Efteling merchandise has varied in quality over the years, from very good to very tacky! As an Efteling fan, there are quite a few things that I *wish* they would make available, so I’m going to make a few mini posts, kind of like an Efteling ‘wishlist’ of what I’d like to see to buy in the park.
Some of these things have been available before, so it’ll also be a bit of a nostalgia trip.
First up…Room spray! But I don’t necessarily want it back…
I would love for Efteling to make this into a candle, because to be honest, the room spray was a little bit too strong. And by a ‘little’, I mean a lot! One spray of one of those things and you were smelling it for the next week! It’s so strong that I’ve still got a couple of each left, they just seem to last forever!
A candle would be a nice subtle way of having the Fata Morgana and Droomvlucht scents in your home (and maybe some other scents too; gingerbread anyone?). There were once some oils for sale too, which were really nice, and a bit more subtle than the sprays, but I’ve not seen those on recent trips.
Over the years we’ve found a couple of Efteling things in charity shops in our local area. We found a Pardoes glass once, and another time we found a small Laaf clock. This was years and years ago though.
Then, within the last 10 days, we’ve gotten our hands on all of these things pictured below…
Good things come in 3s right?! Pardoes and the small Laaf are from charity shops, and the 3 bigger Laafs came from Facebook Marketplace about 3 minutes from my house. Score!
I’m interested to hear if anyone else has found any Efteling stuff on their travels around second-hand shops/markets etc.
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!
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!
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:
After a lengthy refurbishment, the Flying Fakir has recently returned from his well earned rest, looking better than ever! Everything looks clean and new, and all of his tulips seem to be functioning correctly, unlike in past years. You have to just love Efteling for taking good care of what they have; after all, now you’d never know that the Fakir is 60 years old!
Another delightful piece of news (well I got excited about it!) is that there is a new Efteling CD available. New tracks include ‘welcome’ and ‘goodbye’, Efteling 65th anniversary (not sure how that one goes), and the music from Symbolica, which is a welcome addition. Add this one to the shopping list!
As Efteling fans, there have undoubtedly been times when we have walked through the fairy tale forest, wishing that we too could have a musical toadstool at home.
Well now you can! Efteling have been selling ornamental musical toadstools (albeit indoor ones, but that’s ok!) for us to enjoy when we can’t make it to the park. I was lucky enough for Santa to bring me one last month, and now it has found it’s home, so I gave it a whirl…
The final nail has gone into the coffin of the Efteling Webshop. It had been coming for a while by the looks of the items (or lack thereof) on the site. The site had not been shipping to the U.K for a few months now, and the supposed ‘1001’ items in the store had dwindled dramatically.
It is a shame, but on the other hand, surely this is more of an excuse to visit Efteling, right? 😉
We’ll admit it, we’re suckers for souvenirs, but only if they’re really nice souvenirs! We posted recently about Efteling’s web shop no longer delivering to the UK, which made us a little sad. However, it seems that the online store has reduced its range of stock massively. The ‘new’ section has items from quite a while ago, and its slim pickings unless you’re after crockery, Sprookjesbos items or Jokie paraphernalia.
