nadroJ
CF Legend
So what started as 2 days in a theme park and 2 days doing cultural stuff ended with me getting my own way, which naturally meant 4 days in theme parks (it was MY birthday trip after all). The schedule looked something like this:
Wednesday: 6.45am flight to Eindhoven; hire car; drive to Efteling; have some MAGIC; drive to Hotel Matamba.
Thursday: Phantasilandawesomeness; Hard Rock Cafe
Friday: Morephantasialandawesomeness; drive back to Eindhoven
Saturday: Morning/early afternoon at Toverland; fly home about 5pm.
Wednesday
We arose at some UNGODLY hour Wednesday morning. I adjusted quite quickly whereas Conor stumbled about like some kind of rabid bear for the next three hours (clearly I'm much more used to this than he is ;]). Daddy was kind enough to give us a lift so we got dropped off at Stansted, faffed with some crap breakfast in the airport and had the world's quickest/faff free flight to Eindhoven. Eindhoven is tiny and you enter a Saw-the-ride-eque queue thing when getting off of the plane. And all of the staff ride around on bikes, very European it is. Timing was shaping up quite nicely, at 9am we were presented with the Fiat Panda (of actual WIN, surprisingly), and held our breath as I entered the Efteling co-ordinates. SUCCESS! The satnav was very co-operative (thankfully meaning we didn't have to resort to MAPS of all things) and sashayed to the wondrous place that is Efteling.
We pulled into the gates at 9.55am (told you our timing was impeccable), minced in the Panda right up to the fabulous entrance and excitedly bought tickets and got maps and generally squealed with delight. We were so excited that Conor forgot his wallet. Burden, now I have to pay for everything all day. Anyway, we nabbed an English map and walked into the park. It looked GORGEOUS, especially on the crisp yet sunny and clear day that only the month of October could provide. We grabbed hot chocolate and a sausage roll from the cafe at the exit of Panda-of-doom (which we avoided because it's BUMHOLES) and joined the miniscule queue for Spookslot. It was awesome yet weird, I wondered what Conor would make of it, turns out he liked it and I think this was a good attraction to give him a taste of what weirdness European parks can deliver.
After this we bumbled over to BOB. I love coasters with generic men's names. There should definitely be a cred called Dave. The park was pretty much empty still, the queue for BOB was only about 5 minutes, and we spited the smelly school group (I swear they were just constantly farting the whole time) because we were a group of 'twee' (that's Dutch for two). Yay. It was OK. More fun than I remember but not fun enough to re-ride, even with a ten minute queue. After this we just kind of wandered around going 'It's so PRETTY' but I think next we did Fata Morgana.
This was another ride I wondered what Conor would make of it. He really enjoyed it, and was in awe of how all the effects were working, and kept excitedly pointing things out to me like the child he is. And lolled at the terrorists and booga booga man at the end. It's all very fab in a special kind of Efteling way. And the entrance plaza is HUGE and detailed and I love it <3
After this we walked around the corned and gawped in awe at the Flying Dutchman entrance. So cool! I still love it, I love how Efteling doesn't really have specific areas it's just all a massive blend of amazingness. 10 minute queue for Dutchman, it was a bit burdenous inside but we were on before long. I love the European style of batching where they let you choose what row you want to sit in, there doesn't seem to be much demand for front row so more often than not that's where we found ourselves. Flying Dutchman is gorgeous! I love how the boats are set into the water instead of on top of it like other water rides. The theming is so immersive and the use of light and fog effects is so simple yet effective. Still feels like the coaster part is a tad unneccesary but at least it makes the ride longer. AND it's a water ride that doesn't get you wet, the best kind <3
I think around the point I'd decided I needed the toilet so we went to the cafe in the train station, had a wee break and grabbed a sausage in bread style of thing and chilled for a bit. Park was still empty, weather still lush. Python was next. I can't for the life of me remember if it had the fab new restraints last time I rode it, but they make SUCH a difference. It was actually ENJOYABLE. I totally prepared myself for vile headbanging but it was smooth and lovely and if there hadn't been awesome GCI to be had I'd have re-ridden. Loved the 80s videos of moustachioed, perm-headed persons riding it too, so gross and European <3
The time had come for GCI. The queue was annoying though because Efteling had decided on one train operations. Who do they think they are, Thorpe? Eurgh. So we stood teasingly in the station for 20 minutes waiting for the bloody thing. I think we did red first, in the back. Of course, it was brilliant fun. Lovely little pops of airtime all over, unrelenting speed and the thrill of the racing aspect, plus DRAGON (there is an unwritten rule that you must shout DRAGON every time you see the DRAGON). Annoyingly we decided the queue was too annoying for re-rides, but we would revisit later, as there was still much of Efteling to explore.
On our way through to Vogel Rok and those bits, we picked up an innocent bag of popcorn. But oh my god, it was the BestPopcornEVER <3<3 Is there anything this place can't do right? Oh yh, rubbish train operations, but anyway, the popcorn was LUSH. We decided to do the weird awkwardly racist clown dark-ride first. They've stolen the Wallace and Gromit theme tune but changed a few notes for copyright reasons, it's annoying. If you haven't been on this ride, YouTube a video of it. It's brilliantly dated (and European) so it's full of vulgar stereotypes. We guffawed and took photos of the racism and felt all dignified and on high horses for being so MODERN and ACCEPTING of other cultures, and sashayed onto Vogel Rok. Once again, no queue, and three trains running, yay! Last time I rode there was no soundtrack (boo), but this time I rode there was soundtrack (woo). It was funny because Conor ducked when the snake eats you at the end. Fab ride, great example of how a bit of theming, some cheap laser effects and a cool soundtrack can really make a difference in a cred.
On our way out Conor took some stupid videos of himself with the Vogel Rok. I think at this point we had another toilet break and prepared to get lost in the fairytale forest, which is actually the best thing is the world. Especially if you're a fairytale goon like me. Anyway, I love that Efteling have managed to portray the fairytales without resorting to casual copyright infringement, it really is a feat in itself. The place is just utterly gorgeous. If you don't know, basically it's a forest where every so often you stumble across a little diorama of a particular fairy tale. Some are just animatronics, some are full on shows, some are old, some are new. The older ones have a quaintness about them, like the animatronics and effects aren't great but they're not gross at the same time? The newer things are really beautiful, the use of staging effects is lovely. The new thing for 2013 was the Emperor's New Clothes, a show about 8 minutes long using animatronics, water effects, shadow effects and soundtrack. It's quite humourous and cute, I really enjoyed it. Conor loved the mental water lillies show, seen here:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jelz7uKGaYA[/youtube]
We watched it twice.
I think overall we spent about an hour and a half getting lost in the forest. There's loads of different directions you can go in which is great, you really could spend the whole day in there if you really wanted to. And it's pretty. Oh, and Efteling have decided to dye some doves so every now and then you get a flock of mutli-coloured birds flying overhead.
We then fancied a sit down so went inside to the gorgeous old indoor carousel. Beautifully detailed thing, and really quite fast and violent too. Hidden in this building also is the OMFGAWESOME train diorama. It's basically a huge **** train set set in a Bavarian-style mountain scene. It also has working boats, horse and cart and a fun fair. And there's a whole separate scene in the dark where a storm is happening. It's ridiculous and fab.
After this I decided to go and stand outside Drumvlucht and cry because it's not open at the moment =[[ It's OK, because it's being made MORE AMAZING, because in the word's of John Cooper 'apparently that's possible' XD Decided against Rahjavelin because it's a bit rubbish and went on Villa Volta instead. I still have no idea what the ride is themed to, something about thieves and goats? It's pretty anyway (as is everything at Efteling) and Conor enjoyed getting another Mad House cred. After this I wanted to go on the kiddies monorail thing in the character area, but there was a queue and ain't nobody got time for that, so we sacked it off and went to re-ride stuff.
On the way over we went on the slow_boats. They were slow. There were some vulgar seagulls who AMBUSHED any boat that had food. Like they literally had some sort of military operation wherein they would swarm the boat and hijack any food on board. It was avarian chaos it was. But it was OK because we didn't have any food. There was also a seagull stuck on the turntable, walking but getting nowhere. Funny but cruel. Conor was in AWE over the flying island, but I didn't want to go on it because they're DULL. More creds, I cried! So we had more Flying Dutchman. It was still awesome. We bought an ORP, see:
The woman told us for €20 we could have had 15 photos. 15! It was too late in the day to take advantage of this ridiculous offer though, spite <//3 We spent the last minutes of the day re-riding Joris. 2 more on blue, one more on red. Such a firey little coaster! I want one as a pet. We got another ORP, see:
We asked the ORP lady where the best place to watch Aquanura was. She said 'by the river, that is round' (everyone in Efteling speaks in riddles you see). We asked if the show was any good. She said 'hnnghemrmmm'. Our expectations for the event were lowered by around 40%. We decided a good place to watch from would be right by the entrance, that way we wouldn't have to battle through burdenous families to get out. We go some deep fried batter covered in sugar, they were delicious and indulgent. Aquanura started, it was good, but I really wish we could have seen it at night. The YouTube videos show that the colour in the water makes it about 85% less boring, which was a shame really. At least the soundtrack was good.
After the show we bought some tat, got in the Panda of JOY and minced over to Hotel Matamba at Phantasialand.
Wednesday: 6.45am flight to Eindhoven; hire car; drive to Efteling; have some MAGIC; drive to Hotel Matamba.
Thursday: Phantasilandawesomeness; Hard Rock Cafe
Friday: Morephantasialandawesomeness; drive back to Eindhoven
Saturday: Morning/early afternoon at Toverland; fly home about 5pm.
Wednesday
We arose at some UNGODLY hour Wednesday morning. I adjusted quite quickly whereas Conor stumbled about like some kind of rabid bear for the next three hours (clearly I'm much more used to this than he is ;]). Daddy was kind enough to give us a lift so we got dropped off at Stansted, faffed with some crap breakfast in the airport and had the world's quickest/faff free flight to Eindhoven. Eindhoven is tiny and you enter a Saw-the-ride-eque queue thing when getting off of the plane. And all of the staff ride around on bikes, very European it is. Timing was shaping up quite nicely, at 9am we were presented with the Fiat Panda (of actual WIN, surprisingly), and held our breath as I entered the Efteling co-ordinates. SUCCESS! The satnav was very co-operative (thankfully meaning we didn't have to resort to MAPS of all things) and sashayed to the wondrous place that is Efteling.
We pulled into the gates at 9.55am (told you our timing was impeccable), minced in the Panda right up to the fabulous entrance and excitedly bought tickets and got maps and generally squealed with delight. We were so excited that Conor forgot his wallet. Burden, now I have to pay for everything all day. Anyway, we nabbed an English map and walked into the park. It looked GORGEOUS, especially on the crisp yet sunny and clear day that only the month of October could provide. We grabbed hot chocolate and a sausage roll from the cafe at the exit of Panda-of-doom (which we avoided because it's BUMHOLES) and joined the miniscule queue for Spookslot. It was awesome yet weird, I wondered what Conor would make of it, turns out he liked it and I think this was a good attraction to give him a taste of what weirdness European parks can deliver.
After this we bumbled over to BOB. I love coasters with generic men's names. There should definitely be a cred called Dave. The park was pretty much empty still, the queue for BOB was only about 5 minutes, and we spited the smelly school group (I swear they were just constantly farting the whole time) because we were a group of 'twee' (that's Dutch for two). Yay. It was OK. More fun than I remember but not fun enough to re-ride, even with a ten minute queue. After this we just kind of wandered around going 'It's so PRETTY' but I think next we did Fata Morgana.
This was another ride I wondered what Conor would make of it. He really enjoyed it, and was in awe of how all the effects were working, and kept excitedly pointing things out to me like the child he is. And lolled at the terrorists and booga booga man at the end. It's all very fab in a special kind of Efteling way. And the entrance plaza is HUGE and detailed and I love it <3
After this we walked around the corned and gawped in awe at the Flying Dutchman entrance. So cool! I still love it, I love how Efteling doesn't really have specific areas it's just all a massive blend of amazingness. 10 minute queue for Dutchman, it was a bit burdenous inside but we were on before long. I love the European style of batching where they let you choose what row you want to sit in, there doesn't seem to be much demand for front row so more often than not that's where we found ourselves. Flying Dutchman is gorgeous! I love how the boats are set into the water instead of on top of it like other water rides. The theming is so immersive and the use of light and fog effects is so simple yet effective. Still feels like the coaster part is a tad unneccesary but at least it makes the ride longer. AND it's a water ride that doesn't get you wet, the best kind <3
I think around the point I'd decided I needed the toilet so we went to the cafe in the train station, had a wee break and grabbed a sausage in bread style of thing and chilled for a bit. Park was still empty, weather still lush. Python was next. I can't for the life of me remember if it had the fab new restraints last time I rode it, but they make SUCH a difference. It was actually ENJOYABLE. I totally prepared myself for vile headbanging but it was smooth and lovely and if there hadn't been awesome GCI to be had I'd have re-ridden. Loved the 80s videos of moustachioed, perm-headed persons riding it too, so gross and European <3
The time had come for GCI. The queue was annoying though because Efteling had decided on one train operations. Who do they think they are, Thorpe? Eurgh. So we stood teasingly in the station for 20 minutes waiting for the bloody thing. I think we did red first, in the back. Of course, it was brilliant fun. Lovely little pops of airtime all over, unrelenting speed and the thrill of the racing aspect, plus DRAGON (there is an unwritten rule that you must shout DRAGON every time you see the DRAGON). Annoyingly we decided the queue was too annoying for re-rides, but we would revisit later, as there was still much of Efteling to explore.
On our way through to Vogel Rok and those bits, we picked up an innocent bag of popcorn. But oh my god, it was the BestPopcornEVER <3<3 Is there anything this place can't do right? Oh yh, rubbish train operations, but anyway, the popcorn was LUSH. We decided to do the weird awkwardly racist clown dark-ride first. They've stolen the Wallace and Gromit theme tune but changed a few notes for copyright reasons, it's annoying. If you haven't been on this ride, YouTube a video of it. It's brilliantly dated (and European) so it's full of vulgar stereotypes. We guffawed and took photos of the racism and felt all dignified and on high horses for being so MODERN and ACCEPTING of other cultures, and sashayed onto Vogel Rok. Once again, no queue, and three trains running, yay! Last time I rode there was no soundtrack (boo), but this time I rode there was soundtrack (woo). It was funny because Conor ducked when the snake eats you at the end. Fab ride, great example of how a bit of theming, some cheap laser effects and a cool soundtrack can really make a difference in a cred.
On our way out Conor took some stupid videos of himself with the Vogel Rok. I think at this point we had another toilet break and prepared to get lost in the fairytale forest, which is actually the best thing is the world. Especially if you're a fairytale goon like me. Anyway, I love that Efteling have managed to portray the fairytales without resorting to casual copyright infringement, it really is a feat in itself. The place is just utterly gorgeous. If you don't know, basically it's a forest where every so often you stumble across a little diorama of a particular fairy tale. Some are just animatronics, some are full on shows, some are old, some are new. The older ones have a quaintness about them, like the animatronics and effects aren't great but they're not gross at the same time? The newer things are really beautiful, the use of staging effects is lovely. The new thing for 2013 was the Emperor's New Clothes, a show about 8 minutes long using animatronics, water effects, shadow effects and soundtrack. It's quite humourous and cute, I really enjoyed it. Conor loved the mental water lillies show, seen here:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jelz7uKGaYA[/youtube]
We watched it twice.
I think overall we spent about an hour and a half getting lost in the forest. There's loads of different directions you can go in which is great, you really could spend the whole day in there if you really wanted to. And it's pretty. Oh, and Efteling have decided to dye some doves so every now and then you get a flock of mutli-coloured birds flying overhead.
We then fancied a sit down so went inside to the gorgeous old indoor carousel. Beautifully detailed thing, and really quite fast and violent too. Hidden in this building also is the OMFGAWESOME train diorama. It's basically a huge **** train set set in a Bavarian-style mountain scene. It also has working boats, horse and cart and a fun fair. And there's a whole separate scene in the dark where a storm is happening. It's ridiculous and fab.
After this I decided to go and stand outside Drumvlucht and cry because it's not open at the moment =[[ It's OK, because it's being made MORE AMAZING, because in the word's of John Cooper 'apparently that's possible' XD Decided against Rahjavelin because it's a bit rubbish and went on Villa Volta instead. I still have no idea what the ride is themed to, something about thieves and goats? It's pretty anyway (as is everything at Efteling) and Conor enjoyed getting another Mad House cred. After this I wanted to go on the kiddies monorail thing in the character area, but there was a queue and ain't nobody got time for that, so we sacked it off and went to re-ride stuff.
On the way over we went on the slow_boats. They were slow. There were some vulgar seagulls who AMBUSHED any boat that had food. Like they literally had some sort of military operation wherein they would swarm the boat and hijack any food on board. It was avarian chaos it was. But it was OK because we didn't have any food. There was also a seagull stuck on the turntable, walking but getting nowhere. Funny but cruel. Conor was in AWE over the flying island, but I didn't want to go on it because they're DULL. More creds, I cried! So we had more Flying Dutchman. It was still awesome. We bought an ORP, see:
The woman told us for €20 we could have had 15 photos. 15! It was too late in the day to take advantage of this ridiculous offer though, spite <//3 We spent the last minutes of the day re-riding Joris. 2 more on blue, one more on red. Such a firey little coaster! I want one as a pet. We got another ORP, see:
We asked the ORP lady where the best place to watch Aquanura was. She said 'by the river, that is round' (everyone in Efteling speaks in riddles you see). We asked if the show was any good. She said 'hnnghemrmmm'. Our expectations for the event were lowered by around 40%. We decided a good place to watch from would be right by the entrance, that way we wouldn't have to battle through burdenous families to get out. We go some deep fried batter covered in sugar, they were delicious and indulgent. Aquanura started, it was good, but I really wish we could have seen it at night. The YouTube videos show that the colour in the water makes it about 85% less boring, which was a shame really. At least the soundtrack was good.
After the show we bought some tat, got in the Panda of JOY and minced over to Hotel Matamba at Phantasialand.
