Benenen
Hyper Poster
This past week I've been in Holland visiting Walibi, Toverland and Efteling. I didn't take many pictures and I've already forgotten the order I rode things so this report will be bullet points of my various thoughts followed by a photo dump at the end. Let's get cracking with this.
- Walibi Holland is a green and pretty park. I assumed it would be concretey but there's trees and landscaping all over the place, the areas by the rapids and the antique cars are particularly lush. What wasn't so lush was the layout. I didn't like how Condor and Goliath were at dead ends but very near to each other, I felt I had to backtrack through that area by the S&S tower so many times to get to the rides in that area. It also felt like the area by the Top Spin should have connected to the log flume but to get from there over to Lost Gravity you have to go that cumbersome route by the Big Wheel. None of this is a big issue as the park is quite small but the layout feels strange.
-Untamed is amazing, top 2 coaster for me. I've never been on a ride with such good pacing and the airtime is strong and consistent. Unfortunately on my last ride at the back someones coins came out of their pockets a few rows in front of me on the drop so I had to spend the whole ride ducked in a brace position with my hands covering my eyes.
-As mentioned in the Neorogen topic I really loved it. I opted to pay 5€ to book a time slot which payed off as the main queue went all the way to the entrance. Only a single person was being let in every few minutes so I dread to think how long it was. This was on a Sunday so potentially on a weekday the standby line is a viable option.
- Queue times weren't too bad, the main coasters ranged from 15-35 minutes. I had the most basic level of Fast Lane which works like the one at Blackpool where you book a ride on your phone and virtually wait. I fasttracked at least 10 rides during the day so at 20€ it worked out as good value but wouldn't have been essential to getting on everything.
- Efteling is huge. Queue times were low (max of 20 minutes) but there was no way we could have done everything we wanted in the 8 hours even with the horse show closed. We went hard but missed the outdoor boats, flying island, 4D cinema, rapids, Fairy-tale Forest, pirate ship and a few other smaller things. To fully absorb the park you need at least a day and a half even when it's quiet.
- Efteling is a premium, high end park. Rides run at high capacities, effects work and every corner of it looks gorgeous. It feels professional and well looked after.
-Symbolica is very high concept and ambitious but the execution isn't quite there. You spend a lot of the ride waiting for the other cars to enter or leave the scene you're in and it feels a bit stop and start in places. The music tour is the jerkiest pacing wise and the treasure tour flows the smoothest through the scenes. I'm also not keen on the interactive sections. If you're in the back rows and can't participate it takes you out of the ride but if you're in the front you spend too much time staring at the screen which also takes you out of the immersion. I come across as quite negative about Symbolica but I did love it, the sets are beautiful and it feels magical and goosebumpy in many places.
- Toverland was so much fun. I've been feeling stressed at work the last few weeks so spending a day here messing about on clackety bridges, pulling myself across rivers and jumping across platforms was a joy and felt really magical. I used to love taking my shoes off and climbing on stuff as a kid so to have a day reverting back to that as a 24 year old was a delight.
- Toverland has a solid coaster line up. I always thought Troy looked dull and just a load of corners on POVs but it rides amazingly. Lots of hidden dips and sharp moments of airtime. Fenix was also fantastic and doesn't have that cumbersome push/pull motion through the elements like other wing coasters have. The park will also let you stay in your seat and go round again if there's no one else waiting, there was a group of us lapping Troy during the last 15 minutes of opening which made for a great atmosphere.
- I loved the area around the rapids, there's loads of different routes on different levels through caves and across bridges. Lots of effects like mist and waterfalls too and even an animatronic.
- Overall this was an easy trip to do. We flew to Eindhoven, hired a car and stayed in an Airbnb in the middle of nowhere. It took just over an hour to drive to Walibi and Toverland and half an hour to get to Efteling. Dutch driving is very pleasant, we encountered no traffic during the whole trip.
- Walibi Holland is a green and pretty park. I assumed it would be concretey but there's trees and landscaping all over the place, the areas by the rapids and the antique cars are particularly lush. What wasn't so lush was the layout. I didn't like how Condor and Goliath were at dead ends but very near to each other, I felt I had to backtrack through that area by the S&S tower so many times to get to the rides in that area. It also felt like the area by the Top Spin should have connected to the log flume but to get from there over to Lost Gravity you have to go that cumbersome route by the Big Wheel. None of this is a big issue as the park is quite small but the layout feels strange.
-Untamed is amazing, top 2 coaster for me. I've never been on a ride with such good pacing and the airtime is strong and consistent. Unfortunately on my last ride at the back someones coins came out of their pockets a few rows in front of me on the drop so I had to spend the whole ride ducked in a brace position with my hands covering my eyes.
-As mentioned in the Neorogen topic I really loved it. I opted to pay 5€ to book a time slot which payed off as the main queue went all the way to the entrance. Only a single person was being let in every few minutes so I dread to think how long it was. This was on a Sunday so potentially on a weekday the standby line is a viable option.
- Queue times weren't too bad, the main coasters ranged from 15-35 minutes. I had the most basic level of Fast Lane which works like the one at Blackpool where you book a ride on your phone and virtually wait. I fasttracked at least 10 rides during the day so at 20€ it worked out as good value but wouldn't have been essential to getting on everything.
- Efteling is huge. Queue times were low (max of 20 minutes) but there was no way we could have done everything we wanted in the 8 hours even with the horse show closed. We went hard but missed the outdoor boats, flying island, 4D cinema, rapids, Fairy-tale Forest, pirate ship and a few other smaller things. To fully absorb the park you need at least a day and a half even when it's quiet.
- Efteling is a premium, high end park. Rides run at high capacities, effects work and every corner of it looks gorgeous. It feels professional and well looked after.
-Symbolica is very high concept and ambitious but the execution isn't quite there. You spend a lot of the ride waiting for the other cars to enter or leave the scene you're in and it feels a bit stop and start in places. The music tour is the jerkiest pacing wise and the treasure tour flows the smoothest through the scenes. I'm also not keen on the interactive sections. If you're in the back rows and can't participate it takes you out of the ride but if you're in the front you spend too much time staring at the screen which also takes you out of the immersion. I come across as quite negative about Symbolica but I did love it, the sets are beautiful and it feels magical and goosebumpy in many places.
- Toverland was so much fun. I've been feeling stressed at work the last few weeks so spending a day here messing about on clackety bridges, pulling myself across rivers and jumping across platforms was a joy and felt really magical. I used to love taking my shoes off and climbing on stuff as a kid so to have a day reverting back to that as a 24 year old was a delight.
- Toverland has a solid coaster line up. I always thought Troy looked dull and just a load of corners on POVs but it rides amazingly. Lots of hidden dips and sharp moments of airtime. Fenix was also fantastic and doesn't have that cumbersome push/pull motion through the elements like other wing coasters have. The park will also let you stay in your seat and go round again if there's no one else waiting, there was a group of us lapping Troy during the last 15 minutes of opening which made for a great atmosphere.
- I loved the area around the rapids, there's loads of different routes on different levels through caves and across bridges. Lots of effects like mist and waterfalls too and even an animatronic.
- Overall this was an easy trip to do. We flew to Eindhoven, hired a car and stayed in an Airbnb in the middle of nowhere. It took just over an hour to drive to Walibi and Toverland and half an hour to get to Efteling. Dutch driving is very pleasant, we encountered no traffic during the whole trip.
