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Efteling - The First Time

TheCoasterCruiser

Giga Poster
I was going to be in the area for a university visit and so I decided to book a night at the Efteling hotel and spend 13-14th of november at the resort.
This was my very first time at Efteling, so needless to say I was quite curious about the visit. I ended up being a bit blown away...

After a confusing wander around the bus stop, I finally found my way and arrived at the Efteling Hotel at about 3PM on sunday.
First up, what is up with the design of this hotel? It looks so out of place where it sits and it's just a really weird looking building in general. I get that they want it to be unique and fairytaly, but it's a bit of an eye-sore. Lovely rooms though.

After leaving my stuff I headed straight for the hotel guest entrance to the park, which is quite underwhelming to say the least. You pass through a sorry little playground with no theme whatsoever and on to one of the main paths. Which lead me to my first coaster of the trip.

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Vogel Rok! - My expectations for this ride pretty much resembled those of the bird's for the christmas season, but I was actually pleasantly surprised.
A somewhat bland queue and station, but quite the enjoyable little coaster. Nothing special obviously, but definitely more fun and smooth than anticipated.

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Next up was the parks newest addition; Baron 1898.
Now I did follow the construction of this quite closely and I remember being really impressed with the detailed theming they managed to pull of for a coaster of this size and shape. It looks great in person as well, the main track color might be a bit too light for my taste, but in general, great. The showrooms in the queue are good as well and I especially like the "final" doors that open into the station while marching drums are playing with synchronized green lamps blinking. Good build up.
The station itself looks gorgeous and when the trains dispatches it gets even better. The train moves gently into a pre-lift room and a great show follows, this all works really well! Up the lift and over the drop for a bit of holding brake and of you go into the mine. The coaster part itself is mediocre at best and really nothing to write home about. It was nice to see a more inspired layout on a mini-diver though (only been on Krake) and the helix added something in my opinion.

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I continued further into the park and found Vliegende Hollander, also a ride which I've had a crush on for quite some time.
A little side note first though. The pictures you see above was taken the next day, where the whole area around the attraction was fenced off, the ride path in the lake drained and scaffolding going up around the buildings! I was very lucky to get to ride it on my first day, especially because I found it to be something really special.
This attraction is absolutely amazing. The exterior, the fantastic queue and the beautiful (!) station, I was really impressed.
The ride itself starts out with a gentle, yet atmospheric sail through some scenes and then suddenly a huge ship appears right above you with water dripping down through the mist right as you start to ascend the lift hill. This kinda blew me away and really took me by surprise, not to mention the mini-drop before continuing the lift!
The outside coaster part is really nothing special, but it was smooth and it works well enough for the overall experience.
Such an incredible ride and definitely one of my new favorite attractions!
You have to go see for yourself though, as these photos - obviously - doesn't do it justice.

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And then there was Joris en de Draak.
I've come to the conclusion that I have a complicated relationship with GCI coasters, on one hand they're beautiful wooden roller coasters, but on the other hand I rarely have a really good ride on them. The same went for these two, a bit too rough and uneventful (not sure if that's the right word?) in any other seats than the front. But the front, oh the front. - I've found that the front-seats on GCI coasters often make for some awesome rides, but for me to really like the ride as a whole, it has to be good elsewhere also.

Now I didn't really get any good pictures of the remaining rides at the park, but I will still give you my thoughts on the most standout of these. Btw, Python was down due to cold weather, which I don't really count as a big loss, especially since I'll probably be back soon.

I was really looking forward to Droomvlucht, but ended up pretty disappointed, I thought there would be more to it than so.
Bob, the Intamin Bobsled was really good fun and a much better ride experience then the Macks.
I wasn't really liking Fata Morgana either, but the scale of it was impressive.

I did watch Ravelijn and felt it was a disappointment, very short and i did not have the right feel at all (maybe I saw it on a bad day?).
But then I watched Aquanura, and what a spectacular show! I loved it, it felt so grand and special and the music was awesome.

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Overall, I really liked Efteling and what it's all about. I visited this park alone on two cold and grey days in november and I still ended up liking the place.
They have some really high-end attractions and I like their more gritty and dark take on fairytales.
I already know that I want to return for years to come and especially next year with Symbolica coming up! I'm a big fan in particular of the park's most recent developments, starting with Vliegende Hollander, and so I can't wait to see what the future holds for the park, which I have a lot of faith in after my first visit!

So is there a more fitting way to end this trip report, than with a few pictures of Symbolica under construction? Thank you for reading along!

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swalesuk011

Roller Poster
How much of the park is decorated for Christmas? We go in a couple of weeks and not sure what to expect on the Christmas front

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SimonSays99

Guest
Always love to see Winter Efteling after visiting two years ago!
^They have some nice winter lights around Marerijk and Rejzenrijk. In the other areas they create a wonderful fairy-tale / spooky winter atmosphere with sparse but effectful lighting, moving / interactive Willow-the-Wisps using hologram projectors / motion sensors and big wooden bonfires with small food and drink shacks around the fires. Some of these areas as well as the illuminations on the Villa Volta and Vliegende Hollander buildings could be scary for small children.
 
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