After a very pleasant sleep (it's been a muggy few weeks at home and the van for once is cooler) we've got just under an hour's drive to get to Efteling. We were last here in October so the kids can remember lots about the rides and the park. I'm slightly worried it will be really busy given it's the start of summer but maybe as the English holidays haven't officially started yet we'll be ok.

First thing we notice is the car park is a lot less busy and by 10.30am I would have expected more people. Our tactic to head to the back of the park first and try the full loop the loop upside down ride Python pays off as there's only a 5 min wait. It does seem however we should have warmed Liliya up, she ended up loving the big rides in Disney after the first time but it seems she's forgotten all that and is now refusing to ride and crying. We try not to be mean parents as we know she'll love it but the crying continues, we pick her up and bribe her with something from the shop if she goes through with it. That seems to work and Al mentioned the fluffy unicorn, I assumed he'd checked the price before offering but no, well that's going to set us back a bit I'm sure! Let's hope she forgets and loves the ride which will be reward enough. It starts out OK and we think we've got away with it but as the ride comes to a halt I think she's in shock, full of adrenaline and the tears come flooding out again. I get out the sweets as an immediate reward, tell her how brave she is and within a few minutes she's conceded that she'll likely try it again later 😂

Our favourite ride from the last trip was the wooden roller coaster, both kids remembered this and were super excited to go on it again. We're in luck again as its another short wait, it really does look like we might have chosen a perfect day to come! Liliya loves it again although now Robert isn't happy and he said it threw him around too much. The phrase suck it up sunshine gets used as we're going straight back on to do the other track, there's fire and water, pretty much the same ride as far as I can tell. The verdict after the second go from Robert is that it's even worse, I'm wondering if this is a clever tactic to also get some overpriced tat from the shop.

Next up is a new ride for all of us as it was closed when we came in October. It's the water roller-coaster and with a 25 min queue I'm hoping this is the longest wait of the day. It was fun but we decide we won't bother again as it's fairly short and unfortunately Liliya banged her head on the ride then coming off she fell down some steps so we've got a grumpy (over tired) girl on our hands.

Thankfully it's her turn to choose the next ride and she opts for the galleon, with no queue we're straight on and thankfully everyone enjoys this!

Not surprisingly it's some of the smaller kid rides that have the longest wait times but we're here till the end and we want to experience everything especially if we didn't go on it last trip so we queue for the little cars ride where the sign explicitly tells us to honk the animals 😂.

There aren't as many shows as Disney but one I've heard good reviews for is the knights on horseback so having completed most of this land we head over to see if we can get a spot. It's in the land of the fairies and we can't pass up the chance to say a quick hello. There's no formal queue for pictures, people are just politely waiting their turn to have a chat and they reiterate how brave Liliya must be when she tells them what she's done so far. Fair play to Robert even he wants to join in for a picture with them.

With just 5 mins before the show starts we're able to walk straight in and get a seat. The show is all in Dutch but I get the jist of the plot (I think). There's a good queen, she bestows some magical weapons upon her loyal guards, bad guys turn up, capture the queen, the fighting begins and the good guys (using said weapons that create fire, water explosions and other spectacles) defeat the baddies and rescue the queen. There's a dragon thrown in for good measure that they must also defeat. The knights perform tricks on their horses at the start of the show before the bad guys turn up and there's a few birds that fly around with the queen. For that reason they don't let you eat inside the amphitheatre so after the show we find a picnic table on which to have our lunch (amazingly we've made it through until 2pm local time without the kids requesting snacks!)

Next up is the mad house, an indoor attraction where the lead up is all in Dutch, perhaps it's supposed to be more scary if you hear the story of how the house is haunted or gone crazy but it's a fun ride where you and the room both move to create the impression you've turned upside down.

The fairy / goblin land ride is next and we get to use the virtual queue (only this and the new ride have it). It works perfectly as there is a park opposite the entrance which the kids are dying to play in so they get 15 mins there burning off energy rather than annoying each other in the queue. We do get numerous injuries however from see-saws bumping the kids and general scrapes and bumps so I'm glad the wait wasn't much longer. The ride is nice, for those who know Disney its similar to the Peter pan ride.

On exiting we have to go through the gift shop and of course Liliya hasn't forgotten that we promised her a reward so she chooses a 20€ fairy she names Bella (then 30 mins later gets renamed to Dotty as she has spots on her face).

As we're doing good for time we enjoy some of the smaller attractions we skipped last time including the model village and indoor carousel.

As all carousels are usually pretty tame we nearly didn't partake ourselves and we're going to wait for the kids as it looked full but Robert said I could share his pig (the others were mostly horses so maybe this should have pre warned us something was going to be different), this freed up a third horse for Al. Well I've never had to hold on for dear life as much sending Robert and I into hysterics as we're thrown all over the place whilst Al just calmly films the brutal carnage! Moral of the story avoid the pigs and stick to horses for a regular carousel experience.

Efteling's it's a small world is up next where we meet animatronics representing all the stereotypes from their country, a new ride for the boys as last time they were on the indoor in the dark roller coaster without us but again Liliya is now tall enough so we get to experience that afterwards.

With the lack of queuing we've had all day we manage to take things at a slower pace so it's off next to the tea cups (except they are pirate boats), more time in another play park, the pagoda to get a lovely view across the entire park and we still have time for a relaxing 20 mins on the boats. Al and Robert do take this opportunity to have a little 'I'm not asleep' rest.

It's then over to symbolica, this ride takes you through a castle with various scenes and you have to choose one of three routes, last time we did the music quest so we chose the heroes quest instead.

As you'll likely know we collect baubles and van stickers wherever we go and last trip we didn't have time to be looking in gift shops but Robert with his well trained eyes spots a bauble so that makes it into the rucksack. The new Danse Macabre right that was opening the week after we left last year is up next and this is the most popular ride of the park so joining the virtual queue we have a 40 min wait in which we can go on the Max and Moritz double roller coaster all together then Al and Liliya go again whilst Robert and I go on the Baron which is the only ride Liliya is too small for.

You get a 15 minute window to return to Danse Macabre which we only just make. We were worried Liliya won't be able to go on even though she met the height requirements there was an 8+ sign. We've blagged her being between 4 & 7 but 8 is pushing it. Turns out however that's just a suggested age as the ride is quite spooky. We had no idea what to expect for this as it's all indoors. Turns out it's similar to a waltzer which also tilts and the room moves about to create a sense of being thrown around a room whilst ghosts perform a musical orchestra. Definitely not 8+ only.

We've made it once again without requests for food, it's clearly the usual queuing that makes them bored and think they need feeding, so we decide to try out some local treats. The park is set up into different worlds and we happen to be walking past the dessert section first but we're on holiday, there are no rules! Robert gets the ice cream donut and Liliya the chocolate covered mini donuts.

They are really keen to try the pancakes but it turns out they are at a sit down, need to make a reservation type restaurant so we decide to skip that as it would probably have been the longest queue of the day. Instead I grab a toastie, Al chooses a satay meatball sandwich which I'm not sure is typically Dutch but he loves it all the same and the kids get more time in the park. After that it's straight on the monorail and we locate another 'mini' pancake shop on the map so decide to try that instead. When we get there it's only sweet pancakes on offer but if I refer back to the their are no rules who says you can't have pudding followed by more pudding 😂 The waiter recommends the summer special which is mini pancakes drizzled with lemon curd and cream. Yes please!

We all share a plate then it's over to the water rapid ride Piranha. It's a really warm day so in hindsight we should have come on this earlier in the day so we had time to dry off but as luck would have it we don't get too soaked.

There's time for me to get a mojito slush, which is truly delicious as its still really warm at 8.30pm and it's the boys turn to go on the baron.

With an hour left the kids want to go back on python and we want the wooden coaster so we head back there. En route it looks like the other water coaster now has working photos so given the queues are only a few minutes we decide to go back on to max out our photo pass. This time we're prepared and Liliya doesn't bang her head as the ride prepares to set off.

Our second attempt at python is met by pure joy from both kids (see I knew we needed to make her go the first time). Liliya declares it's her favourite ride ever!!

We finish our rides by going back on the wooden coaster (both kids now say it's too bumpy) and it's over to watch the water and light show.

We decided that we'd forgo a good spot to go on more rides if it came to that but it's not a problem and there's still a spot right at the front overlooking the lake. The show is beautiful and it tops off an incredible first day. We really can't believe our luck, this day could have been so different had we had to queue for the rides.

The kids have done so well, they are completely exhausted so we decide to just travel 20 mins to park for the night and we'll do the longer 1hr drive in the morning. Within the first 5 mins they are dead to the world hopefully having happy dreams of a great day.