Efteling is a fantasy theme park located in the Neatherlands. It was opened in 1952 and continues to delight European travelers to this very day.  We begin a two part series on the heart of Efteling today.

Disneyland has its Castle at the heart of the park, Efteling has its Fairy Tale Forest (Sprookjesbos).  This is where the Efteling we see today was born. The park remains popular with guests of all ages and from all parts of the globe.

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There are 28 fairy tales residing in Efteling’s forest today, so this is just part one of the story of the Fairy Tale Forest.

Originally, Efteling was called a ‘nature park’.  In 1951, Peter Reijnders, a Dutch photographer and filmmaker, was asked by his father-in-law Van der Heijden to make the park more attractive to tourists.  Reijnders decided upon a fairy tale theme for the park, and the artist he chose to help him with this vision was Dutch illustrator Anton Pieck.  As Pieck designed these fairy tales, Peter Reijnders was the technician who brought them to life.  The chosen stories are mainly taken from the Brothers Grimm, as well as stories by Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault, however there are some which are not story-specific.  If you take a look at Anton Pieck’s original illustrations, you will see that his designs did not change much from the original drawings to the actual buildings that we see standing today.

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On May 31st 1952, Efteling opened the fairy tale forest, and it consisted of 10 fairy tales: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, The Chinese Nightingale, The Talking Parrot, The Six Servants (Mr. Longneck), The Gnome Village, Little Message, Mother Hulda’s Well and Herald Square which is home to The Magic Clock and the Frog King/Prince.  In the following years, more attractions would join the existing residents of the forest, and in 1953, Efteling welcomed Little Red Riding Hood and the Red Shoes, as well as adding a breathing Sleeping Beauty to the existing castle.  In 1955 Efteling added the much-loved story of Hansel and Gretel to their forest, and the following year, the Donkey became a resident of the forest, from the story ‘The Table, the Donkey and the Stick’.

Not all of the scenes in the forest are portrayed in the same way.  Some you will see as static pieces of decoration, such as the Frogs from the story ‘The Frog King’, which are represented as a water fountain. Others are interactive, such as the Talking Parrot (originally the Naughty Princess) who will repeat whatever you say to him.  One of the most popular attractions in the forest however, is the donkey which poops out gold coins.  Yes, you read that correctly; gold coins!  Put in your 50¢ coin and out flies some special Efteling money to take home!

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Just across from this magical donkey, you will find another unique figure that goes by the name of Little Message (Kleine Boodschap).  He has a very important role here, as he points the way to the bathrooms.  He takes his job very seriously, to the point that he sits there all through the winter, and as he tells you the way to the toilets, you can hear the shivering in his voice.  Poor guy.

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Of course, these fairy tales are quite lifelike in the sense that they look like they’ve been there for many years in their weathered buildings, but as any self-respecting theme park would, Efteling has stuck to the family-friendly versions of these stories, and rightly so!  If the story of the Red Shoes had been depicted exactly as it was in the book, we would expect Efteling to install some severed feet into those shoes.  Oh, and for you horror fanatics out there, you won’t get to see the wolf eating Grandma in Efteling’s Little Red Riding Hood either, sorry.

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Although all of the fairy tales that were originally installed in the forest are still there in some form, many of them have undergone changes over the last six decades.  Snow White still lies in her glass coffin surrounded by her seven little companions, but since 1999 you can visit her wicked stepmother in the building next door, and take a look into her magic mirror…The Chinese Nightingale however, has had probably the most drastic change of any of the tales, as what was originally just a bird sitting on a branch is now a fairy tale housed at the end of the forest inside a large building with fully working animatronics, a wonderful Chinese garden, and even a pepper’s ghost effect!

And there you have the first 14 fairy tales of Efteling’s Fairy Tale Forest.  Part two coming soon!

I know most of you folks are state-side Disney fans. . . but how many of you have made your way to delightful Efteling?

Bernice Hobson
Bernice is a self-confessed Disney addict from the U.K. This interest in Disney inspired her to study animation. She earned her a BA degree in 2010. Her (very close) second love is for Efteling, a fairy tale-based theme park in the Netherlands, for which she runs an English fan site called eftelinguk.com. For more information about Efteling UK, please send mail to [email protected], follow us on Twitter: @EftelingUK, and ‘like’ us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eftelinguk