With thanks to my friends at Pinparade.nl, I have several Efteling Steam Train Company pins to give away. These are an edition of 1,200, and have been released to celebrate 50 years of the trains, of which the first, Aagje, started it’s service at Efteling in 1969.
The giveaway will be taking place on Facebook, so please take a look on there for the page if you’re not already a fan! Just search for ‘Efteling Fans UK’.
Winter Efteling came to an end at the end of January. A friend of the Efteling UK Facebook page sent over some lovely Winter Efteling photos, which I’m only just getting round to sharing now!
A new year means a new renovation schedule, and here’s the most intriguing one so far:
From early March to late May, Carnaval Festival will be closed for renovations. While nobody outside of Efteling knows exactly what will be changed in the ride, some people in the theme park community believe that it might include altering some of the ‘racist’ figures in the attraction. Whether you agree that racism is rife in the ride or not, it has been pointed out on several occasions that some of the ride’s figures are derogatory towards certain nationalities.
By the end of May we will know exactly what is getting changed; perhaps it is simply a Spring clean!
Until then, you can enjoy the ride as it is currently with this video:
Efteling have launched a mobile game called No-one Knows.
The idea is that you can use it to kill some time whilst standing in queues in the park, but it’s fun to play whenever or wherever!
Simply hold the phone against your forehead and the other person has to describe the character for you to guess. You can shake your phone to bring up the next card/character.
It’s kinda fun, and a good idea for those times when the lines for attractions do get a bit too long.
Efteling is now giving visitors the chance to meet Pinocchio, and he’s actually quite charming. He is a puppet, controlled by a performer, but he’s still really cool!
I’ve just been a little slow to update. So, in case you’ve missed any Efteling news, here’s what’s been going on!
First off, Winter Efteling has already begun, which means that the Ice Palace is now open for another season. It looks as beautiful as ever, and here’s a video from Eftelwesley if you need a little reminder of how wonderful it is!
There are a few new additions to Winter Efteling in terms of snacks this year.
Efteling.com
The first being glittery cotton candy (I’m not sure about this one!), hot waffles which are available with hot apple compote, cinnamon sugar, whipped cream and ice cream (yum!) and luxury syrup waffles which you can customise yourself with chocolate and toppings.
Efteling.com
It doesn’t stop at the food either; also available is coffee and hot chocolate with a choice of toppings: syrup waffle pieces, a gingerbread man, or marshmallows. All of these sit on a blanket of whipped cream!
Oh, and on the subject of food and drink, this year’s Efteling mug features Rider Thomas from Raveleijn.
Another addition to Winter Efteling this year is a ferris wheel which can be found opposite Bob in the Steenbokplein. Last year in this location there was a rodeo moose, so this seems like a much better choice for Efteling! It looks lovely, and it’s 6 gondolas provide a ride capacity of 24 people per ride. It will leave on January 31st, so if you want a ride, you have a deadline!
Moving away from the park, and the Efteling hotel is receiving a new themed room. It takes the place of the Northern Lights room on the 8th floor. The room will be themed around Raveleijn, and the children’s part of the room will be accessible via a secret passageway.
Efteling.com
I’m still holding out for a Droomvlucht themed room! Although this one looks rather interesting.
Back to the park, and work has started on the next fairy tale in the forest, The Six Swans! Unfortunately last night some employees reported a gas leak, and it turns out that during construction, a gas pipe has been disrupted. Oops! On the plus side, by next Autumn we will have a brand new fairy tale to enjoy 🙂
That covers most of what has been happening over the last month. If anyone wants to send any photos to me please send them to our Facebook page: Efteling Fans UK, there’s lots more going on over there!
There are a couple of new attractions coming to the Fairy Tale Forest soon!
Firstly, a new talking tree (Babbelboom) will be installed in the forest between the Little Match Girl and the Emperor’s New Clothes.
Art by Robert-Jaap Jansen
This tree will speak directly to visitors in a similar way to the existing fairy tale tree, but the messages will be more personal. This works from the Efteling app, so visitors wishing to communicate with the tree will have to give permission on there first. I can’t wait to see it!
Another addition will be a whole new fairy tale! In fact, it will be the 30th fairy tale to be represented in the forest, with work starting on the construction this October, and the opening being in Autumn 2019. The Six Swans by the Brothers Grimm is what we have to look forward to, and it will be located between Snow White and Cinderella. A moat will surround the building, and small children will be able to take a ride on one of the six swans around the attraction, whilst larger guests can view a scene inside of the castle.
There’s some maintenance going on at Fata Morgana! The ride and it’s shop will be closed for renovations for 5 weeks (from September 3rd), although the changes will be more technical than cosmetic. The boats will undergo repairs, as well as the electricity and lighting being renewed and the plants in the first and last scenes being replaced.
One thing the guest will notice however, is the face-lift that the shop ‘De Bazaar’ is going to receive. The design coordinator Annette Vishers says:
“It will be a store that does justice to the theme of Fata Morgana. Not only because of the Arabic elements, but also because of the new thematic presentation of the souvenirs. With large objects as real eyecatchers. During this maintenance we immediately pick up the facade of the store. Everything is repainted in the original colors and we add extra decorative elements.”
Hopefully, the souvenirs will improve in the shop too! (I doubt it).
Here’s the artist’s impression of how the shop will look:
We’ve all been there, you head over to a ride in a theme park and once you get there, you find that the ride is closed, just temporarily. Breakdowns happen of course, but this downtime can cause unhappy visitors, which isn’t what a theme park wants.
The possible solution to this problem is an AI that can hear machine failure, such as that in a rollercoaster. It makes it easier to find the problem, as the machine locates exactly where the malfunction is, meaning less time spent by maintenance staff looking for the issue, and therefore less downtime for the ride.
