Is EFTELING Worth Visiting? | A Full, HONEST Review!

I actually live in The Netherlands and i love these reviews where people from the UK this time visit our "Happy space". Come back any time!

I have another example of how amazing the Efteling staff truly is. A few years ago I was celebrating Newyear’s eve at Efteling wich is a very populair and crowded event as you can imagine. Because there was a busdrivers strike that evening, many visitors couldn’t leave the park with public transport. The Efteling staff decided to bring visitors to trainstations around the park with their own busses to help people out! Now that’s what I call service and I think a Disneyland Paris for example would never do.

Going now for 44 years to de Efteling, and still enjoy it every time. Memories have been made there!

What I love personally Is that after 30 years I still sometimes spot new things. Like in the fairytale forest, near the house of the 7 goats if you look up in the tree's you can spot a Broom with a sack on it stuck in the tree. Making it look like a witch had a crash while flying 😂. But also small animatronics: last time I was there I noticed that at the leprechaun village at the 3rd house there's a small opening above the door where a Squirrel animatronic and mouse pop up from time to time. In all these years I've been there I've never saw that before! Or at fata Morgana at the falling gate, that there's a 3rd character in that seen besides the 2 guards. It's someone watching from the window on your right! And I just love that, that there are still new things to discover after all these years.

6:22 The lift of Python is only slow when it's running two trains. If one train is running, it is a lot faster. It's about 57 seconds from bottom to top of lift with 2 trains, and 31 seconds with 1 train, so a 45% increase in lift speed. There is a good reason though. If the lift was going fast with two trains, the train would just be sitting there at the brakerun at the end. Now at least it keeps moving. And with the lift running slower, it's also better for the motor and the environment, as it is basically in a sort of energy saving mode.

I’d never heard of it before lockdown, watching endless YouTube videos. In April 2022 I visited for the first time (first trip out of the UK since 2019). Loved it. Been back twice since, staying at the Bosrijk resort each time. And have been back to Disneyland Paris, for comparison. And I think Efteling is better because it’s unique: it has its own history, its own IP and it’s owned by a charitable trust not a corporation. I live in Brighton and it’s cheaper to take my family for four days at Efteling (including travel) than it is to take my family for four days at CenterParcs Sherwood Forest. I loved watching your experience, I will never forget my first Efteling visit and I love revisiting it vicariously. Thing to reiterate from what you said: it’s so inexpensive. It’s inexpensive compared with UK parks. It’s inexpensive compared with other Northern European parks: hoodie at Plopsaland = €95, hoodie at Efteling = €45.

The feeling of immersion into a sort of magical environment always leaves me with a kind of hangover upon leaving the park. Yes, it's THAT good! Nice review, spot on.

I was there for the first time when I was 11 years old on a school trip. I am now a 73-year-old grandfather and recently visited the Efteling with my family of 10. Nothing matches getting into the "Baron" with my granddaughter of 9 screaming our heads off when we make the freefall drop.

The Efteling is my homepark! I visit it very often, and every single time I absolutely LOVE it! When I moved to Tilburg (a town near the Efteling) one of the first things I did there was buying an annual pass for the Efteling. Never regretted it!

Nice review! Been watching your Efteling videos and it's amazing to see foreigners having such a great time at "our" little park, which I consider to be something of a national pride. Quite a few generations have created and been fed unforgetable memories there. @11:28 These "snack walls" are actually really common all throughout the Netherlands. A lot of snack bars and cafetaria's have them facing the street, so you don't even have to go inside to get yourself a quick snack. They are also super common on festivals and during events, on train stations etc. Do come back when the massive amounts of construction going on now have passed.

The Efteling is run by a not for profit foundation, and it shows. Disney does its best to create a magical fantasy atmosphere, and they're very good at it, but in the end they are a giant publicly traded commercial corporation and everything they do is to generate shareholder profits, which gets reflected in the commercialisation of the parks, the atmosphere, the merch, the pricing, etc. The Efteling on the other hand has no motivation to squeeze you dry and invests the profit they make right back into the park and it makes everything feel more thought out and less commercial. Because of that, and Dutch labour laws, they are also a much nicer employer, which is reflected in the attitude of the staff.

This is the absolute number one bucket list park for me. Unfortunately I haven't watched your vlogs precisely for that reason because I don't want more spoilers for my bucket list park than I've already given myself, but I'll definitely be back to watch after I visit

Thank you on behalf of the netherlands for the lovely review.

Hi, I was just watching your vlogs of Efteling when I saw this one up. The food vendor wall is a typical dutch thing. You see it all around the Netherlands. I visited Efteling so many times I can't count it but I only experience it once that a ride was "broken". Only the baron wasn't broken there was a thunderstorm and since I was the first in line when the ride was cancelled I got a VIP card for the next time and we where giving a choice to wait there or leave. I chose to wait because well thunderstorms comes with big rain and it was dry there. 😅. I loved your vlogs and this video as well. Your reaction to the park I grew up in is interesting to watch in a good way.

Subscribed! Looking forward to your Danse Macabre review.

This has been on the need to visit list for a while but having watched all your Vlogs and now this review... I'm pretty committed to taking the boys after Danse opens! Your honesty & integrity has weight in this household 😂😊

I visit Efteling every 4-5 years and that for over 55 years already. It’s still my most favorite amusement park. I live nearby, 35 minutes cycle ride, so visiting is quite easy. Great you love it very much too and you will return many times I’m sure. Droomvlucht is still my most favorite dark ride.

Great to see that you like Efteling so much! It’s really the best theme park! 10 points for your pronunciation of De Vliegende Hollander, well done! 🤩 Did you know that Walt Disney visited Efteling and got its inspiration from there for creating Disney parks? 😉

Hope you get to experience Pirahna too next time and some of the smaller attractions you might have missed.

Efteling was, and indeed still is, formally a 'nature park'. It's owned by a nonprofit foundation that aims to promote nature, leisure and sport or something like that (I'm too lazy to look it up exactly) . Most of the ground they own is not built on. In which other amusement park do you get free roaming peacocks?