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.
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!
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!
The Bridal Dress of Genoveva is not a fairy tale that springs to mind straight away when you think of Efteling, as you cannot always see it. That is because this fairy tale lives, in the form of a flock of multi-coloured birds.
Image from vijfzintuigen.nl
Well, not any more.
As from today, the birds will remain their natural white colour. The fairy tale is actually one of the original tales told in the park, opening back in 1952, when they decided to spray the pigeons in different colours. Part of the story includes the tower where the birds live, which is located behind the Snow White building. This could not always be clearly seen due to ivy, but after the recent renovation of Snow White, the ivy has been removed and it is much easier to see the birds flying in and out of their home.
Efteling have said in a Facebook comment that this change has nothing to do with how the birds were coloured, as that has always been done in a cruelty-free manner, but that they think that the white birds better represent the natural theme of the park. There have been comments online however, that questioned the dying of the birds for entertainment purposes.
To me, it isn’t necessarily a change for the better, as it was always fun to see the coloured birds, however I’m sure we can all learn to appreciate them in their natural form too!
Don’t know the story? Here it is:
Prince Arthur would marry the beautiful princess Genoveva.
Often the couple went out walking and then the prince said: “Look, the yellow of the buttercups and the blue of the cornflowers and ooh … That red of the poppies … All those beautiful colors should be in your wedding dress, dear Genoveva.” An old weaver lived in the land of Prince Arthur. Only she could make the princess’s wedding dress. Unfortunately, the old woman had become blind. “I can not help you prince, my hands can do it”, she said, “But … I can not see the colors anymore.”
The prince returned sadly to the palace and the old woman went to feed her pigeons. She cried with grief.
A wise owl heard of the story and said to the birds: “You know the colors right? Can not you do something back for the old woman? “The next day the old weaver was mourning at her loom. “Now I knew what green was,” she sighed, and immediately she felt that a little bit of hair pushed a strand of silk between her fingers. “And now the blue of the sky.” Together with all the birds, the woman worked on the carpet and shone with happiness. When the dress was ready, she let the prince come. He too was happy. “My bride will be the most beautiful in the country.” And the birds? They had been so busy with all the colors that their feathers had been colored.
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!
Little Red Riding Hood recently reopened after a very long refurbishment. In fact, it was more of a total rebuild! The new building is now up to modern safety standards, and looks refreshed and wonderful!
Roodkapje is getting a makeover! Well, her Grandmother’s house is.
The cottage which has stood in the forest since 1960 was constructed using wood, stone, cement and gauze, the same materials used to build the original Sleeping Beauty’s castle. In the 1980s, Sleeping Beauty’s castle was completely replaced, in the same way as Red Riding Hood’s cottage will be now. At the time it was reconstructed, Ton van de Ven took the opportunity to add the wicked fairy with her spinning wheel, as well as a few other details, thus ‘plussing’ the attraction.
The time has come for the Roodkapje building to comply with today’s standards, and it is being completely replaced using modern materials and techniques. Who knows, maybe there will be a little something added to it when it reopens?
Efteling has stated that fairy tales ‘remain the core’ of Efteling, and renovating these attractions which are already well established and loved shows the dedication that Efteling has to the oldest part of its park.
Hopefully Red Riding Hood is in a safe place while building work is carried out, since she is a favourite of local kidnappers!
Whilst looking through old photos of Efteling, you can really see how things have changed, even if it is just small changes. Check out Mr Long Neck from 20 years ago! He looks quite bleached, and is definitely being taken over by nature. The most recent picture is from the last Winter Efteling. There’s a bit of a difference!
‘You’ll never see me here!’ Don’t lie Pinocchio, we will welcome you in Spring 2016.
The ‘In de Noordpool’ food counter is now gone, and the little admiral and his cannon are gone too, ready to be moved to a new location (or so we believe) while the area is completely cleared, ready for Pinokkio.
Concept art of the new attraction has also been released, and as expected, it looks fantastic! It fits in perfectly with all of the other buildings in the fairy tale forest; as we know, Efteling are the masters at making these buildings look as if they’ve been there for many years, and this one continues that trend. Another thing it has in common with many of the other fairy tale buildings is that it looks to be quite petit! Obviously it is hard to be certain on that from the artwork, but it looks a little larger than Repelsteeltje’s house and maybe a bit smaller than the Roodkapje building.
La Bottega di Geppetto
Here is a video from eftel1ngfan which shows the current state of construction in the area:
Finally, for those of you feeling artistic, Efteling have provided some crafts to do while you wait for the new fairy tale! Including cupcakes, and a make-your-own Pinocchio puppet; click here!
eftelinguk.com 