Earlier this year, Raveleijn closed down for a reboot, and although it has not been part of Efteling for long, it is already in great need of a freshening up.  It is certainly one of the big draws of the park, reaching over 2 million guests since its opening in April 2011.  One of the main problems with the show was the storyline (in our opinion) because it was very vague.  When you bear in mind that Efteling is the third most visited theme park in Europe and that there will be a lot of guests coming and going who maybe don’t speak Dutch, an easily-understandable story is key.  The story was written by children’s author Paul Van Loon, and tells the tale of 5 children who turn into knights and save a medieval city from its ruler, Count Olaf Grafhart.  

We can’t deny that it is a good show; Efteling spent over €30 million on it and spent two years getting it all together.  However, some things definitely need tweaking.  For a start, you certainly do not see any children turning into riders!  The just appear as adults the whole way through.

So, who is going to thrust their magic at Raveleijn and make it even better?  Puy du Fou, who have a ton of experience with shows that combine animals, actors and special effects.  Not only that, but they are also sending over 30 of their own actors/stuntmen to get things going.  CEO of Efteling Bart de Boer said this of the new show:

“The new version of Raveleijn will be epic with lots of action and suspense. Visitors will enjoy a magic gate, the transformation of children into knights as well as many other special effects using water and fire.” 

A magic gate!  (That is a key element in the story by the way!)  Good to hear things are taking shape at least, and we look forward to seeing it when it reopens at the end of April.

With information from newsparcs.com