We went to one of the world’s most unique and whimsical theme parks — Efteling!
Joris en de Draak at Efteling
If you’ve been following along here recently, we were set to travel around the world, starting with Singapore for a cruise on the new Disney Adventure, then flying to Paris for the opening of Disney Adventure World. However, delayed flights interrupted our plans and threw off our schedule. With a few days to spare, we made a trip to Efteling Parc, a fantasy theme park in Kaatsheuvel in The Netherlands. And boy was it an interesting visit!
Our main thought about Efteling? We LOVED it. It was so weird and wonderful, and we had no criticisms whatsoever, except that the water in the bathroom was too cold. Honestly, couldn’t have dreamed for a better visit!
Let’s go!
People who love theme parks will probably enjoy this place, but not necessarily Disney fans. It’s a general “fantasy” themed park with elements of myths, legends, and fairy tales, so there aren’t distinct IP representations around like you’d get at a Disney park.
Beautiful architecture
The food was shockingly delicious, and we’d put the quick service options on par with Disneyland Resort, which is high praise (that’s essentially the crème de la creme of quick service theme park food). The snacks were fun and interesting as well.
Noodle Snack
They actually have these giant walls of snacks where you tap your card and then get your snack out of the wall. We were super impressed by this feature since it’s unlike anything we’ve seen in theme parks we’ve visited before.
Snack wall!
As far as rides go, we had three that we loved most. First was Droomvlucht, which translates to Dreamflight in English. It was a delightful “flying” dark ride through a fairy world, and we found it to be magical.
The park
Symbolica was another of our beloved attractions. It’s a trackless dark ride through a fantastical castle that reminded us a lot of Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland. So fun!
Symbolica
The other one we’d recommend highly is Danse Macabre, which opened here in 2024 and features a brand-new ride system. Essentially, you’re on a rotating floor that tilts and rises and falls and spins, while Danse Macabre plays and a ghostly orchestra comes to life around you. That one was incredible.
Danse Macabre
The Fairytale Forest is another great attraction to visit — it has lots of interesting fairytale imagery and quirky photo ops. Most of the figures and stories represented here are inspired by the tales of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Charles Perrault.
Fairytale Forest in Efteling
Of course, we also have to mention that the park smells amazing. There are themed scents all over the place, and you can purchase them as candles in the gift shops. (Disney, please take note!)
The candy cottage!
We also stayed in the Efteling Grand Hotel during our visit, so be on the lookout for a room tour coming soon! It’s a stunning piece of architecture, and it’s recently built, having opened just last summer.
Efteling Wonder Hotel
Overall, we had a blast at Efteling and would definitely recommend it as a place to visit if you find yourself in the area! It predates Disneyland, and some of its attractions are just as advanced and well-themed as Disney and Universal ones that we’ve been on. The scenery is stunning, and the vibes are just…MAGICAL.
Fairytale Forest in Efteling
Want to see some clips from our visit? Check out our Instagram post!
We’ll keep you in the loop with more of our travels in the coming days, so keep following along!
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dude, that’s just an automat.
I’m looking forward to seeing more of this park. Thank you for this article.
Whoever wrote this article must be very young to think the “giant wall of snacks” is some unique creation. The US had these in the 40’s and were called Automats. They were very popular until the 70’s but died out as fast food chains took over. (Just a bit of info for the writers to broaden their knowledge.)
I went with some friends in the Netherlands and was surprised at the similarities of Carnaval Festival to It’s a Small World and Fata Morgana to Pirates of the Caribbean. I commented that the ideas were “stolen” from Walt Disney. I was then educated that Eftling was built before Disneyland and these two rides were original. I found a story later about Walt and his wife visiting Europe before building Disneyland and wondered if they visited Eftling?
Thank you for the history lesson, Pris. We don’t have anyone on staff that would have been around in the 70s (or earlier) so we always appreciate these little historical nuggets.