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Efteling: General Discussion

Corinec

TS Member
I have created this Efteling general discussion topic in order to discuss all Efteling-related matters as I don't think that new topics are that necessary for each new Efteling addition.

So, what's new at the moment?

The Emperor's New Clothes addition to the enchanted forest is coming along quite nicely. User 'jeroen_twee' took some nice pictures (http://themepark.nl/ubb/ubbthreads.php/topics/1618240/10/Nieuw_sprookje_najaar_2012_De_.html).

Finally, it has been confirmed that Aquanura will have nighttime shows during the Summer. The park closes at 20:00PM and Aquanura's final display of the day will take place at 22:00PM. A VIP section will be installed on the balcony of the Theatre which is already accessible if you book a diner at the restaurant located in the Theatre complex. Fata Morgana and Pandadroom (and probably also the restaurants surrounding Aquanura) will remain open till 22:00PM.

In additon, the Summer months welcome a revised concept of the days formerly known as Summernights (on Saturdays the park stays open till midnight) and is now going to be called the Seven Square Fest. Luckily, also for international visitors, the main stage with (for most part terrible) Dutch artists performing Dutch songs is gone! 8) In stead, they have invested in seven squares around the park with entertainment paying tribute to that part of the park (well, more or less...): Piranha square has capoeira dancers and a Latin DJ, the Fata Morgana square has a Middle Eastern bazaar, the Witte Paard square features can can dancers etc. This set up was a hit during last New Year's Eve, so I think it will work better than the previous Summernights.

Looking a bit further ahead (or not as filing date was in 2010), someone found Vekoma's patent filing for the transportation system of Hartenhof. You can find it over here: (http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=WO&NR=2012039601A1&KC=A1&FT=D&ND=3&date=20120329&DB=EPODOC&locale=nl_NL). To me, it looks like a robocoaster XXL, seating 21 people in stead of four. Nobody knows if this is the original version, the modified version, if Efteling is still with Vekoma or went to the manufacturer of the HP ride... It's 100% sure though that this is a design for Efteling as one of the drawings in the patent filing is exactly the same as one of the drawings in Efteling's building permit application (the lay out of the track).
 
Thank goodness that Efteling have seen sense and given Aquanura evening shows to make the entire water display worth it! It's equally lovely of them to add on Fata Morgana, perhaps it'll push them in the direction of opening the majority of the park later than usual too?

As for Hartenhof, it's genuinely amazing to see the Vekoma patent especially when there's been no hint on what the ride system actually looked like. Page 17 says that "...the sensors may provide the control unit with input from the passengers. For example a camera may be provided to interpret signals by the passengers e.g. waving with the arms or pointing in a direction...", suggesting Hartenhof could have a/had been an interactive experience that thankfully wouldn't involve those dratted laser guns.

Though on page 40, has anybody noticed how a document by Disney's Tony Baxter has been featured as a relevant claim from 1995? It says however that what he put 'can't be considered to involve an inventive step'.

EDIT: Said Tony Baxter's document is the patent for the Enhanced Motion Vehicle used for both Indiana Jones rides at Disneyland and Tokyo.
 
I'm still so excited to see Aqua Nura. I've been to Efteling twice in the past 12 months and I still can't get enough. The last time I was there, they were testing Aqua Nura and the bangs of the water cannons could be heard from our hotel (a couple of miles away).

I can't wait to stand there with the music playing, getting that excited tummy tickling feeling, having watched construction over my last two visits.
 
Posted by Efteling on Facebook:

180295_10151094276173854_1838830415_n.jpg


"Have you seen this? Curious? Open from July 18 ..." (translation)

Just a new food cart, or something to do with a new attraction for next year? Can't get a translation on the word on the cart.

Edit: Oh sod, it's just Dutch for potatoes. Presumably a new chip joint.
 
Good on Efteling on getting that, er, chip wagon! Investment goes a long way, heh... [/smile slightly falters]
 
I thought it was something more major because of the 320 'likes' and 59 comments it got on Facebook, but then I remembered it's a Dutch national institution and people are just crazy for the place!

On a serious note though, presuming they're sticking with this new 'add something every year' policy they seem to have just discovered like its the mid-80s, what will they be adding next year? Something small I presume, but I really hope they add something.
 
Aquanura 1.2 is running since last Friday. A video of the show:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj3RIGy8-iY[/youtube]

It has a few bugs, for example the light change of the Indian Waterlilies in the beginning of that sequence and the beginning of the show is a bit messed up, but they promised that they would be fixed soon.

Aquanura now also has some sort of VIP section on the balcony of the Efteling Theatre. Terrace 'Loreley' where you can sit and relax with unlimited food and luxury snacks for one hour (Eur 16 for adults/ Eur 8 for children) and enjoy Aquanura from the balcony:

DSCN9778.jpg


DSCN9782.jpg


Furthermore, Efteling has filed for a permit to extend the bird habitats of Raveleijn, which could well be connected to the rumor of big changes coming to Raveleijn since last September.

The Chiptwister food cart that you're talking about, Sam is only one of the many food carts introduced lately to increase F&B capacity. Older food carts have been restyled as well, all looking way better than they used to do:

Fata Morgana cart:

109694_real.jpg

(picture courtesy of 'timschaap')

Station de Oost cart:
DSCN4069.jpg



Carnaval Festival cart:
DSCN4072.jpg



The Emperor's New Clothes is still under construction:

keizer2012.jpg

(picture courtesy of 'vincent keuchen')
 
I was a day too early with my Efteling update :)

Eftelist and another Dutch website 'Looopings', very reliable sources, reported that Efteling will get a new ride in 2013 surrounding the launch of Efteling's new sub-brand of the 'Laven': 'Lummels' (Laaf children in Laaf' story). Apart from a new ride, there will be a new tv series, on- and offline games and merchandising. It will be located at the back of the Anton Pieck square (which is now a bit of a dead corner) and next to the current Laaf village. Unfortunately, Eftelist doesn't know what type of ride it will be, Looopings guesses an interactive dark ride.

There are no designs published yet and Efteling would not comment. Presumably they will wait until after the summer. So it will probably still be a bit up in the air for the months to come.
 
Thanks again Corine!

The new balcony area looks lovely. Seems to be part of a movement in parks over the past ten years, to provide luxury niche services as an add-on for guests. :)

This dark ride sounds very exciting. To be honest, I didn't expect them to get anything big at all next year, after Joris, Raveleijn and Aquanura. But it seems the days of Efteling's nauseatingly low investment are over.

Great to see them investing huge amounts of money year after year, and finally on an actual ride! Let's just hope it has high throughput.

If it's only a medium investment, in a small area, and it's an "interactive dark ride", I'd place my money on a 'Maus au Chocolat' style system. Small footprint, long ride time, relatively cheap, lots of fun for kids. :)

Corine, where exactly is the Anton Pieck square? Is it the one with Villa Volta and Dreamflight on it? Could you possibly point out on Google Maps? :)
 
Great news!

Efteling dark rides <3

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
Well this is very interesting news to hear and it's intriguing that Efteling are going to invest in a new dark ride so close to when Hartenhof is due to go under construction and opened. Unless this is a medium investment of sorts to make up for Hartenhof or as a replacement?

Nonetheless I look forward to hearing more news on it!
 
This is clearly a stop-gap apology for Hartenhof's lateness. Still, if Efteling get a small but great dark ride out of it, who's complaining?

Wasn't Hartenhof originally set to open in 2011 when it was first announced? Ha!
 
I get the feeling that they clearly view this as an infill. if it will be dark ride, it will presumably be a small one. Also given the amount of space. On the other hand, Aquanura was announced as an infill as wel...

Sam, the area you are talking about is the 'Ton van de Ven square'. This is the Anton Pieck square: http://goo.gl/maps/gyucj. If you turn around, there is some sort of 'dead' area and a circus tent. The circus was just temporary entertainment and is now gone as well. If you zoom out, you can see that the Laaf monorail (looks like a white dotted line from the skies) is next to it. That's where the ride is planned.

My feeling is that the ride will be themed amongst the children of Laaf who are known for their mischief. And there is tons of other stuff in the story of the Laaf people, explaining how they created the volcanoes and volcanic islands on Earth and visited Atlantis and ancient Greece, how only one Laaf ever died and the rest just keeps reincarnating. They must have come up with this stuff in a Dutch coffeeshop... Therefore, I hope they will boost the Laaf village and surrounding stories of the Laaf people as well. I always found it sad that they didn't do more with that. Already at the start, they sold a license for about 150,000 Euros to a company to sell Laaf-related merchandise who made a fortune doing that. By far the worst business decision ever made by Efteling. That contract -finally- ended last year.
 
Screamscale said:
2013 - The Emperor’s New Clothes - (7/30/12) Screamscape sources have confirmed that there is NOT a new dark ride project in the works for Efteling in 2013. What IS coming is a new fairy tale building based on “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, which will actually see ETF’s trackless technology put to use for some unique moving puppets. But this is NOT a new ride.

Very confused now. :-\
 
Well this does sound like an interesting concept, it is essentially a walkthrough then if all the major effects are based on a trackless system though I'm not entirely sure how it'll work out. Still it's a shame that it isn't a new ride instead.
 
No no, I don't think so. The Emperor’s New Clothes is the new scene that is currently being built in the Fairytale Forest. I think Screamscape is referring to that. That's due to open later this year. :)
 
Screamscape seems to be mixing up stuff...

The ETF trackless system story was published on a Belgian website not known to have reliable sources at Efteling, which stated that a possible 2013 ride would make use of that system. It could well be that the Emperor's New Clothes utilizes a trackless system (from ETF), but probably that Belgian website concluded (wrongly) that it would be used for the 2013-ride. Now, Screamscape seems to conclude that the trackless system will be used for the new fairytale and, therefore, there won't be a 2013 ride, which seems like jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Also, if you look at the capacity of those trackless systems, Efteling would never go along with that. Their philosophy can be summarized as follows: we want to stay a green park, so we can't place too many rides, we still want to draw five millions visitors in 2020. Conclusion: every ride has to have a high capacity.

I still put my money on Eftelist, they have virtually never been wrong and have an almost spotless record. Things may change at Efteling of course, they are known for that, but, usually, when Eftelist publishes a story, they are right. Keep in mind though, Eftelist did not state that the new ride would be a dark ride... they left this open.
 
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