Stayed over at my aunt's house last night
as it made it easier for travelling etc. We had a nice evening; got
some letters posted, had something to eat, then lit a candle at 10 to
mark the centenary. Went to bed around 11:30ish.
Got up really early at 3:30. The car was all packed, and I
travelled in my onesie, so there was very little to do except get in the
car and go! The drive to the tunnel was uneventful; everyone very
sleepy.
When we got to the tunnel we had time to go into the terminal thing and
go to the toilet. We looked round duty free; had great fun testing the
perfume! Then we grabbed coffees; my cousin's smelt like nappies, which
was weird.
We were all more awake for the tunnel, so we played a guessing
game- someone chooses a word, and the rest of the group have to guess it
using clues. Hard to explain, but very very fun!!
The tunnel
was pretty quick. When we got to the other side, we went to Cité
d'Europe, which is kinda the place to go when crossing from the UK to
France or vice versa- we stopped there last year and the year before.
Thataway!
We went to Carrefour first, to get loom bands (I packed some, but
they got left at my aunt's house) as well as snacks and food for the
trip. I was thrilled to find one of my favourite ever foods- French
apple purée! So good!!
We also had breakfast; orange juice, pain aux raisin and coffee in a glass. It felt very sophisticated.
After
a stop in Toys R Us (because why not?!) and a chance for me to get
changed into proper clothes, we climbed back into the car for the second
half of the journey. Again, pretty quiet and uneventful.
We got to the Efteling hotel at around 4:30ish. It was really cool
to walk into- all themed and amazing and yay! Our room was fab too- so
much to discover, and all so pretty! There was a game in one corner
which had various instructions, and some of them involved other parts of
the room, such as finding a pair of red shoes stuck in the closet. Very
fun!
Hotel from car park
Had some food, then my cousin MM and I went off to explore the
hotel, which was quite fun, and was good to acquaint ourselves with
places. We also went in search of a good view; however, the large amount
of trees surrounding Efteling made that pretty difficult- all we could
really see was the tops of the tall rides!
My aunt and cousin JM wanted to relax and have a nap, so MM and I
went off to the actual theme park by ourselves. We started off by going
in the kids maze, which had various things to do. The best bit was a
bridge with water splashing across; the aim was to cross without being
splatted. We both did it, however I only managed it cos I went at the
same time as a random small child, who shielded me from the water...
Whoops!
We'd been banned from going on the big rides without the others, so
we went on the carnival ride instead. The queue was really short, and
it was practically a walk on! It was a bit weird- like a remake of 'It's
A Small World', with characters from 'all around the world'. Four
things to be noted here. Firstly, 'all around the world' was interpreted
interestingly- nothing to represent Australia/Africa/India/Spain and
loads of other big places... Secondly, there is no way it would be
allowed now- very stereotypical, making it more than a little racist.
Thirdly, it was just plain WEIRD. There were wrestlers with hands inside
each other, and English beef-eaters with swivelling heads. There were
also lots of people waving weirdly, often with hands not connected to
their bodies. Lastly- there was a model prostitute. Yup.
Yay for dragons
We didn't have loads of time after that before we were due to meet
back with the others, so we stuck mostly to looking in shops- MM fell in
love with a model of the 'Talking Tree', and decided she would buy it
at some point. We were both quite hungry/thirsty, so we grabbed a
smoothie to share from a shop on the side of a path. Mango and banana
and something else- very nice!! Whilst we were drinking it we looked
around the diorama- a bit model of a fairytale world, with various
electronic bits to it. It was in the same building as a big carousel- so
of course we had to have a go on that!
On our way to meet the others, we passed the 'Villa Volta' ride,
which didn't have much of a queue, so we hopped on that. It started off
with a story about a haunted house, which was probably interesting, but
as it was all in Dutch it was lost on us. It ended with a topsy turvy
room, the kind where it feels like you go upside down. Good, but not all
that good.
Finally got to 'Droomvlucht', the big fairytale ride where we
agreed to meet the others. We had some time to spare, so we made loom
band bracelets while we waited. Then, when we were all together, we
queued up for the 'Droomvlucht' ride. It was pretty much exactly as I
remembered it; a pleasant ride through a fairytale world. Best bits were
the dark room with stars and a castle (which did not come out well on
camera, unfortunately!!) and a room where the carts spiralled around,
similar to a helter-skelter. The whole ride was pretty magical, and it
was a nice way to officially start our holiday.
Droomvlucht!
More Droomvlucht!
Afterwards, we went into the shop, which sold a spray that claimed
to be the smell of the ride. MM, my aunt and I all got it on our hands,
and we are more than qualified to say that it did NOT smell of the ride,
it smelt disgusting, and it was impossible to get off easily.
It turned out that my aunt and JM had done Vogel Rok, one of the
rides that MM and I thought we were meant to save. As we'd done Villa
Volta, we left them to go on that whilst we went on Vogel Rok. On the
way we stopped in a couple of shops, including the 'cheap shop'- my
fav!! I got a notebook there last year, and kept up the trend this year
by getting three exercise books.
We carried on to 'Vogel Rok', a sort-of 'big ride' which is based
around a flying bird and is mostly in the dark with lighting effects
etc. In terms of a roller coaster it's not much. However, there were
loads of fans, and that coupled with the general speed made me feel like
I was flying, which I absolutely loved. We didn't buy the ride photo,
but it showed me with a HUGE smile on my face- which started a theme for
the rest of the ride photos from the fast rides!
We met up with JM and my aunt again, and we all went back on the
Carnival ride- we wanted to show them the prostitute!
After that, we
tried to get on one of the three 'proper' roller coasters.
Unfortunately, we were too late for them, so we started to walk towards
the water show. On the way back, we got something to eat, then decided
that we wanted to sit down and eat properly, so we left the show for the
next night. After we'd eaten, we headed to the hotel-specific park
exit, which was right next to the park- so of course we stopped a whole
there!
Oh dear
An old woman I may have kissed
Back to the hotel, where we chilled as generally relaxed. I had a
shower, then enjoyed the (sporadic!) wifi before heading to dreamland!