STOP!
Holland Time. :}
First, a snack:
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| High-tech apple dispensary. |
Today we are visiting one of the most beautiful theme parks in the world: De Efteling! Full of beautiful, elaborate environments and some quirky roller coasters, De Efteling is the most popular tourist attraction in the Netherlands, attracting over 4million visitors each year.
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| ACERS: ASSEMBLE!!! |
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| Who's ready for some ERT in Efteling's "Coaster Corner"??? |
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| They've got an impressive, family-friendly spread of coasters, including De Vliegende Hollander, |
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| Python, |
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| and Joris an de Draak! |
The dueling/racing Joris an de Draak is a delightful attraction. Its two tracks, though very similar, interact marvelously. It's easy to compare it to the Lightning Racers at Hersheypark, but the two GCI attractions couldn't be less alike. Joris an de Draak is an especially unusual ride for GCI; both coasters' first drop (and subsequent series of bunny hills) are perfectly straight and parallel (and totally wonderful. AND they fly over the station!). It's a refreshing change of pace from the typical no-piece-of-straight-track-to-be-found GCI woodie. Remarkable credits #120 & #121 of my Year of ??? New Coasters, indeed!
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| De Vliegende Hollander's station has a very charming Pirates-of-the-Caribbean feel to it. |
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| Full-immersion is something that De Efteling does very well. |
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| SKLOOOSH! |
De Vliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman) is the only rollercoaster built by KumbaK, a company otherwise famous for designing updated coaster rolling stock (Sea Viper, Sea World Australia; Rutschebanen, Bakken) and replacing coaster breaks and controls (Phantom's Revenge, Kennywood; Stampida, Port Aventura). De Vliegende Hollander is a fun little ride for the whole family! Yay for credit #122.
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| It's a lovely day for a water coaster. :} |
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| De Efteling really has that whole "picturesque" thing figured out. |
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| Here you can see Joris en de Draak's funky camelback humps! |
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| Python is a surprisingly-solid coaster. It may be a standard Vekoma looper, but the fancy trains make it rather enjoyable! |
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| Hello, boys. ;} |
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| It's a pretty good-looking ride, really. |
Wait a minute.....we just had FUN on a Vekoma looper......
DE EFTELING HAS PERFORMED WITCHCRAFT ON THIS ATTRACTION. CREDIT #123 IS POSSESSED BY AMAZING EFTELING SUPER MAGIC!
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I at first thought that one side was Joris (George) and one side was Draak (Dragon).
Turns out they're actually Vuur (Fire) and Water (Water). |
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| They are such happy twins. :} |
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| Speaking of happy, this is the happiest you ever see riders of a Vekoma looper. |
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| We've got a couple more oddball coasters to hit before we have all of De Efteling's credits! |
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| What do you find when you follow Joris en de Draak all the way to their far turn around? |
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| It's Bob! |
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| Single rider line for Bob is a total life-saver. That line was...like...45 minutes all day! |
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| This was the 3rd bobsled on the trip, and I think it's now my favorite of the 6 total I've ridden. |
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| Bob is a bit dirty! |
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| While Mack Bobsleds move in a smooth, fluid motion, Intamin Swiss Bobs dart through their courses rather wildly! |
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| XTREME BOB SILHOUETTE POV INSANITY! |
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| *cue wild fishtailing into breaks* |
Woohoo! What a great ride! And what a great credit #124!
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| I took some time to try and get some good pictures of Bob from the *one* place in the entire park that Bob is visible: Bob's exit. |
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Why can't there be more of these???
(Okay, I know several reasons why. But I still wish more existed) |
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This would make a perfect picture for one of those caption contests.
Especially for those who haven't a clue what's going on here. :} |
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| "Yes...I would like to order 72 "Efteling Tree Lanterns" for my patio, please." |
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| Here's Bob's main entrance. It's a VERY popular ride, as you can see! |
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| Piranha, De Efteling's rapids ride, also seems to be quite popular! |
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| Guests waiting in line for Piranha have taken it upon themselves to make some of their own additions to the theming. |
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| But I think I prefer Efteling's scenery sans-guest input. :} |
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| And just look at these lovely flowers! |
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| And this lovely donut stand! |
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| This is the most appropriate use for cogs I've ever seen! |
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We wandered into De Efteling's enormous diorama building. More on this later. :}
What sits on the other side of the diorama room?? |
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| De Efteling's stunning steam-powered carousel, of course! |
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| Hooray for a remarkable old carousel! |
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Too much awesome for one photo:
The steam engine that powers the carousel
AND
The carousel's paper-strip music box pipe organ!
*dies* |
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| The carousel at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk will always be my #1, but this has got to be the one of the most remarkable carousels I've ever seen. |
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| And just look at how beautiful its facade is! |
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| The next order of business is Vogel Rok, De Efteling's excellent indoor coaster! |
Vogel Rok is definitely what Temple of the Nighthawk should have been. Fast, fun, and well done! We're up to 125 CREDITS now! :D
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| Who's up for some lunch? |
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| I think I'll go the vegetarian route today. :} |
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| "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears, it's a world of hopes, it's a world of fears." :} |
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| Well. This is interesting. |
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| WOOO! OMNIMOVER CREDIT! |
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| Yes, Jokie's World is...well...small-world-a-riffic! |
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| The boys approve! |
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Here's part of the hedge maze that we got lost in.
Now I understand how peeps in Roller Coaster Tycoon can get so turned around in these things!
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| Ooooh! What a lovely pagoda. |
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*GASP*
The Pagoda is actually a UFO!
Those clever aliens :} |
We consulted with the aliens & they granted us admission onto their pagoda flying saucer.
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| What a lovely view! |
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| In all seriousness, the Pagoda is a really neat attraction. It's an Intamin "Flying Island". Flying Islands are essentially folding observation towers. Totally brilliant. |
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| Lovely views of De Efteling's coasters are afforded on in the Pagoda. |
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| You can almost see the airtime from here! |
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| The lively Python amidst the thick canopy. |
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| Intamin Tow-Boat rides are quite popular in this region. We rode the ones at Europa and Freitzeitpark Plohn, so we decided to skip this one. |
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| This is the set for Raveleijn, De Eftleing's critically-acclaimed live-action show. We considered going, but we were afraid that we might fall asleep if we sat for any extended period of time. |
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| De Efteling's dramatic main entrance. |
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| Pagoda is totally one of the coolest observation rides ever! Why aren't there more of these?? |
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| I mean, just look at how cool they are! |
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| Bathroom break! Enter: The Royal Commode! |
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| See? |
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| I hadn't noticed the Pagoda much before our ride, but afterwards I saw it constantly. |
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| "This episode of Thrillography brought to you by M&M and his matching Coca Cola." |
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| The best way to enjoy De Efteling is to just wander. We came upon this castle and naturally decided to investigate it. Inside is a marvelous animatronic show with great special effects and music! |
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| It was 94 degrees at De Efteling that day, which apparently broke some kind of record. Deciding that more indoor attractions were in order, we returned to the Diorama room near the Carousel. |
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| De Efteling has a really talented group of modelers on their team for sure! |
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| Aww, look! The alien pagoda has followed us! |
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| The next area we ended up in is what I like to call the "Carousel Garden". |
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| This area alone boasts two traditional carousels and two "flying" carousels. |
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| Next to the Carousel Garden is a village full of fun walk throughs. There's even a snail-themed monorail! |
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I wasn't really clear on any of the antics taking place in the village, but they sure were a hoot!
The point of this contraption is to burn this fella's feet by pressing a button that raises these three candlesticks. As for the purpose of this, your guess is as good as mine! |
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| Ron and I found the seesaws. Shenanigans ensued. |
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| Again, while not understood completely, the environments that exist here are just marvelous! |
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| De Efteling is a trendsetter. What you are looking at is the very first Vekoma Madhouse! |
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| And honestly, it's probably one of the best. |
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Hooray for Madhouses! I hadn't ridden any before June of this year; now I've ridden 5!!
The Year of 100 New Coasters is also The Year of the Madhouse! |
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| You know you're in a special park when it takes you hours & hours to ride all of their flagship rides. Next up is the marvelous "Dream Flight" dark ride! |
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| I can't show you all of the reasons why Dream Flight is special through photos alone, but I CAN show you Dream Flight's amazing cosmic castle scene! |
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| Dream Flight's gondolas are 3-car trains of sideways-facing benches that haul in places! Very cool! |
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| Now for another delicious De Efteling snack. :} |
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| With only a few hours of De Efteling time left, we decided to carefully wander through the park's renowned Fairytale Forest. |
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This fairytale has something to do with a guy who plays his flute-type-thing to make tulips grow.
DUTCH TULIP CREDIT!!!!!!!!!
ACHIEVEMENT: UNLOCKED |
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| There's also a talking tree. |
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| New in 2012: The Emperor's New Clothes! |
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| In the middle of the Fairytale Forest is this lovely courtyard! |
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| Near the front entrance to the courtyard is perhaps the most remarkable attraction in all of Europe! |
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| Yes. De Efteling has a statue of a donkey that fires gold coins out of its rear. |
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| It's actually a giant coin-operated vending machine. |
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| For only .50 Euro, the Donkey will lift its tail & bestow upon you a (plastic) gold coin. Each gold coin has a Fairytale on it--collect all 22! |
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| After bonding with the Donkey for about twenty minutes, we continued on through the rest of the Fairytale Forest. Betcha can't guess where this candy house is from! :P |
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| Here's a nursery full of squirrels (lol). |
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| DON'T STEAL THE TREASURE, BRO! IT'S NOT WORTH IT!! |
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| After the Fairytale Forest, I did some shopping. De Efteling has miniature stuffed donkeys you can take home with you. :} |
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| Almost forgot! We have to ride the Moroccan-themed dark ride, too! |
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| It was sort of Pirates of the Caribbean (in Africa). |
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| The scenes are quite lovely. |
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| And there's a LASER SNAKE!!!!! |
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| After 3 more rides on Bob (thank you, single-rider-line), I purchased a bottle of the greatest soda ever: LEMON FANTA. :} |
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| We also stopped at a gas station for dinner. |
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| It was still light out when we walked over to the restaurant from last night. |
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| And this time, we brought some more friends! |
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| BEHOLD! Seafood salad with Jack Daniel's Whiskey Sauce!!! |
Whew! That day at De Efteling wore me out!!! Tomorrow is Day 2 of Holland Shenanigans, and it's also Day 2 of OLYMPIA LOOPING!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOO!!
See ya then. :}
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This update is dedicated to John Matuska, who passed away after losing his battle with cancer on September 21, 2013. He was a proud ACEr, awesome ACE Central Europe Trip travel compadre, and a good friend to all! Rest In Peace, John.
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| John on the Little Dipper at Playland in Rye, NY. Photo by Josh Brown. |
