AT breakfast we were greeted by Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother re-enacting the fairy tale. The storytellers attracted a band of eager children, leaving parents free to enjoy their cooked breakfast in peace. This warmed the children up and left them raring to go.
For our first ride, we opted to take a bird’s eye view of the park from the Pagoda, a Thai temple that elevates some 45 metres into the air and then turns slowly through a full circle. The park is a good mix of old and new. There is a 104-year-old, steam-driven merry-go-round and old-fashioned fairground stalls such as rifle shooting with the usual line-up of cuddly toys as prizes.
One of the more up-to-date attractions is Bird Rok, an indoor rollercoaster in pitch darkness. Other white-knuckle rides include the Half Moon swinging galleon and the Python rollercoaster which has a series of stomach-wrenching corkscrews and loop the loops.
Smaller children will enjoy puzzling their way round the Labyrinth maze, but watch out for a few surprises along the way – bridges that spurt water or blow hot air at you. My kids squealed with delight in the fairytale forest, running from one scene to another.
Here you’ll find children’s-height models of the best-known characters: Snow White, her wicked stepmother and the seven dwarfs; Rumpelstiltskin; and Hansel and Gretel.
The Efteling Theatre is also worth dropping in on. Here we watched 7min performances of several fairytales including Cinderella, the Little Mermaid and Tom Thumb.
Over lunch another family suggested we try two of the park’s unique attractions. Dream Flight is a ride that takes you through five different scenes with their associated aromas.
The flower garden, decorated with models of fairies, smells of pot pourri and there’s an authentic-looking version of a rainforest, with a damp wet mist rising up from the forest floor.
An absolute must is Villa Volta, an 18th-century house belonging to a local villain, Hugo.
This is a totally disorientating experience. The interior of the house rocks and moves around you, then via an ingenious optical illusion you become convinced you have been turned completely upside down. It felt like we were rolling around in a tumble-dryer. The children, naturally, loved it.