Cast your minds back to 2010, when you most likely first heard of ‘Hartenhof’.  Hartenhof was to be Efteling’s new attraction back in 2012 for the 60th anniversary of the park.  The ride was to be based on the world of Pardoes, who used to be the park’s mascot, and would have been themed similarly to Polle’s Keuken (which thankfully Efteling decided to build!).

When construction never began, it became clear that the attraction wouldn’t be opening in time for the Jubilee year, and eventually the ride got delayed until 2013.  Still, nothing appeared to take shape, until now!

Now, the new ride has had a name change to ‘Symbolica’; apparently this is more ‘international visitor-friendly’.  The most interesting feature of Symbolica is that it is reported to be trackless.  The ride system will be supplied by ETF Ride Systems, who are responsible for Disney’s Toy Story Midway Mania attraction, as well as rides in Phantasialand and Walibi Belgium, and they also designed the system on which Efteling’s ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ operates.  For those of you who have been to Disneyland Paris recently, you may have experienced Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, which also uses trackless technology.  We recently visited the attraction, and as our first trackless experience, it was a very smooth ride, and very futuristic in a strange way!

A trackless ride system would certainly put Efteling’s Symbolica up there with the other trackless attractions around the world, and with the ride costing tens of millions of Euros (more than any other Efteling attraction), we can surely expect something absolutely amazing when the attraction arrives by 2020.