Hi everyone!
A few years ago my partner and I had a child. It's been a wonderful adventure of its own, but as one would predict it did put a halt to international theme park travels. I had managed to cram in two trips to Liseberg and Europa Park in 2023 prior to my child's birth (long overdue reports on these), but this began a dry spell in theme park travels.
Fast forward to 2025, and my partner and I agreed a trade off. She would visit Barcelona with a friend for 4 nights, and in return I would get 4 nights of my own to do something I wanted to do abroad. We would each look after our child whilst the other travelled.
I already knew I wanted to visit Efteling, and wished to spend 2 full days there...but where else to do. Toverland had long intrigued me, and it was not all that far from Efteling. I intended to travel via Eurostar to Brussels, and so I also decided to book a morning in Walibi Belgium too to really squeeze every drop out of my time there.
Unable to rope my usual suspects of travel companions (my brother and / or a fellow enthusiast), I ended up booking the trip solo, unwilling to let the opportunity escape me.
21st May 2025 - Travel Day
Setting off from the UKs South Coast I had a lot of trains. I won't bore you with the details, but I had to get the train to London, tube across London, Eurostar to Brussels, train to Breda and finally train to Tilburg in the Netherlands to my first hotel. Whilst long, I 100% recommend using the Eurostar as it was cheaper and more relaxed than flying despite the extra trains. Trains in Belgium and the Netherlands are better and more affordable than in the UK (my train to London was the same cost as the Eurostar).
I had dinner at the Tilburg Station Gourmet Market, and it was delicious. I would proceed to eat here 3 nights in a row, as the setting was good and the variety on the menu was excellent.
As a solo traveller I'm a fan of more casual eateries, so I sat outside with a book and ordered food using the QR code.
22nd May - Efteling day 1
I woke up early on the first full day. Efteling is a big park, and I was keen to beat the rush. The first 1 hour is typically the easiest in which to get lots done (emphasis on 'typically').
Efteling is far from new to me. In fact, it's my favourite park. I first visited in 2013, returning once a year at varying times between 2014 to 2019. Covid caused an abrupt end to my streak (albeit a less bothersome interruption compared to the fact Covid resulted in my own wedding getting delayed 2 years! - my original wedding date was only 1 week after lockdown was announced).
I had returned in 2022 in what was actually a disappointing trip which threw my 'favourite park' title into doubt. It was too busy, effects didn't work on Symbolica or De Vliegende Hollander, Joris en de Draak was riding rough and I felt ill on the final afternoon. This 2025 trip had a lot to prove.
Approaching the park I noticed the looming presence of the Efteling Grand Hotel under construction. I had been apprehensive of this negatively affecting the view as you approach the park. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually rather liked it.
I arrived around 9:40 and shuffled quickly to the gates near Ruigrijk. My battle plan was to hit the coasters at the back corner first, assuming crowds would get gobbled up by Symbolica and the newly opened Danse Macabre. How did that go?
Errr...badly
I got quickly onto Joris en de Draak first. I walked on to both Vuur and Water sides in quick succession with no queues. Good start. I was very pleased with how both tracks were running. The retracting since my last visit did the trick, and these two coasters hover within my top 10 coasters. They are not the biggest or fastest, but the regular pops of airtime and quick changes of direction are more fun than the likes of Wicker Man. I still debate whether I prefer Joris or Wodan or Balder, and this fight continues to be fought in my head. In any case, they were much better than in 2022. One thing which wasn't in good condition is the animatronic dragon nestled in the track. Efteling are generally good at maintaining rides and effects, but the dragon is a bit of a 'sore thumb' in that regarding having sat stationary for a while.
Then came the troubles.
I headed to De Vliegende Hollander. It broke down for 2.5 hours just as I got to boarding.
I headed to Baron 1898. It was a surprisingly big queue. It turns out Danse Macabre was broken down (more on that later). I got closer to boarding, it broke down. I held firm, but it took me an hour in the end to get on, slightly wasting my head start.
Baron 1898 is one of my favourite rides in the world. It's not the most thrilling layout, or even really the best themed (though it is pretty excellent), or the best story. What it is instead is better than the sum if its parts. The mix of story, theming and ride blend together into one of the best overall experiences I have had on a theme park ride. It was one of the last rides B&M before they started churning out rattling cars, so it's very re-rideable. The drop, whilst short, is so much fun. I can't use enough words to describe how much I love Baron 1898...even if I did wait quite a while longer than I'd like!
So, I check how Danse Macabre is doing. Still closed.
How is De Vliegende Hollander doing? Still closed.
What about Symbolica? Also broken down.
Oh dear.
I decided to aim to stay close to Danse Macabre and De Vliegende Hollander in case they opened, as these were the rides which were either new to me or recently refurbished. For those who have not been to Efteling, I must note that the park is very big in terms of area. It's not a park you can easily hop around, and generally I find it easier to plan out doing rides in one location before moving along rather than going backwards and forwards. Most of the coasters are in one corner of the park (Ruigrijk), but this should not discredit the other realms of the park, each of which have exceptional dark rides and other curiosities.
Pirana, the rapids ride, was at 5 mins and literally opposite Danse Macabre. Knowing this would get busy later I decided to do this. I believe it may now be one of the oldest rapids rides still operating, which makes it something of a historical artifact. The ride is relatively fun, but it's ultimately not a particularly noteworthy rapids ride.
Fata Morgana was next. This is a terrific boat dark ride, kind of like an Arabian Nights themed Pirates of the Caribbean. I always enjoy this ride and it's got a delightfully dated charm to it. That is not to say that it's dated in a bad way, as it's in stellar condition and very detailed, but it feels like a ride of a bygone era. Fata Morgana has rarely had much of a queue in any of my visits, so this was handy!
A short walk from Fata Morgana are the dueling powered Mack Coasters Max and Moritz. These two belong in the category of "rides that go harder than they had any right to go". They do two laps, the first at a bit more of a leisurely pace and then at a faster speed on lap 2. Both are great fun and relatively well themed, with several animatronics and effects occurring as the vehicles pass through the station. As a solo traveller the single rider line was ideal, as the ride was a walk-on, so I got both done in quick succession. I still miss the Bobbahn bobsled coaster that these replaced, but I understand why it was replaced.
Danse Macabre, De Vliegende Hollander and Symbolic were all down still. This wasn't great news. I decided to get an early lunch at the bakery adjacent to the Max and Moritz coasters. Generally Efteling food is very good, but the pizza bread I ordered here was a bit of a let down. Thankfully this is a rarity at this park. As I had lunch I felt somewhat worried about the prospects of my day. Despite the setbacks with Baron 1898 early, I'd actually managed to ride quite a bit, but Danse Macabre in particular being down for the count wasn't filling me with hope. I had been trying to hover close the ride in case of it opening, but just over 2 hours into the day it remained close. Expecting the worst, I decided to head to the other parts of the park.
Symbolica was back up and running from what it turned out were a handful of short delays. Standby queue was 30 minutes, single rider was 5 mins. Yes please. I really like this ride. Admittedly the theme (a fantasy tour through Pardoes the court jester's world) isn't my cup-of-tea, but the level of detail and scale of some of the effects and animatronics can't help but let me get onboard with the whole thing. By my reckoning this is the best dark ride at the park (spoiler: for now), especially when the sometimes defunct whale animatronic whale is working, as this is the best scene in the ride. Top tip: this ride is generally what most people do first because it's the first ride you can queue up for. It generally gets quieter later, and single rider is particular quick on this one.
I check the Efteling App, and to my delight De Vliegende Hollander had reopened. I quickly swerved back on myself and headed straight for this.
De Vliegende Hollander is a strange beast. As a coaster I'll be honest...it's a bit rubbish. It's banked too much, kind of lurches around the outdoor section with the grace of a mattress on wheels. However, the rest of the attraction is phenomenal. It's a coaster where saying "the queueline is better than the coaster" is not actually a criticism. The queue takes you through the story of a doomed sea voyage and a ghost ship. There's music, special effects and detailed theming.
Once you board the boat there's a great dark ride section, which has seen some change over the years. It opened with a projection of the ghost ship on a big wall of water. It looked amazing....when it worked. It often didn't work. In 2022 I was keen to show this ride off to my sister-in-law for her first visit, and very few of the effects on this ride worked, leaving me disappointed. In 2024 and earlier this year the team at Efteling ditched the broken effects in favour of brand new physical sets. I am pleased to say this was a phenomenal move, and the ride is better than it's ever been. Now the projection has been replaced with a 'ship graveyard' with lightning and water effects. This is obviously much better than a non-working projection. Good work Efteling! I've seen some slightly negative reviews of the changes...I can't say I agree at all. Big improvement in my books!
Seeing no end to Danse Macabre's downtime, I headed towards 'Marerijk' with a view to tackling some of the rides and attractions there. This area is the furthest from Danse Macabre you can get, so it was something of an acceptance that I might not get on Danse Macabre today.
The main rides in this corner are the fairytale forest, Droomvlucht, Villa Volta and an array of other curiosities. Droomvlucht is (or maybe was) arguably the most quintessentially Efteling ride there is. It's an elaborate dark ride through fairy forests and dream-like scenes. It's very good for what it is, and I totally see why it's so popular. Personally I prefer Symbolica and Fata Morgana, but I do really like Droomvlucht. What I don't like is the queue. It is probably the most oppressive queue in Efteling, featuring a tight and noisy cattlepen. I read a book in the queue to distract myself. When I ever come back to Efteling with my own child I will heed my own advice and try and do this first thing before the queue gets big!
Next I headed to Villa Volta. This is a Vekoma mad-house. The pre-shows are quite long (and exclusively in Dutch), but for me this is still a great attraction. If you've done one madhouse you've done all of them, but as 'one trick ponies' go it's one very good trick. The music is also killer, featuring some very 1990's 'theme park synths' which tap into a region of my brain which thrives on nostalgic naff-ness.
There is a park show in this corner of the park called Raveleijn. It's very impressive, but I'm personally not a massive park show person. I've done it before, and might do it again, but for this trip I opted to skip it, prioritising rides.
Efteling is also well known for lots of its quirkier little attractions and sights. The most prominent of these is the Sprookjesbos fairytale forest, however if you've never been you absolutely cannot skip over the other little attractions. There's the charmingly grotesque Volk von Laaf, which various dwarf-like people amidst a miniature town. There's a cute plaza with loads of children's playgrounds and funfair rides and many interactive dioramas. The Stoomcarousel is also here with a vintage steam carousel that must be seen. For this particular trip I didn't dedicate any time to these. Truth be told I've been talking to my partner about returning here in the coming years with my child, and I imagine this will involve a trip mostly spent in these areas! For now I am prioritising rides, though I did check out the Efteling Museum and Diorama Hall whilst in the area. If you have never done the park though I would 100% advise spending 2 days or more so you can soak up all these little tid-bits and not just the big rides in other areas.
I began walking through the Sprookjesbos fairytale forest, when something happened. My phone notification pinged...
...Danse Macabre was open!
I was far away from the ride at this point, but I fast-walked my way to the new ride. There was 3 hours until closing, so I was desperate to get on immediately.
The new area looks fantastic. I'm a sucker for spooky stuff, and the atmosphere in the new plaza was great. Ominous music - check. Dilapidated buildings - check. Creepy tombstones and a black cat - check check. All good so far. For my first ride I went for single rider, concerned with getting on the ride ASAP before it breaks down again. I will add though that the full experience is best experience doing the full queue as there's extra scenery and an outdoor preshow in one section. For some subsequent re-rides I would do the full queue, but now was not that time.
I'll be upfront about you with this ride, I was quite apprehensive. I have in many ways always been ill-suited to enjoying theme parks: I get motion sick, and I have a fear of being sick. Chef's kiss. The result of this means that I am generally quite cautious with rides. For the most park I'm successful by staying well hydrated, eating plenty of snacks (never go on a big ride hungry) and generally pacing myself by taking breaks between big rides (or outright avoiding particularly nauseating rides). My fears for Danse Macabre can be summarised in one word: 'SPINNING'. I avoid pretty much all flat rides (bar drop towers) for this reason, so when I found my beloved Spookslot was being replaced with a spinning flat ride my heart sank. I loved Spookslot, so this had a lot to prove.
Loaded up to the eyeballs with travel sickness meds, a recently consumed bottle of water and a handful of haribo somewhere in my digestive system, I nervously boarded Danse Macabre.
WOW.
Genuinely, wow. Despite seeing some POVs beforehand, I was still very surprised by this ride. This was aided in part by a ride cycle and effects that had actually been updated the week before I rode. I don't know how that previous cycle was in person, the new cycle was excellent. I won't spoil any individual parts to it, but the overall combination of music, the movement of the vehicles, the music and the effects and animatronics was so very fresh but also so very 'Efteling'. It felt both new and timeless at the same time. In some ways it's hard to explain exactly why it was so good, as no individual part is that amazing, but there's something about the completeness of the experience and just how unique it is which really works. It was telling that EVERY time it finish people would clap.
Regarding the motion sickness and dizziness, I was very pleasantly surprised that I was not only fine with it but could also manage re-rides later in the day (I wouldn't do it twice in a row though, or if already feeling 'iffy'). The ride cycle had a few very disorientating and dizzying parts, but they were mercifully short and typically followed by slower sections before the spinning became too much. I would end up doing the ride 5 times over two days, and I'd highly recommend doing the ride multiple times, as each time I noticed different effects I'd not seen before. Note that some effects are actually ONLY seen in some rows and vehicles. This is a bit of a criticism, as it means you sometimes get less than a whole experience each time, but given how good the incomplete picture is, this is a minor criticism. My first two rides were in car 3, then I had a ride in row 2 and 6, before ending with another car 3 (I'd have liked to do the other 3...a reason to come back I guess! My favourite effect is the harpist - I won't spoil it, but definitely keep an eye on her, as I only noticed what she did on my 3rd ride.
At present this is now my favourite Efteling ride.
After tackling Danse Macabre, it was time to mop up some of the other rides. I headed to a different corner of the park, which I'd not yet visited today. Vogel Rok and Carnaval Festival kind of sit is a bit of a weird corner of the park. They've tried in recent years to give more of the area a more cohesive theme, which has been an improvement, but it's still one of the 'lesser' parts of the park, and I typically go on both of these once a trip and then don't return!
Vogel Rok is a surprisingly forceful indoor Vekoma coaster (I often grey out and felt more nauseous from this than Danse Macabre) themed to an adventure of Sinbad. The big bird at the entrance is good theming, but beyond this there's a limited amount to see on ride. Carnaval Festival next door is an 'It's a Small World' rip off. It's...um, ok I guess? Neither Vogel Rok nor Carnaval Festival had more than 5 mins queue. Honestly, if Carnaval Festival was replaced in coming years with something better I'd be fine with that. The Vogel Rok bird is cool...keep that.
(In fact I care so little about this part of the park that the last time I took a photo of it was in 2016 - so here's one of those photos)
The remainder of the afternoon was spent doing a re-ride on Baron 1898 and Joris en de Draak. The final ride of the day was Danse Macabre.
Despite a shaky start I managed 19 rides and attractions across the day, which by my books is pretty damn good. My personal best at Efteling was 22 rides on a Tuesday in January 2014, so this is good for May!
I headed back on the bus to Tilburg, grabbed dinner at the Central Station Gourmet Market and then headed back to the hotel to rest my feet and prepare for the next day.
23rd May - Efteling day 2
The weather was a touch more adverse on my second Efteling day, but this was fairly on and off across the day, and ended with the day being generally quite sunny.
My first ride of the day was Danse Macabre, this time in the regular queue, which I would highly recommend. Whilst I knew heading to this first would mean sacrifice doing the coasters whilst they are at their quietest, knowing how Danse Macabre was down for 5 of the 8 hours of the previous day I wanted to hit it first. The queue was 30 mins, and afterwards the coasters were still relatively quiet so this wasn't a bad decision really.
Generally the second day at Efteling was spent picking up additional rides on Baron 1898, De Vliegende Hollander, Joris en de Draak, Fata Morgana, Droomvluchy, Symbolica, Max and Moritz and Danse Macabre. I won't bore you with the exact timings of all of these. Unlike Day 1, ride reliability was exceptional, and I didn't notice any downtime at all.
After a bit of repeat riding, I decided to have lunch at Het Witte Paard, which was a delicious and relatively healthy creamy pasta. Whilst this went down I decided to check out the only attraction I wanted to do the previous day and didn't get around to, Sprookjesbos.
Sprookjesbos isn't one attraction, instead it's a serious of dioramas and mini-attractions nestled within a forest. To do every part justice you'd want to dedicate anywhere between an hour and an hour and half. Knowing that A. I'd done it all before and B. if I come with my child we would 100% spend more time here than most other parts of the park, I opted to do a big of a speedy highlights tour of some of the better fairytales so that I could return to riding the bigger rides again. I would recommend that any first time visitor takes the time to truly do this part of the park justice though...so this is a "do as I say, not as I do" situation.
After my 45 min speed tour of the forest, I returned to continuing my re-riding.
Whilst I've done it on previous visits (both pre- and post- retracking), I didn't bother with Python. It's fine, and I get its signifcance for the park, but it's ultimately unremarkable for me and generates quite big queues. If it's a choice between a 20 min queue for Python or a 30 min queue to re-ride Baron 1898 for the 4th time, Baron still wins.
I also skipped over some other attractions such as the Gondoletta boat ride (a peaceful boat ride around much of the park), the steam train and the Pagode flying island observation tower (the latter of which was closed for routine maintenance anyway). I'm sure I'll do these on later visits.
My final ride was Danse Macabre, a fitting end to the day and my time at Efteling. It was a reaffirming trip after a slightly underwhelming 2022 trip. Danse Macabre was an amazing addition to the park and I was pleased to see more rides on top form again (though Efteling need to fix the dragon still at Joris!). Whilst the coasters are argued by some to not be world class, I think that the overall package they form part of makes this my favourite park, especially when combined with the best set of dark rides this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
My ride count was as follows over two days:
Danse Macabre x 5
Baron 1898 x 4
Joris en de Draak (Vuur) x 4
Symbolica x 3
De Vliegende Hollander x 3
Joris en de Draak (Water) x 2
Fata Morgana x 2
Droomvluct x 2
Max and Moritz (Moritz) x 2
Max and Moritz (Max) x 2
Vogel Rok
Villa Volta
Pirana
Carnaval Festival
Sprookjesbos
Diorama
Efteling Museum
Next stop - Toverland!
A few years ago my partner and I had a child. It's been a wonderful adventure of its own, but as one would predict it did put a halt to international theme park travels. I had managed to cram in two trips to Liseberg and Europa Park in 2023 prior to my child's birth (long overdue reports on these), but this began a dry spell in theme park travels.
Fast forward to 2025, and my partner and I agreed a trade off. She would visit Barcelona with a friend for 4 nights, and in return I would get 4 nights of my own to do something I wanted to do abroad. We would each look after our child whilst the other travelled.
I already knew I wanted to visit Efteling, and wished to spend 2 full days there...but where else to do. Toverland had long intrigued me, and it was not all that far from Efteling. I intended to travel via Eurostar to Brussels, and so I also decided to book a morning in Walibi Belgium too to really squeeze every drop out of my time there.
Unable to rope my usual suspects of travel companions (my brother and / or a fellow enthusiast), I ended up booking the trip solo, unwilling to let the opportunity escape me.
21st May 2025 - Travel Day
Setting off from the UKs South Coast I had a lot of trains. I won't bore you with the details, but I had to get the train to London, tube across London, Eurostar to Brussels, train to Breda and finally train to Tilburg in the Netherlands to my first hotel. Whilst long, I 100% recommend using the Eurostar as it was cheaper and more relaxed than flying despite the extra trains. Trains in Belgium and the Netherlands are better and more affordable than in the UK (my train to London was the same cost as the Eurostar).
I had dinner at the Tilburg Station Gourmet Market, and it was delicious. I would proceed to eat here 3 nights in a row, as the setting was good and the variety on the menu was excellent.
As a solo traveller I'm a fan of more casual eateries, so I sat outside with a book and ordered food using the QR code.
22nd May - Efteling day 1
I woke up early on the first full day. Efteling is a big park, and I was keen to beat the rush. The first 1 hour is typically the easiest in which to get lots done (emphasis on 'typically').
Efteling is far from new to me. In fact, it's my favourite park. I first visited in 2013, returning once a year at varying times between 2014 to 2019. Covid caused an abrupt end to my streak (albeit a less bothersome interruption compared to the fact Covid resulted in my own wedding getting delayed 2 years! - my original wedding date was only 1 week after lockdown was announced).
I had returned in 2022 in what was actually a disappointing trip which threw my 'favourite park' title into doubt. It was too busy, effects didn't work on Symbolica or De Vliegende Hollander, Joris en de Draak was riding rough and I felt ill on the final afternoon. This 2025 trip had a lot to prove.
Approaching the park I noticed the looming presence of the Efteling Grand Hotel under construction. I had been apprehensive of this negatively affecting the view as you approach the park. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually rather liked it.
I arrived around 9:40 and shuffled quickly to the gates near Ruigrijk. My battle plan was to hit the coasters at the back corner first, assuming crowds would get gobbled up by Symbolica and the newly opened Danse Macabre. How did that go?
Errr...badly
I got quickly onto Joris en de Draak first. I walked on to both Vuur and Water sides in quick succession with no queues. Good start. I was very pleased with how both tracks were running. The retracting since my last visit did the trick, and these two coasters hover within my top 10 coasters. They are not the biggest or fastest, but the regular pops of airtime and quick changes of direction are more fun than the likes of Wicker Man. I still debate whether I prefer Joris or Wodan or Balder, and this fight continues to be fought in my head. In any case, they were much better than in 2022. One thing which wasn't in good condition is the animatronic dragon nestled in the track. Efteling are generally good at maintaining rides and effects, but the dragon is a bit of a 'sore thumb' in that regarding having sat stationary for a while.
Then came the troubles.
I headed to De Vliegende Hollander. It broke down for 2.5 hours just as I got to boarding.
I headed to Baron 1898. It was a surprisingly big queue. It turns out Danse Macabre was broken down (more on that later). I got closer to boarding, it broke down. I held firm, but it took me an hour in the end to get on, slightly wasting my head start.
Baron 1898 is one of my favourite rides in the world. It's not the most thrilling layout, or even really the best themed (though it is pretty excellent), or the best story. What it is instead is better than the sum if its parts. The mix of story, theming and ride blend together into one of the best overall experiences I have had on a theme park ride. It was one of the last rides B&M before they started churning out rattling cars, so it's very re-rideable. The drop, whilst short, is so much fun. I can't use enough words to describe how much I love Baron 1898...even if I did wait quite a while longer than I'd like!
So, I check how Danse Macabre is doing. Still closed.
How is De Vliegende Hollander doing? Still closed.
What about Symbolica? Also broken down.
Oh dear.
I decided to aim to stay close to Danse Macabre and De Vliegende Hollander in case they opened, as these were the rides which were either new to me or recently refurbished. For those who have not been to Efteling, I must note that the park is very big in terms of area. It's not a park you can easily hop around, and generally I find it easier to plan out doing rides in one location before moving along rather than going backwards and forwards. Most of the coasters are in one corner of the park (Ruigrijk), but this should not discredit the other realms of the park, each of which have exceptional dark rides and other curiosities.
Pirana, the rapids ride, was at 5 mins and literally opposite Danse Macabre. Knowing this would get busy later I decided to do this. I believe it may now be one of the oldest rapids rides still operating, which makes it something of a historical artifact. The ride is relatively fun, but it's ultimately not a particularly noteworthy rapids ride.
Fata Morgana was next. This is a terrific boat dark ride, kind of like an Arabian Nights themed Pirates of the Caribbean. I always enjoy this ride and it's got a delightfully dated charm to it. That is not to say that it's dated in a bad way, as it's in stellar condition and very detailed, but it feels like a ride of a bygone era. Fata Morgana has rarely had much of a queue in any of my visits, so this was handy!
A short walk from Fata Morgana are the dueling powered Mack Coasters Max and Moritz. These two belong in the category of "rides that go harder than they had any right to go". They do two laps, the first at a bit more of a leisurely pace and then at a faster speed on lap 2. Both are great fun and relatively well themed, with several animatronics and effects occurring as the vehicles pass through the station. As a solo traveller the single rider line was ideal, as the ride was a walk-on, so I got both done in quick succession. I still miss the Bobbahn bobsled coaster that these replaced, but I understand why it was replaced.
Danse Macabre, De Vliegende Hollander and Symbolic were all down still. This wasn't great news. I decided to get an early lunch at the bakery adjacent to the Max and Moritz coasters. Generally Efteling food is very good, but the pizza bread I ordered here was a bit of a let down. Thankfully this is a rarity at this park. As I had lunch I felt somewhat worried about the prospects of my day. Despite the setbacks with Baron 1898 early, I'd actually managed to ride quite a bit, but Danse Macabre in particular being down for the count wasn't filling me with hope. I had been trying to hover close the ride in case of it opening, but just over 2 hours into the day it remained close. Expecting the worst, I decided to head to the other parts of the park.
Symbolica was back up and running from what it turned out were a handful of short delays. Standby queue was 30 minutes, single rider was 5 mins. Yes please. I really like this ride. Admittedly the theme (a fantasy tour through Pardoes the court jester's world) isn't my cup-of-tea, but the level of detail and scale of some of the effects and animatronics can't help but let me get onboard with the whole thing. By my reckoning this is the best dark ride at the park (spoiler: for now), especially when the sometimes defunct whale animatronic whale is working, as this is the best scene in the ride. Top tip: this ride is generally what most people do first because it's the first ride you can queue up for. It generally gets quieter later, and single rider is particular quick on this one.
I check the Efteling App, and to my delight De Vliegende Hollander had reopened. I quickly swerved back on myself and headed straight for this.
De Vliegende Hollander is a strange beast. As a coaster I'll be honest...it's a bit rubbish. It's banked too much, kind of lurches around the outdoor section with the grace of a mattress on wheels. However, the rest of the attraction is phenomenal. It's a coaster where saying "the queueline is better than the coaster" is not actually a criticism. The queue takes you through the story of a doomed sea voyage and a ghost ship. There's music, special effects and detailed theming.
Once you board the boat there's a great dark ride section, which has seen some change over the years. It opened with a projection of the ghost ship on a big wall of water. It looked amazing....when it worked. It often didn't work. In 2022 I was keen to show this ride off to my sister-in-law for her first visit, and very few of the effects on this ride worked, leaving me disappointed. In 2024 and earlier this year the team at Efteling ditched the broken effects in favour of brand new physical sets. I am pleased to say this was a phenomenal move, and the ride is better than it's ever been. Now the projection has been replaced with a 'ship graveyard' with lightning and water effects. This is obviously much better than a non-working projection. Good work Efteling! I've seen some slightly negative reviews of the changes...I can't say I agree at all. Big improvement in my books!
Seeing no end to Danse Macabre's downtime, I headed towards 'Marerijk' with a view to tackling some of the rides and attractions there. This area is the furthest from Danse Macabre you can get, so it was something of an acceptance that I might not get on Danse Macabre today.
The main rides in this corner are the fairytale forest, Droomvlucht, Villa Volta and an array of other curiosities. Droomvlucht is (or maybe was) arguably the most quintessentially Efteling ride there is. It's an elaborate dark ride through fairy forests and dream-like scenes. It's very good for what it is, and I totally see why it's so popular. Personally I prefer Symbolica and Fata Morgana, but I do really like Droomvlucht. What I don't like is the queue. It is probably the most oppressive queue in Efteling, featuring a tight and noisy cattlepen. I read a book in the queue to distract myself. When I ever come back to Efteling with my own child I will heed my own advice and try and do this first thing before the queue gets big!
Next I headed to Villa Volta. This is a Vekoma mad-house. The pre-shows are quite long (and exclusively in Dutch), but for me this is still a great attraction. If you've done one madhouse you've done all of them, but as 'one trick ponies' go it's one very good trick. The music is also killer, featuring some very 1990's 'theme park synths' which tap into a region of my brain which thrives on nostalgic naff-ness.
There is a park show in this corner of the park called Raveleijn. It's very impressive, but I'm personally not a massive park show person. I've done it before, and might do it again, but for this trip I opted to skip it, prioritising rides.
Efteling is also well known for lots of its quirkier little attractions and sights. The most prominent of these is the Sprookjesbos fairytale forest, however if you've never been you absolutely cannot skip over the other little attractions. There's the charmingly grotesque Volk von Laaf, which various dwarf-like people amidst a miniature town. There's a cute plaza with loads of children's playgrounds and funfair rides and many interactive dioramas. The Stoomcarousel is also here with a vintage steam carousel that must be seen. For this particular trip I didn't dedicate any time to these. Truth be told I've been talking to my partner about returning here in the coming years with my child, and I imagine this will involve a trip mostly spent in these areas! For now I am prioritising rides, though I did check out the Efteling Museum and Diorama Hall whilst in the area. If you have never done the park though I would 100% advise spending 2 days or more so you can soak up all these little tid-bits and not just the big rides in other areas.
I began walking through the Sprookjesbos fairytale forest, when something happened. My phone notification pinged...
...Danse Macabre was open!
I was far away from the ride at this point, but I fast-walked my way to the new ride. There was 3 hours until closing, so I was desperate to get on immediately.
The new area looks fantastic. I'm a sucker for spooky stuff, and the atmosphere in the new plaza was great. Ominous music - check. Dilapidated buildings - check. Creepy tombstones and a black cat - check check. All good so far. For my first ride I went for single rider, concerned with getting on the ride ASAP before it breaks down again. I will add though that the full experience is best experience doing the full queue as there's extra scenery and an outdoor preshow in one section. For some subsequent re-rides I would do the full queue, but now was not that time.
I'll be upfront about you with this ride, I was quite apprehensive. I have in many ways always been ill-suited to enjoying theme parks: I get motion sick, and I have a fear of being sick. Chef's kiss. The result of this means that I am generally quite cautious with rides. For the most park I'm successful by staying well hydrated, eating plenty of snacks (never go on a big ride hungry) and generally pacing myself by taking breaks between big rides (or outright avoiding particularly nauseating rides). My fears for Danse Macabre can be summarised in one word: 'SPINNING'. I avoid pretty much all flat rides (bar drop towers) for this reason, so when I found my beloved Spookslot was being replaced with a spinning flat ride my heart sank. I loved Spookslot, so this had a lot to prove.
Loaded up to the eyeballs with travel sickness meds, a recently consumed bottle of water and a handful of haribo somewhere in my digestive system, I nervously boarded Danse Macabre.
WOW.
Genuinely, wow. Despite seeing some POVs beforehand, I was still very surprised by this ride. This was aided in part by a ride cycle and effects that had actually been updated the week before I rode. I don't know how that previous cycle was in person, the new cycle was excellent. I won't spoil any individual parts to it, but the overall combination of music, the movement of the vehicles, the music and the effects and animatronics was so very fresh but also so very 'Efteling'. It felt both new and timeless at the same time. In some ways it's hard to explain exactly why it was so good, as no individual part is that amazing, but there's something about the completeness of the experience and just how unique it is which really works. It was telling that EVERY time it finish people would clap.
Regarding the motion sickness and dizziness, I was very pleasantly surprised that I was not only fine with it but could also manage re-rides later in the day (I wouldn't do it twice in a row though, or if already feeling 'iffy'). The ride cycle had a few very disorientating and dizzying parts, but they were mercifully short and typically followed by slower sections before the spinning became too much. I would end up doing the ride 5 times over two days, and I'd highly recommend doing the ride multiple times, as each time I noticed different effects I'd not seen before. Note that some effects are actually ONLY seen in some rows and vehicles. This is a bit of a criticism, as it means you sometimes get less than a whole experience each time, but given how good the incomplete picture is, this is a minor criticism. My first two rides were in car 3, then I had a ride in row 2 and 6, before ending with another car 3 (I'd have liked to do the other 3...a reason to come back I guess! My favourite effect is the harpist - I won't spoil it, but definitely keep an eye on her, as I only noticed what she did on my 3rd ride.
At present this is now my favourite Efteling ride.
After tackling Danse Macabre, it was time to mop up some of the other rides. I headed to a different corner of the park, which I'd not yet visited today. Vogel Rok and Carnaval Festival kind of sit is a bit of a weird corner of the park. They've tried in recent years to give more of the area a more cohesive theme, which has been an improvement, but it's still one of the 'lesser' parts of the park, and I typically go on both of these once a trip and then don't return!
Vogel Rok is a surprisingly forceful indoor Vekoma coaster (I often grey out and felt more nauseous from this than Danse Macabre) themed to an adventure of Sinbad. The big bird at the entrance is good theming, but beyond this there's a limited amount to see on ride. Carnaval Festival next door is an 'It's a Small World' rip off. It's...um, ok I guess? Neither Vogel Rok nor Carnaval Festival had more than 5 mins queue. Honestly, if Carnaval Festival was replaced in coming years with something better I'd be fine with that. The Vogel Rok bird is cool...keep that.
(In fact I care so little about this part of the park that the last time I took a photo of it was in 2016 - so here's one of those photos)
The remainder of the afternoon was spent doing a re-ride on Baron 1898 and Joris en de Draak. The final ride of the day was Danse Macabre.
Despite a shaky start I managed 19 rides and attractions across the day, which by my books is pretty damn good. My personal best at Efteling was 22 rides on a Tuesday in January 2014, so this is good for May!
I headed back on the bus to Tilburg, grabbed dinner at the Central Station Gourmet Market and then headed back to the hotel to rest my feet and prepare for the next day.
23rd May - Efteling day 2
The weather was a touch more adverse on my second Efteling day, but this was fairly on and off across the day, and ended with the day being generally quite sunny.
My first ride of the day was Danse Macabre, this time in the regular queue, which I would highly recommend. Whilst I knew heading to this first would mean sacrifice doing the coasters whilst they are at their quietest, knowing how Danse Macabre was down for 5 of the 8 hours of the previous day I wanted to hit it first. The queue was 30 mins, and afterwards the coasters were still relatively quiet so this wasn't a bad decision really.
Generally the second day at Efteling was spent picking up additional rides on Baron 1898, De Vliegende Hollander, Joris en de Draak, Fata Morgana, Droomvluchy, Symbolica, Max and Moritz and Danse Macabre. I won't bore you with the exact timings of all of these. Unlike Day 1, ride reliability was exceptional, and I didn't notice any downtime at all.
After a bit of repeat riding, I decided to have lunch at Het Witte Paard, which was a delicious and relatively healthy creamy pasta. Whilst this went down I decided to check out the only attraction I wanted to do the previous day and didn't get around to, Sprookjesbos.
Sprookjesbos isn't one attraction, instead it's a serious of dioramas and mini-attractions nestled within a forest. To do every part justice you'd want to dedicate anywhere between an hour and an hour and half. Knowing that A. I'd done it all before and B. if I come with my child we would 100% spend more time here than most other parts of the park, I opted to do a big of a speedy highlights tour of some of the better fairytales so that I could return to riding the bigger rides again. I would recommend that any first time visitor takes the time to truly do this part of the park justice though...so this is a "do as I say, not as I do" situation.
After my 45 min speed tour of the forest, I returned to continuing my re-riding.
Whilst I've done it on previous visits (both pre- and post- retracking), I didn't bother with Python. It's fine, and I get its signifcance for the park, but it's ultimately unremarkable for me and generates quite big queues. If it's a choice between a 20 min queue for Python or a 30 min queue to re-ride Baron 1898 for the 4th time, Baron still wins.
I also skipped over some other attractions such as the Gondoletta boat ride (a peaceful boat ride around much of the park), the steam train and the Pagode flying island observation tower (the latter of which was closed for routine maintenance anyway). I'm sure I'll do these on later visits.
My final ride was Danse Macabre, a fitting end to the day and my time at Efteling. It was a reaffirming trip after a slightly underwhelming 2022 trip. Danse Macabre was an amazing addition to the park and I was pleased to see more rides on top form again (though Efteling need to fix the dragon still at Joris!). Whilst the coasters are argued by some to not be world class, I think that the overall package they form part of makes this my favourite park, especially when combined with the best set of dark rides this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
My ride count was as follows over two days:
Danse Macabre x 5
Baron 1898 x 4
Joris en de Draak (Vuur) x 4
Symbolica x 3
De Vliegende Hollander x 3
Joris en de Draak (Water) x 2
Fata Morgana x 2
Droomvluct x 2
Max and Moritz (Moritz) x 2
Max and Moritz (Max) x 2
Vogel Rok
Villa Volta
Pirana
Carnaval Festival
Sprookjesbos
Diorama
Efteling Museum
Next stop - Toverland!
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