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Visiting Efteling in the Winter with Children Aged 8 and 4

Feb 2023

In January I, most unwillingly, took my kids, aged 4 and 8, to Efteling. I was unwilling because the idea of spending a day at a theme park gave me hives. Imagine that the Grinch and Scrooge had a baby, and that that baby was severely allergic to theme parks. Long lines, overpriced everything, the noisy presence of eight thousand children that aren’t mine and the whining of the two that do belong to me - none of this sounded in the least bit appealing. On the other hand, Efteling is a Dutch institution, and I didn’t want to give my children one more reason to complain about me to their therapists when they are adults. So, despite my better judgement, off to Efteling we went.

In this article I will cover my impressions of the park, the rides that my 8 and 4 year olds most enjoyed, where we ate, helpful tips, where we stayed, and the total cost of our visit to Efteling.

Todo before your trip to Efteling

• Download the Efteling app.
• If you have booked an overnight stay, activate your digital key in the app.
• Make sure you know where you can find your entrance + parking QR codes in the app - this is separate from the digital key that is used to access the parking lot of the hotel and the hotel room.

I booked us an overnight stay at one of Eteling’s hotels. We are a bicycle-only family, so we used snappcar.nl to procure transportation. We drove there on a Sunday morning, and it took 70 minutes from our home in Amsterdam to enter the parking lot of Efteling. It took an additional 15 minutes to get to a parking spot, but the parking was well organized, with parking attendants directing the flow of traffic to fill up different sections of the lot simultaneously.

As overnight guests of the park, we had access to a special gate to enter the amusement park. Facing the main entrance of Efteling, this gate is to the right. There was a line to enter the main gate, but I couldn’t say how fast it moved. There was no line at the special entrance. Hotel guests are allowed to enter Efteling 30 minutes earlier than the general public. We arrived too late on day one to take advantage of this, but we did on our second day. When you enter early, keep your eyes peeled for a discreet sign labeled looproute hotelgasten. You must follow this walking route to get to the rides. If you go the normal way, you will find your access to the rides blocked by locked metal gates at various points in the park. Also note that the cloakroom and lockers are outside the main park entrance.

What we took with us into Efteling:

• A stroller. Our four year old rarely uses the stroller any more, but we were very grateful that we brought it along to the park. Her little legs were not able to handle the over 20,000 steps we did each day that we were in the park, and we could also move faster from one section of the park to the other with her in a stroller. Efteling does provide little pull carts for a nominal fee, but if you can bring your own stroller I recommend it. The pull cards are not particularly ergonomic to drag around, there is no storage for assorted bags and jackets, and no shelter against the elements.
• Each parent had a bag. Between us and the stroller we shared the load of water bottles for everyone, hats and gloves, and a whole bunch of snacks.

Impressions of Efteling

The experience was far less tortuous than I had imagined - if you held my feet to the fire I might even admit that I had a lot of fun!

First off - the park is very pretty. There is a lot to look at as you wander around, and it gets even prettier when the lights come on in the evening.

Secondly, while it is clearly a commercial enterprise, I found that the money grabs were not all up in my business. Not once were my children accosted by an array of cheap shit calling out to their little consumerist souls. There were assorted shops, but they politely kept to themselves. I appreciated that my kids could have fun, without having to feel deprived and become whiny because Mama said no for the upteenth million time.

The food in the park was reasonably priced for an amusement park. I’ll give you the numbers in a later section - but we got through our stay without having to pay my right kidney for an unappetizing hot dog.

The Efteling website has a calendar that shows you their crowd predictions for a given day. The two days we visited the predictions were ‘lively’ and ‘quiet’, and I’d say that the predictions were accurate. On the busier day we had two pretty long waits - 20 minutes to get into Symbolica, and 30 minutes to ride the Baron. Everything else was more in the 5 - 15 minute range. I did see longer lines for some of the roller coasters, but the only ‘adult’ roller coaster we tried was the Baron. On the quiet day we never had to wait longer than 5 minutes. The downside of the quiet day was that many restaurants and food stalls were closed, and we had to walk further when we got the munchies.

There are a ton of restrooms everywhere, and all of them were clean. We never had to wait in a queue to pee.

The water fountain show (Aquanura) in the evening is wonderful, and we all enjoyed it. It reminded me of the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I looked it up after the fact and the same company did the fountains in both places.

Efteling rides that my not particularly adventurous 4 year enjoyed

1. All the trains - but especially the De Oude Tufferbaan.
2. Carnaval Festival (though some parts of this made me cringe).
3. Symbolica
4. Gondoletta - this is an excellent ride for a snack break.
5. The monorail
6. The Stoomcarrousel
7. Pagode - this is a good ride to get on early in the day because you get a view of the entire park and that is helpful to orient yourself as you wander around.

She did ride on Max and Moritz, but it scared her a little. She absolutely loved the Diorama - and this is a good place to hang out if the skies open up. She enjoyed exploring the Laff Village as well, especially the stairs that laugh creepily when you climb them.

The Fairytale Forest

If Dutch weather allows for a period of rain-free sunshininess during your visit, I would advise you to spend it in the Fairytale Forest. I found this to be the most charming part of Efteling. There is a lot to see here. We spent over two hours in the forest. If you want to familiarize yourself with the stories, the Efteling website has a list of all the fairytales depicted in the forest. Be sure to keep an ear out for the singing mushrooms, and take a picture of your kid(s) on the mushroom - a time-honored Dutch tradition. Note that all the narration in the fairytale forest is in Dutch.

My four year old found The Chinese Nightingale scary - YMMV. The Indian Water Lilies gets really dark just before the show starts, and immediately after it ends - so grab ahold of your child so you don’t get separated as the audience shuffles in and out.

Efteling Things That Impressed my 8 year old

My eight year old enjoyed the fairytale forest. The rides she liked were:

1. The Max and Moritz rollercoaster - we had to do this one multiple times.
2. The Vogel Rok rollercoaster
3. Symbolica
4. Fata Morgana - this one is a bit scary. I had warned her in advance though, and she held my hand tight the whole time, but in the end proclaimed that it wasn’t as scary as she expected.
5. Stoomcarrousel
6. Pagode

She also rode the Baron with me, but found that terrifying. Villa Volta made her feel motion sick - and she doesn’t normally get motion sick.

Practical Tips

1. Remember to carry coins. You’ll need them for the donkey (located in the fairytale forest) that poops out an Efteling souvenir.
2. There are talking trash cans in Efteling, begging to be used. Hoard your trash because your kids will definitely want to feed these cans when they see them.
3. Efteling offers a feature called ‘baby switch’. It allows both parents to ride an attraction one after the other, but only one of them has to stand in the queue. In the app you can see if a particular ride has this option.
4. You can’t take your stroller into most rides or restaurants. You can leave it parked outside - outside almost every ride there was a group of strollers hanging out, and our stroller was happy to join the gang. We left our stroller loaded up with assorted jackets and other paraphernalia all over the park and nothing went missing.
5. If your stroller folds you can take it with you on the Stoomtrein.
6. The best way to deal with lines is to have a bag full of assorted snacks that you can dole out at regular intervals.

The Food

On day one we ate an early lunch at Polles kitchen. We got there at a little past 11, and were seated immediately. I recommend this restaurant. The decor is interesting - the central display periodically does a performance piece set to music. The food was good, and reasonably priced. We did walk past the restaurant later in the afternoon and there were long lines - so getting there early is key.

Dinner on day one was at the food court in Station de Oost. For the kids we ordered from De Hongerige Machinist. The nice thing about this restaurant is that you can order online using your phone, and then go to the counter to pick up your order at a designated time. Each kid had a meal that cost €7.25. They got chicken nuggets, fries, ketchup, apple juice, an apple, and a musical toadstool toy. The toadstool is a replica of the ones from the fairytale forest. Note that they give you the ‘stem’ of the toadstool, and the ‘top’ of the toadstool is the bowl that contains the fries. The adults ordered turkish doner kebab from De Brutale Aap - the food was ok, but the line and the wait were both very long.

On day two our options in the park were limited - a whole bunch of restaurants were closed. We ended up eating at Het Witte Paard. The kids were happy enough with their children’s meals, but the ribs that we ordered were meh.

We snacked at various spots across the park. I will recommend the Max and Moritz Bakery near the roller coaster of the same name. On the tray mat there you can read the story of the naughty pair, and the bakery has a whole bunch of bread figures hidden all over the place that the kids can try and find. The sit down area has a very cozy feel.

The Stay

Efteling has three hotels/vacation parks you can stay at. We stayed at Efteling Bosrijk. The Bosrijk consists of two large buildings - the Landhuys and the Porthuys - and a bunch of smaller holiday cottages. We stayed in a family room located in the Landhuys.

Access to the parking lot, the room and the swimming pool was via a digital key that we had activated on our phones. There was no check in or check out - and I did not even see a reception desk.

The main room had a sit down area and a TV, along with one double bed. The second room had a bunk bed for the girls. The Bosrijk has a Sandman theme. The lake in the center has the Sandman’s castle and in the room there were sandman hats for each child, as well as a storybook to take home. Our room was equipped with a Nespresso machine, and a couple of pods. Toiletries were also provided.

Our stay included a buffet style breakfast in the Porthuys building. You have to reserve a time slot in advance - I did that when I made the booking. The breakfast included scrambled eggs, a choice of juices, coffee, tea, bacon, cereals, yogurt, cheeses, deli meat, donuts and four thousand varieties of bread.

Bosrijk also has a small grocery store. We didn’t buy anything from there.

There is a shuttle that runs from the Bosrijk to the park. We didn’t use it - we drove instead. On day two (a Monday), there was no wait in the parking lot when we got to Efteling 30 minutes before opening time (which is when hotel guests can enter) and we got a spot right in front of the main entrance.

The Porthuys building also has the swimming pool. The larger pool has a lazy river, and a jacuzzi. There is also a pool for babies and that pool has a bunch of water toys in it. Children that don’t have their swimming diplomas are required to wear floatation devices. We hadn’t come prepared for this, but they had arm bands handy that cost €3.50. When the kids tired of the park on day two, we spent some time in the pools before heading back home to Amsterdam. It was a nice way to get warm and unwind after the cold and wet of the park.

The Cost

We paid €549.50 for our stay at Efteling Bosrijk. This included:

• The hotel room
• Parking at the hotel parking lot
• Breakfast for the four of us
• Entrance tickets to Efteling for the four of us for two days
• Parking at Efteling for two days
• Access to the swimming pool at Bosrijk

Efteling tickets for folks aged 4 years and older are €42 per person on weekends and €38 per person on weekdays. Parking is €12.50 a day. So without the hotel it would have cost us about €305 for two days of Efteling fun. While €245 a night isn’t cheap for a hotel - it is very reasonable as far as theme park hotel prices go. I booked our trip about a month in advance - I have no idea if it would have been cheaper had I booked earlier.

In addition we spent €130.95 on food, drinks and snacks at Efteling.

In Conclusion

I'm glad I got over my prejudices and gave Efteling a chance. It is well worth a visit. One final tip to make the trip more affordable - Albert Heijn periodically does promotions where you get 'stamps' for money that you spend on groceries, and you can use these stamps to get discounts on Efteling tickets (and also stays at Efteling hotels).