Day 3: Efteling
Warning: I hardly took any photos. I'm hoping other people did better.
We got there stupidly early. The empty car park boded well for a good day.
We'd intended to stop for food on the way, but didn't find anything. We were starving and in desperate need of coffee, but couldn't go into the park until Slayed arrived to sort out the group discount. Richard somehow persuaded the awesome guy at Guest Services to let him go in, buy breakfast, then come back out again. Never before has a cup of coffee been so welcome.
The entrance is HUGE and, as Jordan pointed out the other night, contains a vadge. Totally didn't notice while we were there.
Everyone turned up and we went in. The group discount was fab. Thanks to the park, and well done to Slayed for organising it. First stop, actual breakfast in the Octopus Cafe. This gave us all a first taste of just how amazing some of the theming at this park really is.
After food faff, we decided that it'd be a good idea to get all the CREDZ done. First stop was "coaster of (near) death", Python. Eugh is about all I can say, +1 and I never have to ride it again.
From here we decided to do the Flying Dutchman. The theming in the queue line is absolutely stunning. Actual Disney levels of detail. It also goes on for miles. The dark section of the ride is also fantastic. Really really well done. When you get outside into the coaster section, it's a bit less impressive. The banked turn is so slow it gives you crazy sideways hang time. The drop into the water is so small you don't realise that it's the actual final drop. Oh well, the inside makes up for it.
Next up was Joris en de Draak. I was in the group that did Water first followed by Fire (why the two sides aren't just called "Joris" and "Draak" is beyond me?!). Unfortunately, my entire body ached like a bitch from the epic ropes course at Toverland the day before. Therefore, I found it quite difficult to really enjoy them because the G Force just made every single muscle in my body HURT. It's not the rides' fault though, it's my fault for actually doing exercise (I always knew it was bad for you!). It's also slightly unfair due to the amount of sheer fun I'd had on Troy (TROY!) the day before, my opinion is probably slightly skewed. I thought that the 'duelling' aspect of the ride was lost a little bit, as I don't think there's enough interaction - although again, this could be because I was somewhat distracted. The flags and signs in the station for the 'winning' side are a great touch. For what its worth, I thought that Water had more airtime, and was therefore my favourite. Mind you, I did one at the front and one at the back, so who knows. Its a shame we didn't get to re-ride. I'd love to go back when my muscles don't hate me and see if I enjoy it more.
The next ride we went on was Fraggle (Vogel) Rok. The speakers on our train weren't working, so there was nothing special about it at all. Meh. Another cred.
I then convinced everyone that we should go on the scary clown ride. Hahaha, I thought the Xenophobia ride at Madame Tussauds was bad... until I went on this! lol! Its also worth mentioning that this this must be a throughput monster (in a good way). The ride never stops, there's a continuous stream of hundreds of cars, and it goes through the station really quickly.
We then went and did one of the many many many carousels. It's a proper old skool steam driven one (well, I suspect its been converted to electric, but the original steam engine is still in place) with a punch card music organ. It went really pretty fast, was on a long cycle, and was generally fab. Next door there was this crazy model village/train set thing. It is huge and unbelievably detailed. It took us ages to actually spot a train, and we got rather excited when we finally did. The thunder and lightening in the night time scene is also fab.
From here, we went round to the scary castle thingy. I got a few yards through the door, and bloused out. Whilst sat outside, I made friends with an overly cheerful ice cream seller on a bike. He was slightly scary.
On the way into the castle, we'd seen a sign for an attraction called PandaDroom (AKA Panda of DOOM!). Turns out its a 4D cinema. There's a stupidly long 2D pre-show video that's basically a massive advert for the WWF (for nature, not the wrestlers). The 4D show itself is ok. Again, it's environmentalist propaganda which is a bit odd. The surprise at the end is... surprising. I like it, even though its a bit weird and utterly pointless. Be warned though, this video contains no actual pandas, animated or otherwise. When you leave the 4D cinema, there's a sort of walkthrough thing featuring characters from the film, which brings you back out into the Octopus Cafe.
PANDA OF DOOM!
After lunch, we headed over to the last CRED which is the bonkers flying turns thing. OMFG! I actually thought I was going to die. Any coaster cars with roll-bars are not a good sign. It's a lot of fun, but there's too many MCBRs, each more painful than the last. It was ok, but has potential to be so much better.
I think it was after this that we went on Fat Mamma, or whatever the **** its called. We really didn't know what to expect, although kinda suspected that it would be "their answer to It's a Small World". This is true in so much as its a slow dark boat ride. From there on, the similarities end. It's a spectacularly intricately themed ride with huge scenes, and goes on for miles. It clearly cost them a FORTUNE. It's just a shame then, that the subject matter is, well, a bit odd. Its basically a journey through some kind of Arab town. There's market scenes and suchlike which are pleasant enough. Then you get taken through what it clearly a whore house. It then all goes a bit Team America, and you start getting shot at by terrorists (Turns out this was a little prescient, considering what was to happen in Pakistan just a few hours later...!) Basically, the theming is breathtaking, but overall its just a bit too "WTF?!"
I think we went and faffed in the fairytale bit next. There's tons of scenes and stuff set in the middle of the forest. Most of them are looking a bit tired now though, and are not up to the standard of the rest of the park. It also doesn't help that, due to the language barrier, its impossible to tell what the hell is going on.
You eventually come to a square, where there's a donkey that **** gold coins! Yes, that is what I said. They come shooting out of his arse. Literally.
One of the guys at work had told me in the past about how, when he used to visit Efteling as a kid in the 70's (his Mum is Dutch), there were multi-coloured doves everywhere. He also said that it got banned because they used to pretty much die every day, and they'd just ship in a fresh set and get the spray paint out. We were pretty surprised then, when a pink, a yellow, a blue and a green dove flew overhead from nowhere! The green one was the only one that hung about for photos though. (Again, this was also a bit of a hint to the future, considering the dying pigeon in the evening... anyway, more of that later)
We eventually found the fairy dark ride thing. All I have to say is that it's SUCH A CRED!!!!1!!!111!!!1! Have a photo of the lights in the entrance...
This was next door to Villa Volta, or Goat Riders: The Ride. Again, it's a shame I don't speak the language, so had no idea what all the pre-show rooms were on about. The music in the final room is fab, but the lack of effects let it down. The room feels really spinny, much more so than Hex, but it needs more flashing lights and stuff, and more 'hidden' things on the ceiling to look at. also, however good the music is, you'll never beat Hex <3
This meant we were in perfect time to catch the last performance of their new arena spectacular 'Raveleijn'. The entrance arch to this has been in place for well over a year with effects and music to promote the show. As you walk in, the sheer scale and detail of the set are the first thing that hit you. It's amazing.
They also give you these awesome hats to wear <3
Then the actual show starts, and it all goes horribly downhill. Horribly. Like, REALLY bad. Its got all the ingredients for a good show: Live animals, great music, lots of actors, costumes, effects, fight scenes, MASSIVE props etc etc. They just don't put them to good enough use. At all. The horses just ride round in circles. Surely it wouldn't hurt them to put in a few acrobatic stunts here and there? The fight scenes are totally lame. Someone points a stick in the air, and the baddie dies. Barely any action at all. When the knight people first arrive, everyone is just walking around chatting to eachother. I'm sure it isn't, but it looks really un-choreographed and messy. The way the "5-headed Steampunk Duck" (as Slayed described it) is introduced is RUBBISH. It's hidden under a tarp which is gradually pulled back by two poor blokes who have to stand on stage like lemons for 20 minutes. The Steampunk duck is pretty impressive, and I love the way it rises up out of the floor, but they just don't do it justice.
As Richard said, "I can't believe the amount of money they pissed down the drain on THIS!"
Afterwards, we found more play park stuff, then ran over for a last ride of the day on the Flying Dutchman.
We wanted on last go on Joris, but the queue was closed, so we minced about by the dragon for a bit before returning to the entrance.
My overall impression of the park is fantastic. It was relatively quiet which helped. It meant we could ride pretty much everything, including all the quirky stuff, despite the fact that the park is massive. The main thing that sets this place apart from anywhere else is how utterly beautiful the landscaping is. There's immaculately kept flowers and trees everywhere. There's ponds all over the place, and you lose track of where you're going because its all just so vast. Most of the themeing around the park, and on the rides in particular, is also amazing... if a little misguided at times. I loved it there and would definitely recommend a visit to anyone.
In the evening, we pulled up outside our hotel - the Etap next to the train station in Antwerp. What a **** hole! I'm sure there is such a thing as lovely parts of Antwerp, but we sure as hell didn't see them. As we were unpacking the car, a man appeared from a door next to us in only his pants. I assumed he was popping out for a ciggie so thought nothing of it, and carried on unpacking. When I looked back up, he'd gone back indoors, leaving a badly injured pigeon in the middle of the pavement. WTF?! By the time we came back out, the pigeon had gone, so I can only assume someone else came and picked it up. However, this summed up just how lovely an area we were staying in.
Right, I probably can't be arsed to do a Bobbiejobbie PTR. It wasn't part of the live, not everyone went, and the park is a bit crap. (Dizz is a bit ****, by the way). You'll find the photos of it (along with all my others from this trip) on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 0869921fdc
Massive thanks to Slayed for organising the whole weekend, and convincing 2 of the parks to give us a discount. Huge thanks also to Stone Cold for being my chauffeur for the weekend and to Peep and Will for keeping me sane in the Car of Rah. Huge thanks to everyone else who came, and truly made it a CF-Live to remember <3
I'll leave you with this beautiful vision from the ferry on the way home...