasPud]

Yes that’s my point it’s subjective.

You seemed to write the exact opposite of my post and my point is more that it's objectively a brilliant park. If you don't enjoy it as much then yeah, that's just preference I guess and that's fine, it doesnt mean it's "overrated".

People are missing out on so much by not having a park remotely like Efteling in this country too.

 

[DiogoJ42]

I've never understood the Efteling hype, it's just... perfectly pleasant. There really is nothing special whatsoever about the place, and Symbolica has to be the most overrated dark ride ever created.

DLP is leagues ahead.

Even with my well known hatrid of the place, I still wouldn't go that far. Efteling is a park I both want and try to love, it just seems to conspire against me, and something always goes wrong whenever I visit!

 

[Dave]

You seemed to write the exact opposite of my post and my point is more that it's objectively a brilliant park. If you don't enjoy it as much then yeah, that's just preference I guess and that's fine, it doesnt mean it's "overrated".

People are missing out on so much by not having a park remotely like Efteling in this country too.

Go back a post:

Well these things are subjective but I would place some doubt. I find Efteling to be a bit mediocre if I’m honest. It’s pleasant enough but it has never blown me away.

I would ask how you are defining objectively brilliant? It lacks coherently themed areas. It has mediocre to average ride hardware. Ride theming varies from fantastic (Baron) to non-existent (python). Symbolica is an instructional piece on how to think about the set and forget the props of a dark ride (nothing like seeing animatronics reset whilst you are still pointing at them with full lights on), it’s also a good example of taking a ride system and completely under-utilising the functionality (though to be fair so is ratatouille).

Dutchman has a great dark ride when it’s fully functioning (which is no guarantee) with a boring ride.

Joris is Wickerman that Duels, not terrible but not amazing.

Now that makes things seem overly negative, as I have said it’s a perfectly pleasant park and these things are subjective. Just curious what the objectively brilliant is....

Unless we are talking about the spirilised potatoes, those are objectively brilliant.

 

[speedy]

I'm heading to Efteling on the 1st, purely because it's on the way from Utrecht to Brussels and I can reach it by public transport. I haven't been to a park on a weekend in ages, but I'll be able to stay from 10-8pm so hoping I can get on everything. I'm also told this is the final day of operation for Bob, so not sure how that will affect the crowds!

 

[Burbs]

I'm heading to Efteling on the 1st, purely because it's on the way from Utrecht to Brussels and I can reach it by public transport. I haven't been to a park on a weekend in ages, but I'll be able to stay from 10-8pm so hoping I can get on everything. I'm also told this is the final day of operation for Bob, so not sure how that will affect the crowds!

Go straight to Bob first thing. If you are in the park before 10am head to the first gate on the right and wait there, then when it opens you should be one of the first on Bob. We did this the other week and were on in a couple of minutes, though when we got off the ride there was a 50-minute queue built up in that short amount of time!

 

[John_P]

Just hope it doesn't rain, it did quite heavily for 5 minutes the other day and they shut the ride until it stopped and after about 30 minutes of running empty trains round before it reopened. Did mean I got on a train almost immediately when it did reopen though.