On to the metro station for a ride to Amstelstation to get a train to Hertogenbosch. We have to stand until the first stop the because the train is so crowded. Then we get two seats, actually four seats, facing each other. Off of the train and on to a bus out to Efteling. Finding the right bus and train takes some time, when everything is in a foreign language. We miss our stop closest to the hotel, so we get off at the Efteling Park stop and have a longer walk to the motel then we had planned (11 min instead of 3 min).
When we arrived at the front desk we needed to pull up our email at check in. Thank goodness for cell phones and the ability to pull up email confirmations from months ago. Not having to carry lots of pieces of papers with all this information any more is really nice.
We put our luggage in the self-serving bag room, locking Pat’s backpack with the computers and my iPad in a locker. Then we are off to explore at a new amusement park for us, Efteling Park.
Since we had breakfast at 7am we grabbed a quick ready-made ham and tomato on a baguette to split before riding our first coaster - Joris en de Draak, the double track wooden coaster. After a 30 minute wait, the race is on. We ride on the left side and we lose. A chorus of "boos" greets us as we enter the station.
Next we rode Fata Morgana, a dark ride through the forbidden city of 1001 nights. It's a boat with a turntable load system (like most river raft rides) and it has an Aladdin and Arabian Nights theme. This is kind of their Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
They also have an old fashioned Bobsled ride.
Spookslot (haunted house) was a dark show that was too long and drawn out and boring. You stand in a big room of three elevated rows watching things happen behind a glass. They light up one at a time including an audioanamatronic man hung from bell tower with the rope ringing a bell, graveyard scene, more boring stuff, etc. Pictures here wouldn't make it ANY better.
The "Baron 1898" roller coaster sign says the wait will be 10 min when we got in line. We want to wait for the front seat, but little did we know that EVERYONE gets a ticket when they pass a certain spot in the queue that says what row of the coaster you will be in (there's only 3). We didn't see anyone giving out tickets, so when we arrived at the spot before getting on the ride we have to wait until they allow us to go. They have to have the right number of people per load.
Eventually we rode and it was a thrilling straight down shot through a fog-shrouded hole up and out into a twisting loop and in 30 seconds the ride was done. So much fun we did it again and this time we found the ticket-handing-out guy. We met the attendant who stopped us last time and had a good laugh that we found the Ticket Man and we were now legally allowed to ride again.
We walked to the front to see Guests Services about the free lunch we are supposed to get with our room, but the line is too long according to the lady stamping hands. So we try to go to the toilet close by and that's closed.
So we order a pizza and have lunch. We had a Hawaiian and Coke Zeros. It's a beautiful sunny day; coats off, eating outside, in the Netherlands, in May.
We saw PandaDroom, a 3-D movie. It was a CGI 3-D movie about protecting the animal's environments. We walked through a Diorama of a mountain town with scale model running trains. The carousel is in the same building, so we rode on horses, then watch and filmed, then rode it again in a coach.
Droomvlucht - this ride is in a flying car like Peter Pan. You fly over fairies in scenes of a dream world; no talking in this ride, just music. The ending is really good. You start out high in a very tall scene and wind down around it about four times at a pretty good speed. Very good ride. Dark ride - no pictures turned out because of the "no flash" policies.
Villa Volta is a spinning house ride with two pre-shows making it sound scary. Of course, we can't understand any of it. We eventually go into a nicely decorated room with two rows of full length bench seats on each side of the room facing each other. Yes, if you followed our first European trip you know that every European amusement park has one of these rides. It's a pirate ship ride inside and it looks like the floor is on the ceiling. So you are swinging up and down at the same time the walls of the room are rotating around you.
They have an elevated monorail in the kids section. It goes weaving around above a playground full of cool old time playground rides we can no longer have in America.
The Efteling Museum was interesting, but mostly in Dutch so the videos we couldn't understand. Efteling is 65 years old this year. This is the music that is in one of the Fairytale Forest attraction.
Wow, it's time for the water show already. It starts at 6:15 and we find a great spot right on the rail 10 minutes before it starts. I bet this show is so much better when they do it after dark. There's no lights. No words. Just music and the fountain waters. Oh, there was a little something about a frog spitting water. Without colored lights and music it was just OK. I like these shows. I can watch the Bellagio's in the daytime. They always have great music and powerful fountain performances.
After we watched the fountain show, the restaurant we wanted to eat at was closed - the pancake place. So we go back to the hotel and check into our room. It's very nice. Princess like bed, lovely vanity and mirror which splits open to reveal the TV. There's a little hassock that has a game board on top and game pieces. The fridge is over flowing with high priced stuff we won't drink (no bottled water), also there are some chips and wine. I said over flowing. The carpet even has a beautiful design in it. In the bathroom there is a cute Efteling box. When you open it the box looks like it has dividers. There are four little bottles - body wash, shampoo, cream rinse, and hand cream. Nicely done.
Oh I forgot to mention there's a mouse in my room. No not Mickey, a mouse. He's peeking out from behind the headboard. No we did not get a special room. They have lots of really great themed rooms here. But we just got a comfort double. It's a king sized bed in a room fit for a princess.
Since we didn't get dinner in the park we went downstairs to the restaurant here. They don't have a lot of variety. It's 7:30 and I'm not that hungry. So I got a bowl of tomato soup and some roasted potatoes. Pat had shrimp and onion soup.
Back at the room we play their little game that is on a hassock. Roll the dice and move around in a spirally circle. Land on something bad and Karen will read your fate. Karen wins.
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