Elo!
It's Micro on Moggi's account again!
So then, yesterday we went to De Efteling. Having all showered and had breakfast, we left Gump's at around 9:30. We stopped off at Lidl to get more rolls and some meat for them. I had crispy bacon this time, not the cat-bacon that Jochem enjoys oh so much. We did get to the park near enough on time, maybe five minutes late. Having pre-booked, we simply strolled in with printed out tickets and went to a well-themed area which described traditional fairytales with large animatronics. It was pretty cool to see, but there were so many! Nonetheless it was a good experience.
Our first ride of the day was "Droomvlucht" which was an inverted spinning powered coaster with a quadruple helix... well, that was to accomodate for all the cool theming that it featured. It had lots of bright flowers as well as a tidy space-themed area.
This was followed by Villa Volta, the park's madhouse. I'm still fascinated by these, and the way that the room moves around you. I'm definitely a big fan of them.
Having rode those rides, we went to see The People of Laaf, which features a small village called “Lavelaer”, inhabited by the so-called “Laafs”. It included some shops and a school, and was interesting to see.
Once we left here, we made way to the steam carousel which had an unusual indoors setting. The horses provided excellent 0g airtime, and the turns were smooth.
The next ride was Vogel Rok, an indoor dark coaster with the theme of stealing an egg from a bird, or something of that effect. Rhys and I rode back seat which was actually quite thrilling.
We stopped for lunch at this point, where I then threw a whole pack of bacon bar a couple of rashers between two halves of a bun. It was godly.
This was then followed by a slower ride, which took you through different areas of the world represented in their own sections. I learnt that everyone in England wears the black beehives that the Queen's Guards are known for and they all have shitty teeth. Subliminal racism at its finest.
We then rode the giant Pagoda ride which offers impressive views over the whole of the park.We could see Python operating as we came around to it, and Joris en de Draak stood tall too. It was pretty fun being 45 metres above the park and looking down on everything.
It was now time for some proper rides. We journeyed to Python next which had a half-hour wait, where Rhys and I waited the extra bit for the front row... Jochem didn't feel the need to, ha ha. The prelift drop was quite big and the predrop turn was cool, slowly picking up speed. The loops were bog-standard and the transition into the first corkscrew was just nasty. Aside from that, it was a pretty average ride.
Joris en de Draak was next. We decided to go for the blue (water) side, but little did we know that you actually got wet on this side. That sucked. Otherwise I loved it, the ride was brilliant. I've slowly developed a thing for wooden coasters, I think. We also later came back for a re-ride on red. Rhys prefers red but I prefer blue without a doubt.
The Flying Dutchman followed this, aka the weird water-coaster with awful staggered seating (3-4-3-4). Threes are never a good idea. There's always so many trains leaving with empty seats it's unreal.
We rode in back row, and the splashdown didn't get us wet, to my surprise. The indoor section was cool, because Rhys (and Joe!!!!!!!1!!!1!!
(his words not mine!!!1!1!1!one!!!)) spent it flicking water at the innocent rider
(Rhys takes over, because Joe is stuffing his face with cake..)After The Flying Dutchman we had a little bite to eat, more meat between our buns.. We took a leisurely stroll over to Piranha, passing by the interactive-water-blaster things on our way. The rapids were okay, we actually got considerably more wet than I would have imagined, we even floated all the way into a waterfall.. which Max ensured us barely ever happens.
We got off the water ride, a little wetter than expected, and headed for the Bobsled ride; Joe's first Intamin bobsled.. Far superior to the lame Mack bobsled at Blackpool. We had a good time, although the girls that sat in the back averaged mine and Max's weights out, to produce a regular overall weight.. What a shame. Having flown around the bobsled track, leaning every turn, we walked over to one of the last rides remaining, Fata Morgana, another relaxing dark ride this time taking place in Arabia, where the 'no rocking' rule was totally disobeyed by Joe and Jochem.. tut tut. Overall it's a pretty immersive ride, I guess, nothing too special as it's quite relaxed.
We then took the opportunity to go to the Haunted Castle attraction (show?) - we tried to spook Joe, but he rose above it, didn't jump even once. The display is pretty cool, with all the moving things and stuff, but again it's more of a show or attraction than an intense thrill ride. It was getting late, so we decided to get some food, Max and Joe opted for noodles (Max's came frozen!) and me and Jochem decided to get more Fries and snacks. When we were well fed we were right next to The People of Laaf village thing, so having missed out on the snails earlier, we hopped on (walk on!) and took a quick ride. I was sure me and Joe would catch up to Max and Jochem, but it was not meant to be.
After the Snails, it was seriously getting close to 8pm (Ride close time) and the water show was about to start (8:15 ish) so we walked over and got ourselves a bench to sit - Max insisted on getting to the front, but me, Joe and Jochem just stood on our bench.. it worked pretty well. The water show was good, it even contained fireballs and stuff. There was a 6-7/10 princess that Joe chickened out of a selfie with.. but that's all that needs to be said about that.
So.. that was our day, then we walked home and began resting our legs, mine were mad sore.
Me and Joe began building something on NL2, although we didn't get far, and Max & Jochem worked on Apocalypse, which now runs approximately 1022 times better.
I'm going now, see your ugly faces later.