After three long dark months of waiting theme park season is finally here again! And what better way to kick things off than by riding “De Vliegende Hollander” (The Flying Dutchman)? Now that we have been drooling over the nice theming for almost a year it doesn’t look that special anymore but nevertheless it was number one on our list so we went for it.
First things first though because due to our own neglect we were too late to pre-order our season passes so we had to obtain them the hard way via the info desk. Of course we were not the only ones who wanted these passes so we had to queue behind a huge crowd of people. After a third box had opened to help manage the pile-up of people we quickly managed to obtain ours and entered the park.
Even though getting our season passes seemed to take ages it was not that long and in the end we still had to wait thirty minutes for the park to open at ten o’clock. We tried to be clever and went to the secondary gate in favor of the main gate where the main horde of people was. Unfortunately though, as we feared, around ten we could hear some cheers at the other side of the pond and realized that the main gate had opened. In the end we braved the horde and went straight to De Vliegende Hollander.
When we arrived at the DVH plaza we suddenly found ourselves in a mass of people. A little disoriented at first we began looking how we could enter the queue but then realized we were already in it! We literally became the tail of the queue when we entered the plaza. The whole damn plaza had been turned into a giant waiting line were two queues of people (one coming from the dune area, which we took and the other one coming down from “De Halve Maen”) were being merged right at the center of the plaza just before walking past a human statue performer (nicely orchestrated that) into were the actual start point of the waiting line was supposed to be.
Waiting for this ride is not so bad because the inside part of the queue is extremely nicely themed so even though you are essentially just dying a little bit there is still enough to see around you to prevent you from becoming mind numbingly bored. Of course, the secret to a good queue experience is ensuring that there are nice people around you in the queue and also having a good supply of beverages on hand. As a side note, being very, very stoned can also provide an interesting experience but beware though – it can turn hours of waiting into what, in the end, seems like a futile five minutes.
Besides from being stoned we had the beer and after the merge in the central part of the square at least one cool outgoing girl from another group in front of us. Let the waiting begin! Me and my brother are starting to create a whole science of waiting in really long queues (specialized toward theme parks but applicable in other areas) so I will write about this subject some more later. We had a good queue though and in the end the ninety minute wait wasn’t so bad at all and we were finally able to board our ship.
The indoor part of the ride is great. The effects are very nicely done and create a very memorable experience. At one point you really feel like you are drifting into another world. Then after some very clever water effects you enter a raging sea which seemingly takes you on a crash course right into the bowels of another ship. I won’t spoil it further here so let’s just say that after escaping that ordeal you are led up the very steep lift hill for the coaster part of the ride.
Now for me the lift hill part was the most interesting because here lies the reason why the ride couldn’t open on its scheduled date a year before. Supposedly the mechanism which hooks the train to the lift was so crude that it would simply be too uncomfortable to use with humans on board. I cannot recall the exact details of the story right now but I can say that, knowing how it feels now, I don’t even want to now how crude it was before – it must’ve been really bad indeed.
The lift hill signals the start of the coaster part of the ride and everyone who has been in De Efteling during last year was able to see that it is really a family coaster. Don’t expect any airtime of hair raising drops. The first drop is kinda cool and I must admit that I dared not to keep my arms stretched when diving into the tunnel. The smoke effects when you dive in are cool but only for the onlookers – you don’t really notice them as a rider. After a funny horse shoe bend you enter the brake house in preparation for the splash. A small drop and a hop later you splash into the water.
The splash almost deserves its own story because it is such a thing of beauty. A casual observer would think that such a splash would totally soak the riders but the opposite is true. It looks impressive for both the observers and the riders in the boat but the remarkable thing is that you absolutely do not get wet at all as most of the water is directed up and away from the boat. Of course, they might be able to tune things for hotter days (the water could be just a little bit higher or the splash bars on the boat can be tweaked) and we were in a pretty safe position (occupying the third row) but still, good call to not totally soak the people.
De Vliegende Hollander is an absolutely excellent ride and the experience is complete. Lush theming, a waiting queue area that is worth visiting in its own right and a ride that is as well dark ride, coaster and water ride all rolled into one.
After getting DVH out of the way we made our way to my favorite De Halve Maen. Unbelievingly, it is still unique in its sort today and it totally owns all other swinging ships. Of course we also did the almost mandatory Vogel Rok which hosts an impressive new queue area. Away are the ugly blue boards and the huge empty meandering of days now gone and in is a nicely themed new path leading you in from another angle. It has real stone walls and coming from this direction means that there are now fewer stairs and less ground to cover – on both your way in and out. A real improvement on that area but unfortunately the ride effects seem to be disappearing rapidly. Besides from the halfway laser tunnel and smoke effects which are gone for more than half a year now, the lift hill laser also is gone.
Villa Volta was another experience and not so much because of the attraction but more because we encountered this unbelievably beautiful woman. Although spotting good looking women was not terribly hard today this girl was very fine indeed. After taking our own personal queue (let the sheep follow the sheep) we ended up right beside her and were lucky she kept close during the two story rooms. Upon entering the ride we got separated and I could only glimpse her one more time when we later left the villa. Ah, she was too beautiful anyway and that small girl she carried around didn’t spell to well either…
The villa is a madhouse attraction. Actually, it is the first madhouse of its kind ever built. Nowadays you will find these puppies in almost any part but when it was built is was unique and, thanks to its excellent story, music and theming it is still one of the best. There are two things in general and one thing about the villa that everybody should know:
- When entering the main attraction try to obtain a seat in the center back row. A center seat really provides a better ride experience than being positioned to the right or left because there will be much more happing in your direct periocular vision. A seat in the backrow will provide a better setup for the next point.
- Look up during the ride. Don’t stretch your neck but just try to look mainly up. At least so you don’t see the people seated at the other side of the swing. A madhouse is all about illusions and you will see that the illusion is much stronger if you look slightly up (more upwards for more effect). Also not being distracted by the other people in your field of vision is often a big help. This is also where being at the center and preferably in the second rows becomes important. If you happen to find yourself offset from the center just look slightly up towards the opposite corner to maximize rotation effect. Being on the second row has the advantage that you will see the room by very close when you look up during the ride. You will notice cabinets and tables flying by at close range and feel the wind this generates – especially when you look up.
- Upon entering the roofed queue take the first left (don’t follow the sheep, take the other one!) This one is really only for the villa. It has two main queue sections: an outside section without a roof (between the trees) and a roofed section along the villa itself. Usually you will only have to deal with the inside section because the other one is only used when it’s extremely busy. Upon entering the roofed section of the queue you have the option to go left immediately or skip that and go the next one left. There are two identical left queue sections but somehow everyone seems to prefer the second one. So on most days all the sheep just follow the other sheep to this queue section blissfully unaware that there is another, mostly empty, queue section. So just remember to not be a sheep and take the first left there. You will probably be taunted by some people from the other queue section who see you walking by but it’s perfectly legal and serves the sheep right for being… well… sheep.
Before we leave the villa I just want to note that we were pleasantly surprised to find some new ropes in the entrance room to mask up a wire from the mechanism that drives the curtain and painting effect.
A snack and some more beautiful women encounters (geez, it’s like Germany today) later we found ourselves on our way back to Python to see if the queue had taken more manageable forms. An half hour later me and my brother entered the tail end of the good train (the other one had broken restraints in one carriage – can only hope it happened today because there would be no excuse after a three month maintenance period) and finally were released from the station and up the agonizingly slow lift hill. Even though it is well beyond it’s 25th birthday, Python remains a hallmark coaster. The classic Vekoma design and recently upgraded Kumbak trains (check out that paint job) provide a smooth and comfortable old school steel coaster ride in a modern jacket. When it was built it was the most spectacular coaster on the European mainland.
After that me and my brother had well of our share of the Efteling and we have our season tickets so chances are high that we are returning soon on an hopefully less busy day. Not everyone in our party got season tickets though so we ended up returning to De Halve Maen for another go and after that we went for our final ride on Vogel Rok. We hardly had to wait but when we entered the train there was a guy two coaches in front of us who tried bring a motherfucking cone of ice with him into the train. Now this annoyed me because of two things. First, the signs clearly state that you cannot either bring food or smoke on the train. Second, as I am behind this monkey during the ride there is a good chance of me catching a load of ice cream. So, I attended one of the ride supervisors about this immediately after I entered the train and she went to inspect the situation. “He is holding it two hands”, she reported back to me but strangely enough that didn’t help too much. It seems that smoking and eating is permitted as long as you do it with two hands.
After the ride we were unharmed but the ice cream a few seats in front of us was gone… Very strange… He was even holding it with two hands… Already pretty much done and wanting to beat the main exodus to the gate we went for the exit. A quick stop at the souvenir shop to pick up some stuff and then off to the Calibra. We indeed beat the main horde of people going for the exit so we were able to swiftly leave for home.
Now I just need a day off to go back when things are more quiet.