Efteling Theme Park--Tilburg, The Netherlands

Marika:  I think this place may be more awesome than Disney World

Rio: I was just thinking that.

Okay, you really have to know just how very, very much our family loves all things Disney and most especially the parks to understand the enormity of the above conversation.  And this about a theme park we would have never even heard of had it not partnered with our local park to offer a free admittance to annual passholders of Tripsdrill.  Wow.

Okay, some perspective.  Efteling is only one park and there is no parade and no huge night time show.  But for a one day visit--if you did not have a week to spend, and if (like us) parades are not the end all be all to you, Disney has nothing on Efteling.  This park is as lovely and as well themed, as clean, as professional, as efficient.  It was rather stunning for us all to stumble on this.

After parking, we headed up to one of the ticket windows with our Tripsdrill passes.  The worker there said she had never heard of the reciprocity  but that the office probably knew and directed us to a warm little building off to one side.     We were a bit nervous, but as soon as we spoke to the manager in the office he knew and was very nice in telling us about the park, getting us English maps, etc.  So, y 10:10 we were heading into the main gates and telling Rio to pick something he wanted to see and guide the way.

Being a seasoned theme park visitor, he pinpointed the area of the park that contains 3 of 4 coasters and headed straight for that which was most likely to have long lines later in the day (the parking lot was not even a quarter full, but there were more people at the gates than we would have expected given the cold temperatures--we did not have any idea how the crowds might be or how the park handled them; as it turned out we only waited in about 3 lines all day, all under 15 minutes).

Coming around from behind, the large wooden coaster themed after George and the Dragon came into view and we walked right past the fabulous adioanimitronic dragon.  We had already been oohing and ahhing and the intricate themeing--every light post and every walking surface is themed and full of detail, and then all of the sudden here he was--such a cool dragon, breathing smoke and turning to look at us.

Wow!  As appealing as the big wooden coaster with its racing trains of cars was, we decided to by pass it momentarily and ride something we could all enjoy (Dave has problems with wooden coasters because of his back), and headed for the viking coaster ride called De Vliegende Hollander):

What a way to start!  I am not one to rank things and have one all time favourite--I like different things for different reasons and what I love can change with my mood--but this is definitely one of my favourite rides ever, from any thempark any where.  

None of my photos of the interior came out, but I will try to describe a bit anyway.  Let's start with the queue--which, once again, is as elaborately themed as the best of Disney rides.  You walk into a Scandanavian manor home and through a bot of a nice home, them turn and walk through a "town panting" into a back alley, past seedy bars and cracked walls hiding treasure before finally coming out in a little fishing village (the two story tall indoor loading area designed to look a like a Scandinavia village by night.  For those of you familiar with EPCOT--the loading are is similar to that of Maelstorm only larger and not in the least bit dated or hokey.  

Passengers are loaded into boats which seat 14 in rows of three and four.  In the front row you are greeted by this guy:

Also, a minor but important detail for those who are tall.  Dave is 6'5" (195 cm) and most of his height is in his legs.  Look at how well his legs fit on the ride!  This was the nest of them all--but overall he had substantially fewer leg room issues at Efteling than he ever has had anywhere else:

Okay, so the ride starts and it is like a combination of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean and Maelstom, but (again) not at all dated or campy.  Your boat takes you sailing into a deep fog, then a heavy storm in which you see a large ship which is going down.  Finally, you are faced with the cursed ghost ship, which sends you spiraling out of control--and your slow moving boat ride suddenly turns into a full fledged roller coaster, wit  several nice twists and turns and a final splash down into the lake (you do not get wet).

Every single one of us loved this ride.  It is really jut about perfect.

Next up, the kids and I headed to Joris en de Draak (George and the Dragon).  This is a big wooden roller coaster with two tracks and two trains which run simultaneously.  

There was no line so the kids rushed through the queue so fast I didn't manage to get any photos.  I was sad because when we went back later they had shut down most of the queue so I never got my pictures.  Suffice to say that this one was also very well themed (right down to a mid queue vending machine that looked so much like a gypsy caravan that I almost didn't realize that it was anything other than a prop).  Towards the end of the line area, guests can choose to ride either the red or blue train (so it is easy to be sure you get to try both).

The one queue photos I got were of one of the lights along the route into the "castle" and one of the many chandeliers of torches right above the loading zone:

The trains load across from one another and always take off at the exact same moment (to the many cheers or several armored knights on the sidelines).  The trains race off against each other, first going side by side, then going around twin curves so that you almost have the feeling you will crash into one another, and then race over and under and around each other and the dragon.  

The two trains are neck and neck coming in for the finish on parallel tracks and the winning train's flag unfurls overhead (so far as I can tell, the train with the heaviest group of passengers wins).  As you pull into the unloading station, you are greeting by your flags and banners dropping down and either cheers or boos from your knights depending on if you were on the winning or loosing train.  

Yet, again, a fantastic ride.  

I apologize for cutting this entry short.  It is already 11:00 here and I need to pack and get some sleep before heading out on a Girl Scout trip tomorrow (no rest for the weary! lol).  I will be back with more by Wednesday at the lastest, but in the morning if I can wake myself up early enough to get it done before leaving.

Happy Easter,

Hadley

#efteling