A stay in the Loonsche Land! I could not suppress a secret cheer when we were invited by the Efteling to spend a weekend at their new park. What a party! The Efteling is not unfamiliar territory for us, but we are also not real diehards who go several times a year and I wanted to stay in the Loonsche Land so much.
We usually try to visit this beautiful amusement park once a year. Sometimes in the summer and sometimes in the winter. And we went once with the company where Frank works, an evening with overnight stay in the Efteling hotel! So this time a weekend in Loonsche Land with two days of Efteling visit for the whole family! Lotte bounced around last week, she was so excited to go out for two days 😉 .
Table of contents
Even though we live fairly close by ourselves and we actually know where to find the Efteling… like a headless chicken we 'follow' the navigation, with all the consequences that entails. In the end we drove over 50 minutes to the Loonsche Land, while the job could have been done in 35 minutes. But a little later on Friday evening we arrive on the territory of the Efteling! Hooray, on to the Loonsche Land and the dune houses, because that's where we are staying.
The first view is of the illuminated hotel on the Loonsche Land. And like almost everything at the Efteling, this one will make your mouth water. Damn, those antlers on those towers! Nice say. At the reception we receive a detailed explanation from a charming boy and we can take the car to our house on the Loonsche Land to unload. After that, the car has to go back to the parking lot. I love that… an almost car-free park. If you now think 'hey, that is extremely suitable for small children', then you are of course right. Just don't forget that in the beautiful landscape of this park, in addition to heath and dunes, water has also been 'processed' in the form of ponds. So keep an eye on your little kids.
Upon entering our house, the children naturally storm through the entire house for a cursory exploration. And for claiming their place to sleep, which of course leads to a discussion *sigh*. We hang out in the living room of our cozy cottage for a while but then decide to go to bed with the idea of getting up early tomorrow. Because of course we want to be the first at the gate.
The latter failed. Even though we were at the gate at 09.30, we were certainly not the first. Fortunately, we can enter through a separate entrance and we also get priority at some attractions for the first half hour. Have we been told. A nice advantage for guests staying overnight at the park. We therefore bounce inside to be amazed at the line that is already waiting for Symbolica. WHUT? It's immense! Full of day trippers who don't stay at the park, but who just want to connect immediately to see this new attraction. We happily hop on with the idea that we won't have to queue for so long, but in the end we just can't manage to 'bet' the extra stamp we have on our ticket.
We run into closed gates (which by default open to the public at 10:00 am) and we have no idea how to get to the people we see walking on the other side of the gate. Grumbling, we just stand in line to head towards the Vogelrok as soon as the gates open. I resolve to ask myself at the end of the day what the actual purpose of the tickets is and where we should be. Another chance tomorrow!
An hour and a half later I am sick of 5 roller coaster rides in a row and I have completely forgotten the slow start of that morning. sodeju! I'm being dragged from place to place by my children. Vogelrok – Python – again Python – Joris en de Draak – Flying Dutchman.
That is the status after an hour and a half. My stomach starts to protest slightly but the children don't seem to be bothered by anything. Yelling together, they shoot back at the Python as Frank and I gulp down our much-needed caffeine. With a thick layer of foam that is. I haven't seen real baristas there, but the coffee-making equipment doesn't lie! All the cappuccinos we drank (and there were quite a few) were all of perfect quality.
Just like everything else within the gates of the Efteling. I don't know exactly how they do it, but everything seems to revolve around quality. From the boy at the reception on the Loonsche Land, to the girl at Joris en de Draak who tells me how it is actually determined which of the two trains (water or fire) wins the battle. And everything in between.
I have to pull out all the stops to get the kids away from the roller coasters, we really want to use this weekend to see everything. Tatata Tatata Tatata… hop into the Carnival. Whoever finds Jetje first in each setting wins. You know Jetje, the purple bird, right?
Personally, I wouldn't have needed the Carnival, but that's more because of the tune that I can't get out of my head afterwards. With a little luck you will now also suffer from this.
After the Carnival we plunge into the Vogelrok again and with the view of a bag of candy I manage to tempt my children to take a trip to another part of the Efteling. I still have Ravelijn on my list! And the dream flight. I'll skip Villa Volta for a while. Frank is allowed in there with the kids. I also want to enjoy the rest of the day. Luc calls me a wimp but afterwards knows exactly what I mean 😉 . So on to Ravelijn, for which we have already scored tickets.
Never seen this beautiful show by Ravelijn before. But what a performance. Once again, the Efteling knows how to surprise with beautiful decoration, a beautiful story and a dedicated performance. Definitely worth a visit while you're here.
At the end of the day we haven't had the fairytale forest yet, so I will force it for the next day. Hubby has of course been to the Baron with Luc and I have been able to push myself 😉 . I find that a bit too much. After 18.00 we enjoy a fantastic closing with Aquanura. Beautiful, but a lot less spectacular because it is still light. Once you've seen this performance in the dark, you'll know what I mean.
Even though we have been strolling around all day, we decide to walk to our house in the park. We have taken 19,000 steps in total! This way we immediately burn some calories from all that goodies we ate today.
Within 15 minutes we are back at the 'door' of the Loonsche Land. After having a nice meal in the restaurant in this part of the park, we walk exhausted to our house. Tired of the exciting day. Tired but satisfied, that's it! We take another nice drink.. the Radler that we brought with us (and of which we accidentally left the remaining bottles in the fridge 😛 ), and go to bed early! What a lovely mattress by the way and wonderful duvets. I quietly regret when the alarm goes off again. Again we are up in time because this day we want to be early in the Efteling itself. And it works!
Personally, I would like to take full advantage of that third day next time. Now we only arrived late on Friday evening, but if you are earlier you can still do everything more at ease, sleep in a bit and really enjoy the house on the Loonsche Land and the surrounding area. Because we really wanted to see everything of the Efteling, we needed our two days from morning to evening 😉 .
We now also know which route to take to get to Symbolica inside. Yoo-hoo, that saves just an hour of waiting. From what I'm listening to, opinions about Symbolica are divided, but we are unanimous. Symbolica fits perfectly within the Efteling event and is a wonderful attraction. Do you like action? Then limit yourself to the roller coasters. If you like more than just action, then this attraction is definitely recommended. Very nicely made with a bit of interactivity. This time we saw the music tour and next time we will take a different route. When it's a little less busy 😉 .
After being told for about 4 hours straight that I'm just a wimp because I don't want to be in the Baron with him, I'm tired of the whining of teenagers. Before I know it, I have over an hour to prepare myself psychologically. I am in line *swallow*.
But how cool is this roller coaster. Of course I had to swallow as we hung still with our heads down, but man oh man, is he cute. I find the story of the mine shaft in combination with the female figures on the shaft walls particularly beautiful. And it puts a lot less strain on your stomach.
After the Baron we had a nice walk through the fairytale forest. No matter how old you are, I think even this remains a treat.
Besides the normal sights, there were also all kinds of performances in the Efteling where fairy tales were told. We spent a long time watching Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf in the arena above the Indian water lilies. Hilarious! The actors are so engrossed in their performance that they get the entire audience involved. And the piece below was also very nice. By the way, no idea who this best man is, you?
How unfortunate it is when you hear the next day that one 'Sanne' no longer wants to be associated with the Efteling after showing her singing skills. Last summer she was apparently hired by the Efteling to sing at the house of Hans &Grietje and recordings have appeared on the internet. Sanne is very disappointed because she doesn't think she fits with all her artistic abilities with the flat entertainment of the Efteling.
WHUT?
How does she get to that? If there is one thing that is not flat, it is the entertainment of the Efteling. Do you like fairy tales, fantasy and do you have an enormous capacity for empathy? Then you will enjoy yourself. Do you like action and excitement? Even then you will enjoy yourself! And do you like delicious cappuccino? Then too!
It may be that the whole expansive feeling that the Efteling used to give me has somewhat disappeared, but they still know how to best entertain the visitors. I think it is 'by far' the most beautiful amusement park we have in the Netherlands. Not because I happened to be able to spend a weekend here. But just because it is 😉 .
Lotte
Luc
Frank
Joyce
tip:If you are at the Efteling, this app is really worth it. We made our choices of roller coasters and attractions 'premeditated' and we liked it very much!
By the way, there is currently a promotion where you book 3 nights and pay for 2. So if you still have the Efteling on your bucket list… check out the offers!
And would you like to go somewhere other than the Efteling, but with an overnight stay? Then you will find more tips for an amusement park with an overnight stay here. Enjoy!
