I’ve visited a fair few theme parks over the years which use the latest in ride technology or break the next record in height or speed for coasters. Many have impressed me to a huge level but none have completely left me with thinking about it long after I’ve left where I’m yearning to go back as soon as I can. I’ve never walked away from a day at a theme park so blown away and satisfied then when I visited Efteling last year.

As I do with most theme parks I visit now, I try to go in completely blind, not looking at POV’s on YouTube or finding out anything about the rides as much as I can so that everything is a complete surprise to me. I believe that similar to watching a film or playing a video game, theme parks should be treated in the same medium where your experiences, reactions and opinions can be completely altered depending on what you already know about them so you should try avoid knowing as much as you can about the ride experience. And I’m so glad that this was the case with my first visit to Efteling last year as by not knowing anything about the rides there, I’m completely satisfied in saying that to an extent every single ride I did there blew me away.

I would highly highly recommend taking this approach for your first visit to Efteling to really have the best experience of it possible as even if you’ve already visited many theme parks, there are multiple things at this park that can still blow you away and surprise you. This article does contain major spoilers so I’d say please only read on if you’ve been before or aren’t fussed about knowing the secrets behind it.

It’s not even just the rides here but the overall guest experience that being the storytelling, layout, food/drink, shows, customer service, merchandise, cleanliness, quality and all of the tiny details that you would never think about that have been taken into consideration. It’s pretty fair to say that everything in the theme park world is mostly always compared to Disney because they’re known for giving the best guest experience but in my eyes at least, I believe that as of right now Efteling is superior to Disney overall. This may be due to me not stepping on Disney property in nearly 10 years but I believe that a lot of the things that I experienced at Efteling are things that I’ve not just seen in a theme park in a very long time but possibly ever, which left me astonished.

The House of the Five Senses ✨

Apart from it being a really cool name, the entrance building to Efteling really is a spectacle and matches up directly with its name. One of Efteling’s many visions is for their guests to vividly experience every one of the five senses when spending a day at the park. Upon entering, your sight is drawn to the huge thatched roof building (being the largest in the world). Your hearing is drawn towards the blissful entrance music getting louder as you get closer, the smell of fresh stroopwafels and pancakes that have been made in the early hours of the morning, touching the real timber beams supporting the giant ceiling and (to an extent) taste the morning wind and sense of adventure that you’re about to embark on. And this is all before you’ve even stepped foot in the park yet. Upon seeing this, you know that there’s an amazing day ahead of you…

Symbolica 🏰

Before going to Efteling, I knew that Symbolica was known as one of the best dark rides in the world as well as one of the most re-rideable but I didn’t know why exactly this is. As you walk towards the ride, you’re greeted by a long promenade leading towards the grand castle facade which has to be one of the most grand entrances to any ride at the park. It really is an impressive show building (which in my opinion has some slight inspiration from the mouse) that doesn’t feel like a ride created for a theme park but actually like you’ve stepped inside a real kingdom that has existed for thousands of years due to the attention to detail that the park put in to immerse you to a new world or postmodern environment.

Upon entering the pre-show, I immediately began to question where the exit is as I looked up to the grand staircase going upwards not believing that it’ll be the way out. Although I don’t speak Dutch, with this ride and the most of the ones at the park I could fully understand what was going on due to how well they are visualised for foreign guests and that (spoiler alert) Pardoes has hijacked the royal tour and decided to take you on his own tour instead where the staircase majestically opens up in half and reveals the basement to the ride station.

There’s 3 different rides you can experience on Symbolica being Heroes, Music and Treasure, each offering a different ride experience but ultimately following the same narrative and showing most of the same show pieces. I unfortunately didn’t have time to experience all 3 but I believe I got Heroes which means if you’re sat in the front you can use touchscreens to make two knight animatronics duel.

It really is a fantastic ride and feels like the main headline attraction at Efteling due to it being based on the park’s main mascot called Pardoes. I however believe that there are better rides at the park which would better suit that title mainly because of their more creative ways of storytelling. It’s not whatsoever a bad ride but it’s not my favourite at the park. This may have been because it was the first one I rode that day and was yet to experience the other ones yet but it’s still an incredible dark ride and for sure a standout not just amongst Efteling but the rest of the world.

3.5/5

Joris en de Draak 🐉

Translated into English as “George and the Dragon” this duelling GCI wooden coaster really took me by surprise where the racing element carries an element of fun to it and like Symbolica, opens the possibility of each ride experience being different. With wooden coasters, parks need to properly maintain them otherwise they become rough and uncomfortable but it comes to no surprise that Efteling do this frequently as it was exceptionally smooth and a really fun ride experience. The first drop really took me by surprise and it really picks up some good speed for what is essentially a family coaster. There’s also a great dragon animatronic it passes which I’ve been told used to breathe fire as it passes which would make for a great interaction. I rode the other side later in the afternoon and can comfortably say it’s one of my favourite wooden coasters mainly due to its interactivity with the other train and spontaneity of the racing aspect. (Stampida at PortAventura, take notes)

4/5

Vogel Rok 🦅

Again, when stepping underneath the giant bird structure, I had no clue what this was going to be whether a coaster or dark ride or something else completely. I was pleasantly surprised to find it be an indoor coaster in the dark and it’s done so very well. The on-board audio was a nice surprise as that’s quite rare to come by and some great near-miss elements and theming you fly past which make it really fun. It reminded me a lot of The Walking Dead: The Ride at Thorpe Park or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at the Disney parks with its “fly-through” elements and standout soundtrack that seems to play in sync to what’s happening on the ride. It’s a great, fun family coaster which would make for a great first coaster or thrilling indoor ride.

4/5

Carnaval Festival 🎪

Probably the most unsuited ride to the Efteling roster, Carnaval Festival took me by surprise by being a more stereotypical and eyebrow-raising version of “it’s a small world” at the Disney parks yet still being very charming and enjoyable. As is a trend with most of the rides at Efteling, this one has a very catchy soundtrack which is unlikely to leave your head long after you’ve gone home. It’s definitely more tolerable than “it’s a small world” ‘s at least but is also a fun, slow sit-down ride if you’re legs start to ache from all the walking or you want a break from the coasters. Just don’t start humming it or it’ll take 3-5 working days to leave your head.

3.5/5

Fata Morgana 🌙

Another ride which took me a lot by surprise. Upon riding it, I believed that it’s better than Pirates of the Caribbean at the Disney park. This is because of its originality, differing show scenes and interesting theme of an Arabian city which doesn’t seem cliche for a theme park. Like with Carnaval Festival, there are areas which feel strange and unhinged such as the boat passing under the crotch of the giant Djinn marionette and “ray-gun wizard” yet it’s still very charming and unforgettable. It’s now my favourite “Pirates-style” boat ride I’ve done at a theme park but I’m yet to ride Pirates in Batavia at Europa-Park which I believe has potential to top it from what I’ve heard. All in all though, it’s a fantastic boat ride, Efteling classic and one of the best that I’ve been on.

4.5/5

Max & Moritz ⚙️

One of the newer rides at the park, it’s a very fun and charming duelling MACK family coaster. The main aspect for why this ride stood out to me was the on-board audio which with all of the other soundtracks at the park it feels perfectly made to suit the ride. I wasn’t aware of the story of Max & Moritz but it seems to be about these two pranksters which explains the giant whoopie cushion interactive element the train passes by on Moritz (I didn’t have enough time to do Max this time sadly).

If there’s multiple of you riding together on opposite trains I can imagine it’ll be very fun interacting with each other. It’s also a very nice colour scheme to look at and I like the whole workshop theme that the station and trains have which feels very regional and European. It’s nothing thrilling but for a child I can imagine they’d love it loads whilst still being enjoyable for adults because of its childish yet still charming themes.

3.5/5

De Vliegende Hollander (Flying Dutchman) ☠️

Definitely one of my top 3 favourite rides at the park, Flying Dutchman completely blew my mind which I think was especially fuelled by me going in completely spoiler-free not having a clue what it was. Upon entering the station I was amazed by its theming and how it’s themed to a dark harbour at night with the hanging lanterns where before boarding, I believed I was in for another Fata Morgana style boat ride and not expecting another coaster whatsoever.

The first show scene is genuinely one of my favourite moments on any dark ride I’ve been on. As with Efteling’s motto of feeling all five senses within the park, that is very much felt in this moment. The boat you’re in enters a silent, pitch-black room filled only with a dark, cold fog as it moves through it with nothing but a glowing lantern attached to the front and the smell of an oriental, sweet fragrance that enters your nose. AURA. All five senses are played with in this scene as you enter the unknown and begin to wonder where it’s going next. It’s a very simple premise but it’s done so effectively to a point where it makes the hairs on your neck stand up which proves that they’ve done exactly what they promised. For a moment you’re not in Efteling, you’re on a wooden boat in the middle of the open, dark sea where absolutely anything can happen next.

You then enter a small-ish drop which then halts the boat immediately into the ghost ship’s broken bow as there’s crashes of thunder and rain coming from outside. Again, something I’ve not seen done so effectively before. And then next thing you know, the boat is now on a track hurtling down a big drop from a tower (which now makes it a coaster cred supposedly, but I’m in disagreement with that) and meanders round twists and bends before plunging into a lake at the bottom where the track is perfectly hidden under the water so passers-by see it like an actual boat on a lake and not at all a coaster.

For me, this mix of dark ride and coaster make this a perfect ride on top of it’s very creative and dark theme which many park’s wouldn’t dare go towards. The station alone is a standout and I feel like by going in completely blind, this fuelled my high appraisal for the ride where it stands as my favourite water-coaster I’ve done (which I’m still unsure whether it deserves the status of being a coaster for a few reasons). A genuinely perfect ride, being one of the best I’ve experienced.

4.5/5

Danse Macabre ⚰️

I’ve ridden many dark rides over my years of travelling. Many of the world’s best like in Orlando with Harry Potter & The Forbidden Journey or Flight of Passage which use spectacular set pieces on a huge budget to really blow you away and immerse you within within a new world. Not any of these even come close to Danse Macabre. I would very happily sit with the thought that Danse Macabre is the best dark ride in the world for many reasons. I one day might write an essay on why I believe this but that’s for another day as I’ll try and summarise it here best here.

Every single aspect of this ride is perfect from the moment you enter the ride’s area to leaving the gift shop at the end and you’re already heading out towards the next ride. It’s a very small footprint ride utilising the space from the Spookslot attraction which stood before it which was a well-regarded Efteling classic haunted house attraction using the Danse Macabre piece of orchestral music and it still honours it so well. It doesn’t need a huge show building like many of the Harry Potter rides at Universal to blow people away or a crazy amount of special effects or show scenes either. The whole ride essentially takes place in a circular based room and uses the new Intamin dynamic motion stage which from what I’ve been told was produced just for the ride. It’s not too thrilling or tame but has a “family-thrill” level where it’s still really fun for all the family to enjoy. It’s a really great ride system and I’m looking forward to seeing more rides using this in the future as it’s certainly unique and stands out amongst other dark rides.

I had relatively low expectations for this and it completely blew them out of the water. You sit down in your seat, all the lights go out as you hear all the doors lock behind you which plays with your senses. The ghost of Joseph Charlatan then appears high up and taps his conductor stick as a pepper’s ghost effect of a green violin begins to play. AURA. On paper it sounds like such a simple ride but it’s way beyond that. Every ride you have on this will be different because of all the new things you’ll spot depending on where you’re sat and the unpredictable spinning. And of course the Danse Macabre piece of music is iconic as it’s one of the most recognisable pieces of orchestral music out there. All five senses are again played with in this ride and they all co-operate so so well with each other.

I could talk all day about why this is the best ride at the park (and dare I say it world) but that’s for another day so I’ll keep it simple here.

(In my opinion at least), It’s the best dark ride in the world because of how it utilises such a small amount of space yet uses such an advanced piece of ride technology and has so many elements that make it re-rideable and enjoyable regardless of age. Every little minute detail has been taken into consideration for this ride and I can’t wait for the day I get to ride it again.

5/5

Villa Volta 🏠

I really didn’t think anything could top Danse Macabre as the best ride at Efteling but I was soon to be proven that there are other contenders as I immediately rode Villa Volta after. Easily the best madhouse attraction that I’ve been on (and also the first to be made too?!). There’s 2 pre-shows which as is expected are in Dutch but with the Efteling app you can translate it into English in real-time. A lot of people tend to ignore the story for a ride if it’s in a foreign language but I really think this one has one of the best and most creative storylines for any attraction that I’ve been on. The owner of a house (called Hugo, who you meet in the second pre-show) has a curse put upon his house where it will rotate around randomly and the curse can only be fixed if someone with a pure soul enters it.

After the pre-shows, you then enter the madhouse section and with any madhouse the room rotates around to a fantastic piece of music which really does create the ambience and tone of the ride until it comes to a stop (and is then normally preceded by a round of applause). I believe that what makes a madhouse good is the music that accompanies it as without it, it’s just a very well decorated room which Villa Volta absolutely ticks all the boxes for as yet again Efteling have hit it out of the park with their dark rides (quite literally).

What makes this ride so good for me is the fantastic Hugo animatronic in the pre-show, the accessibility for guests to be able to follow along to the story, fantastic soundtrack and the storyline where the huge plot twist is that regardless of how perfect you think someone is, no-one that goes on that ride or in general is perfect enough to break the curse meaning it can never be broken. One of the best rides at Efteling which like Danse Macabre also utilises a small footprint and has an incredible soundtrack.

5/5

Droomvlucht 🧚

By the time I got to Droomvlucht, I had a killer migraine which wasn’t made any better by entering the queue and turning the corner to find I was stuck in cattle pen hell surrounded by screaming, crying children which definitely didn’t aid my migraine. After about 40 minutes of excrutiting pain later, I got onto the ride and found that yet again Efteling had basically crafted another perfect dark ride.

After watching Mike from the Party’s video essay on this ride (which I would highly recommend watching as he perfectly dissects the ride’s interpretation), I found that they had come up with one of the most creative ways of ride storytelling that I have seen. The ride moves you through multiple show scenes of fantasy castles, fairies, trolls and pixies but none of them correlate or make much sense when trying to piece together the ride’s story. This however is an incredible and so very creative way to execute a ride as the whole premise is about dreams (hence why in English it translates to dream flight) and how they don’t make any sense as they appear to us like rapid flashes of very random things that you can’t piece together.

The ride station is themed to a little girl’s bedroom where after boarding you then drift off into a star tunnel where the dreams start and you encounter all of the really intricately themed show pieces. It again is a really re-rideable attraction because of all of the little details you can miss out on each time and of course the question of whether it’s a coaster cred because of the downward spiral in the fairy garden section (it definitely isn’t). I was even told that this ride used to use a rain machine which sounds absolutely bonkers and shows how far Efteling will go to immerse guests within a world. It feels like such an Efteling classic and as with the rest of the dark rides in this park, it’s one of the best in the world.

4.5/5

Summary ✅

It’s safe to say I’ve visited many theme parks where the rides there have blown me away but I’ve never been to a park where the thought of it lingers in your head long after you’ve left it. Efteling to me is a perfect park and is one of the best examples of how a theme park should be ran without it feeling corporate or commercialised to a crazy extent. It’s not like certain parks (👀) where you end up spending an extortionate amount of money before and during your time in the park.

I unfortunately didn’t have time to ride Baron 1898, Python, Piraña, the Max side of Max & Moritz or the other two routes on Symbolica but I really hope to return soon to be able to experience those and get back to a park which really knows how to make the guest experience as great as possible by scoping in onto every tiny detail and the park’s overall very cohesive and native theme so intricately. Is Efteling the best theme park in the world? It very well might be.

Dan