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Efteling: General Discussion

Oh no, I missed the new additions by literally a few days! It was my first visit to Efteling, and I have such a massive soft spot for Danse Macabre. In fact, I think it places pretty high on my list of top dark rides. Such a unique, dramatic and atmospheric ride!
 
Poisson said:
I suppose it can take the crown of best operating Dive Coaster I have done today. Just took the other 5 being closed I suppose ;)
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Freezing Ice Cube GIF by Pudgy Penguins
 
We had the pleasure of visiting Grand Hotel for the first time recently so I thought I’d post some thoughts on our stay.

The arrival experience is faultless. You drive your car to the front of the hotel (via the newly built underpass) and are met by beautifully dressed staff who greet you by name, take your luggage and valet park you. An easy, seamless start. You then enter the lobby to be greeted again and given an introduction to the hotel. The simplicity of the lobby decor is elegant and the subtle park touches are nice to see. There’s also a coffee bar and hotel shop. The shop is ornately presented. The self-playing piano in the lobby adds an extra elegance to the space and if you listen carefully it syncs with the music played through speakers to create a concerto of sound - really nice.

Entry to the park from the hotel is either outside via gate to the Fairytale Forest, the Promenade or via the shop, through a secret door, to the new main park shop and into the park. You don’t even think about tickets etc as the staff are clearly fully aware who is a hotel guest and not, and so you have another seamless entry experience.

The hotels archway effectively splits into two side, with lobby etc on one and the hotel’s restaurants and bar on the other. To access those you either have to enter th speak via the aforementioned methods or clunky take the lift up to floor 2, walk across and then back down. This separation feels rather odd and ends up making the restaurants feel like an annex. At the same time, they don’t really integrate very well with the park - the wall and railing separating Brasserie 7 from the park is inelegant and in fact the narrow end of the hotel facing the Aquanura lake, unlike the longer and more handsome facades, is borderline ugly. It’s an odd design decision to not have anything which articulates that entrance area facing the lake, nor to have a more accessible F&B offering in the area where you can more readily and easily pop in for a drink or snack. I’m going back quite a while now, but before the hotel there was a lovely quick service restaurant in this area which served exactly tha purpose. That design choice I think is the biggest issue with the hotel. You feel like you’re in an oddly disconnected space in both restaurants- not quite fully integrated with either the hotel or the park.

As for the restaurants themselves: Brasserie 7 is a beautiful space, split into two decor sections. The conservatory area with views of the lake and entrance is particularly nice and a beautiful space for breakfast, which incidentally is top notch. There’s a mix of buffet and à la carte available, alongside sparkling wine. The bakery goods are first class. The only thing letting down breakfast is the chaos of the queue to get in, which took a good 25 minutes for us in a cramped lobby area with now queuing system - that needs fixed urgently.

Dinner at Brasserie 7 wasn’t quite as good. The food was perfectly fine, but doesn’t match the standards available in the likes of Bosrijk. Service is friendly, but they are clearly understaffed and so it’s slow - that appears a common complaint.

Moving to Mystique, which sits above Brasserie 7 as the bar and fine dining restaurant. This is an odd space. It’s a very large room with minimal decoration and high ceilings. The restaurant kitchen sits in the back wall and main restaurant space is at the back right sat into the cylinder of the base of one of the turrets. A large balcony area wraps around that area - I’m sure it’s great to sit out there in the summer. The bar area has very high ceilings, is dimly lit, and has little visual interest. There’s furniture is all set at the same level and combined with the high ceilings the space feels far too plain, uninteresting and cavernous for the otherwise cosy and elegant vibe they’re going for. It’s not unpleasant, but neither does it feel warm or inviting. The drinks list is a little disappointing too. The cocktails, which I’d expected to be abundant and interesting, are actually pretty lacking in choice and originality. A smoked old fashioned sitting on the very short Mystique specialities section is a prime example of there being little of real originality. Service, like downstairs, is slow but friendly.

The restaurant section is much cosier as it resides in the smaller back space, unless you’re unlucky enough to get one of the few tables in the open plan bar area. Avoid those if you can or unless you hold a particular interest in watching the kitchen. The menu is chosen by the kitchen. Your only choices are whether to have 3 or 4 courses and also what ingredient “additions” to add to your meal. You choose those additions via a slightly contrived selection of stones assigned to each ingredient. In reality your choices are basically a choice of what intermediate dishes will be served between courses. There’s also a good value wine pairing available and I recommend that - the sommelier is excellent and will provide generous pours of excellent wines explained in a clear and unpretentious fashion.

One of each main dish changes every 2-3 weeks, so my report of specific food probably won’t help any of your choices. What I can say is that, as with many fine dining locations, there was a mix of good and outstanding dishes. Some of the attempts at flavour combinations and whimsical dishes really worked. I also thought the value again was very decent for fine dining in a captive setting. €80 for 4 courses, which in reality with the intermediate course is more than 10, is very good value. The Staff and service are excellent too.

Aquanura is very visible from the restaurant with great views, at least until the balcony fills up at which point a lot of your view is blocked. This is a poor design decision. That balcony could either have sat at a lower level to the inside or the tables inside raised up. It’s clear that most people in the restaurant want to see the show and you are asked which of the performances you intend to watch when you sit down so that the servers can time your meal accordingly and pause service during the show. If you want to see the show properly then, you’ll need to stand on the balcony where you can also hear the audio. The view is great, albeit I prefer the show from face on, rather than the short sides of the lake.

The hotel rooms continue the minimal elegance of the hotel decor, perhaps even more plainly. Toiletries are excellent quality, bathrobes and slippers are provided and the beds are superb. Room service via the app is also very good and you’ll also get a turndown service. We had a view of the Fairytale Forest and most of the rest of the park. It was lovely. My only slight criticism was that the relatively minimalist design won’t be to everyone’s tastes and it could be argued that the luxury that is evidently being strived for doesn’t immediately translate via the choice of decor.

The pool area is another jive addition in the basement and it continues the feel of elegance, which some luxury touches of sauna, steam room, drinking water and excellent toiletries. We visited in the middle of the day to get a quiet time but I can imagine it being rather busier and less pleasant after park close.

Overall then, Grand Hotel really strives for a significant luxury experience. It achieves it in nearly all areas - the arrival experience is absolutely superb, and the other little luxury touches are brilliant and extremely rare (if they exist at all) in any theme park hotel. The F&B and layout have issues. I would love to take the elegant warm vibe of the lobby and translate that to the bar - at the moment they hardly feel part of the same hotel. In context these are minor critiques, but I’d like to see them fixed because the majority of the hotel offering is so good, it’s a shame to be let down by these shortfalls.

I would recommend the hotel. The price feels high but you do feel like you’re getting value. I think I’d go as far to say it’s the best theme park hotel experience I’ve had.
 
Nice review! Just got back from our first visit to Bosrijk. Was amazing! Will try to write a review at some point, however recovering from being stuck for 8 hours at Le Shuttle terminal in Calais due to last nights power and train breakdown shenanigans
 
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