This morning's wake up wasn't great after having less than 6hrs sleep. We finally got to bed just after 3am local time. In hindsight even if we'd have caught the planned ferry it would still have been a very late night for the kids. They did manage to fall asleep whilst we drove but it wasn't ideal. For next year's big adventure we want to head north to Finland so we've learnt a lesson in that we will book the 6pm crossing and leave much earlier in the day. We still had almost an hour to drive to Efteling, Netherlands answer to Disney land according to some reviews, so not wanting to waste any time Al drove whilst I sat in the back with the kids making our packed lunches and the kids eating breakfast.
Ideally I had wanted to be there for opening time to maximise the number of rides we could do since there's way too much for a single visit. In the end we were there an hour after opening which still gave us 9hrs. I have to admit I really hadn't heard of this place until I started reviewing places in the area so I wasn't sure what to expect. We did all go to Disney back in 2022 and I know that is way more than just a set of rides and efteling didn't disappoint in that respect either. The place has a real fairytale magic about it and even the queues for the rides are well designed to keep you having something to look at.
Another bonus is that there were only a few rides that Liliya wasn't yet tall enough for so the majority of the time we got to stay together.
Our first ride was a family roller-coaster to warm us up and the kids loved it. We've also been extremely blessed with the weather, so much so the boys are both wearing shorts and I even take my hoodie off during the middle of the day it's that warm.
I really wasn't expecting that and it has probably helped with our enjoyment as there's no excessively long queues like there would be in the summer months. It did however become our downfall on the next ride which was a water one, we didn't have coats or waterproofs on but my gosh we needed them. We were soaked when we got off, Liliya's poor feet were so wet we ended up taking her socks off as even ringing them out they were still too wet for her to wear. Whilst I was dealing with trying to dry Liliya off then sitting down for our lunch the boys went on Robert's biggest ride to date which had a vertical drop and he couldn't wait to try. He absolutely loved it and the nice thing is you can ask for a parent swap ticket so I didn't have to queue again whilst they waited with Liliya as I rather fancied it myself. I did have a great time despite the picture 😂 (zoom in on middle left).
With our tummys filled we headed towards the thrill ride section where Robert was most looking forward to trying his first upside down roller coaster but first we needed to try something we could all go on so went for the wooden roller-coaster. This was Liliya's biggest ride to date and wow I think it took us all by surprise. It felt crazy fast and I was a bit worried about whether it would be too much for her as she sat screaming through the whole ride but the verdict was that it was the best ride ever. Looks like we might have two adrenaline junkies on our hands. I then got to take Robert on his first upside-down ride, the single rider line was showing a much faster time so Robert decided we'd go for that but we got super lucky as we were let on together after all. Another success and we met up with Al and Liliya who had been on the giant pirate ship which Liliya said had made her tummy tingle.
Off to the next land and there was one final coaster that Liliya couldn't do so we went on a suped up version of the teacups which was actually quiet brutal but in a fun way and still had time to go on a second visual ride whilst the boys went on an inside pitch black coaster (Robert and I got to go back on immediately after using the parent swap and Liliya got thrown around again on the crazy tea cups).
We then blasted through another three rides, the monorail was cute and the thrill rides hadn't put the kids off the more sedate rides, we did a spooky house that turns upside down, the pre ride entertainment was in Dutch so I don't think we got quiet the same experience but it was ok. We then went on a really well done inside ride through fairy and goblin lands.
Everyone was now complaining they were hungry and we'd gone through all the snacks. We didn't want to waste time having a big sit down meal so we grabbed a sausage roll each so we could power through.
We really wanted to see the Knights live show but we'd also heard fairy tale forest was a must see attraction. In the end since we were running out of time though the kids wanted to go back on one last thrill ride so off to the wooden coaster it was. It didn't disappoint and was possibly even more fun in the dark. With next to no wait time Robert took Al on the upside down coaster whilst I took Liliya for a hot chocolate, it was all going well until she dropped the whole thing on the floor (at least she'd had some of the whipped cream).
The tears came out and tiredness took over, even the promise of donuts on the way out couldn't help console her, although that did change once we'd actually bought them and she was happily scoffing them down. With five mins before the park was closing we dashed into fairytale forest, I've heard you can easily spend over an hour looking at all the figures and scenes but we got about 10 mins and didn't regret our choice to repeat the wooden coaster in the dark.
I asked the kids if they had enjoyed themselves and given the choice would they rather be here or on a hot sunny beach by a pool (which I had looked into doing). They looked rather bemused and asked why anyone would choose to be in the same place for a week when they could be adventuring to new places every day so that made me smile.
No bauble or van sticker to add to our collection unfortunately but a hugely successful day. We're all exhausted though and I'm glad I didn't prebook any activities in Cologne, no alarms will be set and for once we'll go with the flow. Al has found a closer place to park for the night so he hasn't got to do so much driving. Yes it means more in the morning but at least we should all be refreshed and we can make the most of the extra hour with the clocks going back as well.
We hit a slight hitch when we turn up and it's full, there were only 3 allocated spaces, but it's just another 14 mins drive to the next location with 7 spots and luckily there's one remaining. We have a quick pit stop to fill up with fuel and rather amusingly the petrol station has a dedicated jagermeister freezer, when in Germany I suppose! And just to prove it's not for show a chap walks in, straight up to the freezer and takes out the last remaining bottle 😳. It's now just over 24hrs since we left the UK and I think we'd crossed the border into Germany just in time to say we'd been in 5 countries within that 24hrs.