Lomography

Efteling
written by monoflow on May 24th, 2009 , 4 comments (6 votes)

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During the spring holiday some friends and I decided to go to Efteling for a day. Efteling is a large family park located in the Netherlands not far from the German border. Although the park was originally created for young children with a fairy tale theme, Efteling has transformed over the years into an amusement park filled with a variety of old world nostalgia and new world thrills. The park is quite beautiful with lots of trees, flowers, ponds and a lake. This does makes strolling around the park more pleasant. I remember vaguely how the park was when I was little. But since I was still so small I wasn’t able to go on the thrill rides.

Efteling is divided into three sections – the park, the four-star Efteling Hotel, and an 18-hole golf course. The park itself is divided into four different sections – Travel Realm, Fairy Realm, Adventure Realm, and Alternative Realm. Efteling stays true to its fairy tale roots, with Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Fairy Tale Forest, and a haunted castle all on the park’s grounds. Het Sprookjes bos (Fairy Tale Forest) was my favorite stop at the amusement park when I was little, and still is now! For visitors looking for something a bit more thrilling than the Fairy Tale Forest, there’s Python, a double loop corkscrew steel roller coaster located in Adventure Realm. For each ride we had to wait about 15 – 20 minutes.

In the winter Efteling becomes “Winter Efteling,” where the park transforms into a winter wonderland of holiday themed activities and events. And last but not least the funny Efteling trash bins! I remembered that Efteling always separate their paper trash with others, because they have special sculpted trash bins that keep on saying “Papier hier” (meaning: Paper here). I’ve always found it exciting to put a piece of paper in the mouth of a baby or a sleeping fat fairy tale character.