EFTELING: The Disneyland of the Netherlands

When we found ourselves in the Netherlands you know we HAD to check out the Efteling Park!! We laughed our heads off as everything was FAIRYTALE MADNESS! My only regret is that we didn't spend another day or two here! We will be back for sure. ;) Hit us up if you have any questions about this park - we learned so much!!

INSTAGRAM: @haileydevine @bradleydevine

[rmyikzelf]

Efteling is not Disney. The Fata Morgana is a perfect illustration of that. It doesn't sugar-coat the fairytales but stays close to the originals. Yes, that means creepy at times.

[inca]

Nice to see your vlog. Efteling was built before Disney parks existed. It is a 2 day park if you want to see and do everything at the park. Efteling started out as a football field with a little playground. Then they built the fairytale forest to draw more people. It became so popular they built more and more rides and attractions around the fairytale forest. The Efteling is not owned by a big company like Disney but by a foundation that is why it has more affordable prices. Efteling is in a nature reserve and close to houses where people live so they cant just built extra rides and rollercoasters due to noise complaints. So they will focus on doing theming of rides which they are great at even tough they have much less budget than Disney. P.s. They have been building one of the most expensive haunted houses in the world costing 35 million euros last year. It is called Danse Macabre Unfortunately it will only open in Octobre.

[captainchaos]

Amazing. I _love_ watching families discover the Efteling. Your kids are the perfect age. This will all sink deep into their hearts. 😊

[captainchaos]

You're allowed to bring your own food and drinks. The boat ride is the perfect place for a picnic, or there are grassy fields throughout where you can do that.

[BramB]

This is great memory-making material right there! Well done mom and dad!

[kii]

Thank you for the lovely video. I love Efteling so much, I go at least twice a year ever since the early 90's and every time I discover something new. The fairytale forest has some beautiful indoor shows with special effects. One of 'em is the little matchstick girl and it's so touching people often cry like a baby when they come out🤭. They also do such a good job with the music everywhere. The Arabian ride you went on last has a really interesting history and was way ahead of its time. There's a documentary on youtube on how they made it and how two guys were sent to these countries for inspiration and bring back all the items to decorate the ride with from their travels. It's amazing how much effort they put into it. The ride is very dated now but we hold it close to our hearts for nostalgic reasons and many Dutchies either begin our end their Efteling day with the Fata Morgana ride to get that Efteling mood going😊.

[irisgroeneveld]

You must come back for Summer Efteling, then the park stays open till 10pm. And also Winter Efteling when the park and attractions are decorated in a winter theme

[luukspee]

Its funny to see how Americans just don't understand Fata Morgana and other more sinister parts of the Efteling. In Europe, it isn't that common to sugarcoat every story we tell or every media we consume. I think Efteling is a great example of that. The typical style of the park, with the whimsical figures and curved architecture is based on the works of the Dutch artist Anton Pieck. He and some other people were the founders of the park back in the fifties.

[its.emma.official]

"Why does Rapunzel look like a grandma" ... ICONIC 😂

[Gisela_aka_gies]

I am glad you guys had a great time. But people (mostly Americans) always say that it is like Disneyland and it is really not. This started as a nature park back (1951) in the day and has grown into a large theme park. They started building some fairytales in the woods for people to come watch and enjoy. So the fairytale forrest IS the heart of the Efteling. It is not like Disney at all imo. But what they both have in common is, that you will guarantee have a great time at both parks.

Come again.

[WreckerD]

Fata Morgana* is about 1001 Arabian Nights, it is a bit outdated (built in the 80's) and scenes do not really tell a fluent story

*= last ride you went on

Efteling loves nostalgia and story telling and they really stick to it, they try to keep a lot as Original as possible and replace when there is no other option... the Efteling museum 'Wonder Depot' shows a lot of drawings, pictures and fixings or old animatronics (can look scary) they used, and current items are copies or updated from them.
-just like Disney, they'll try to re-use, recycle and hide easter eggs to the past

[lynnjansen]

It was lovely to see you guys enjoy this amazing place so much. As an adult annual pass holder i loved seeing you appreciate the magic going on in this park. Efteling is unique with it’s style to portrait all the fairytales I loved seeing how much you enjoyed :)

[danielleraymond]

Two uploads in one day! So excited to watch

[maaiker]

Nice to see you've enjoyed the Efteling. You are right it sometimes has more of a Labyrint vibe to it. They have the original fairytales instead of the disney-vide versions. Its so unique and emersive.

And the garbage guys are actually a great idea to make people/kids want to dispose of their garbage in the proper place. It keeps the park clean.

[MBSteinNL]

Will note timestamps for people.
1:16 The entrance to the Efteling. In maintenance, they are adding additional parking space (underground parking).
1:55 Entrance to Symbolica, also a shot with the Pagode in the background ('what the heck is that thing'), 3:47 the 'red ride' of Symbolica (there are 3 tracks which have minor deviations in what you get to see). Symbolica is a 'darkride' aimed at mostly families. It's just a few years old (july 2017), making it one of the newest attractions in the Efteling. The story involves Efteling characters and is an Efteling-only story
5:52 Holle Bolle Gijs, part of a family of statue-trashcans. Notable for saying 'Papier hier'
6:59 Waiting line for the Droomvlucht ('Dreamflight'), 7:29 Starting the Droomvlucht dark ride. Just like Symbolica it's a darkride aimed mostly at families, but for a lot of people it's a must-visit when visting the Efteling. The cars turn around, and you also get a decent fast part where you go down in a circle. Inspired by old folk tales which later on got made family-friendly in the form of the tale of Santa Clause.
10:19 Villa Volta. Despite the impression it gives you, you move at most 30 degrees but the chamber around you does a full 360. One of the more scary darkrides, aimed at thrillseekers. Story involves the Bokkenrijders, a criminal group which inflicted that much fear in the Netherlands and Belgium infamous legends came to exist about them which attributed things like flying on goats to them.
12:01 The Volk van Laaf (People of Laaf) monorail. You move it just like you move a bike. Volk van Laaf is a small themed area aimed mostly at young kids.
12:36 Sprookjesbos ('Fairy tale forest'), a nature walk with several different fairy tales featured in it. Aimed at 3-10 year old children and their parents.
16:01 Vogelrok ('Bird's skirt') waiting line, an rollercoaster which takes place in the dark. Mostly sharp turns and some drops. Minimum ride height in effect.
16:11 Carnival Festival, family darkride. Features a lot of stereotypes of countries and yes, that includes the Netherlands too.
16:39 The Vogelrok ride
17:21 Gondoletta, a boatride across the pond/lake. Brad, Hailey and the family didn't go on those boats on the film at least
18:04 Vliegende Hollander ('Flying Dutchman'), a combined water/rollercoaster ride. Here also there are minimum ride heights if I recall correctly.
19:18 The Python. Minimum ride height in effect. Features multiple loopings and very sharp turns. One of the oldest attractions.
21:21 Max& Moritz, a family-friendly roller coaster. Opened in 2020. Previously on that location was a bobsled rollercoaster which got torn down because of the maintenance requirements.
23:05 Fata Morgana, a boat darkride inspired by the 1001 Nights story.


Good to see you had fun 😀 Fata Morgana used to be more busy in the past. In October the replacement of the Spookslot ('Ghost castle') which was family friendly will open called Dans Macabre. You might've seen the construction during your visit nearby Baron 1988 which you passed by at 20:48. Dans Macabre is to the right of that. DM will probably be very much not family-friendly. During your stay the Piranha, , a water ride, probably still was in maintenance together with some others which were family-friendly?

Hope you'll come back once more to the Netherlands 😀

Edit: The one you called the water rollercoaster inbetween the Python and Vliegende Hollander is not a water rollercoaster 😉 Just like Max&Moritz the Joris en de Draak ('Joris and the Dragon') rollercoaster is a dual-track ride, but made of wood.

[justineholman]

I love hearing you all laugh and having a great time.

[henryvandenbrand]

I have seen a lot of Efteling experience videos but yours was the best. It showed what Efteling is all about. The joy and surprised reactions were so sweet to watch. You are a lovely family❤

[Lars_erik]

Fata Morgana was one of my favorite rides as a kid 🤣

[hondaryder]

'Oh my gosh': how are we even going to be able to show this? Hahaha, Dutch humour is an acquired taste, stems from the fairytales of the Grimm brothers(Germany), much more gruesome than this.
It is meant to excite, exhilarate and scare a little.
Two rides have been discontinued bc of mainly foreign complaints.😂
I hope you still liked it.

[liekevg]

Glad you had so much fun!!! Thanks for filming my favorite theme park