beelikej | The best day (Reply)

I finally sorted my pictures from my awesome trip with brotherdearest to The Efteling Fairytale Theme Park. Featuring rides and lots of photos of the two of us, you have been warned;) It's just that I felt so glorious and happy and I want to remember that. Plus I think you can really see the difference in my face and body from working-out and avoiding crazy foodbinges since January, which makes me proud. Slowly but surely I'm sculpting my body and brain into a shape I'd like them to be in \o/

Anyway, let's go to The Efteling, my favorite Theme Park in the world. All the rides tell a story and the look is based on drawings by Anton Pieck (1895 - 1987) - I love it a LOT.
My brother and I met up at Utrecht trainstation and from there traveled to Tilburg, where we hired bikes to cycle to Kaatsheuvel (about 13 kilometres).

Map of the park (I'm still trying to find the one from my first visit when I was 8 or 9, back in the 1970s. Back then it was only the fairytale forest and a pond for canoeing!)
From the Pagode you can see new ride The Baron and behind that the wooden rollercoaster Joris and the Dragon. More about all of these below!

But first some cycling! Because we are card holders for public transport, we can get a cheap subscription for bikerental at trainstations (10 euros per year plus 3,35 rental for 24 hours). Yay, a sign to the Efteling, so we know we're heading in the right direction \o/

Cycling is so very awesome :-D
We got even more excited when we found the giant boots of Tom Thumb leading the way!

First view of the rides \o/ We start our visit on a bench behind an adorable coffee grinder (see that handle on top? It spins around <3) Brotherdearest brought delicious breadrolls, I brought drinks (we had NOT discussed this before, we're just prepared like that;) a delicious lunch!

The funky entrance and a funkier lantarn. EVERYTHING IS SO FAIRYTALEY AND PRETTY. *chinhands*

The entrance of the Haunted Castle, inside it's pitch black and you can watch quite a crude performance of creepy monks, wobbling graves and a sad lady on the beautiful tunes of Dance Macabre by Saint-Saëns. I love it.
Big bulky sailor 'Gijs' eats your trash and thanks you for feeding him \o/

New ride The Baron; see that cart at the top: it will hang there for a couple seconds before you make the drop. Because the ride is closed for a testrun we'll go back later and instead start with Joris and the Dragon, a wooden roller coaster with two racers that each go a different route trying to defeat each other and the DRAGON!

I get so giddy with all the attention for details. The soda machine you pass in the queue looks like an old cabinet in a bar for knights and look at the design on the carts: everything is cool.

The entrance/exit of the Dragon ride, especially for my fellow Bad Dragon fans. *shifty eyes*.
And a close up of that awesome (and animated!) firebreathing dragon \o/

Another great ride is the Flying Dutchman (Vliegende Hollander). This may be my favorite of the designs. The line leads you through old Dutch bars to a small canal in the style of an old fishing village.

We survived! I was so hungry after those two rides I munched up my delicious pulled pork burger before I could take a picture *grins*

Finally time for The Baron; because it was just the two of us, we get a fastforward ticket, woohoo! The story is that you're going to work in the mines where the ghostly white women guard a treasure, oooooh... A seriously scary deep drop, recommended for daredevils!

A calm ride: this is the view from The Pagode a slowly spinning pagoda that rises high above the Efteling. Beautiful.

Then we visit Villa Volta, for some mind fuckery in a doomed mansion where the livingroom appears to move and flip upside down.

We definitely need some chocolate smoothies to comfort our nerves after that;) Plus a soothing ride throught the fairyforest with the Dreamflight. If you don't like rollercoasters, this is the one for you. Beware of the trolls! (They have cute butts though, sorry, no photos;)

Dinnertime! Hot poffertjes (tiny pancakes;) with butter, powdered sugar and fresh strawberries, omnomnomnom. After this we go for another round in our favorite rides of today: The Baron, The Flying Dutchman and of course Joris and the Dragon :-p

On Saturdays in the Summer the Efteling is open until midnight! At dusk all sorts of performers show up to entertain the crowd. I loved these two silly knights on their seahorses. We miss the beginning of the Aquanura music & fountain show, but still see plenty of the awesome waterballet and fireworks.
(I shot a video in 2012:)

Then we have just enough time for a quick peek at the latest addition to the fairytale forest: a magnificent scene of Pinocchio and the big fish.

Tall people can pull the puppet of Geppetto's shop;) Bye, Efteling, you've once again been the awesomest of awesome. <3<3<3.

We have just about an hour to get back to the station in Tilburg and catch the last train home. We make it, but my train is cancelled, so I'm traveling to Amsterdam with brotherdearest to spend the night at his place before going home the next day.

BONUS Amsterdam!

Even at 01:30 at night you can rent a bike at the Amsterdam trainstation! I had to stop to take a photo of the beautiful Delfts Blue tiles in this bicycle tunnel.
Ahem. As I had thought I'd be home for the night, I needed something to sleep in. My brother swore this was the only shirt he had that would fit me. Cool story, bro.

Goodnight! :-)

The end.

Want more? Previous visits to the Efteling:
Aug. 2014 with sister in law G. and nephew Ruben (4:) | Oct. 2012 with