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Toverland, Efteling and Phantasialand first trip Advice/Tips

Marcus

Marcus

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Hello everyone, in June (1st to the 4th) I am going on a family holiday flying out to Cologne renting a car out going to Toverland the day we arrive (as it was recommended on here as I really like Wodan and we would be nearly driving past it) staying just outside eindhoven, efteling on the 2nd day staying that night in the same hotel as the first night, phantasialand on the 3rd day staying in cologne that night and on the 4th day site seeing in cologne (Cathedrial etc similar to what we did in Strasbourg when visiting Europa park last year) before flying back that night.

Any advice would be most appreciated for first time visitors to all 3 of these parks including things like food, which rides to ride first etc. Europa Park was great last year and hopefully this trip is able to be just as magical.
Thank You.
 
Toverland: not a lot to say really, you'll presumably be getting there late so there's no point in saying where to go first. You can get an online ticket including a meal deal which is pretty good value though.

Efteling is a very big park, and the opening hours aren't that great. Not really a problem if it isn't busy, but it's best to be there for opening and aim to get Baron 1898 and De Vliegende Hollander done ASAP. The fairytale forest (sprookjesbos) is NOT a short cut to anything, but if you've got time to venture in there's a set route that you can follow to see most of it without getting too lost (hopefully). Don't go on Gondoletta, you will regret it half way round (seriously, it goes on for AGES). For food, check out Polles Keuken (pancakes), even if you don't end up eating there. The Octopus restaurant is always a popular choice amongst TST too.

Phantasialand - Taron may not be open by the time you visit (it's possible, but nothing's confirmed yet). Maus au Chocolat tends to have the longest queue. River Quest is surprisingly low capacity leading to long waits and Winjas is often the next worst for queues.
 
Thank you John all great bits of advice, yes we will be getting into toverland later in the day.

Really looking forward to Efteling and glad to have been given some direction on what to ride first, from what I have read here there building the castle dark ride in the plaza area which probably won't help with navigating the park but I am sure we will cope.

I guessed winja would have bad throughput due to it being a spinning coaster, does fear get noticeably larger queues than force?

If taron and raik are open that's really great, but if not it's not too bad as we have never been there anyway and it might incourage the locals to hold off from going til it does open as I am pretty sure it wouldn't be too long after then.
Thanks again for the reply :)
 
Leave BlitzBahn to the end of your day at Toverland, as its dire throughput leads to lengthy queues throughout the day. It's therefore better to leave it as your last ride so you're not rushing to do everything else, but still able to get it in before the queue closes.
 
Thanks Danny, I will keep that in mind, it certainly looks like a unique ride, interested to see how busy Toverland is as I looked at the guest per year and it is going up every year but still a long way behind other parks even though it has some solid looking attractions maybe it just hasnt built up the reputation other parks have yet. If Troy is anything like Wodan I am in for a treat!
 
Very excited! Heading out tomorrow, when I get back I will let you lot know how I got on, does look like we are going to have crap weather but theres nothing that can be done about that.
 
@Rick far from it! What a coaster! Currently waiting in Cologne airport to fly back, but when I am next at a computer I will give a full right up of the trip!! :D
 
Toverland
We didnt make it to the park till about 12ish, it had been raining all the time at times very hard when traveling to the park and we thought we were either in for a soaking on the outside rides or they would just be closed, however as luck would have it as we arrived the rain died down a serious amount with only one or two showers whilst we were there. Nice to see that they do a English map, I wasn't sure if they would have one but its really nice that they do. I will give my feelings on the most noteworthy attractions.

Troy
We headed to Troy first fearing if the heavy rain returned it would be shut, it was walk on, which we thought was down to the fact the rain had only just stopped, however it remained walk on the entire time we were there, the operations were top notch, evening letting you remain in your seats or swap positions when in the station due to there being so few people there and it was only on a 1 train service.

I couldn't help compare it to Wodan as it was the only other GCI woodie I have done. The ride experience was fantastic, it roars round the track with some real nice pops of airtime and the first drop and overall pacing of the ride being super, although it isn't as quick as Wodan it doesn't seem much slower and it has IMO more interesting elements/ varied experience. The themeing isn't as good as Wodans but it is only a small park and it is far from bad especially from a small park, and what is there I really liked. The ride was really something special and worth coming to the park on its own and I will stick my head and say that I think it is better than Wodan which could mean it being my new favourite coaster, I really do like the feeling of a GCI woodie.

The only minor ciritisim (very minor) I would give it would be that on some but not all of the rides the second half of the ride felt slightly too rough, it could of just been me, as I know the ride has been retracked recently but felt on a couple of rides a little too rough on the second half, but it could of just been that I hadn't been on a coaster this year and it didn't seem consistantly like that and the rides before park closing none felt like that, so it could just be me being a winja ;) .


Djengu River
The area for this ride looked really good and was IMO the best themed area if the park, whilst walking to this ride we saw the ginger haired boss lady, she seemed very nice and it was nice to see even on a very quite day she was out and about in the park.

The ride was walk on, and the staff member was even trying to encourage us to stay in the boat to go straight back round again which was funny (we did return later in the day to his amusement!). The ride was very nice with some nice pieces of themeing and with nice water effects. It was the first time I had been on a rapids with that boat design which made it so the water could go through the middle without drenching you. The ride seemed to get you a bit wet but not soaked which we liked and it made me think that is was down to the boat design as at times slashes that would tyically get you pretty wet on other rapids didn't seem to splash that much so I put it down to the boats design (river quest proved just how wrong I was but thats for a later post :D ). It was a good rapids, better than most the UK ones (maybe even all the ones I've done) and a solid ride to Toverlands lineup.

Dwervelwind
Dwervelwind was next, it was the second Mack spinner I had done after Euro-sat, and it is definantly not as good a euro-sat. It was a fun ride with some good twists and I prefer the free spining nature of the ride nut it seems to hit a peak about half way through the ride then mellow out in the last section. Far from a bad ride, its a really great family ride I just wondered if the make spinner is worth (what I imagine) higher prize tage than the Maurer spinners that do admittedly have worst throughputs but for a smaller park I dont know if the extra cost of a Mack spinner would be worth it? Also sad to here about Maurer plans to mvoe away from coasters there spinners are good fun.

The onboard audio was really awesome and added to the ride alot. Only on a one train service but same as before we sat on it, swapped seats and got many rides on it, which compared to how long you have to queue for one ride on Dragons Fury makes you laugh.

Booster Bikes
Nice little ride with an interesting but somewhat gimmicky seating arrangement, fun little launch ride, U thinky my little brother enjoyed it more than me. For a cheaper price than other launch coasters its a good offering althought the 1.4m height restiction seems to cut into the target audience IMO as it would seem like a nice first launch coaster. I do understand it was one of the park earlier rides and it is better the park has it than not.

Fun ride but we only did have two rides on it back to back front row, didn't even have to move which was cool, but with Troy sitting there with no queue it, I know which one I would rather be riding. i can't compare it with the one at flamingo land as I have never been.

Backstroke
Backstroke was a really good log flume which had alot going for it. No queue (noticed the theme yet :) ) the ride had some nice themeing and it made me laugh alot when the goblin type head sprayed my brother right in the face! Cool how it had an inside and outside section along with a backwards drop. If a flume of this calibar replaced the flume I would be happy but I image the water ride that will replace it will be unlikley to be a straight up flume.

It did get you wet but it didn't go over the top which was good as some drizzle had returned at this point in time. At the time of riding it I felt this was my new favourite log flume (it had been dragon falls probably due to a big dose of nostaglia but it looks mega ugly without the facade and is a bit run down now).

Blitz Barn
The only ride with any kind of queue which must of been 5 - 10 minutes, the ride was really unique and it was really cool once we realised you were the one in charge of your speed, so on the second go it was pedal to the metal! The start of the ride was my favourite as you zoom through the eletrical section. I also found that the onboard audio was really cool just like on dwervelwind. I dont think this is the kind of ride that could survive at larger theme parks due to its throughput but at Toverland (for now) it has a good place. Its great being on a ride with no restraint at all, felt very free and added to the thrill.



Other things I feel worth righting about are the huge number of play areas, if you had little children Toverland is idea even if they don't like rides as there are so many play areas both inside and out, I can imagine it being very lively in the summer becuase of this. The indoor train coaster packed more of a punch than I thought it was going to and there were some really small children riding and re-riding it all day which was nice to see. The waterslides were also good fun and on the blue one my brother and myself raced and the ride op gave my brother a push to give him a chance of betting me down (which he did!) however I went on mcuh further so it was less distance to carry the dingy.

I would like to thank those on here who recommended Toverland as originally the plan was to just do Efteling and Phantasialand but we were all really glad we did Toverland and would defiantly do it again. For relativly small and young park they are doing some fantastic things and I look forward to seeing what they do next, they really deserve more visitors than they seem to get. I would recommend anyone who is doing a similar trip to not overlook Toverland, even if it is just for Troy which is in my opinion a top European Coaster there is alot else there also to do there and I found a nice charm to the place, clearly run with a smaller budget than some other parks but with alot of care and top quality ride ops (probably the best of the trip!). I feel if toverland was in the UK it would really do great, it just has some tough competition where it is but in time I hope to see toverland go toe to toe with the big boys, they certainly have all the the potential and IMO are on the right tracks.

further reports on Efteling and Phantasialand to come hope you've enjoyed the read so far :)
 
I'm glad you enjoyed Toverland. I went for the first time last year on a quiet but swelteringly hot day and had a lovely time.

Troy was...I'd hesitate to say rough, but certainly prone to serious vibration in places when I was there, especially on the first sweeping left hand bend, so repeat riding wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. It is an amazing ride though which compares very well to Wodan, and if it was just the second half that you found less comfortable then it sounds like the retracking has done it some good. :)
 
@Cheese yes it was only on a couple of back to back rides it felt like your brain had been shaken like a drinks mixer, gave me a slight headache but after a drink I was back on, and it wasn't like every ride felt like this just after multiple it seemed to take its toll. GCI woodies really seem to hit the nail on the head in what I want out of a coaster.
 
That sounds just like how I found it. I'd usually define a rough ride as one that knocks you about, whereas Troy just rattled my head instead of tracking erratically.
 
I didn't find any issues during my 6 rides last July. Brilliant ride, really enjoyed. Don't fear your neck, several in our group rated it over Wodan, and I'll stick my head out and say D'Wervelwind isn't that good, I even prefer Spinball over it.
 
@Cheese yes rough is probably not the right choice of word from me, makes it sound not very good, maybe brain tickler ;)

@Poisson glad I am not the only one who prefers it! Maurer spinners are really quite fun out of the ones I've done, even spinball although not great, has its fun moments, Dwervelwind just seemed to lack their insanity levels, but the onboard audio was nice and it was as smooth as silk. Euro-mir certainly shows the mack spinners can be crazy! (although it feels like for some reason in my head it doesn't even fall into the catorgory of spining coaster as it is so unlike any other I have done with its controlled spin, giant size and its winding around the towers).
 
Personally I thought Dwervelwind was an absolute delight and even that off the shelf layout would fit in nicely at Towers as a replacement for Spinball, though perhaps a different layout designed for a throughput higher than 900 per hour might be better there. It's not really comparable to Mir, which I wouldn't describe as a spinning coaster because it doesn't spin freely while out on the main section (mind you, Mir might rip your head off if it could do that!).
 
To add to Dwervelwind's praise, its station and lighting sequences within the theming are a gem.
 
Oh aye, I liked it, don't get me wrong, but I feel Winjas Fear/Dragons Fury/Spinball Whizzer are better
 
Efteling
So the second day we get to the park at opening time, it looks with lots of cars arriving however it really wasn't once everyone is in the park and spread out. The entrance was lovely and very charming, with it seeming alot larger in the flesh. On the advice of @John we headed first to ride Baron to get it out of the way before the queues become a problem. Sorry this is going to be pretty long and work and will have a healthy dose of spelling mistakes but here we go!

Baron 1898
We got to Baron, which suprisingly only had a 15 minute queue even though we hadn't rushed to get to it enjoying soaking up the atmosphire, looking across the lake and just enjoying ourselves rather than rushing. Baron looks appsolutely amazing and seemed to be the dominant feature at the heart of the park as you seem to be able to see it from all kinds of locations but due to all the themeing and the ride not being too tall don't spoil the views of the park imo. The themeing of the ride is top quality and really adds alot to the ride, one of the best themed rides I have ever ridden with the lift hill mine being its jem and imo is already in my head an iconic ride due to that feature alone!


The queue looked worse than it was due to the fact that the single riders queue runs along side the front row queue and the second and third row queue which kind of made it look like a pacts cattle pen but realisticlly you are only queueing one of these three queues and once inside you are only queue in pre-show elements so it feels very quick once inside. My younger brother and myself wanted to do front row but my mum didn't so we went with the second and third row queue.

The ride itself is really good fun, without the floor the ride felt very free and floaty. The views from top are great and I wished we had been held there longer to really enjoy them. The drop is intense, not strong as Oblivions but still punchy with much more after the drop with its two inversions and helix. The ride however is still short but with the height of the drop if it went on much more it would of really crawled to the station so the ride finishes the best time it can with the rides height, I wish it was a little longer but overall the ride is top quality and is the centre piece of the park! Another thing was that sometimes outside it felt like that there were long periods of time would go by without a train coming by, but that could of been me just not paying attention. It is also nice the see vegatation growing bellow the ride as in some picutres I had seen the ground around the ride did seem to look a little, dare I say baron? ;) (sorry could'nt resist!). After we got off the queue had gone up to 40 minutes so @John 's advice was top notch.


The Flying Dutchman/ De Vliegende Hollander
So next up was The Flying Dutchman/ De Vliegende Hollander. The Building it is housed in was insanely well themed and with the lake backdrop it is definantly a very picturesque ride. The outside ride section looked ok, but nothing special with the trains looking slightly bulky/ clunky going round, like they were more suited to the water. Once we entered the queue it was very dark in sections and it was quite a walk before we even found the beginning of the queueline. The themeing inside was very well done, I do however wish they had a little more lighting as at points you really could'nt see anything which is a shame as there is great themeing all around you. I would'nt want them to overlight it but a couple more laterns in there wouldn't of gone a miss if I am being nitpicky.

The station loading area has a two side loading system with the queue being devided in two. We spied from here that the ride had rows two rows of three and two rows of 4 with the front row being a row of three we aimed for that one. We managed to get in the front row and I sat in the middle as I am the tallest and would have the best chance seeing round the awesome lion with the latern in his mouth (which in the ride proved quite useful!)

The ride inself was one of the craziest rides I have ever been on, we read the screen telling the story as we queued so had an idea of the story but once on the ride all hell seemed to break loose with awesome effects everywhere, I won't say much more just incase you havn't ridden it but I thought the instead was ridiculously insane (infact we refered to the ride as "The Mad One" from then on after :laughing:). Once on the otuside section we were still in a haze of would had just been going on and I only really remember the splash which didn't get you that wet. I really enjoyed however not everyone I did it with did so we only got to go on it the once but I would highly recommend it (especially the inside section!).

Python
Next up was Python, the same type of coaster as Corkscrew and only built a year later after Corkscrew which I only ever managed to ride once so my memories of it were patchy but from what I had read on here in that coasters later life it had become quite rough, so I was some what nervious my body was going to take an ass kicking on this one. The queue was the longest we queued of the trip queueing roughly 30 - 40 minutes which could of been cut down if they wern't running on one train but I guess the park was quite enough the staff didn't real it was worth it, or enjoyed a chit chat inbetween whilst the train was out can't blame them completely but the lift hill was sluggy slow so on one train thats pretty bad and for some reason the queue seemed to move slower the closer we got to the station which seemed bizzare.

There isn't really any themeing for the ride but the woodland nature of the area the ride is in helped make the coaster from coming off as bald. The ride itself was not as rough as I thought it would be and I have add much rougher rides on Colossus which is crazy when you think this ride was over 20 years old when Colossus opened! The double corkscrew was a highlight and although far from the best ride I have ridden it was definantly enjoyable. I can imagine when the ride first opened it being seen as a monster ride with its four inversions but that status has imo faded but I do feel it has its place in the park as a park that removes all its older rides seem to remove an organic growth with new and old rides running along side each other which adds to a parks character and charm (stop me if I am talking b*llocks!)

It was after this ride we stopped and had a waffle at the food outlet near by. It was really tasty and they offer you as a topping sugar or cream, I went with cream and boy did they load it with it! It was really tasty and kept me ticking over til dinner as we had had a big breakfest that morning (infact we had a big breakfest every morning at our hotels which were cheaper hotels but they certainly did the job and the breakfests were very tasty and large due to it being a buffet so therefore we didn't need too much in the way of lunch) the weather had cleared up slightly which was nice as well.

George and the Dragon/ Joris en de Draak
Next up we had the final ride in the coaster corner type section. After doing Troy the day before I was very excited to do this ride as Troy had proven my love for GCI woodies with Wodan was not a fluke and so my expectations were high, even though I had heard George and the Dragon/ Joris en de Draak was a shorter, less intense GCI. We had already seen alot of the ride from across the lake and it really did look marvellous with the two trains circling round at the top then racing down and round.

The rides were both operating two trains per track so the ride was a real people eater with there only ever really being pretty much walk on unless you wanted front row. Although not having the same level of themeing as Baron and The flying Dutchman George and the dragon has some nice themeing with the awesome dragon and station with the flags and fanfair that play if your trackside win the race (Just saying we rode it four times, 2 on each side and won everytime which I was pretty happy about :D )

The ride I found experience exceeded my expectations which was suprising everything considered. It was some of the most fun I have ever had on any coaster. The racing element really boosted the ride from a good ride to a great ride and it might be my favourite on park (very clsoe between this and Baron for completely different reasons) as you weave in and out of each other, racing around across the lake, coming round into the final section and crossing the line with a couple of rides too close to call but then the flag turning our way and our train going crazy was a brilliant feeling along with then entering the station as victors and everyone waiting in your side the station cheering it made for a really great, all together kind of ride which I have never experienced before as I havn't done a racing/dueling coaster ever, I would be interested to know from those who have done multiple how other dueling coasters compare as this was a ride that is one of the best rides I have ever done, not quite as good as Troy was as a ride experience but it came close with the racing element.

Another part of the ride I really enjoy is the thank there arn't any over shuolder restraints which I know is a given in this type of ride but any ride without them already gets extra points in my books as they can be very uncomfortable for myself as I am not the biggest guy and am only about 6 '1 I have a very long body which means shoulder restraints 90% of the time press down on my shoulders, normally made worse by ignorant members of staff who don't pay attention when checking them, see that mine is quite far up but I dont have a massive belly preventing it from shutting and then seem to crush down on them as much as they can to make for a very uncomfortable ride. I did find both sides very similar, with better views at the top of fires lift hill but then better views of the dragon and view across the lake as you turn round on water so kind of count them as one large ride. This gives me even more optimism for SW8 as even without the dueling element a smaller GCI in my eyes is a very good ride and it seems the more of these I ride the more of them I enjoy. I am heading out to Liseberg later this year so it will be interesting to see how Balder as an intamin woodie compares to the GCI models.

Piranha
It had now started to rain again so we thought why not go on the rapids if we are getting wet anyway. Piranha has a serious amount of themeing for one ride at first we thought there must be more over here than jsut one rapids ride, they have really gone to town on it. From what I understand it is the oldest rapids in Europe and second oldest in the World which is quite impressive in itself, it must of had a serious retheme somewhat recently? as it really isn't showing its age and I thought looks brand spanking new!

After yesterdays impressive Djengu River I was wondering how Piranha would fare as Djenju River had alot of very nice effect but was maybe a little short. Piranha was much longer and seemed to have a nice mixture of effects and genuine rapid splashes. The boats were similar to Congo's older boats which look nice but do only hold six, not a problem for us as we were only a three. I really like Mexican theme's in general so I really liked it, not the craziest rapids (tomorrow we found out what a crazy rapids felt like :p ) but a nice pace and probably the best all round rapids I have done as I prefered to Congo and Fjord Rafting as it got you wet and had themeing although this is only based on one ride of this and Fjord Rafting.

One thing of note of our ride on it was the fact we ended up getting stuck at the very end coming into the lift hill. I am not sure how it started but we came round the corner and there were 3 or 4 rafts all stuck weding each other from going up the hill, I thought we would bash into them and cause a domino effect and therefore clearing them out, but we didnt help at all, so then added to the problem! Before you knew it there msut of been 15 or so rafts/ boats all bundled up together most full of very excited school kids on a school trips going crazy! The staff came out with their life jackets and opened up the area where the rafts/ boats are stored so everyone drifted in there. It didn't take too long for them to sort it maybe 15 - 20 minutes and then one by one the rafts/ boats went back up into the station at which point people were already getting back on so they didn't muck about getting it re-opened. That did slightly taint our ride but in hindsight it was a unique experience and looking at pictures online it clearly happens often enough for there to be pictures of similar events. In closing I really enjoy rapids ride and this is the best one I have done, though I have a limited rapid ride count.

BOB
First things first BOB is a hilarious name for a ride even if it is a bobsleigh. I had next to no queue but did make me wonder if people head towards Baron and get sidetracked into riding BOB early on in the day and therefore make it busiest first thing? Back on the subject BOB's interesting feature to me was its trains that were much more similar to a real bobsleigh than say Schweizer Bobbahn at Europa. I was interested to see how similar they were, unfortunately I found the ride a bit meh. It definantly didn't have the same level of themeing as Schweizer Bobbahn and didn't ride as well either, the only pro it really had on it was its near walk on queue. It looked a bit tired with chunks of the troffs paintwork missing a some rust signs, this would of been ok if the ride was good but it really was nothing special. I dont know if it was becuase there were only 4 of us in the train or what but it really didn't seem that great as it just seemed to marauder around the track. If (I should say when because I really loved this place) I return to the Efteling I will definantly ride it again but really wasn't very impressive and I pick Schweizer Bobbahn over it any day.

Fata Morgana
Set in probably one of the nicest themed areas of the park Fata Morgana is a Arabian themed dark ride. The outside of the building next to the lake is probably the second striking thing you see as you arrive after seeing the main enterance. The ride itself reminded me of Pirates in Batavia or Terrortomb. It did look like it had seen better days and animatronics have come a long way since it was first put it. However there is a real charm to the ride just like Pirates in Batavia that makes them quite enjoyable. Far from the best dark ride and not very re-ridable (at least not in one trip/ one day) its a nice ride and I would like to see them try to update it but I do fear it could lose its charm so its a bit of a differcult one to deal with so maybe keeping it how it is is the best solution, I don't know.

Droomvlucht
next up is the most Efteling ride of Efteling, Droomvlucht. I fantasy dark ride this is really quite a magical ride and really helped break up the big thrill rides. Similar to Fata Morgann. A beautiful ride that has bucket loads of character and charm, I imagine if you were a child riding this you would be lost in the magic of it and the ride is really a stellar example of a ride perfectly reflecting the character of an entire park. It may in parts look slightly old and dated but unlike Fata Morgana I really think they would need to be very careful with the changing or updating anything on this ride, infact unless it becomes completely run down I would say leave well alone as it is a lovely dark ride that gets so much right Although if you don't like dolls I am not sure how much you would like it as the animatronics came off quite doll like, not a problem for me but I know people who would of hated this ride for that reason!

Bird Rock/ Vogel Rok
A dark coaster that offered an ok ride, nothing to rave about but still enjoyable, imo the best part of the ride is the massive bird outside which is a shame but the ride pitch black, has little to no themeing inside and offers an alright ride with some nice music playing in the background. The ride had some intencity and I do feel dark rides can work very well (I think Euro-sat is a class ride) this one was only alright, better than BOB but not really that note worthy.

Carnival Festival
Carnival Festival surpised me with how good it was, from the outside it looked like it would be an average dark ride and I had heard it described as a poor mans small world and had a huge cattlepen queue at the front area of it but once inside the fun starts. It was imo the best dark ride at the park with a timeless artwork/ style with cartoonie clowns with lots of comedy elements to it. It seemed like a real funny take on different countries cultures and sterotypes which would probably get people up in arms back here but clearly the Dutch don't take things so seriously and I found both hilarious and charming. If easily offended it may not be the ride for you but if not I really highly recommend doing this one, we almost didn't which would of been a big mistake so very glad we did do it.

Final points about Efteling
Here are a few final points before I finish up what has been a very very long post about the Efteling that still feels like there is so much more to cover. One problem we did encounter was a slight problem with queue jumpers, espeically on python. I don't speak Dutch so could'nt really say anything, if in the UK it would be a little different but I was pretty angry about that whilst queueing for it and gave them my angriest, diriest look which in hindsight wasn't really needed but I did feel like grabing them and throughing them back especially as we saw them sneak past more and more people but it would'nt of been worth getting chucked out even if it would of been nice to cave their faces in. Somewhat similar incident happened on piranha but really was'nt as bad as we were walking along the long empty queue to get to the ride a bunch of school children all came running by, at first I was thinking "you little rats" especially the way they rushed by but the more I thought about it the more I thought once one had gone by they all really wanted to stay in a group so I can't blame them too much for it and it wasn't like it was a long queue, however one who I didn't see coming as I was walking along ran face first right into my elbow as I turned to speak to my brother, it was an accident however it must of hurt as he nearly fell over but it was his own stupid fault for cutting in front of me.

Efteling really has a lovely atmosphire and is by far the most picturesque park I have been to. It has shed loads of character and charm from the quite forrest areas, to the busier areas like outside Vogel Rok and Baron with the Pagoda giving lovely views of it all (and itself is nice to look at and does not dominant the skyline as it fold's away). We also watched the water fountain show which was lovely and a great way to leave a lasting impression on people as they leave.

The Park has such a wild, lost fantasy vibe that is really quite romantic and I see further potential for it grow and I am sure the new castle dark ride will be another jewel in their crown. Small things like the miniture train that is steam powered made for a tranquil ride round the park. The funny thing is if you just showed me the land areas without any rides of Efteling and Alton Towers I would say that due to having the classic towers building, beautiful gardens and hills Alton Towers has more potential, I would of probably of said that as well 15 - 20 years ago with rides however due to Altons fair share mismangment, Efteling really seeming to be ran with care and Alton countless restrctions acting as shackles for the place Efteling is by the superior which is a shame for the UK as Alton Towers still has so much untapped potential, with The Efteling showing how its done and not quite derailing Europa Park as my favourite park but certainly giving it a run for its money and is definantly the most magical and beautiful park I have been to.

Hopefully that wasn't too badly written. Please let me know what you think of the park and my own thoughts of the park. I hope to write the Phantasialand part some time soon. :D
 
I'm staying near Eindhoven next week and planning on doing Efteling (my usual haunt when I'm there) as well as Phantasialand. I've seen you mention toverland...which isn't far away. Would you say this is an all day park or a quick ride and go? I went to Efteling twice last year and was done by around 3pm having ridden all the coasters a few times as well as some of the flats.

Tickets for toverland are cheap too!!
 
Toverland can be wrapped up if done quick enough by mid afternoon.
 
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