In a small town in the North of Brabant called Kaatsheuvel, you can find one of the biggest and most visited attractions of the Netherlands: Efteling. This theme park can be described as the Disneyland of the Netherlands, where folklore and fairy tales are used as inspiration for the rides in the park. Each year Efteling welcomes around five million visitors, who travel from various places, like the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, or the UK, to experience the magic that this theme park offers (Van Esch, 2024). Efteling really is a national treasure for the Dutch population and ninety four percent have visited the park at least once (Boerman, 2021).
The diversity of attractions, restaurants, shops, and other entertainment ensures that guests of all ages will have a good time visiting this park. There are five different realms, each with a variety of attractions: Reizenrijk (Travel Realm), Marerijk (Fairy Realm), Ruigrijk (Adventure Realm), Anderrijk (Other Realm), and Fantasierijk (Fantasy Realm). If you want to learn more about the different realms, read the ‘Once Upon a Theme Park’ article, in Step 3 of Tour 2 - Efteling: The Dutch Disneyland.
In the background, you can see several 3D models. These represent some of the elements of Efteling and give a general idea of the atmosphere of the park. The mushrooms and fairy display aspects of the fantasy characters and fairy tales used in the park. The castle is a tribute to Pardoes’ home in Symbolica and the rollercoaster is a reminder that in the Efteling there are also attractions that make your heart race. In the rest of this tour, the different parts of the theme park, its history, evolution and business side will be discussed.
3D models credits: