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Efteling: General Discussion
- Thread starter Corinec
- Start date
Sam said:Anyway, onto business. The very odd and unexpected announcement of an upcoming B&M dive machine.
- "With the new roller coaster we focus on the 10 to 15 year olds," says new park boss.
- 37 meter drop (121ft).
- Summer 2015.
- 400 new beds in the Bosrijk camp resort.
- Overall spend of €36m for the above two investments, god knows how.[/i]
- The coaster will "tell a special story" according to the park boss.[/i]
- The park want 5m guests a year by 2020.[/i]
Unfortunately (and to the inexplicable relief of Efteling fans) the park have confirmed that this coaster won't be replacing Python, which is rapidly becoming an embarrassment to a major world-class park like Efteling.
Finally, the new park director has announced that the infamous Hartenhof has not been cancelled, will open between 2016 and 2020, and will cost €42.5m to build.
Hi (decided to drop by one again - if you still remember me...
)The above is all true. Also confirmed is the fact that it will be a B&M. The Coasterforce post is a blend of other rumors that make no sense together. Already soon after the announcement, Efteling PR officer confirmed to Eftelist that it will be a B&M. This information is just not very interesting for the general public... Looopings' rumor on the mine theme is probably also a fact, because that was the title of the drawings submitted to the local council. Can't imagine they would do such a thing just to mess around. Although that would be quite a move... The picture from Looopings is likely to be too industrial, but it will probably not be a western style mine theming. If you look at old mine buildings in the Southern regions of the Netherlands (and also Belgium) they are actually in forrest environments and look quite Efteling-like. I think the theme could actually be well chosen.
Also, on the drawings, the building is very large, about half the size of The Flying Dutchman, which of course includes a maintenance section, walk trough and dark ride. The budget for the building is 2.000.000 Euro's, so probably there is either a dark ride or walk trough involved. In addition, Efteling's good designer has been given this job, so people are hopeful. He is the one who designed the Ravelin building (not the show...) and was responsible for 'Het Witte Paard' restaurant rehab.
The Bosrijk expansion also includes group accommodations for up to 25 persons.
Furthermore, the 36.000.000 Euro figure is the figure for the total investments in 2015. The coaster will be 18.000.000 Euro; Bosrijk is unknown, but will also be quite a lot since the first phase costed 42.000.000 Euro's. Efteling's refurbishment program will continue. Officially, the Steam Carrousel is not part of that. There is a refurbishment program running on the background of which Dreamflight and Piranha were the first rides. Also up will be Fata Morgana, Spookslot and two other rides I can't look up now. Restaurants will also remain a number one priority. The Globetrotter/Welkom building is probably up next.
Fons Jurgens, the new CEO -who was also part of the board headed by Bart de Boer and who has been with Efteling since 1995- has announced that things will be going a bit slower than under Bart de Boer's leadership. They will now be taking things one at a time. First finish something, then start something new. If you visited Efteling for instance in the period 2010-2012, fences were just literally EVERYWHERE.
However, they are still aiming for 5.000.000 visitors in 2020. Hartenhof indeed also includes this time frame and that should be the main catalyst for this aim. They seem to really believe that even fans from the US would catch a flight to visit that ride. Don't know about that, but they do have some 'strange' confidence in the ride, like it's really the ace up their sleeves. It will be a world premiere of something, but, really, nobody seems to know what. International marketing will continue and based on my own visits, this does seem to be working. From now on, every ride will also come in four languages and this policy will also be, gradually, applied to already existing rides/menus etc.
Sam
TS Member
Thanks Corine, your insight is really appreciated!
Looopings has reported that the working name, and possibly the final name (like Helix), of this project is Pride, as in 'Pride before a fall.'
Also, picking up on what Corine said about Efteling's "good designer" being given the job is this rather bitchy Looopings article about Charles Willemen, designer of DVH, being looked over for this job in favour of the 14-years-younger Sander de Bruijn, designer of Raveleijn and Hartenhof.
Not really sure why everyone is so happy about this? Is DVH seen as bad, in terms of the design work? The UK enthusiasts who've been to Efteling are pretty unanimous in their praise of the beauty of DVH. :/
Looopings has reported that the working name, and possibly the final name (like Helix), of this project is Pride, as in 'Pride before a fall.'
Also, picking up on what Corine said about Efteling's "good designer" being given the job is this rather bitchy Looopings article about Charles Willemen, designer of DVH, being looked over for this job in favour of the 14-years-younger Sander de Bruijn, designer of Raveleijn and Hartenhof.
Not really sure why everyone is so happy about this? Is DVH seen as bad, in terms of the design work? The UK enthusiasts who've been to Efteling are pretty unanimous in their praise of the beauty of DVH. :/
Yes, Karel Willemen's work is controversial to say the least. Officially, all rides and restaurants are designed by 'Efteling imagineering' and while there are other designers who work there, basically everything of any descent size is designed by Karel or Sander.
To my taste, it has all gotten a bit out of hand since Eftelist in 2011 published an e-mail that equated the designs of Karel a disease. Exceptions aside, almost every Efteling enthusiast prefers Karel to keep his designs outside of the park (or Efteling as such). Personally, I'm okay with him, as long as he doesn't design rides or restaurants. He for instance also designed Bosrijk, I'm fine with that.
Generally, he is accused of having a fetish for the color brown and wood. In addition, he uses clichés and repeats a lot of his work. Examples are the insane amounts of the use of brown at DVH and Station de Oost, the gazillion lion statues at DVH, the ships against the houses at DVH and the clocks at the house of Cinderella in the fairy tale forest. It already went wrong when he (re)designed Het Witte Paard. For more than ten years long, the restaurant looked awful. Now it has been redone and looks beautiful as it always was. Het Witte Paard is very dear to Efteling employees and enthusiasts. It was Efteling's very first big restaurant and dates from 1975. Basically, it comes down to the fact that he doesn't understand the style of the park and that his designs are not that bad, but that they could have been build in any other theme park around the world; they just don't fit at Efteling. Also, he doesn't understand the adagio 'less is more'.
Now there's Sander and this guy does seem to understand it. That is a blessing. About ten years ago Michel den Dulk -another Efteling designer, basically Sander's predecessor- was fired for criticizing Karel's work of DVH. Michel was like the enthusiast's new hope after Ton van de Ven (who pretty much designed the entire park) retired. Michel went to Europapark and there he for instance designed Abenteuer Atlantis and Blue Fire and its surroundings. He left Europapark and he is now a senior designer at WDI and used to be Tony Baxter's protégé and who is a very good friend of Ton van de Ven. He for instance did the Fantasy Faire expansion at Disneyland Anaheim. If you look at that, you can see the traces of Efteling style. Fun fact is that Michel would actually be an intern at Alton Towers, because there was no spot available at Efteling, so they kind of arranged that for him. At the very last moment, his internship at Alton Towers was cancelled and then they just created a position at Efteling for him.
BTW: for background information on Efteling, there is now: 'Eftepedia' <http://www.eftepedia.nl/> Eftepedia is the result of more than a decade of work of Efteling enthusiasts and pretty much goes down to the nitty gritty details of Efteling. when it went live, every major Dutch newspaper/website/tv channel had an article or report on this. The information is all in Dutch, but maybe Google translate can be of help. You seem to be getting the gist of the Looopings articles with that... If you haven't done so already, I would advise you to just take a look. I don't even think there is a Disney fansite that has this kind of information at these quantities on Disney parks...
To my taste, it has all gotten a bit out of hand since Eftelist in 2011 published an e-mail that equated the designs of Karel a disease. Exceptions aside, almost every Efteling enthusiast prefers Karel to keep his designs outside of the park (or Efteling as such). Personally, I'm okay with him, as long as he doesn't design rides or restaurants. He for instance also designed Bosrijk, I'm fine with that.
Generally, he is accused of having a fetish for the color brown and wood. In addition, he uses clichés and repeats a lot of his work. Examples are the insane amounts of the use of brown at DVH and Station de Oost, the gazillion lion statues at DVH, the ships against the houses at DVH and the clocks at the house of Cinderella in the fairy tale forest. It already went wrong when he (re)designed Het Witte Paard. For more than ten years long, the restaurant looked awful. Now it has been redone and looks beautiful as it always was. Het Witte Paard is very dear to Efteling employees and enthusiasts. It was Efteling's very first big restaurant and dates from 1975. Basically, it comes down to the fact that he doesn't understand the style of the park and that his designs are not that bad, but that they could have been build in any other theme park around the world; they just don't fit at Efteling. Also, he doesn't understand the adagio 'less is more'.
Now there's Sander and this guy does seem to understand it. That is a blessing. About ten years ago Michel den Dulk -another Efteling designer, basically Sander's predecessor- was fired for criticizing Karel's work of DVH. Michel was like the enthusiast's new hope after Ton van de Ven (who pretty much designed the entire park) retired. Michel went to Europapark and there he for instance designed Abenteuer Atlantis and Blue Fire and its surroundings. He left Europapark and he is now a senior designer at WDI and used to be Tony Baxter's protégé and who is a very good friend of Ton van de Ven. He for instance did the Fantasy Faire expansion at Disneyland Anaheim. If you look at that, you can see the traces of Efteling style. Fun fact is that Michel would actually be an intern at Alton Towers, because there was no spot available at Efteling, so they kind of arranged that for him. At the very last moment, his internship at Alton Towers was cancelled and then they just created a position at Efteling for him.
BTW: for background information on Efteling, there is now: 'Eftepedia' <http://www.eftepedia.nl/> Eftepedia is the result of more than a decade of work of Efteling enthusiasts and pretty much goes down to the nitty gritty details of Efteling. when it went live, every major Dutch newspaper/website/tv channel had an article or report on this. The information is all in Dutch, but maybe Google translate can be of help. You seem to be getting the gist of the Looopings articles with that... If you haven't done so already, I would advise you to just take a look. I don't even think there is a Disney fansite that has this kind of information at these quantities on Disney parks...
Quetzal
TS Member
Thanks Corinec for these posts, they're really useful.
This is the first I've ever heard about DVH being poorly designed!
I really am looking forward to this ride, it's really strange seeing efteling build a 'standard' ride. I'd imagine that there's a few secrets to this ride that will make the ride truly efteling.
This is the first I've ever heard about DVH being poorly designed!
I really am looking forward to this ride, it's really strange seeing efteling build a 'standard' ride. I'd imagine that there's a few secrets to this ride that will make the ride truly efteling.
djtruefitt
TS Team
So I have just got back from a trip to Efteling, I won't do a trip report or anything as i'm sure you all know about the park, rides, etc. However I would just like to say the new version of Raveleijn is 100 times better than the old one. I remember watching it on new years eve 2012, the arena looked amazing, the fire breathing creature was amazing, but the show was utter crap! It was boring and really didn't make sense.
The new one is so much better, it has a brand new set that looks very good and this means you are no longer left with a completely open empty arena. The platform above the creature is also much taller and more impressive, and finally the fire breathing creature thing is also much better hidden and you only spot it once it comes alive.
There are also some other great little bits, such as one of the characters appearing from under the water, and the woman disappearing in the cage (in the whole show she just stood there doing nothing). The story is still the same, but now it seems to make sense and even I knew what was going on and none of the show is in English, the silly video at the start has also been removed.
So I would say it is now certainly worth a watch compared to what was there before, also the music is fantastic!
(P.S. If any park in the UK reads this, can we please have Walls Happiness stations and them potato spiral things in the UK!)
The new one is so much better, it has a brand new set that looks very good and this means you are no longer left with a completely open empty arena. The platform above the creature is also much taller and more impressive, and finally the fire breathing creature thing is also much better hidden and you only spot it once it comes alive.
There are also some other great little bits, such as one of the characters appearing from under the water, and the woman disappearing in the cage (in the whole show she just stood there doing nothing). The story is still the same, but now it seems to make sense and even I knew what was going on and none of the show is in English, the silly video at the start has also been removed.
So I would say it is now certainly worth a watch compared to what was there before, also the music is fantastic!
(P.S. If any park in the UK reads this, can we please have Walls Happiness stations and them potato spiral things in the UK!)
Sammy
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Untamed - Walibi Holland
There was absolutely no signs of any work being done for the Dive Machine! The only signs of any construction work, were several men dangling from various inversions on Python! Which, needless to say... Was closed! :\
Couldn't agree more with @djtruefitt the newly adapted Raveleijn is absolutely fantastic! A true spectacle to behold with various effects and elements appearing from all over the newly designed set! Much more enjoyable to watch than the absolute borefest that it was beforehand!
Quite how they ever got a show containing a 5 headed fire breathing mechanical dragon so wrong in the first place, I do not know!
Couldn't agree more with @djtruefitt the newly adapted Raveleijn is absolutely fantastic! A true spectacle to behold with various effects and elements appearing from all over the newly designed set! Much more enjoyable to watch than the absolute borefest that it was beforehand!
Quite how they ever got a show containing a 5 headed fire breathing mechanical dragon so wrong in the first place, I do not know!
Sam
TS Member
Sam
TS Member
Efteling have released the music for Aquanura 2 on iTunes. A bargain at £1.79.
