Efteling

[Gloomy Dude]

Thanks for posting those pictures. As I've said before, seeing Pegasus torn down is my equivalent to many of you seeing Corky being dismantled. That was my first 'proper' coaster. I know it's a just a junior woodie, but I was almost as scared as I was 7 or 8 years later, riding Oblivion for the first time. Duelling woodies though. That is very exciting!

[Sam]

[quote=""Gloomy Dude""]As I've said before, seeing Pegasus torn down is my equivalent to many of you seeing Corky being dismantled. [/quote]
You mean a feeling of sheer joy and relief? :P

Efteling have posted this on their news:

Efteling en Great Coasters tekenen samenwerking
12/8/2009

Vanochtend tekenden Bart de Boer, directievoorzitter Efteling en Clair Hain Jr., president Great Coasters International, Inc. de intentieverklaring voor de bouw van de nieuwe attractie Joris en de Draak. Medio 2010 zal de houten racer-achtbaan Joris en de Draak te beleven zijn in het Ruigrijk van de Efteling. Het is de eerste houten racer-achtbaan in Noordwest Europa en dat maakt deze attractie zo uniek.

Unless my grasp of Dutch has failed, and they are announcing who it's not made by, it's a GCI. If it's anything like the only GCI I've ridden, Terminator, it'll be silky smooth with the most comfortable coaster trains I've ever had the privilege to sit in.

[Anonymous]

Its not nice to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz60EsDv ... annel_page

[Islander]

Slightly off topic...

Briefly, for someone that not yet had the opportunity to ride a woodie ( ), what exactly makes them so amazing? Why are they raved about so much?

(and yes, I realise that this probably makes it seem somewhat... n00bish...)

[Mankey]

I've never ridden one either But they create much more of an "out of control" feel as far as I'm aware, the track is known to wobble and sway as well as being slightly rough but not rough enough to get rid of the fun side of it.

And that first concept image, it wouldn't surprise me if it ended up looking like that. Efteling's theming is STUNNING!

[Matt.C]

I think people are excited for this one because GCI tend to be much smoother (I think) than the average woodie. All about speed and airtime rather than feeling out of control (again I think), but from what I understand Intamin Plug in and Play woodies are the best woodies out there.

[Anonymous]

Translated page:-

To back up what STC said previously, more information about the coaster is posted below:-

[url=http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... %3DActueel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... %3DActueel[/url]

[amcmaster1]

Thanks for the news and pics

[Sam]

Taken just under a month ago of the site, with Pegasus completely cleared:

Thanks to EftelingTalk. Strangely, since then I haven't been able to find almost any news or forum postings since about this ride, construction must be pretty much non-existant at the moment.

From what I hear, Toverland completely came out of nowhere and really surprised Efteling, who until Booster Bike came along pretty much had a monopoly on the theme park business in the Netherlands and had taken their foot off the pedal. Thus, De Vliegende Hollander was their response to Booster Bike, and this will be their response to Troy, both absolutely massive investments in 3 years when the last really large investment was Vogel Rok a decade ago.

I've also heard a few rumblings on a few forums about this being a moebius coaster. This would become the 4th operating, the 6th ever built and take the Nash's crown as the only one outside the America's. However, I would have thought they'd be less likely be done these days, due to obvious issues of breakdown (one of the advantages of racers is one side can stay up if the other goes down). Of course this is all entirely unconfirmed.

[AstroDan]

Efteling's ride investment I have always found to be very poor considering the amount of guests they get. I am glad Toverland are making them do some work now!

[nickn5]

I've been to Efteling four times over the last three years, and in many ways I find it even better than Alton Towers for the theming and the magical experience of the whole place, you get completely immersed in a different world (or four) while there.

Very glad to hear about the new ride on the way, I was sad when I went earlier this year to see Pegasus had been closed as that was a good fun family friendly ride. At least they still have Python which seems to be pretty close to the sadly extinct AT Corkscrew.

Funnily enough, despite visitor numbers being higher than AT, I have found that going off-peak (April/October) the queues on rides are shorter than at AT... I imagine that all the other things there like the Fairy Tale Forest and Anton Pieck Square must soak up visitors nicely, easing pressure on the big rides. That's maybe why AT could well do with developing Haunted Hollow a bit further with animatrons and side paths/loops.

[Sam]

Plans for the layout have been posted on ThemeParkReview. I'll post a few of the highlights.

Complicated:


Basic:


Maybe I'm having a blonde moment, but I can't make head or tails out of that. It took me a good 10 minutes to actually work out even vaguely what was going on. I presume the shaded bit is all station. Then on the bit with 4 tracks, I presume the outer two are station followed by lifthill to the left. Then after a turnaround, the track goes into a drop back towards the station with a duel station flythrough (drool...). Then the rest of the track I guess. The straight bit after the first turnaround seems unusually long.

Station:


Station:

[amcmaster1]

It sure looks like an interesting layout although i too cant really figure it out.

[nickn5]

Looks to me like (rather than a dual station fly-through?) the track runs along over the station on its return from the lifthill and turnround loop, hence the tower on top of the station building on the 2nd station diagram? Or maybe I just can't read diagrams very well.. So they'll race overhead, gradually losing height and swapping sides (the duelling), with the brake run being the diagonal (SW to NE) tracks on the right hand side of the track layout diagram (not the very furthest right, that's the first drop and curve after the station overhead runpast).

[Gloomy Dude]

Someone gone and done a No Limits mock up of Joris en de Draak.

As far as I'm aware, there's no way the elevations can be exact based on the currently available plans, but I think it looks pretty darn lovely. Combined with Eftelings flawless theming this ride should be something special. We're hoping to do a little Holland trip in 2011. Just Efteling and Walibi World (GOLIATH ) probably, and I can't wait to ride this thing.

I've got to say, in my experience, Efteling have consistently put time, effort and most of all pride into their attractions only matched by Disney and maybe Europa (can't say I've been to either, but I get the impression.)

[AstroDan]

I hope it's longer than that. 50 seconds for a Woodie is very short.

[Gloomy Dude]

Have to agree with you there Dan. However, Pegasus was only 40 seconds from top of the lift to brake run, so a gain of ten seconds

One has to wonder if they'd have been better building that amount of track, but into one ride? What is more important? The novelty, aesthetics and throughput of a duelling ride, or the extra track and possible enjoyment of a much longer ride?

[Sam]

Vertical construction has begun:

[Sam]

I guess they want to compete with the other European big boys like AT, DLP and Europa and become a resort, instead of just a park with a hotel.

Can't find many details as every single article about the thing is in Dutch. Screamscape says 128 "vacation homes" and 78 apartments. These are the only photos I can find, also from Screamscape. How much space does this park have?!





Here's some sexylicious concept art:









Hmmmm... looks like the whole thing has been built across the road from the park on a new site, Disney style.

[Gloomy Dude]

Bravo Efteling. If the real deal looks anything like the concept art, it must surely be the prettiest theme park holiday village type establishment going.