Efteling: General Discussion

[Benzin]

Sounds like Looopings making a mountain out of a molehill: it’s a corporate event for Lidl staff, annual pass holder tickets aren’t valid so they won’t see it.

Looooooooooopings would NEVER.



/s

 

[John]

More importantly, since when has Carnaval Festival had virtual queue (assuming my guessed translation of the screen on the 2nd photo is correct?)

 

[Trooper Looper]

Spookslot remains will survive and be reused in the new area!!!

From: https://twitter.com/Efteling/status/1597252159359574016?t=c9DcCAE4mIZ8RwEp-FnKHg&s=19

 

[Rob]

Lots of lovely looking Titan track has now been installed on Joris:



It is scheduled to re-open on Christmas Eve!

 

[siralgenon]

Why does it now have metal track?

 

[Craig]

Why does it now have metal track?

It's GCI's new(ish) product to replace traditional wooden track. More durable and requires less maintenance. Bit of a cop-out for the traditionalists, but will be interesting to see how different it is once it reopens.

 

[Rob]

Aye, their doing Joris for two reasons. First is to reduce the amount of ongoing maintenance required and second is to reduce noise levels. I'm looking forward to seeing how differently it rides.

Joris is being done in three phases I believe, so anyone riding it in the next couple of years will get a direct comparison between the traditional GCI wooden track and their new Titan track.

 

[havaska]

Having ridden both halves of Joris and Draak for the first time this summer, I have to say this retrack can’t come soon enough.

It was so uncomfortably rough getting round, riding it was actually a chore.

Wickerman is so much smoother in comparison. It really is night and day.

 

[Rob]

That's interesting. We ended up riding Joris in its final hours before closing for this work and thought it was fine!

 

[havaska]

That's interesting. We ended up riding Joris in its final hours before closing for this work and thought it was fine!

It was August 22/23 when we went and it was very very hot so maybe that had something to do with it?

 

[djtruefitt]

When I rode it in the summer I found it to be quite rough and no where near as good as it was a few years back on my last visit. Maybe because they knew it was getting this new track they haven’t done as much track replacement as they might have usually done.

 

[RicketyCricket]

Rode Joris a few years ago and didn't think it was rough. It had the typical GCI jolts here and there but it was very re-rideable.

Will be interesting to see how it rides post retrack. Would assume it will run a fair bit faster.

 

[BigShadowtinytree]

Photo from yesterday of maintenance team working on Joris. Apparently it did open for a couple of days but has been shut ever since with them working on and testing it. Titan track looks nice!



Photo taken by me.

 

[CSLKenny]

Looopings have released some original concept arts for the long planned circus coaster; these are at least 5 years old and now outdated as the project has developed over time but give a taste of the theme and ambition for their expansion.

The expansion of the park including this new area and coaster was first officially mentioned in 2018. The situation with Bob, it's removal and replacement then took priority for 2020 pushing "Grand Circus Balancé" to 2021.
Efteling were confident the State Council would approve the expansion zoning plans however were surprised when it was rejected due noise and traffic complaints. A planned press release with concepts announcing the new coaster was cancelled when the news broke.

Eventually 2021 the expansion was finally approved - but the ride was not announced. Efteling stated the impact of corona meant the money wasn't there for such a major investment. Safer investments within the park like Danse Macabre and Grand Efteling Hotel for 2024 would take priority.

What the future holds for Grand Circus Balancé is unknown. Whether it will still come one day in some form; be it similar to this or dramatically changed remains to be seen.

The new area centrepiece would be a 35m tall circus tent. The rollercoaster would invoke a historic/nostalgic time with white supports faking an old wooden coaster.

Believed to be from Intamin; this family launch coaster would have a long layout and a trick track element called a Teeter Totter - tilting the train and rotating it (simulating a balancing act in the circus) before releasing into a short backwards section.
Top speed of 65km/h, 5 trains and a theoretical capacity of 1,800 guests per hour.

The circus tent would also have stands for non-riders to view the "balancing act" of the show and a gastro offering.

The area could've featured some flat rides too. The entrance would have been through/under the coaster's outdoor lift hill.

Dit zijn de oorspronkelijke plannen voor de nieuwe Efteling-achtbaan Grand Circus Balancé

Het is geen geheim dat de Efteling plannen heeft klaarliggen voor een grote nieuwe achtbaan in circusthema. Maar hoe die rollercoaster eruit moet gaan zien, bleef tot nu toe een mysterie. Daar komt vandaag verandering in. Ter gelegenheid van ons...

www.looopings.nl

 

[Rob]

Hopefully something like this does one day materialise as it looks stunningly beautiful and quite different to most of Efteling's other recent new additions.

 

[Benzin]

Would the locals have responded positively to the massive circus tent?

Think maybe if the locality had seen those concepts images might have been why it struggled to go through.

 

[Rowe]

Edna the Dragon is looking very pretty in the dark nowadays.

 

[Rick]

Did it used to breathe fire ?

 

[djtruefitt]

Did it used to breathe fire ?

Yes, but I’m sure it’s not worked for a while now.

 

[tayspru]

Yes, but I’m sure it’s not worked for a while now.

Didn’t she used to move too?