Funworld April 2010

“Tradition” is a word that springs to mind when considering the Efteling Park and its fairy-tale roots. So it’s fitting its latest creation—the Efteling Village Bosrijk holiday resort—feels like stepping into an authentic Dutch village. Shingle-roofed cottages sit alongside a castle-like manor and gatehouse in the sand dunes and woodland that skirt the park’s borders.

“We built our new resort in true Efteling style, which means that it looks almost like a historical site. It’s as if these little houses have been there forever,” says Bart de Boer, president and CEO of Efteling. “One of the things that people like most about our park is the nature aspect. By building our new resort in the middle of the woods, we think we’ve made something very attractive. Using natural materials such as wood and stone gives it a sense of peace and tranquility.”

Bosrijk opened in December in time for Efteling’s holiday festivies and will have an official grand opening April 15. It is one of the latest in a series of new lodgings across Europe, where parks are looking to increase revenue by extending guests’ stays.

The leisure village phenomenon is characteristically Dutch, according to de Boer: “People from the Netherlands like to stay in a resort.” Center Parcs, for instance, opened its first “villas in the forest” in De Lommerbergen in 1968 before exporting the concept to countries including the UK, France, Belgium, and Germany. Nevertheless, it’s taken decades for the Efteling team to turn a resort dream into a reality.

“We’ve learned that it’s hard to start building beautiful things like this in the Netherlands,” says de Boer. “My predecessors [Paul Beck and Antoine van Daele] started with a hotel in 1992. Shortly afterward, we decided that a resort would be a good idea. We wanted to transform ourselves from just an attraction park into a destination park because it is getting harder to travel in Europe. With the traffic getting more intense, it’s taking longer and longer for people to reach us. It’s nice to be able to offer a package with possibilities for people to stay here. But it’s taken us nearly 20 years to get the permission to build the resort on this spot.”

At i52 million (US$71.3 million), Efteling Village Bosrijk is the biggest investment in the company’s history. The 17-hectare (42-acre) resort offers 99 detached woodland cottages, 26 terraced village cottages, and 78 apartments spread across the manor and the gatehouse, housing a total of 1,150 guests. The gatehouse also includes a reception area, restaurant, souvenir shop, and indoor waterpark aimed at families with young children. Guests with disabilities are catered to in 14 cottages and apartments, and there are 18 VIP residences featuring saunas, Jacuzzis, and hotel service.

In keeping with Efteling’s fair-ytale atmosphere, a Mr. Sandman theme runs throughout the village, from the sculpture that greets guests over the gatehouse entrance to the giant sand castle—where he is reputed to live—in the resort’s lake.

“With everything we do at Efteling, we like to attach a story,” says de Boer. “If you spend a lovely day at the park, you’ll want to sleep well in our resort. Who puts little children to sleep? Mr. Sandman— that’s the logic behind it.” (Efteling has taken its Mr. Sandman brand beyond the resort boundaries too, developing cross-media products.)

De Boer is banking on Efteling Village Bosrijk to continue the park’s record-breaking attendance growth. It welcomed 4 million visitors in 2009, up from 3.3 million visitors in 2008: “It’s never been done before; 2009 was our best year ever,” he says. “We are now in the top three of European parks, and we would like to stay that way. In the Netherlands, Efteling is an icon—everybody comes here at least three times in their lifetime. We want to keep what we have, but improve our product based on our wonderful history. We think we’re on the right track.”

Plans for 2010 include opening the park all year round, starting April 1. Another i50 million (US$68.6 million) is going into three new attractions for the park. “We’re building those right now,” says de Boer.

First up is “Sprookjesboom” (“The Fairytale Tree”), an Efteling brand that is well loved in the Netherlands. This interactive attraction will give visitors the chance to meet The Fairytale Tree and hear his stories about the magical characters that live in Efteling’s Fairytale Forest.

July 1 is the planned completion date for Efteling’s newest themed roller coaster, “George and the Dragon.” Riders will race each other on the twin tracks that make up this dueling wooden coaster. Four trains will carry 1,900 people an hour. “There’s also an eight-meter-high (26-foot-high) dragon in the middle that will breathe fire and splash its tail. It’s a struggle between the water cars and the fire cars—either can win,” says de Boer.

“That we let Great Coasters International build the new ride is a first for Efteling,” de Boer continues. “Normally, we like to do everything ourselves. We are almost stubborn about it. But with some specialties, like building a wooden coaster, other people can do it faster and better. However, the decoration is going to be done by Efteling people. It’s the tradition of the park. We have tremendous employee loyalty here—people stay with us for their life, for generations.”

The City of Raveleijn, Efteling’s third project, is due to open in April 2011. Currently taking shape between the “Villa Volta” and “Dreamflight” attractions, this themed cityscape will serve as a party venue and an open-air arena seating 900 guests, as well as concealing Efteling’s offices. Dutch children’s author Paul van Loon is writing a new fairy story about the ancient city that will be turned into the park’s biggest show, as well as offering the possibility of further cross-media products.

Adding all of these new attractions means, “We need more visitors, and the hotel and the resort will help to make the park an even bigger success,” says de Boer.

De Boer eyes Europa-Park’s example: “Europa-Park’s hotels are a huge success for them; they have increased their number of visitors tremendously. I think we are in the same situation,” he says. “We are a traditional park. We don’t focus on teenagers. Our target is extended families; families with kids and grandparents. People come from quite far to visit us. Most of our visitors are from the Netherlands, but we have a good number from Belgium and Germany.”

A few months into the resort’s operations, de Boer says: “The people who stayed here during Christmas are booking now for a vacation in the summer period. We think that’s a very good sign. We have the possibility to extend the resort, but as it’s such a huge investment for us, we want to see that it’s really working before we do something extra. It’s a challenge, but we have 52 million reasons to make it a success.”

Juliana Gilling is a specialist attractions journalist.
E-mail: julianagilling@gmail.com.