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DAY ONE - FRIDAY (Arrival, Tilburg, Efteling)
I
arrived at Amsterdam airport around 8am and went straight to
the
train station. There we bought tickets to Tilburg in the south of the
country,
the closest station to our first park. We traveled everywhere we
wanted
to go in Europe by train and always rode in first class. The trains
in
Europe go everywhere and there were buses from the train station to
EVERY
park we visited. Every single train schedule for ALL of Europe can
be
found easily on the internet. A couple of the parks were actually
within
walking distance of the train station. Try doing that in America.
We
decided to skip the slower public transportation and take a cab to the
first
amusement park of the trip, Efteling (in The Netherlands). Efteling
is
a park very highly regarded by the well-traveled enthusiasts who had
been
there. Many people even consider it to be the most beautiful park in
the
world. After visiting the park for myself, I have to agree - As high
as
my expectations for the park were, it still exceeded them. Efteling has
also
won awards in the industry for being the greatest theme park in the
world.
It was gorgeously and lushly landscaped with tons of trees, fields
of
green and narrow winding paths, with lots of little nooks and crannies
to
explore. But the most impressive feature of the park was all the flowers.
The
tulips were absolutely stunning in the most brilliant shades of red,
orange,
blue, white, purple, etc. There were even some tulips with two
colors
like dazzling orange-yellow, red-yellow or red-white combinations.
I
took four rolls of film in the park and most of them were of the flowers
(and
I could have taken more). As great as the landscaping was, so were many
of
the rides.
We
arrived at Efteling on a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon about noontime
and
stayed until they closed at 6 pm. Admission was only +/- 17. The longest
line
we encountered was about 20 minutes. Their roller coasters, although
each
was unique, were actually the most boring attractions in the park. The
dark
rides, on the other hand, were world-class themed rides.
Let's
start with the coasters: The first one we rode was called Bob. It
was
an Intamin bobsled coaster, but taller, longer and different than the
standard
model. Next we rode Pegasus, an Intamin junior woodie about 50
feet
tall and built over a lake. The unusual thing about this coaster
was
that it had a unique type of wheel that was designed to be very quiet.
The
coaster was even more silent than a normal steel coaster and it is very
unusual
to see a woodie in action without all the noises associated with
it.
It was a good and peppy little ride. Next came a Vekoma double loop
corkscrew
coaster called Python. The ride was rough and very aggressive,
even
more than your normal Vekoma ride. The helix at the end (the unique
touch
on the ride) was full of strong lateral forces.
The
final coaster of the park was also the newest one. Built last year
by
the Dutch firm Vekoma, it was an indoor coaster called Vogel Rok. The
storyline
involved some kind of mythical bird and the entrance featured a
gigantic
bird that you walked underneath to enter the ride. The queue
line
was enormous and went through several rooms, but we only had to wait
about
20 minutes to ride. The wait ended up being the longest of the whole
trip.
The ride vehicles had several on-board speakers with a unique
soundtrack
synchronized
to the ride. The ride featured lots of curving drops and
turns,
all in the dark, over a unique ride layout. Overall, the ride was
much
better than I expected.
Now,
onto the other rides: ALL of the rides and attractions at Efteling
are
Disney quality or better. Fata Morgana was a wonderful 10 minute dark
ride
very similar to Disney's famous Pirates of the Carribean, except
that
it had a Moorish theme (with Arabs instead of Pirates). To start off,
the
ride was housed in a huge building with gold, blue and yellow onion
domes
on
top. The building/castle looks very impressive from across the lake on
which
it sits. The queue line inside is one of the best looking and
coolest
I have ever seen: an elevated wooden walkway above the station,
with
carved wooden motifs every few feet. The loading platform is a huge
rotating
turntable and the boats hold about 15 people, but we had a whole
boat
to ourselves that day as there was no line for this incredible
attraction.
The
ride was very elaborate and had over 15 rooms, most of which were
separated
by a fancy curtain or themed door that opened to admit each boat
and
then closed behind you so your craft was alone in every scene. The
park
claims the ride contained 140 animatronic figures. The cast of
characters
includes camels, tigers, donkeys, magicians, belly dancers and
lots
of Arabs. The ride was so good that we decided to stay in our boat
and
ride again. We noticed many more details during our second and
third
rides.
Every
attraction at Efteling had its own original soundtrack, many of them
with
a grand orchestral scores. The park offers a compact disc of the
music
and I bought one. It is a wonderful souvenir of the park and upon
my
first listening at home, I was flooded with warm memories of the park.
Fata
Morgana was the second ride we rode in the park and the first one
that
made me realize that this park was truly something special. In fact,
over
and over again that day, I was blown away by this park, its landscaping
and
its themed rides. I should also note here that, quite frankly, I had
become
very jaded over the last few years after having visited over 175
amusement
parks around the world and it was so refreshing to experience a
park
of this caliber and get my spirits lifted once again like they hadn't
been
lifted by a theme park in years. Efteling reminded me of my first
trip
to Epcot Center at Walt Disney World in Florida (in 1994), where I
was
blown away by all the theming and the scope and length of the rides. It
had
been over five years since I was so impressed by a theme park.
Droomvlucht
was another amazing 10 minute dark ride. It is a suspended
dark
ride: the vehicle is suspended below an overhead track (like
Disney's
Peter Pan). This type of system allowed the car to fly over
gigantic
scenes as the riders looked at the elaborate theming all around and
below
them. The ride's name translates as Dream Vehicle and it has some
dreamy
rooms and effects with fairies and trolls. The room that took us
totally
by surprise was an enormous jungle room in which the ride actually
became
like a coaster and spiraled down a triple helix, propelled
completely
by gravity. We got off the ride and couldn't believe it, so we
immediately
rode again.
There
was also another elaborate 10 minute dark ride called Carnival
Festival.
It was a little like Disney's Small World with the different
figures
from different countries spinning around (the park claimed there
were
270 characters). It was quite good. Then we walked to a haunted
castle
called Spookslot that held a multimedia show set to music with many
animatronic
figures coming to life in an animated graveyard. It was also
about
10 minutes long and started with a single figure playing fiddle and
gradually
more and more things started moving until at least 50 things
were
going on and you could not watch all of them.
The
very unusual observation tower called Pagoda was 50 meters tall (165
feet)
and came with an incredible view of the park. What makes it unique
is
that the tower is attached to a pivoting arm that raised the tower.
When
it reaches the top, it spins very slowly all the way around so that
every
passenger could see in every direction. We also rode a relaxing
scenic
boat ride called Gondoletta that slowly floated around on a big lake.
Around
every corner, there another gorgeous bunch of brightly colored
tulips.
Another
attraction that took us by surprise was a ride built by Vekoma
called
Villa Volta. It was an elaborately themed -magic spinning room.
After
two pre-shows, we entered a fancy room and sat down on a bench and a
lap
bar was lowered. I knew what was going to happen next, but Leslie
had
no idea. The lights dimmed in the room and the music started. This
attraction
had the best soundtrack of an ride in the park. The benches
remained
stationary and the room began to slowly rock back and forth. As
the
music peaked, the room began to spin and completely rotated around the
riders
in a head over heels fashion. Girls screamed and we laughed our
heads
off as the optical illusion was breathtaking. Although you were
sitting
still and the room was rotating, your brain was tricked into
thinking
that YOU were being flipped upside down. It was a
TOTAL
blast and one of the best non-coaster rides either of us had ever
experienced.
The
park had many other rides that we did not have time to experience like
a
hedge maze, pirate ship, rapids ride, antique cars, carousel, train (that
was
not working), and a very cute tea cup ride themed like kettles with
flames
painted on the bottom that was called Monsieur Cannibale. There
were
also many dioramas, sculptures, carvings, fountains, themed exhibits
and
colorful buildings scattered throughout the park. It was truly an
enchanting
place and the BEST theme park I have ever visited.
Thanks to Hans van Kilsdonk.