Lord Ipsqueeck's Adventures: the yearly voyage to The Efteling

 Hello everyone, here I am again, and this time I bring the tale of our yearly journey to the Efteling themepark in The Netherlands.

 

Like always, we stayed in the hotel, now renamed Wonder Hotel, as that means more park time for me!

 

Totally reworked, the hotel looks nothing like I did last year I must say, it is gorgeous.

 

Making use of the fact we could enter the park an half hour earlier, we immediatly went into the Carnaval Festival ride.  Mommy and Daddy went into the Vogel Rok after that, and we did some swirlies in the Sirocco.

 

Moving to the Anton Pieck Plein, I rode an old carrousel.

 

Next we went to the Volk of Laaf, where as I decided to take a long time to enjoy the park, I went on the snail Monorail as such for a nice view over this part of the park.  And of course I just had to check out the slides over there.

 

As we went to the Sprookjesbos next, I realised I really need to have a talk with the old folks.  I'm five, stop putting me on those musical mushroom's like a little kid!   

 

But it is also a lovely place to enjoy lunch surrounded by the various fairy tales, like the Six Swans which features a short boat ride as well.  And nothing beats dark rides in my opinion, those are the best attractions one can find for certain!

 

Talking dark rides, my next stop was the Symbolica, where you can choose one of three paths to go through this palace of fantastical events. 

 

On a bit of a more rough ride, we went to the dual family coaster Max and Moritz, and even though we had a short technical problem before launching, this remains great and speedy fun. 

 

Before hopping on board again for a trip through 1001 nights in the Fata Morgana! 

 

But then it was time for one of those important things of the day, food!  While I enjoyed some fries, daddy had taken one of those grilled burgers from Lyckebaert while refilling his Danse Macabre cup.

 

With a full stomach, I was ready for my next task, namely to learn how to drive.  According to daddy, I drive like mommy, honking all the time and gesturing, but he told me to make sure not to tell her... 

 

Apparently, an acquintance of daddy was present, as he suddenly pointed and said "hey look, I found Waldo". 

 

It was time to chill a little at the Zomerstrand then, which had this awesome sombrero shaped jumping castle.  The old ones can chill, I needed to go jumping for sure!

 

Time for something calmer, we went for a look through the Efteling museum as we arrived back at the Anton Pieckplein, showing some historical artifacts of the park.  But then it was time to jump back into action, as I took daddy along in Prikkebeen's Vlindermolen. 

 

It came close to dinnertime then, and we went for something to eat in Het Witte Paard, which was definitly worth the money and mommy said it seems like an often overlooked place. 

 

That left us with the time to do one final attraction this day, and what better then the wild water raft Piranha, leaving daddy totally soaked hehehe.  I had picked well indeed! 

 

Returning to the Wonder Hotel, a cute little show with mice was taking place in the lobby which I found incredibly funny to watch. 

 

But then it was time to check out our fairytale hotelroom, which also had some presents awaiting for me, yippie! 

 

And then, this little adventurer signed off for day one, ready to dream of all the adventures I had already and load up the batteries for day 2! 

 

 Which according to daddy has to start with a sandwich with some healthy rucola and the stacked up on crispy bacon...

 

 As we waited for the gates to open, I took the opportunity to do some small slides at the Kleuterhof playground.

 

First stop of the day was the magnificent Droomvlucht dark ride, as elves and trolls guard your dreams.

 

 We then went to the classic Steam Carroussel, and I was the very first to ride it that day wiiieej

 

 But then it was time to go to one of my favorite attractions, the Scirocco as we joined Sindbad in weathering a heavy storm at sea!

 

After that, it was time for some calmer sailing, as we did some tours on the Gondoletta boats, accompanied by mama duck and her ducklings.

 

We had lunch at Polle's Keuken, a pancake restaurant, and I saw how good daddy's pancake looked.  So I volunteered to help him keep his weight in check and ate 3/4ths of his as well...

 

 Back outside, it was time to go visit Polle himself who resides in Symbolica, which was majestically crowned by the Pagode this midday.

 

It was still a way to long waiting line for Danse Macabre, but we did see the new show that is performed outside the old abbey.

 

 Talking shows, there is also one with flamespitters at the entrance of Fata Morgana now, with the djinn playing a role as well.

 

It was then time for some calm rides, as I went back to drive around in the Oude Tufferbaan...

 

... as well as do another tour around the Volk van Laaf in the monorail.

 

Time for a good evening snack, as I had regular fries while mommy tried the recommended loaded fries from Smulpaap, and they where very good it seemed.

 

 But the day came to an end, and after a last visit I had myself driven home.  Calmly I instructed daddy, because I had some reflecting to do of another great weekend.

 

I can't wait for next year, and I'll see you all soon for more big adventures during this summer holiday break!