Everything you need to know about Efteling aka Amsterdam’s ‘Secret Disneyland’

“It’s like EuroDisney but less expensive and no queues,” was how Efteling was pitched to me by a school-mum friend who’d travelled there during the mid-term break with her kids. Jaded by recent trips to ultra-commercial family-focused hotspots, I was intrigued. Just an hour from Amsterdam meant we could potentially incorporate a trip to the city en famille, thus ticking my cultural box as well as the children’s insatiable need for hair-raising rollercoasters.

The booking process was surprisingly easy and in a happy coincidence, it coincided with my birthday weekend. Before we knew it, I was on a KLM morning flight to Amsterdam with three sleepy but enthusiastic faces. We left Dublin at 9am and were on the rides by 2pm.

How to get there?

We flew into Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. which is about 100km from Efteling. The train to Hertogenbosch took about an hour and was not only straightforward (the train station is IN the airport), but the scenery en route was worth the trip. We spotted 15 windmills, plenty of farmlands and while it wasn’t the season for tulips, we were told by the lovely lady beside us on the train that it just wasn’t the right time of year.

On arrival into Hertogenbosch, we jumped on the regular Efteling shuttle which takes 15 minutes. We were staying in Efteling Village Bosrijk, a six person woodland house just ten minutes stroll into the park.

You can also travel by car. It’s 70 kilometers from Rotterdam, 100km from Amsterdam, 140km from Brussels and 435km from Paris. The closest Dutch cities are Breda and Tilburg, but the Belgian border isn’t far either.

Where to stay? 

The park is based around traditional fairy-tale themes and there are nods to it all around the park including in our little cabin where we had sandman nightcaps (that I forced the kids to wear for a photo.) The self-catering accommodation has bunkbeds, a twin room and a large double room. There are packs you can buy (similar to camping trips we’ve been on) with cleaning products, coffee/milk and a little shop nearby to purchase breads, jams etc. An extremely easy take-away service meant pizza and beers the first night.

In addition, here was a heated indoor pool with a lazy river we could escape to when we were roller-coaster-ed out of it. There are hotels as well as the holiday villages and sometimes it felt like two holidays in one. It was a peaceful escape for a hour or two between helter-skelter rides.

What are the offerings in the theme park itself?

There are huge rollercoasters, water rides, death drops, haunted houses, carousels, theatre shows, dancing fountains as well as playgrounds, horse stunts, ice-skating, boat rides, character greetings, steam trains, moving viewing tower, family experiences. But the best part was that there is a handy family guide on the map you are given on arrival which the attractions divvied up between those rides that are family friendly, those for dare-devils (some of the rollercoaster free falls wouldn’t have suited by 9 year old, for example) and those more suitable for toddlers. In other words, we all knew where we stood when it came to who wanted to do what.

The best thing is that it really didn’t feel commercial. Tickets are really reasonable and the food offering around the park (There are over 20 restaurants) are all high quality and good value. Candyfloss was two-euro, for example. And popcorn, 2.50. We obviously went mad with the Dutch donuts! The water show around the lake was as good as some of the ones I saw in Disney and if you are there on a Saturday night, I’d recommend the professionally-produced cabaret show which is in both Dutch and English.

What’s the setting like?

As well as being fun, it’s all very quaint. While some travel to Disney for the characters, my children hated that aspect. They largely weren’t enamoured with any of the characters so that wasn’t an issue in Efteling but if your little ones are keen to meet a certain cartoon character, they won’t find them here. But we found the unique characters here in Amsterdam refreshing. There is a very magical feel to the entire park. Even in the pancake restaurant, the background spins and moves, there is an enchanted forrest and giant (fake) swans in the river.

There’s an innocence to this place that my children appreciated. Often themes catering to children can easily move to commercial and this cynic hates being taken for a ride. My overall impression of Efteling was the magical element without the hefty prices.

Fairytales

Efteling started as a sports park, that the paper gobbler ‘Holle Bolle Gijs’ only appeared in the theme park in 1959 and that dive coaster Baron 1898 was opened in 2015

Everybody knows fairytales. Many modern stories are ultimately based on centuries old fairytales. Many of the fairytales in Efteling were written by the famous writers Hans Christian Andersen, the brothers Grimm, and Charles Perrault.

In 1952, The Efteling Naturepark Foundation opened a wonderful place full of fairytales, sagas and legends. Stories that provide comfort and – perhaps more importantly – also connection. These original fairytalesare: Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, The Frog Prince, The Magic Clock, The Chinese Nightingale, The Naughty Princess, The Six Servants, The Gnome Village, Mother Holle and Wee Walter Messenger. The opening of the Fairytale Forest brought 222,941 visitors to Efteling; costing each guest80 cents in Dutch Guilder € 0.36 for an entry ticket.

During the following years, the park extended to include a café-restaurant, a swimming pool, a lake for rowing and canoeing, and some new inhabitants of the Fairytale Forest, such as the sleeping cook and the sentinel at Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel. In 1953, the new attraction, Red Shoes, brought 411,671 visitors to Efteling. Only three years later, with the opening of the steam carousel in 1956, the number of visitors to Efteling increases to 700,000.

What else do I need to know?

Get your hands on a map. It’s very clearly signposted and there’s a fantastic range of rides that are clearly marked according to level – daredevil, whole family, young children. The park is huge and divided into sections which means there’s something for everyone.

The queues aren’t bad at all. In fact, the longest one we waited at was fifteen minutes.

It was nice to expose the kids to a little culture and have a new adventure too. We didn’t venture into Amsterdam, but it would be really easy to extend a trip and go for a bike ride around the city if you liked.

Take the little steam train around the park. It take about half an hour and is worth it for all the waves as you zoom past.

The weather was a bit drizzly when we were there, but everything was open and it didn’t dampen the fun.

Though it’s quite Dutch orientated, everyone speaks English and a lot of the shows are in English too.

We loved the Pinoccio restaurant and the the water fountain show best.

Check out the vending machines with actual lunch. My kids bought hot sausage rolls and a chicken curry at one of the stands outside one of the restaurants.

Don’t miss the panoramic view of the park from the Pagode. Catch your breath while the Thai temple rotates at  a height of 45m. You can enjoy phenomenal views over the whole of Efteling and all the surrounding greenery even with small children.

It’s very Dutch. That’s ok. It really added to our experience to feel like we were in another place. However you may need to remind some of the puppet show organisers to translate to English for the kids. They are always happy to accommodate.

Find out more information here.