So this year has been fairly busy for me and as such I’ve not gotten round to updating things on here as much as I would have liked. A lot has happened at Efteling this year, including new attractions such as Fabula, The Six Swans, and the renewed Oude Tufferbaan. There was the demolition of Bob to make way for Max & Moritz, and the updating of Carnaval Festival, as well as more recently a new installation in the Efteling Museum and the transformation of the Loetiek into a costume shop called Spiegeltje Spiegeltje. There has also been a slight refresh of Symbolica with the addition of 3 new animatronics, and the extension of Polle’s Keuken.
Thank you to everyone who continues to follow the page and the Facebook page (things are more active on there) and I hope to post more in 2020!
Here’s a little look at the past year:
Special thank you to Eftelwesley for letting me use his lovely videos!
In just 2 days, on November 11th, Winter Efteling begins again! It will carry on through December, January, and 2 days in February. With Winter comes many wonderful things, like fire pits, new merchandise, and entertainment, but most exciting of all is the new Winter food!
Photo from Efteling.com
Here’s a little look at some of the things you can get hold of during your Winter Efteling visit:
an apple dumpling with vanilla sauce at Restaurant Panorama or Station de Oost,
make your own cake on a stick at the bonfires in Ruigrijk and outside Carnaval Festival,
chocolate fruit/marshmallow skewers at Kogeloog opposite Langnek,
waffle on a stick at Flierefluiter opposite the cross-country skiing track,
warm waffles with mashed potatoes at Suykerbuyk,
Photo from Efteling.com
fresh stroopwafels at Capricorn Square and Ton van de Ven Square,
luminous cotton candy at Seylend Frigate and the Suykerhuys,
shortcakes and donuts at Diorama.
Sounds good!
Also on the subject of food, this year when you buy an Unox sandwich you will receive a blue scarf, which I believe lights up (exciting huh?!) and a blue Efteling travel mug when you buy a hot Chocomel.
The rest of Winter Efteling is ready, with bonfires and food stalls all set up, as well as the Ice Palace, and even the monkeys who are usually having a water fight outside Station de Oost are now having a snowball fight! It is interesting to note that ice skating children now have their own section in the ice palace.
Winter Efteling merchandise this year includes a very fetching Langnek jumper, a Winter Efteling pin, and Jokie/misc Carnaval Festival character baubles which light up.
And now a final farewell to Pandadroom…
We said goodbye to Pandadroom this month, and on the last day, some fans of the attraction came together to sing the song in the pre-show. Here’s a video from Eftelwesley showing the sing-along!
The Six Swans, Efteling’s 30th fairy tale in the fairy tale forest, opens tomorrow. Visitors can walk through the attraction or take a short ride on a swan boat which takes you inside the building. There are (of course) six swan boats to ride in, all with slightly different details around their necks. The tower of the castle building is 15 metres high, and you can find it between Snow White and Cinderella in the fairy tale forest.
I don’t condone too many spoilers; it is nice to discover new things for yourself, however if you would like to see a walk-through which was filmed by Efteling, then see the video below!
There will also be a pin available to buy tomorrow to celebrate the opening of The Six Swans, which ca be found at Den Ouden Marskramer. Pins are a limited edition of 1,000 and are also limited to 2 per person.
There’s been a few pieces of Efteling news over the last few weeks so I’ve put them all together here. Since I’m a little late to the party, you may already know about some of these, but here we go!
Probably the biggest news is that Efteling has said goodbye to Bob this past weekend. The ride had been open for 34 years, but it was finally time to bid it a fond farewell, with demolition beginning the day after closure. Check out Eftelwesley’s video below to see the demolition of the lifthill:
And on the subject of change, Polle’s Keuken will be expanding, with some of the outdoor terrace becoming part of the main restaurant, meaning that there will be more indoor seating, great for the colder/wetter days. This means 50 extra seats inside, and the new section will be themed around Symbolica’s old magic fairy, Aliciana.
From Efteling.com:
‘In her spice greenhouse she grows and dries the herbs used in the royal kitchen. Herbs can be seen everywhere: clumps of herbs hanging on the ceiling to dry, pots of dried herbs and naturally fragrant, fresh herbs. Aliciana’s herbarium, a book with dried Symbolic herbs, is located on a table in the center of the room.’
Speaking of pancakes, the new seasonal pancake at Polle’s is a cheeseburger pancake! (minced meat, cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, pickle, red onion, ketchup and mustard.) Just what we wanted! Or was it…?
Anyway, there is also a Cinnamon pancake available (warm apple slices, raisins, nougatine, dark chocolate and a glass of mocha mousse) if the cheeseburger one isn’t up your street.
Both pancakes are €13.
Moving onto merchandise (hooray!) there are a couple of very very nice tins available at Efteldingen and Marskramer for €15 each. One has the little writing gnome on the front, and the other has Hansel and Gretel. The Hansel and Gretel one comes with 16 bon bons, and the writing gnome tin comes with 50 postcards of Anton Pieck artwork. There’s definitely a reason to buy both, but the postcards are particularly attractive.
Also now available are more Efteling miniatures, also at the Marskramer store. Statues such as Pagode, the House of the Five Senses, and Steam Train Aagje have been released this month, so you can add them to your mini Efteling at home-if you have one!
It is only 1 month until visitors to Efteling can ride on the park’s newest attraction: The Six Swans. Located in the fairy tale forest next to Cinderella, guests will be able to take a ride on one of these beautiful swans, which have arrived at their new home today. I can’t wait to see it up close!
My friend Ron from pinparade.nl sent me these photos today, of some Laaf residents that you don’t often get to see for long enough to take a good photo. One of them looks very familiar though…
She’s got a twin?!
If you don’t recall seeing these Laaf residents, you can find them waiting for a train!
Just a quick post today, this is what The Six Swans building is looking like now. In true Efteling style, it looks as though it has been there for decades!
Thanks to Ronald from pinparade.nl for sending it over.
The 30th fairy tale in the fairy tale forest is due to open next autumn, and construction has been coming along very nicely on the new attraction. The Six Swans will house a small ride, where visitors can board a swan for a trip around the building’s moat. Eftelingsestraat.nl have some great first photos of the boats behind the scenes at Efteling, presumably getting ready for their decoration.
Click here to take a look at the beautiful new boats!
For the last few years, Efteling’s focus has been on getting more international guests to visit the park. As a result of that there have been a few changes here and there, including advertising more here in the UK and providing more information in different languages in places such as their YouTube channel.
As part of these ongoing tweaks, the apartments of Bosrijk will now be classed as hotel rooms. Changes to the Poorthuys and Landhuys apartments include room cleaning service every day (you’ll get clean towels and they’ll make your bed I think!) and breakfast included in your room rate. Another major change which could be classed as a good thing, is that you can now arrive and depart on any day of the week, whereas before, you could only come and go on Monday, Wednesday or Friday. There will also be changes to the seating area, and the dining area will be removed (you’ll have to eat your pizza on the couch!).
“There will be a completely new interior in phases, with the seating area becoming more spacious and more comfortable,” (from looopings.nl)
All of these changes apparently fit the international guests better. The only thing I personally am not looking forward to is losing the dining area. They sell small food items at the shop like cereal and pastries, but where will you eat them if you’ve got no table?! Of course if you’ve got free breakfast you won’t need it for that, but if you choose to eat dinner in your room then you’ve got a problem.
This change apparently effects everything booked after today, so if you’re already booked up, the changes shouldn’t effect you. Enjoy your table!
