Tuesday 5th August
Stayed over at my aunt's house last night
as it made it easier for travelling etc. We had a nice evening; got
some letters posted, had something to eat, then lit a candle at 10 to
mark the centenary. Went to bed around 11:30ish.
Got up really early at 3:30. The car was all packed, and I
travelled in my onesie, so there was very little to do except get in the
car and go! The drive to the tunnel was uneventful; everyone very
sleepy.
When we got to the tunnel we had time to go into the terminal thing and
go to the toilet. We looked round duty free; had great fun testing the
perfume! Then we grabbed coffees; my cousin's smelt like nappies, which
was weird.
We were all more awake for the tunnel, so we played a guessing
game- someone chooses a word, and the rest of the group have to guess it
using clues. Hard to explain, but very very fun!!
The tunnel
was pretty quick. When we got to the other side, we went to Cité
d'Europe, which is kinda the place to go when crossing from the UK to
France or vice versa- we stopped there last year and the year before.
Thataway!
We went to Carrefour first, to get loom bands (I packed some, but
they got left at my aunt's house) as well as snacks and food for the
trip. I was thrilled to find one of my favourite ever foods- French
apple purée! So good!!
We also had breakfast; orange juice, pain aux raisin and coffee in a glass. It felt very sophisticated.
After
a stop in Toys R Us (because why not?!) and a chance for me to get
changed into proper clothes, we climbed back into the car for the second
half of the journey. Again, pretty quiet and uneventful.
We got to the Efteling hotel at around 4:30ish. It was really cool
to walk into- all themed and amazing and yay! Our room was fab too- so
much to discover, and all so pretty! There was a game in one corner
which had various instructions, and some of them involved other parts of
the room, such as finding a pair of red shoes stuck in the closet. Very
fun!
Hotel from car park
Had some food, then my cousin MM and I went off to explore the
hotel, which was quite fun, and was good to acquaint ourselves with
places. We also went in search of a good view; however, the large amount
of trees surrounding Efteling made that pretty difficult- all we could
really see was the tops of the tall rides!
My aunt and cousin JM wanted to relax and have a nap, so MM and I
went off to the actual theme park by ourselves. We started off by going
in the kids maze, which had various things to do. The best bit was a
bridge with water splashing across; the aim was to cross without being
splatted. We both did it, however I only managed it cos I went at the
same time as a random small child, who shielded me from the water...
Whoops!
We'd been banned from going on the big rides without the others, so
we went on the carnival ride instead. The queue was really short, and
it was practically a walk on! It was a bit weird- like a remake of 'It's
A Small World', with characters from 'all around the world'. Four
things to be noted here. Firstly, 'all around the world' was interpreted
interestingly- nothing to represent Australia/Africa/India/Spain and
loads of other big places... Secondly, there is no way it would be
allowed now- very stereotypical, making it more than a little racist.
Thirdly, it was just plain WEIRD. There were wrestlers with hands inside
each other, and English beef-eaters with swivelling heads. There were
also lots of people waving weirdly, often with hands not connected to
their bodies. Lastly- there was a model prostitute. Yup.
Yay for dragons
We didn't have loads of time after that before we were due to meet
back with the others, so we stuck mostly to looking in shops- MM fell in
love with a model of the 'Talking Tree', and decided she would buy it
at some point. We were both quite hungry/thirsty, so we grabbed a
smoothie to share from a shop on the side of a path. Mango and banana
and something else- very nice!! Whilst we were drinking it we looked
around the diorama- a bit model of a fairytale world, with various
electronic bits to it. It was in the same building as a big carousel- so
of course we had to have a go on that!
On our way to meet the others, we passed the 'Villa Volta' ride,
which didn't have much of a queue, so we hopped on that. It started off
with a story about a haunted house, which was probably interesting, but
as it was all in Dutch it was lost on us. It ended with a topsy turvy
room, the kind where it feels like you go upside down. Good, but not all
that good.
Finally got to 'Droomvlucht', the big fairytale ride where we
agreed to meet the others. We had some time to spare, so we made loom
band bracelets while we waited. Then, when we were all together, we
queued up for the 'Droomvlucht' ride. It was pretty much exactly as I
remembered it; a pleasant ride through a fairytale world. Best bits were
the dark room with stars and a castle (which did not come out well on
camera, unfortunately!!) and a room where the carts spiralled around,
similar to a helter-skelter. The whole ride was pretty magical, and it
was a nice way to officially start our holiday.
Droomvlucht!
More Droomvlucht!
Afterwards, we went into the shop, which sold a spray that claimed
to be the smell of the ride. MM, my aunt and I all got it on our hands,
and we are more than qualified to say that it did NOT smell of the ride,
it smelt disgusting, and it was impossible to get off easily.
It turned out that my aunt and JM had done Vogel Rok, one of the
rides that MM and I thought we were meant to save. As we'd done Villa
Volta, we left them to go on that whilst we went on Vogel Rok. On the
way we stopped in a couple of shops, including the 'cheap shop'- my
fav!! I got a notebook there last year, and kept up the trend this year
by getting three exercise books.
We carried on to 'Vogel Rok', a sort-of 'big ride' which is based
around a flying bird and is mostly in the dark with lighting effects
etc. In terms of a roller coaster it's not much. However, there were
loads of fans, and that coupled with the general speed made me feel like
I was flying, which I absolutely loved. We didn't buy the ride photo,
but it showed me with a HUGE smile on my face- which started a theme for
the rest of the ride photos from the fast rides!
We met up with JM and my aunt again, and we all went back on the
Carnival ride- we wanted to show them the prostitute!
After that, we
tried to get on one of the three 'proper' roller coasters.
Unfortunately, we were too late for them, so we started to walk towards
the water show. On the way back, we got something to eat, then decided
that we wanted to sit down and eat properly, so we left the show for the
next night. After we'd eaten, we headed to the hotel-specific park
exit, which was right next to the park- so of course we stopped a whole
there!
Oh dear
An old woman I may have kissed
Back to the hotel, where we chilled as generally relaxed. I had a
shower, then enjoyed the (sporadic!) wifi before heading to dreamland!
Wednesday 6th August
Got up for breakfast at 9ish for
breakfast. We weren't sure what it was going to be like; thankfully, it
was amazing and definitely got my seal of approval!! It was buffet-style
with a big range of food- my favourite was the pancakes with chocolate
spread! Woo!
Near the end of breakfast, two dressed up characters- Jokie, the
Efteling mascot, and Jet, his pet bird- came into the dining room, and
did a tour of all the tables. MM and I got a picture with them :)
Also yay for NMP3 top!!
After
breakfast we finished getting ready then headed into the park.
How Efteling does bins...
As we
were in quite early, it made most sense to do the 'big rides' first, to
save queuing for them later on. We started with 'De Vliegende Hollander', a ghost pirate ship ride, which combines water and track. It
begins with a lot of atmosphere- lots to see, some themed smells and a
bit of smoke. Then there's a hologram of a ship before a drop, followed
by a lot of tension-building and another drop, this time ending outside.
After that there's some usual roller coaster stuff, then it ends with a
short boat trip! There's a lot to it and it's really creative- the
roller coaster isn't the 'best', but the combination of it all makes it
worth it.
The next ride we went on was 'Joris en de Draak', a racing dragon
ride. Two coasters go at the same time on separate but entwining tracks,
and it's a 'race' to the finish line. This one's unusual in that it's
wooden, which gives a different feel to it all. It's also good in that
it combines drops with fast, bumpy 'non-drop' sections. I absolutely
loved this ride last year and this year was no different- close
contender for favourite ride!!
Finally in terms of big rides, we went on the Python, which has two
loops and a corkscrew. Less themed, more roller coaster. Definitely a
good one, but not one of my absolute favourites.
We decided to
have a bit of a break and walked around. On the way we saw the swinging
pirate ship ride, so we went on that. Unfortunately we ended up near
the middle, so it wasn't so good. C'est la vie!
After that we walked across to the rapid ride. On the way we went
past an animatronic fire-breathing dragon- I got some pics for my
dragon-obsessed little monkey!
Before we got to the rapid ride
itself, we came across a thing that let passers by spray people on the
rapids, so we mucked about with that- managed to spray one family twice.
Hehe. Then carried on to the rapids themselves, which had quite a bit
of a queue- yet more chance to play our fab word guessing game! ;)
The rapids were fun- the best bit being that we actually stayed
pretty dry, not that anyone is sure how! We passed the bit that we'd
been to before, where other people could try to spray the riders, and we
thought we would get splashed. Thankfully, they missed!!
After that we headed for Fata Morgana- essentially an Eastern
version of Disney's 'It's A Small World'. On the way, we saw the
bobsleigh ride, so went on that. It was good because you didn't know
which way the bobsleigh would go.
After the bobsleigh ride everyone was tired and a bit fractious, so
we had a break and had lunch- I had a burger. Following lunch, we
carried on to Fata Morgana, which I enjoyed. It's a really long ride-
much longer than you expect!
I found Jokie!
Spookslot, the haunted house animatronic show, was our next stop.
It really wasn't that great at all; it had skeletons dancing to Danse
Macabre, but that was pretty much it. One to miss next time! We kept to
the theme of shows after that and went to PandaDroom, a 4D theatre
experience about wildlife conservation. The best bit about that was the
end- in the nicest way possible!- as it has a wildlife themed play area
with various 'habitats' to explore and animatronic animals. Very cool!
Polaaaar Bear
Pandaaaaa Bear
It had been raining on and off for quite a large part of the
afternoon, but the weather got a bit worse after we got out of
PandaDroom. Whilst looking for shelter, we ended up by the pancake
house, and we decided we might as well stop there for food! I had a
pancake with hazelnut spread, which was absolutely delicious, though
very rich- I had to leave the last little bit!
NOM
It was still raining, so when we left we looked for more things
undercover. Thankfully, the gondolas were nearby, with a roof on each
boat and no queue- perfect! Boat was a bit unbalanced though, as we all
chose to sit in the driest parts (the roof didn't totally protect the
seats). The gondola ride was a lot lot longer than we expected! We
played the word game the whole time, which was nice.
Waterfall
Still searching for things to do without getting too wet, we went on
Vogel Rok again- always good! After that we walked to the nearby
monorail around the kids 'laughing village'. It wasn't great, but at
least it was out of the rain. Once off of the monorail, we explored the
laughing village a little (with a detour through the museum)- MM fell in
love with one of the animatronic things (pictured below), which had a
really weird song playing.
Bread making
As it was getting to around 7:30ish, we decided to go back to the 'big
rides', to make best use of the short queues near park closing time. We
went on the pirate ride again, and we tried to go on the dragon racing
ride, but unfortunately it was closed- so we headed to the Python, and
that was also closed :( We took this as our cue to go to the show area.
The show was essentially just water fountains and lights accompanied by
music- good, but better when the sky and water aren't the same colour-
most of it just blended together!
Lots of water
On our way back to the hotel, we managed to get completely lost in the
fairytale garden for about half an hour. The others were worried as it
was technically past closing time and they thought we were going to get
locked in; however, I thought it was great fun! I was then entrusted
with navigating- long story short, I'm no longer allowed to map-read.
We did find a mermaid though
Thankfully, we did get out in the end! Back to the hotel, where we dried
off, then went to the bar for a bit- I Skyped my family, and had a
beautiful fresh leaf mint tea. Finally, up and to bed, where I think I
fell asleep mid-conversation!!
Thursday 7th August
Got up and had breakfast- we were in the earlier slot. Jokie and
Jet were there again- we spoke to them, but no picture this time. I had
pancakes for breakfast again, but didn't finish them- still recovering from
yesterday's mammoth pancake!!
As we had the earlier breakfast slot, we made use of the early park
entry that comes from staying in the hotel. Our aim was to get to the
dragon ride before the queues formed. Unfortunately, it didn't actually
open until the park itself did, but getting there earlier meant we were
among the first on. After we got off, my cousins got straight back on
again, and my aunt and I were unsure where they were. We decided that
they might have gone on Python, so we went on that- as it was still
early, it was practically a walk-on. We didn't find my cousins, but
after we got off MM walked past us, so we all found each other again!
Then we all went to the pirate ride (again!), which was just as fab as
before.
We were going to go on the Droomvlucht (fairytale dream) ride, but
the queue was really really long. Instead, we carried on to the
storybook garden (stopping at the diorama on the way).
Diorama
Diorama again
The storybook garden is
basically a garden (really?!) filled with different fairy tales,
represented in different forms. It was really good, and took quite a
while. We also ended up in a show that was all in Dutch- we quickly
left...
DRAGON
Hansel and Gretel house
Golden ball
Dancing waterlily children
Talking tree!!
As luck would have it, we found the potato things on the way to the
ride. We all got a different flavour, so we got to try each other's,
then queued up for the ride whilst we ate. They were really good; I
think potatoes might be my new favourite thing. The fairytale ride was
just as good the second time!
Potato woo
After that, we separated, so one of my cousins went off to do the
fast rides again, and the other three of us went on Fata Morgana again.
Then we went back to watch the show- Ravelijn!!
(Welcome to Ravelijn)
The show
hadn't really changed since last year; so it was similar in that they had
some good basics, but didn't use them to their full ability. The
storyline was weird and made little sense, the scripting wasn't great...
But some of the effects were pretty cool!!
We hadn't finished all the storybook garden, so after the show we
went to see the last few bits.
Then we went to the pagoda ride- a pagoda
that lifts above the park so you can see everything. Sounds good- but
as Efteling is mostly trees, you can see mostly trees...
Hmm
From the pagoda we went to the laughing garden, where we'd been the
day before. We explored and looked at the animatronics, which was all
really fun. The best bit was walking into a room filled with weird
animatronic babies.
We also went
back to the place that my cousin liked, with the dough and weird music.
As a result, everyone had the song stuck in their heads!
I really don't know...
For dinner, we went to the restaurant attached to the PandaDroom
place, where I had a (very good) panini and the others had pasta. Was
nice to eat 'proper food'.
We all had things that we'd been
planning to get, so a trip to the shop was in order. I got a notebook
I'd been coveting, a dragon towel for my dragon-obsessed sister, a key
ring for a friend and a goat. Of course.
It was getting near closing time by that point, so we made the most
of it by going on the big rides. We went on the dragon ride, where we
managed to ride the 'winning' dragon! Then on the python, which I rode
with my eyes closed- it made it a lot more intense! After that the park
closed, so we went back to the hotel.
When we got back we chilled for a bit, and everyone else fell
asleep. Then everyone except JM went down to the bar for fresh
mint tea. There was a guy at the bar who was insisting that he needed
soap. That was interesting.
<3
Finally finally back up and to bed!
Friday 8th August
Got up quite early so we had enough time to get sorted and pack.
After we got everything packed up we went round taking pictures of the
room, because it was cool and why not!
Red shoes in closet
Efteling mirror selfie
The Efteling 'e'!
Mouse in hole!
Another Efteling 'e'
Bed (feat. cousin)
Mirror (and hidden TV)
Dancing decoration
Castle yay
Didn't notice the hidden wallpaper characters till late on the first day...
At breakfast I made the
most of the pancake availability; my cousin told me off for having too
many pancakes, so we all told her off for having too much chocolate
milk. Will definitely miss the unlimited pancakes!!
We checked out and got the car loaded up, then went back into the
park- it was still quite early, so it was quiet. We went on the pirate
ride yet again; I closed my eyes again, and it was a different
experience. Then we went on Vogel Rok, where I also closed my eyes- felt
just like flying!! There was absolutely no queue, so my cousins and I
made the most of it and went on again. In the picture, we all pulled
faces, which looked cool- the only fast ride picture from the holiday
where I wasn't grinning ecstatically!!
As we still had time left and there was no queue, we went back on
our favourite carnival festival ride, mainly to say farewell (or au
revoir?!) to the prostitute. Then we went into the maze that MM and I
went in on the first day. We all made it across the splashy bridge
without getting splashed- success.
Sadly, after that, it was very much time to get in the car and
leave :(
Farewell my dear :(
There was loads and loads of traffic around Antwerp- so the
three and a half hour journey was actually five and a half hours. Fun.
We
stopped at Cité d'Europe, where I got a really nice dress cheap in
H&M, as well as stocking up on apple purée- my fav!! We had lunch
there too- cheese ad ham toastie followed by more chocolate spread
pancake. Not even thinking about the amount of crap I've eaten this
holiday!!
We left the shopping centre with plenty of time to spare, and drove
to the tunnel crossing. There, however, we ended up in a huge queue,
and it was past the time our train was meant to leave. After a bit of
panicking, we realised that everyone in the queue was on the same train
as us, so it wasn't like we'd missed it or anything! We got on
eventually, and the train ride was uneventful- we played I Spy with
things we'd seen on the holiday.
On the other side, we stopped briefly to use the toilets at a
service station, and to get petrol. Then we journeyed on- I made the
most of being back in the UK and having internet on my phone. Stopped
again at services nearer home, but mostly just drove. Got home a little
after midnight. What an amazing holiday!!!