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Efteling: General Discussion

Bowser said:
I’ve not been on Oblivion but I’m curious why people rate it higher than Baron. From the outside they’re identical except Baron has incredible theming, a pre-show and post drop ride elements.
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Oblivion’s drop has an extra sixty feet on it and feels much more powerful than Baron. The newer-school, six-across Dive Machine models are much zippier than the original design, which means they can navigate extra elements more economically, but the sensation of the main drop always feels weaker to me.

For what it’s worth, I really like Efteling, but I think the current landscape means they could add a more intense thrill coaster and get away with it, while maintaining the usual storytelling elements. In contrast, the rebuild of Python was a waste of time.
 
Plastic Person said:
In contrast, the rebuild of Python was a waste of time
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I’m evidently in the minority but I really liked Python! I think it was the novelty of going on essentially my first ever inverting coaster (Corkscrew at AT) 35 years later but silky smooth and with great restraints.

Can certainly see the case for replacing it with something more befitting of the parks current high quality themed attractions than retracking but it’s still nice they’ve retained a piece history whilst bringing the ride experience up to modern standards.
 
Bowser said:
I’m evidently in the minority but I really liked Python! I think it was the novelty of going on essentially my first ever inverting coaster (Corkscrew at AT) 35 years later but silky smooth and with great restraints.

Can certainly see the case for replacing it with something more befitting of the parks current high quality themed attractions than retracking but it’s still nice they’ve retained a piece history whilst bringing the ride experience up to modern standards.
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You’re not in the minority, I really like Python too. It’s so smooth! And it’s actually a lot more intense than it looks. It’s probably the most intense ride at Efteling.
 
With any ride at Efteling it's almost so ingrained into Dutch (and neighbours) culture that announcing any ride is to be removed or refurbished is greeted with a fair chunk of negativity.

The initial response when they announced Spookslot's demise for example. They're pretty much on a lose-lose in a number of cases, especially if Fata Morgana is next on the agenda.

Wouldn't be surprised if even with Danse Macabre being fab there are still some fans who preferred Spookslot and will never like the new attraction.
 
I wouldn’t be surprised if/when Fata Morgana is done it returns in a fairly similar guise, so perhaps less controversial than Spookslot.
 
To me personally I view Efteling as a park I go for for the theming, the story, the look, this beautiful place to walk around and see all the craftsmanship that has gone into each area. Thrills to me are an afterthought, if a ride has some thrilling moments that's cool but it's not the sort of experience I'm going for and honestly I'd rather they keep opening more dark rides and heavily themed experiences than coasters.

There are loads of parks you can get thrills (walibi holland if you want to stay in the Netherlands has some pretty great thrill rides) but very few parks you can get the theming and the cohesive world building that Efteling has in every corner of it. Perhaps they will open a one of kind thrill focused ride but I think it's probably just best to look elsewhere for that since it doesn't seem to be their priority and I can't see that changing.
 
Eidderf said:
To me personally I view Efteling as a park I go for for the theming, the story, the look, this beautiful place to walk around and see all the craftsmanship that has gone into each area. Thrills to me are an afterthought, if a ride has some thrilling moments that's cool but it's not the sort of experience I'm going for and honestly I'd rather they keep opening more dark rides and heavily themed experiences than coasters.

There are loads of parks you can get thrills (walibi holland if you want to stay in the Netherlands has some pretty great thrill rides) but very few parks you can get the theming and the cohesive world building that Efteling has in every corner of it. Perhaps they will open a one of kind thrill focused ride but I think it's probably just best to look elsewhere for that since it doesn't seem to be their priority and I can't see that changing.
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I'd like to see the Efteling equivalent of something like The Mummy. A dark ride rollercoaster with show scenes. Imagine the quality of theming from Symbolica with a multi-dimensional coaster!
 
Plastic Person said:
In contrast, the rebuild of Python was a waste of time.
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It hadn't really occurred to me before your post in this thread a few weeks ago. But the more I think about it, the more this seems like a totally bizarre and, frankly, stupid decision. Since the removal of Bob, Python is now literally the only ride left at Efteling of its type ('styled' rather than themed).

Even if it hadn't needed retracking, there would have been a strong argument to either properly theme it, or to knock it down and build a more modern version in its place with echoes of the old ride (as you said before, a Lech-style modern Vekoma looper would have worked a treat). The fact that their hand was forced, and they still went ahead and rebuilt it exactly as it was anyway, is mystifying. Th13teen is rubbish, but at least Towers management had the guts to move on from Corkscrew.
 
They didn't even have to rename it if they wanted to keep that with the history, just do something if they're wanting to keep it to actually bring it to the level of themeing the rest of the park has.
 
Can only guess something to do with not being able to get permission to do anything but replace it. Especially considering what was happening with the expansion application.

That and likely some nostalgia tinted goggles. I'm not entirely sure how they'd theme it either given the area it sits is very much a mish-mash of differently themed rides.
 
Benzin said:
Can only guess something to do with not being able to get permission to do anything but replace it. Especially considering what was happening with the expansion application.

That and likely some nostalgia tinted goggles. I'm not entirely sure how they'd theme it either given the area it sits is very much a mish-mash of differently themed rides.
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They could have gone Wicker Man style if the area has multiple themes. A stand alone, themed experience.
 
They had all sorts of issues locally when they originally built it with construction at one point being ordered to stop. Might've been they decided retracking would mean they could just do it. Wheras if they knocked it down to replace it there was no guarantee the planning permission process would go their way, as what happened with the expansion plans.
 
Really looking forward to seeing this finished and hopefully visiting for this and danse macabre this year.

Really impressed by the entire park last visit, queues, choice of attractions, quality of accommodation, food etc.

Really made me realise the Merlin slop is really down to lack of effort/quality.

Comparing an older hotel in Hotel Efteling or the fresh food available, maintenance of their dive machine coaster, or ambition of Symbolica. The upkeep of their storybook forest. Even the quality of the music. All direct comparisons to Alton where it just failed.
 
It's probably a result of the CAD style of the images, but I'm not sure on the bedroom look.

Then again it'll probably look fairly similar to the updated rooms in the "old" main hotel so it'll still be top quality.
 
Looks nice, although I believe they mentioned a Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel as an inspiration towards the beginning and I'm not really seeing much of that here
 
There’s a criticism that seems to permeate a lot of Efteling’s recent updates (primarily accommodation related), which is that it’s “not very Efteling” or to be more specific, it’s a bit bland. The proposed updates to Efteling Hotel’s lobby and the recently completed refurbishment of Eethuys at Bosrijk are a couple of examples.

I think the current hotel risks seeing that same criticism.
 
Running Away The Grand Budapest Hotel GIF by Searchlight Pictures


Efteling reading all this
 
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