Back in August we headed over to France in the Eurotunnel on our Belgium / Netherlands road trip. It was amazing to get to so many new parks, but the one place I was really excited for was Efteling. It's a park I'd been to before but it had been years and years since our visit so many more things had opened. If you haven't been before and want to avoid spoilers, I'd scroll down to the bottom for some top tips and final thoughts because this park is full of surprises you wouldn't want to miss.
Max & Moritz
Opened in 2020, Max & Moritz is a family twin Mack powered coaster. Its cute Swiss themed land is adorable (even now it's missing Bob :( ) and adds so much character to the already well-themed coaster. The coaster's queue was interactive and had lots of fun games but the station was the best part! It had so much detailed theming as well as sound and lighting effects to add to the experience. I slightly prefer Max's coaster layout but they are similar and both enjoyable.
Symbolica
Hyped as the best dark ride in Europe, it was difficult not to be excited for Symbolica. I've ridden a lot of world class dark rides this season and I hate to say it, but Symbolica doesn't hold up. It's queue is huge and boring, the pre-show is so beautiful and classic but impossible to see or hear unless you get to the front row of cattle pen, leaving the story difficult to understand without further explanation. I love the downwards staircase with the miniature train model into the train batching, however personal choice of tour is pretty difficult.
The ride itself is absolutely gorgeous, full of charm and oozing with that fairytale magic Efteling is perfect at creating. The interactive elements don't seem to make any sense but tbh I just spend the ride enjoying the decoration and animatronics. I wish I loved Symbolica, I sincerely wish I did. But I don't. Hey ho, the rest of the park is amazing so it doesn't impact my overall opinion too much.
Joris en de Draak
As a child, this was always one of my favourite coasters. I loved the racing element and the huge dragon with his fire effect looked stunning. I find it a bit rough nowadays but it's still a very fun ride with great forces and airtime. Some work into keeping the effects working and putting in some extra theming would go a long way, but nevertheless, this coaster is fab!
Baron 1898
This coaster is amazing! It has some of the best storytelling I have ever seen on a coaster with it's preshows and queue details, even when in another language. I think it fits the Efteling lineup perfectly as an almost thrill coaster for those who have done every other coaster but not ready for a 1.4m restriction thrill coaster. It has inversions and great intensity, but the entire layout (especially the drop) feels more graceful than aggressively thrilling.
De Vliegende Hollander
Another firm favourite as a child, this has 100% stuck the landing. Timeless theming, incredible detail in the queueline and such kind staff. The attention to detail in creating the story for this ride is a thing you only see at Universal and Disney so seeing it in Europe is fabulous (sorry Disneyland Paris). The coaster layout is missing some elements but the theming makes up for it.
Python
Now Python has had its retrack, I've been super excited to get back on this coaster. I remember thinking it hadn't aged too well so the retrack ended up being great! It still isn't nearly up to standard with steel coasters of the 21st century but its place at Efteling is warranted because it represents so much of the park's history.
Vogel Rok
Unpopular opinion - Vogel Rok is better than Hyperspace Mountain. For disney's budget, the theming on Hyperspace is awful and makes no sense with the ride, especially its location in Discoveryland. The theming on Vogel Rok is by no means perfect, but a combination of the queueline and coaster storytelling adds up to make a beautiful coaster.
Villa Volta
As one of the first Vekoma Madhouses I rode, Villa Volta was super impressive to me. The pre-show room and main ride chamber are bursting with detailed theming that perfectly display the story.
Drumvlucht
What a stunning ride. I was lost for words at how magical and charming the decoration and atmosphere was. Such a standout in the European dark ride lineup with minimal storytelling but such a mystical feeling and alluring presence.
Piraña
While planning this trip, getting on all of Europe's fabulous rapids was well up on the list of things I was excited for as I don't mean to sound petty, but we are slightly deprived in the UK on the river rapids front. Piraña was fab with such incredible rockwork and absolutely hilarious staff (they all had waterguns). It makes me wish the rapids lineup was better in the UK so badly.
I haven't quite covered everything but there was simply so much at this park I couldn't quite comprehend all of it. I hope that's a suitable summary of this park as oh my, it is stunning! I'd highly reccomend this as a first European park, but flying does limit the purchase of 250ml dark-ride themed room sprays😭.
Have you been to Efteling? What is your favourite dark ride at the park? Thank you so much for reading, I'll see you next time.
Cleo x
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