Best rides I've been on in a while! I am coming from the Orlando area, and I've tried all of the…read moreparks there without leaving as happy as I was in this park. It had all of the whimsy I LOVE without feeling like you were being forced to consume merchandise the entire time. I am absolutely going back the next time in the NL. For reference, I am 31 years old, and went with a friend. We had a blast. This is truly fun for all ages!

I was quite surprised by how much I loved Efteling. I grew up with trips to Disneyland and in the…read morepast 20 years I've grown more and more disenchanted with it. Efteling, situated in a forested area, and with a non-commercial essence from old fairy tales, was magical. It brought out my inner child. it was clean, mostly uncrowded, relatively inexpensive and fun. A few rides were totally unexpected and inventive.

When all the effects are on, this roller coaster in the dark is surprisingly fun and effective. The…read moretrouble is, sometimes the effects (or lights) are off. Since it's a roller coaster in the dark, that diminishes the experiences and it's just a roller coaster in the dark. It's loosely about birds. The queue has a vaguely Middle Eastern theme. It involves a very narrow staircase (the queue). You sit in pairs. Now that there are pandemic precautions, they don't fill the entire car. You can tell that Vekoma is the ride manufacturer because their name is emblazoned across the bar in front of you. Some of the scenes you see are a huge bird egg, stationary birds and lights but the coolest part is [spoiler] when you enter a huge skeletal mouth. In all, this coaster is short but surprisingly fun.

Wow, what a surprise this was. It's not possible to see everything that Efteling has to offer in…read moreone day so I was being very picky about what attractions to visit. When I heard that this was an indoor coaster with no inversions and a max speed of 40 mph that sounded like a hard "pass" to me. Because of the Efteling app I was able to see that the wait was really short when I happened to be near the ride so I figured I'd give it a go. What a mistake it would have been to miss this ride because I loved it! The exterior of the building is a giant bird statue (the biggest in Europe according to Wikipedia!). The coaster cars allow two people to sit next to each other. You don't get launched but rather go up a lift hill in the dark with green lasers breaking the darkness. There's a wonderful background song that starts pumping from inside the cars and you'll feel wind blowing on you before you start accelerating. It's a wonderful effect. There are a couple of "bird things" that light up during the run but otherwise you're in complete darkness. I don't know if the darkness was a factor in it but I felt like I was going so much faster than 40 mph. There's one turn in particular where you really feel the G-forces but it's not jerky at all. I never would have believed the max speed of this ride if you had told it to me if I went in not knowing anything. The ride ends with the coaster entering the mouth of a colorfully lit snake. As soon as I went out the exit I immediately went back into the entrance to ride again. If I wasn't on such a time crunch I would have rode it a third time. Vogel Rok rocks!

Even if you're visiting Efteling for the thrill rides it is still worth your time to check out…read moreGondoletta. The ride system was something I haven't seen before called a "tow boat ride". The boats for Gondoletta look like they're moving on their own around a big lake. There's a giant rotating disc that the boats automatically dock with for loading/unloading. At the front of each boat if you look closely you can see a tiny bit of the cable attached to the boat that is pulling it forward along a track. It's a well done system. Even though each boat can seat around six they were letting boats go out with only two people on them. I was quite surprised at how long this attraction lasted and how much distance was covered. The ride was twenty minutes long! The boats travel under bridges, down a canal, and out into the middle of the lake! You get great views of some rides such as Symbolica and Baron 1898 as well as seeing some of the beautifully maintained landscape of the park. You even get to go by a waterfall! Efteling is a large park and after so much walking it was wonderful to get a chance to relax and still be entertained.

The designers of this ride must have been big fans of Pirate of the Caribbean. At certain parts of…read morethis ride it felt like that's what I was on. The building for Fata Morgana is nicely decorated and sits next to the lake where the Aquanura show takes place. It's a tow boat ride that uses the same ride system that Gondoletta uses. You step onto a large rotating disc that the boats attach to and then you're on your way. When I finished my first ride I immediately wanted to ride it again to see if I could better understand the story. I can't say that I did. You start off in a jungle and I think a wizard (who appears twice) transports you to a far away land in Middle East. You'll go through a market, a palace, and underneath a giant squatting genie for some reason. I'm still not sure what the temple at the end with a giant snake statue with laser eyes was for. The music on the ride was excellent and some parts looked really good. Some things such as the tiger looked really beat up and could use a refurbishment. Overall I thought Fata Morgana wasn't a "must do" but it was enjoyable and you should definitely check it out if you have time during your visit.

I think that Aquanura needs to be seen at night to be fully appreciated. Aquanura is a fountain…read moreshow (the largest in Europe) that is performed in Efteling's lake that has the park entrance and Fata Morgana on opposite sides. I thought it was great that they scheduled the show for 6:15pm. The park closed at 6pm, which meant you could spend more time riding attractions instead of having to devote some of the that time to this. The fountains reminded me of the ones at Bellagio in Las Vegas, but Efteling incorporates fire into their show. I've seen video of this show being performed at night and it looks magical. The giant streams are lit up and there are colored lights under the water that light up in interesting patterns. The problem is that you don't see any of that in the daytime. The show went on for fifteen minutes and it really started to feel redundant. I want to come back to Efteling and hopefully I'll be able to see Aquanura at night when I do.

There's no better way to get a sense of the size of Efteling than to take a ride on Pagode. Even if…read moreyou're a person who doesn't like heights like myself it's still worth doing. It's a slow, gentle observation tower and if the heights start to bother you there is the option to step back and sit down. What impressed me the most with the view of park is how much greenery there is. Instead of being an asphalt jungle like most parks you can really appreciate how much the designers incorporated nature into the park. Make sure you take a peek at the top of Symbolica while you're riding. The roof of the building is only visible from Pagode, yet they've gone to the trouble of designing the solar panels into lovely patterns that most people won't be able to see. There's great attention to detail throughout the park. I did find it bizarre that in a park devoted to fairy tales that the observation tower is a Thai temple. This was a nice relaxing break from all of the walking a trip to Efteling requires.

All I knew about Droomvlucht was that it involved fairies and was one of Efteling's signature…read moreattractions. This review is full of spoilers so be warned. The popularity of this ride was evident from the large (but boring) queue. The ride vehicles were quite interesting. The vehicles, which seat two, move forward while you are looking out one side. However, unlike other similar ride systems your "train" of around six people separates and goes off by itself. The ride soon opens into an absolutely enormous open-air room that is made to look like a forest. Every inch is decorated with flowers, plants, and mythical creatures. Even more surprising is that the vehicle turns a corner and goes into another room that is just as large. I can't imagine how much work it was to create those two rooms. The vehicles go through an extended part where the area is dark expect for "stars" that are lit around you. The starfield is a disorienting and cool effect. I was extremely confused when it felt like we were climbing a lift hill in the dark. The vehicles soon give you a view of a creature (troll?) swinging like Tarzan on a vine above some treetops. Then in a completely unexpected twist the vehicles start speeding up and you spiral all the way down *around* the trees in question until you reach the bottom. The trees had to have been several stories tall. I know I'm making this sound like a thrill ride but it's something you can take your grandma on. It's such a unique, interesting ride mechanic that I've never seen before. I immediately wanted to ride again to get a better look at it. After I got home and did my homework I was gobsmacked to learn that the ride opened in 1993. It's held up so well and I actually liked it better than the new signature attraction Symbolica. I never would have expected that.

Easily the most unique roller coaster I've ever been on. Baron 1898 is a Bolliger & Mabillard dive…read morecoaster with unbelievable theming. I actually have a B&M dive coaster where I live (Sheikra at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay). Baron isn't as tall and only has one drop, but it makes up for that in theming and presentation. The lift hill is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's a giant green rectangle with intricate scaffolding and giant rotating discs at the top. It's something pretty enough to be in a town square and shows the extra mile the designers went when constructing this ride. The ride building is designed inside and out to look like a functioning factory. When you first line up they give you paper tickets, which I was initially quite confused about. I think it's supposed to be a system to spread out the crowd into different rows. I just followed the people in front of me and handed my ticket back later because none of the instructions were in English. When you get inside there are a bunch of what looked to be raincoats hanging from the ceiling. Some projections of ghosts then become visible. They sounded really angry about something but I don't know what about since they were moaning in Dutch. The next room has a nice animatronic of what I assume was the Baron overhead. He taunts you as you get closer and closer to the ride area. What really shocked me was that once you're in the vehicle and you've left the station the ride stops for another part of the pre-show. I can't remember ever riding a roller coaster that does this. The angry ghosts were back again to yell at us in Dutch and in a very cool effect they "pry" open a grate and disappear into it. After that it's time for the lift hill! Since I don't like heights it feels like forever when you're waiting for a dive coaster to drop you. Once it does you get dropped underground through some mist. The ride was smooth as glass and I was laughing the whole time. The single rider line was much appreciated and got me on the ride fairly quickly. Baron 1898 is a must-do at Efteling!