silenthillXD
Hyper Poster
So... it looks like i've caught the cred hunting bug once again 
After years of not leaving the UK, I finally branched out earlier this year to visit Belgium and France to ride Toutatis, Kondaa and Ride to Happiness (for which you can find the trip report here if you so wish). As you can probably imagine, that really helped spark off my interest in coasters again after years of feeling pretty apathetic about the whole scene thanks to the pure mediocrity we have in the UK. Now it might surprise you to find out, Ride to Happiness did not end up as my new no. 1. Apparently I had to be different and go for the lesser praised Kondaa. I just absolutely fell in love with the agressive ejector that coaster provided and honestly doubted whether anything in Europe would be able to top that. GeForce? Nah. Gotham City Escape? Nah. Helix? Nah. Untamed? Hmm, well i'd not ridden an RMC yet so that might well stand a chance. And given i've been dying to visit Walibi Holland's infamous Halloween event for years now thanks to a certain scare attraction designer on this forum, I thought I might as well attempt a Netherlands trip over October. Initially it was just going to be Walibi Holland, but I have poor impulse control and suddenly had tickets booked for Efteling and Toverland. I know, such a shame. So... here's my trip report from the Netherlands!
Day 1 - Efteling - Friday 6th October
Now Efteling is an interesting park for me. I've been fascinated with the park for years, but have never felt a significant draw to visit given the pretty sub-par coaster offering. I knew i'd love the park when I finally plucked up the motivation to visit, but I found it hard prioritise over Phantasialand or Walibi Holland. Thankfully, it's not exactly hard to fit Efteling into a trip alongside Walibi Holland. Interstingly enough, once I started planning Efteling into my holiday it became my number one most anticipated park of the trip! Odd given the whole purpose of this trip was to get to Walibi to ride Untamed and see if it could topple Kondaa from my no 1. spot.
Anyone who's visited Efteling will know how easily you fall under it's spell when walking in... I mean just look at this view
It has to be one of the most naturally beautiful parks in Europe!
So with a strong positive first impression of the park, I marched over to Symbolica, knowing that the queue would open before the rest of the park. Upon arriving at the gates of the gates I realised something wasn't quite right. The queue wasn't open and staff were turning people away. 'Oh well' I thought 'I'm sure it will open later' 'let me just open the app to see what the queues are like like for the other rides' * Symbolica Closed Today * ... oh... oh that sure does suck... Sadly, despite Loppings twitter suggesting it could open later on in the day, it didn't. So no Symbolica for me * insert sad trombone sound effect here *
As you can imagine I was a bit bummed out that one of the signature attractions would be closed for my visit. However, trying not to get too frustrated I headed straight over to Baron 1898 for my. first experience of what Efteling is capable of.
To say I was speechless would be an understatement. Whilst Baron isn't the most imposing Dive Machine, it's without doubt the most breathtaking. The whole area is beautfifully themed, with the drop into the mine dominating the area. The mining structure lift hill is so much more impressive in person and really draws you into the whole plot surrounging the ride. To call this ride immersive would be a compelte disservice. Similar to Disney's rides, Baron transcends beyond mere immersion. It's chock full of that sense of awe, wonder and pure magic that original Disney attrations inspire. Dare I say Baron does Disney better than modern day Disney. Everything feels well integrated into the world of Baron, from the test seat being within a crashed mining lift and the rows being allocated out through old tickets. It's just stunning and that's before I went inside for the preshows. Oh boy did those preshows impress! They really helped draw me into the plot and I simply couldn't help but smile at how well they built my anticipation for the ride. The use of projections to tell the story was executed perfectly, really creating an eerie atmosphere when the white women arrived to haunt things up! Needless to say I also really enjoyed the stunning theming within the station and the on-ride preshow. It's ridiculous that this even possible for an indipendant park outside of Universal or Disney. The attention to detail is ridiculous. The whole experience is just so charming that I actually didn't care that the ride itself was pretty short. Now don't get me wrong, it's not the most exciting of layouts, but I did actually enjoy the ride. The vertical drop packed a punch on the descent and the inversions were a lot of fun (especially the nice floaty zero-g roll). I was also pretty impressed at the slight hints of positive G-Force on the helix. Overall, Baron is a coaster that on it's own isn't all that remarkable. It's fun, but nothing special. However, what Efteling have done to that ride hardware is beyond belief. What they do it pure artistry.
Ok, so Baron 1898 was quite something. I can't say I was expecting to fall in love with Efteling quite that quickly, but here we are. One ride in and I was already prepared to name Efteling as my new favourite park in Europe. Now would that continue? Next I headed on over to Dvilligender Hollander or the Flying Dutchman as I simply can't wrap my head around how to pronounce the former (what can I say, i'm basic).
Now we can't talk about Dvilligender Hollander without adressing the elephant in the room. That elephant being that this might well have the most beautiful and immersive queue in the history of theme parks. It takes you on a journey through the captain of the infamous ships mansion, through a secret smuggler passageway and out onto the dutch docks at night time. Pictures once again do not do this station justice. It's faultless. I am not normally one for queuing, but I'd be more than happy to spend time waiting in this queue just so I could soak up the rich atmosphere and notice all the intricate details. The ride itself was interesting. The indoor section is absolutely spectacular. I love how this attraction tells a narrative without having to use any form of speech or written word. You experience the story yourself. You depart the docks only to get caught up in a cold and chilling mist that is all encombering. Before you know it you're lost alone in the sea with only the faint glimmer of your boat's lantern to guide your way. It's just so perfect. I absolurely ADORED the introduction to this ride. But what came next somehow topped it. I don't want to spoil the show scene that accompanied the flying dutchman's arrival, as it honestly led me to gasp and quite loudly go 'WOW!' but yeah... it's imposing, dramatic and on a huge scale! This scene is what made the ride for me. The lighting, sound, theming and water effects came together to create somthing that caught me completely off gaurd. Breaking the calmness of the beginng of the ride to usher in the coaster portion. Now here's where my issues start with the ride. Whilst the indoors drop was surprisingly impactful, once the ride leaves the building it's a complete non event. The drops do nothing, the coaster section does nothing and even the splash does nothing. KumbaK what were you thinking?! I'm almost gutted that Mack didn't create this as had they done so, I could easily see this ride breaking into my top 10. But oh well, I still rank it obscenely highly just on that indoors section alone.
So up next was Joris En De Drak Water. Now I used to be a strong proponant of wooden coaster supremacy. However my last trip to Europe put a serious dent in that, with Konda, Ride to Happiness and Toutatis aboslutely thrashing Mine Blower out of top spot (everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief after realising that maybe Mine Blower didn't cause lasting brain damage afterall). To make things worse Heide the Ride and Loop Garou ended up being two of my least favourite rides of the entire trip. Oh dear... Heide the Ride? Another smaller scale GCI wooden coaster? Yikes... I must admit I did head into Joris with some trepidation. Heidi the Ride was the equivalent of that Willy Wonka gif of Gene Wilder screaming "YOU GET NOTHING! YOU LOOSE, GOOD DAY SIR!" It gave me absolutely nothing. No airtime, no fun transitions, no enjoyment. I was honestly shocked as to how mundane it was once we hit the breaks. Even White Lightning was mildly enjoyable, if completely unremarkable. So yeah, it was down to Joris to regain my respect for GCI as a manufacturer. Thankfully it did exactly that.
Now Joris is definitely lacking in theming, but the setting over the lake is so beautiful I almost didn't care. Oh and the soundtrack absolutely slaps, so that's also a bonus (though to be fair Baron and Flying Dutchman also have top teir soundtracks too). The ride itself is just all out fun. It's nothing too wild, but for a family coaster it doesn't need to be. The drop can pack a punch towards the back of the train and the rest of the layout it chock full of fun whippy transitions and some nice pops of floater (can we talk about how amazing the weird twisted double down on water is?!). It's pretty much the perfect family coaster in my eyes. Way better than any other GCI that i'd ridden at this point. To be honest, it made me a little bit upset to see what Wickerman could've been! Though I will say the dueling aspect of this ride absolutely boosted my enjoyment of the ride. It's so much fun to see the trains dive around, dancing with each other right up until the finish line. Oh and who doesn't love the charming 'YOU WIN'/'YOU LOOSE' booing/cheering in the station. Not to brag, but on three times out of four I won. So clearly I was pretty lucky (although not lucky enough for Symbolica to open apparently).
Given Python was stood right next door I decided to pop over to that and give it a go before lunch. Now part of me wants to critique this ride for being completely and totally unthemed. But part of me respects that due to it's place in establishing the park in history. Would I appreciate it if Efteling went back and added some theming? Absolutely! But part of me also loves the fact it shows where Efteling came from and how far they've come since then. The ride itself was deceptively fun! Off ride I wasn't expecting much. I knew it would be smooth, but wasn't expecting many forces. However, given that I rode on the back row, I got a really nice surprise cresting over the drop. I actually got some great airtime! Relatively quickly followed by some great moments of positives in the loops and the tight corners/helix towards the finale. I actually enjoyed this ride way more than I felt I had any right to. It's basic, but you know what, so am I. I secretly rank this higher than I should. Also I was pretty proud of the picture of the loop that I managed to catch completely off gaurd whilst walking down the exit ramp so go me I guess!
* Please stop reading now if you haven't eaten anything today or if you are even remotely hungry. Trust me you do not need to be seeing pictures from Polles Keuken right now if so *
So for lunch there was only one option for me. Polles Keuken the highly revered pancake restaurant. I'll keep this short and sweet. The pancakes were absolutely sublime! I had the apple, cinnamon sugar and raisin ones and dear god... they were delicious. Without doubt one of the highlights of the trip, alongside one of the most impressive theme park food outlets in the world. Why can't we have nice things like this in the UK?
Feeling pretty full I decided to take a break from the coasters and investigate why people rave so much about the Efteling dark rides. Whilst Droomvlucht was closer it was on a 35 min queue, whereas Fata Morgana had dropped from 40 mins to 5 mins. Needless to say I headed over to Fata Morgana. Little did I realise this would be my biggest mistake of the holiday. Anyone who has been following Loopings on Twittter might've seen that Droomvlucht hasn't been oepn for the past week. Well, that's because it had an incident the day I visited, unfortunately before I got the chance to ride it. So yeah, that meant Symbolica, Droomvlucht and Vogel Rok were all closed for my visit... Oh well, the way I see it when I next visit i'll have those three rides AND Danse Macabre to look forward to. With a lineup that stacked it will probably feel like visiting an entirely different park!
So anyway, onto Fata Morgana... Who gave Efteling the right to completely outshine Disney's Pirates of the Carribean with this ride? Thing is when I say outshine, I mean completely embarass Disney. Fata Morgana is something to behold. It's got that kitsch vintage charm where everything is a little bit over the top and janky, but oh dear god did I love it! The sets were stunning, not just for their time but even today! It's definitely a product of its time, but it still somehow remains beautiful and breathtaking today! It's just on a fantastic scale and really drives home the immersion with an annoyingly good earworm of a soundtack and some good special effects and scents. I honestly wasn't expecting to fall in love with Fata Morgana this much, but it really is wonderful and takes you on a journey that you won't soon forget. One bit of advice though, DO NOT look up spoilers. I was so glad I didn't as experiencing this in person for the first time really meant that I could soak all the wonder in without knowing what was coming next.
Now i'm not normally one to ride kiddie coasters, but Max and Moritz (Max) was literally just around the corner so it seemed rude not to give it a go. Especially when Single Rider was only 5 minutes... Oh the shame. Little did I realise that me riding opting to queue for the single rider line meant that I'd be asked to ride with a literal toddler. Yep, apparently I was on babysitting duty for some random dutch family. Great. Not only was it humilliating to ride, but I had the awkwardness of having to ride with some random kid. Yeah... wasn't best pleased about that. But you know what, for a powered coaster Max and Moritz was absolutely fantastic! The landscaping isn't anything wild, but it's got enough vegetation and hills to feel dynamic. The ride itslef weeves in and out of these hills and ditches and duels with the other track. I absolutely loved how the coasters left at opposite ends of the station. It felt wild, wacky and all out silly good fun. Not something i'd normally say for a kids coaster. I think the addition of the signature Efteling charm and the on ride audio really hightened the experience. Although I will say the layout defintiely had personality and I was caught off gaurd by the speed of the second lap. So yeah. Shame on me for riding this cred, but at the same time, i'm honestly glad I did. However, I opted not to take pictures of this ride because riding next to a toddler was weird enough, I didn't particularly fancy standing next to the cred taking photos of the ride like some complete weirdo. Sadly, you'll have to do without my photographic artistry for this one.
I then trekked over to Ravelijn at the suggestion of Lofty. I simply can't thank him enough for reminding me to check the showtimes for this experience because this is something not to be missed on any visit to Efteling. I'm normally somebody who scoffs at the idea of taking time out of the day to watch a show, but honestly? Ravelijn was more than a show. It was an experience! The artistry of this production is immesurable. There are stunts, horse riding acts, magic, special effects and some impressive action/fight scenes. I was genuinely gobsmacked during the whole thing. The scale of this show is just beyond belief. I simply can't begin to understand how Efteling can put this show on multiple times a day and not charge for it. How this isn't an upcharge is beyond me. Disney and Universal really need to take notes from this show (yes I know Waterworld is probably a similar degree of epicness, but Orlando definitely needs something like this).
The rest of the day was spent picking up a back row ride on Joris En De Drak Vuur and getting multiple re-rides in on the coasters. To round off my trip to Efteling I ended up watching Aquanura the park's water fountain display at the front of the park. It's honestly such a beautiful and befitting way to round out the day at Efteling. It's so calming but spectacular. I absolutely loved the fact that the park went all out on both of their shows Aquanura and Ravelijn. It really goes to show just how much love and care goes into everything at Efteling. It's exactly this why Efteling has shot up to no 1. in my rankings. Not just in Europe but in the world (UK + Flordia + Walibi Belgium/Plopsa/Asterix). It's the most magical and captivating theme park i've visited. It just immerses you into these wonderfully themed experiences. The rides might not be the best, but the experience as a whole is head and shoulders above the comptetition. To say I fell in love with Efteling would be an understatement. I honestly couldn't care less that I missed out on three of the core attractions. What I experienced was more than enough. To be honest, I'm glad some rides were closed as I simply didn't have the time to do them. Efteling just doesn't seem like a park you can do in one day. You definitely need to visit over 2 days. I mean as you'll notice I didn't even get the chance to head into the Fairytale Forest... But yeah in summary Efteling is EPIC. It's a park that i'd foolishly underestimated and for that I have well and truly eaten my words. I'm sorry for ever doubting you Efteling, when can I come visit again?!
Oh and here's a picture of some amazing pasta that I had at Pinokkio's the park's restaurant which is open after park close. It was a chicken and pesto spaghetti and was beautifully cheesey and creamy. Again it's unbelievable that this level of park food is possible.
Goodbye Efteling. I'll miss you! I hope it's not too long before I return...
Final Ride Count
Baron 1898 x4
Dvilligender Hollander x2
Joris En De Drak Water x3
Python x1
Polles Keuken
Fata Morgana x1
Max x1
Ravelijn
Joris En De Drak Vuur x1
Aquanura
Pinokkio's Pizza & Pasta
After years of not leaving the UK, I finally branched out earlier this year to visit Belgium and France to ride Toutatis, Kondaa and Ride to Happiness (for which you can find the trip report here if you so wish). As you can probably imagine, that really helped spark off my interest in coasters again after years of feeling pretty apathetic about the whole scene thanks to the pure mediocrity we have in the UK. Now it might surprise you to find out, Ride to Happiness did not end up as my new no. 1. Apparently I had to be different and go for the lesser praised Kondaa. I just absolutely fell in love with the agressive ejector that coaster provided and honestly doubted whether anything in Europe would be able to top that. GeForce? Nah. Gotham City Escape? Nah. Helix? Nah. Untamed? Hmm, well i'd not ridden an RMC yet so that might well stand a chance. And given i've been dying to visit Walibi Holland's infamous Halloween event for years now thanks to a certain scare attraction designer on this forum, I thought I might as well attempt a Netherlands trip over October. Initially it was just going to be Walibi Holland, but I have poor impulse control and suddenly had tickets booked for Efteling and Toverland. I know, such a shame. So... here's my trip report from the Netherlands!Day 1 - Efteling - Friday 6th October
Now Efteling is an interesting park for me. I've been fascinated with the park for years, but have never felt a significant draw to visit given the pretty sub-par coaster offering. I knew i'd love the park when I finally plucked up the motivation to visit, but I found it hard prioritise over Phantasialand or Walibi Holland. Thankfully, it's not exactly hard to fit Efteling into a trip alongside Walibi Holland. Interstingly enough, once I started planning Efteling into my holiday it became my number one most anticipated park of the trip! Odd given the whole purpose of this trip was to get to Walibi to ride Untamed and see if it could topple Kondaa from my no 1. spot.
Anyone who's visited Efteling will know how easily you fall under it's spell when walking in... I mean just look at this view
It has to be one of the most naturally beautiful parks in Europe!So with a strong positive first impression of the park, I marched over to Symbolica, knowing that the queue would open before the rest of the park. Upon arriving at the gates of the gates I realised something wasn't quite right. The queue wasn't open and staff were turning people away. 'Oh well' I thought 'I'm sure it will open later' 'let me just open the app to see what the queues are like like for the other rides' * Symbolica Closed Today * ... oh... oh that sure does suck... Sadly, despite Loppings twitter suggesting it could open later on in the day, it didn't. So no Symbolica for me * insert sad trombone sound effect here *
As you can imagine I was a bit bummed out that one of the signature attractions would be closed for my visit. However, trying not to get too frustrated I headed straight over to Baron 1898 for my. first experience of what Efteling is capable of.
To say I was speechless would be an understatement. Whilst Baron isn't the most imposing Dive Machine, it's without doubt the most breathtaking. The whole area is beautfifully themed, with the drop into the mine dominating the area. The mining structure lift hill is so much more impressive in person and really draws you into the whole plot surrounging the ride. To call this ride immersive would be a compelte disservice. Similar to Disney's rides, Baron transcends beyond mere immersion. It's chock full of that sense of awe, wonder and pure magic that original Disney attrations inspire. Dare I say Baron does Disney better than modern day Disney. Everything feels well integrated into the world of Baron, from the test seat being within a crashed mining lift and the rows being allocated out through old tickets. It's just stunning and that's before I went inside for the preshows. Oh boy did those preshows impress! They really helped draw me into the plot and I simply couldn't help but smile at how well they built my anticipation for the ride. The use of projections to tell the story was executed perfectly, really creating an eerie atmosphere when the white women arrived to haunt things up! Needless to say I also really enjoyed the stunning theming within the station and the on-ride preshow. It's ridiculous that this even possible for an indipendant park outside of Universal or Disney. The attention to detail is ridiculous. The whole experience is just so charming that I actually didn't care that the ride itself was pretty short. Now don't get me wrong, it's not the most exciting of layouts, but I did actually enjoy the ride. The vertical drop packed a punch on the descent and the inversions were a lot of fun (especially the nice floaty zero-g roll). I was also pretty impressed at the slight hints of positive G-Force on the helix. Overall, Baron is a coaster that on it's own isn't all that remarkable. It's fun, but nothing special. However, what Efteling have done to that ride hardware is beyond belief. What they do it pure artistry.
Ok, so Baron 1898 was quite something. I can't say I was expecting to fall in love with Efteling quite that quickly, but here we are. One ride in and I was already prepared to name Efteling as my new favourite park in Europe. Now would that continue? Next I headed on over to Dvilligender Hollander or the Flying Dutchman as I simply can't wrap my head around how to pronounce the former (what can I say, i'm basic).
Now we can't talk about Dvilligender Hollander without adressing the elephant in the room. That elephant being that this might well have the most beautiful and immersive queue in the history of theme parks. It takes you on a journey through the captain of the infamous ships mansion, through a secret smuggler passageway and out onto the dutch docks at night time. Pictures once again do not do this station justice. It's faultless. I am not normally one for queuing, but I'd be more than happy to spend time waiting in this queue just so I could soak up the rich atmosphere and notice all the intricate details. The ride itself was interesting. The indoor section is absolutely spectacular. I love how this attraction tells a narrative without having to use any form of speech or written word. You experience the story yourself. You depart the docks only to get caught up in a cold and chilling mist that is all encombering. Before you know it you're lost alone in the sea with only the faint glimmer of your boat's lantern to guide your way. It's just so perfect. I absolurely ADORED the introduction to this ride. But what came next somehow topped it. I don't want to spoil the show scene that accompanied the flying dutchman's arrival, as it honestly led me to gasp and quite loudly go 'WOW!' but yeah... it's imposing, dramatic and on a huge scale! This scene is what made the ride for me. The lighting, sound, theming and water effects came together to create somthing that caught me completely off gaurd. Breaking the calmness of the beginng of the ride to usher in the coaster portion. Now here's where my issues start with the ride. Whilst the indoors drop was surprisingly impactful, once the ride leaves the building it's a complete non event. The drops do nothing, the coaster section does nothing and even the splash does nothing. KumbaK what were you thinking?! I'm almost gutted that Mack didn't create this as had they done so, I could easily see this ride breaking into my top 10. But oh well, I still rank it obscenely highly just on that indoors section alone.
Now Joris is definitely lacking in theming, but the setting over the lake is so beautiful I almost didn't care. Oh and the soundtrack absolutely slaps, so that's also a bonus (though to be fair Baron and Flying Dutchman also have top teir soundtracks too). The ride itself is just all out fun. It's nothing too wild, but for a family coaster it doesn't need to be. The drop can pack a punch towards the back of the train and the rest of the layout it chock full of fun whippy transitions and some nice pops of floater (can we talk about how amazing the weird twisted double down on water is?!). It's pretty much the perfect family coaster in my eyes. Way better than any other GCI that i'd ridden at this point. To be honest, it made me a little bit upset to see what Wickerman could've been! Though I will say the dueling aspect of this ride absolutely boosted my enjoyment of the ride. It's so much fun to see the trains dive around, dancing with each other right up until the finish line. Oh and who doesn't love the charming 'YOU WIN'/'YOU LOOSE' booing/cheering in the station. Not to brag, but on three times out of four I won. So clearly I was pretty lucky (although not lucky enough for Symbolica to open apparently).
* Please stop reading now if you haven't eaten anything today or if you are even remotely hungry. Trust me you do not need to be seeing pictures from Polles Keuken right now if so *
So anyway, onto Fata Morgana... Who gave Efteling the right to completely outshine Disney's Pirates of the Carribean with this ride? Thing is when I say outshine, I mean completely embarass Disney. Fata Morgana is something to behold. It's got that kitsch vintage charm where everything is a little bit over the top and janky, but oh dear god did I love it! The sets were stunning, not just for their time but even today! It's definitely a product of its time, but it still somehow remains beautiful and breathtaking today! It's just on a fantastic scale and really drives home the immersion with an annoyingly good earworm of a soundtack and some good special effects and scents. I honestly wasn't expecting to fall in love with Fata Morgana this much, but it really is wonderful and takes you on a journey that you won't soon forget. One bit of advice though, DO NOT look up spoilers. I was so glad I didn't as experiencing this in person for the first time really meant that I could soak all the wonder in without knowing what was coming next.
I then trekked over to Ravelijn at the suggestion of Lofty. I simply can't thank him enough for reminding me to check the showtimes for this experience because this is something not to be missed on any visit to Efteling. I'm normally somebody who scoffs at the idea of taking time out of the day to watch a show, but honestly? Ravelijn was more than a show. It was an experience! The artistry of this production is immesurable. There are stunts, horse riding acts, magic, special effects and some impressive action/fight scenes. I was genuinely gobsmacked during the whole thing. The scale of this show is just beyond belief. I simply can't begin to understand how Efteling can put this show on multiple times a day and not charge for it. How this isn't an upcharge is beyond me. Disney and Universal really need to take notes from this show (yes I know Waterworld is probably a similar degree of epicness, but Orlando definitely needs something like this).
Oh and here's a picture of some amazing pasta that I had at Pinokkio's the park's restaurant which is open after park close. It was a chicken and pesto spaghetti and was beautifully cheesey and creamy. Again it's unbelievable that this level of park food is possible.
Final Ride Count
Baron 1898 x4
Dvilligender Hollander x2
Joris En De Drak Water x3
Python x1
Polles Keuken
Fata Morgana x1
Max x1
Ravelijn
Joris En De Drak Vuur x1
Aquanura
Pinokkio's Pizza & Pasta
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