Review: Efteling, Holland

Efteling is the largest and most popular theme park in Holland. Efteling attracts over 5 million guests a year, making it the third most visited theme park in Europe behind Disneyland Parks and Europa park. Efteling is located in the South of the Netherlands near Tilburg. The park is also only a 1 hour and 15 minutes drive away from Amsterdam airport.

Efteling opened in May, 1952. This makes the park 3 years older than the original Disneyland in Anaheim. Efteling is open year round. The park often closes a few rides each year for refurbishments between the months of November and February.  During our visit the indoor rollercoaster,Vogel Rok, and the family dark ride, Droomvulcht, were both closed for refurbishment.

The park is themed around a variety of different ancient myths, legends, fables and classic fairytales. Efteling, Holland is probably the most highly themed theme park we have ever visited outside of a Disney or Universal Studios Park.  Every attraction in the park is highly themed, with many attractions having highly detailed backstories which are developed by the use of some impressive pre shows.

The park is divided into four lands. After going through the parks spectacular entrance, the first land you enter is Marerijk (Fairy Realm). This area is full of many family attractions themed to a variety of different fairy stories. Within this land is also the classic fairy tale forest which tells the story of a variety of classic fairy tales, such as Pinocchio. This area is also home to the classic dark ride Droomvulcht and the parks hugely impressive show, Raveleijn. There are some very good effects and stunts in this show. The show is in Dutch, however, they do provide headsets which tell the story in English. Next door to this show is the attraction Villa Volta. This attraction is your classic Vekoma madhouse.

The main attraction in this area is the relatively new, €40 million trackless dark ride Symbolica which opened in 2017. This trackless dark ride is incredibly well themed and rivals even the best Disney attractions. There are also 3 different versions of this attraction; a music story, a heroes story and a treasure story. This certainly helps increases Symbolica’s re-ride ability.  During our visit, the heroes storyline was usually the most popular version of the attraction.

The next land in Efteling, Holland (working clockwise) is the travel realm, Reizenrijk.  During our visit, the rollercoaster in this area was closed. The other major attraction in this land is the family style dark ride Carnaval Festival. This omnimover style attraction takes you on a journey through 12 different countries. This ride is definitely similar to the classic Disney attraction It’s a small world. At the edge of this land, just behind Symbolica, is Pagode. Pagode is a very unusual and unique rotating observation tower. This 45 metre tall observation tower provides guests with an amazing view of both the park and the surrounding area. Also in this land is the relaxing boat ride, Gondoletta, which takes you on a slow journey round the parks largest lake.

The next land you enter in the park is Ruigrijk, the adventure realm. This area of the park is the home to the majority of the thrill rides at Efteling. There are four rollercoasters in this land; Python, a classic Vekoma corkscrew style coaster, Joris en de Draak, a late duelling wooden coaster, De Vliegende Hollander, a very well-themed water coaster and Baron 1898. Baron is the parks newest rollercoaster having opened in 2015. This dive-coaster is one of the most incredibly themed steel rollercoasters in the world. The ride itself, although not being the tallest or fastest dive-coaster in the world, also provides a very enjoyable and thrilling experience. We enjoyed all the coasters in this area multiple times during our visit.

The final land in this park is Anderrijk, the other realm. The major ride in this land is the classic bobsled style coaster, Bob. The unique coaster experience this ride provides certainly makes this one of the parks most enjoyable rides. This land is also home to the dark ride Fata Morgana. This slow Arabian themed boat ride takes you on a journey through the Forbidden city.

Every evening, 15 minutes after the park closes, there is a fountain show located near the front of the park. The show is called Aquanura and is based on the story that four magical frogs turn the pond into a water ballet which tells the story of a variety of classic fairytales. It is the largest water fountain show in Europe and a great way to end your day at Efteling.

Efteling has one of the greatest selections of theme park food out of any park we have ever visited. Food in the park ranges from twisted taters to pancakes to salads. The park also puts a large emphasis on the fact that it sources a lot of its food from the local area. Our favourite eating place in the park was the incredibly well themed pancake house, Polles Keuken. These pancakes are a traditional and classic Dutch food item so what better to eat for lunch or dinner when spending the day at Efteling. The pancakes are freshly made to order and the restaurant offers a variety of both sweet and savoury pancakes.

With the huge variety of attractions, shows, food and other experiences available at Efteling we definitely advise that you plan to spend more than one day at the park. Efteling has two hotels and a holiday village which provide the perfect place to stay during your visit.

Overall, Efteling is a fantastic park and easily one of the best parks not just in Europe but the whole world. The park has something to offer for everyone from well designed family attractions to some very thrilling, adrenaline fuelled rollercoasters. Efteling is also one of the friendliest, cleanest and well maintained parks we have ever visited. If you ever get the opportunity to visit Efteling then make sure you take it, we guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Have you ever visited Efteling, Holland?

Also check out our article on the changes coming to Disneyland Paris.