My mini-vacation (all rolled into one awesome Sunday:) [pictures!]

[beelikej]

Yesterday I finally got to go on that long awaited trip with Hans to Attractionpark The Efteling. I spend the night before at his place, so we could travel down south together. We got up around 8 am and arrived by bus, train and another bus at about 11 am.
It had been a while since we last were here, so we decided to walk through the Fairytale Forrest to reminisce. We really enjoyed watching the excited kids, but of course secretly we were very excited ourselves:) Even more so when we discovered a new fairytale had been added: The Little Match Girl. We thought that was a rather cruel story: we learned it's fine not to give money to beggars, because they are much better off freezing to death. Ahem.

After that relaxing stroll, it was time for loads of rides. The first one was Dreamflight, in which you dreamily float through the air to watch the dark, but beautifully illuminated Magical Wood with fairies and trolls from above. Then Villa Volta, a house where you sit down while the whole room turns upside down. Our personal favorite was next: BirdRok, a very fast rollercoaster in the dark.
After taking the beautiful Pagoda up for a high view of the park, we got in line for the latest addition: The Flying Dutchman. The 50 minute wait was well worth it: awesome boatride! Standing in line in The Efteling really doesn't seem that long. You can easily spend your time admiring all the details in the buildings and there is plenty of entertainment provided while waiting, not only by professionals but mostly by the other people who are waiting with you:)
We took a little break and icecream before going on more rides: Pegasus (wooden rollercoaster), Piraña (water-ride) and Fata Morgana (slow boat through ancient Arabia).
After diner we went to the theatre for a secret mission: we would get a pressie if we whispered our WonderCode, which had been invisibly printed on our traintickets. We had managed to decipher the stamp under a special light in the gateway to the Fairytale Forrest. We got the code right and got our presents, woohoo!
After that adventure we had one more new attraction to visit: The PandaDream, an educational 3D film experience, which turned out to be much more fun than expected:)

Because The Efteling was open until 9 pm instead of the usual 6 pm, we had time to go once more on the BirdRok-ride and to stand in line again for the Flying Dutchman (seriously worth it *g*). And to our surprise and excitement, we could finish our day with another go in BirdRok. Brilliant!

Definitely the best day of the year, it totally made up for my lousy vacation:) Wanna see pictures?

Comments

[sillie]

Whoo, the Efteling is awesome! Haven't been in ages though. *sad face* Glad to hear you had an awesome day. :D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

It truely was brilliant *big grin* I hadn't been there in years, because Hans wanted to wait until at least two new attractions had been added since he last time was there. Bastard. But it was well worth the wait:-)
OMG, I can't even calculate the hours you would have to travel to get there. I hope the pictures made you live vicariously for a bit;)

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

Thank you... I think you have just given me an idea for a family vacation when Amaya is a bit older. That could be fun for both her and us. We (hubby and I) have talked about many times that we want to go to Holland, and having to ajust our vacation to a child-friendly vacation now, this seems like a good idea! Do you think I'll remember this in a few years when we're lost for ideas?

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I will help you remember:) It's really an awesome place for kids. There are actually a lot of areas where it's "kids only"! Luckily there are also plenty of rides for big children;)

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

Aaaah, so jealous! I think I'm too much of a wimp to do BirdRok (Pegasus is as scary as my rollercoasters are allowed to be - although I really love that one). Am very jealous of all the water rides (and heh, I love that picture you took for no other reason than to prove that your brother got wet *veg*) and the Forest, of course. Le sigh.

I am so going to the Efteling in the spring *resolves*.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Oh, honey, you HAVE to do BirdRok, it's the best. I imagine that's what flying on Buckbeak would feel like. What? It's fairytale land, you're supposed to use your imagination :-p
I have to admit Pegasus was a bit uncomfortable; I had forgotten about the massive amount of shaking. The boobs were not amused. :-/
Heh, I love that my brother is very much aware of why I took that photo *g*

You know, in the Winter they open a couple of weekends for magical Winter Wonderland. I went there once with Oscar: the Efteling is really gorgeous then.

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

Okay, that does sound cool. Does it have loopings? The rollercoaster that just go up and down are fine, as long as there are no loopings :P. *is wuss*

Ohh that sounds much cooler than going in the summer. Is there snow and everything?
Yes, this excites me (and my inner child) greatly.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

No loopings in any ride except the Python:)

Snow + hot chocolate + thousands of lights: it's very pretty. Plus: the 'dangerous' rides are closed, so you'll have a great excuse for avoiding those:)

[kennedy-unknown.livejournal.com]

That looks like such a fun place to go! I'm a sucker for any kind of theme park, unfortunately we have very few in my neck of the woods and what there are are laughable.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

It is the best! I'm not really into ordinary theme park rides, but The Efteling has a story to go with every one of them, it's brilliant:)