I really wanted to award Efteling four stars, but various factors have held it back, despite some aspects undoubtedly being five stars in quality. One of the biggest gripes is what is the underlying story? What part do the characters play? It's fun to look at beautiful fantasy aesthetics but the absence of a story threading it together is apparent!

This unique fairytale theme park is quite successful, making $387.8 million in revenue on average annually, boasting almost six million visitors in footfall (2022 stat), and is supposedly very popular with the Dutch people. It has six rollercoasters and four water rides. In 2019 and 2022, it was the third most visited theme park in Europe, after Disneyland Park, Paris and Europa-Park, Germany. We visited the park from the UK, but unfortunately many areas of the park are presented in Dutch, meaning the language barrier compromised our enjoyment and accessibility. Seeing as the park is advertising itself internationally, they could do more to accommodate English speakers (Lingua Franca).

The entrance to the park is spectacular, and throughout I was seriously impressed by how well-kept, well-designed and sparkling clean the park is. A charming steam train circles the whole site but only stops at two stations; still good nonetheless. We visited in the off-peak season (weekdays in September) which meant little to no waiting times, but the drawback which we hadn't realised was several areas and rides were under maintenance. The water fountain display lake was under maintenance meaning no evening water light show. The flagship Baron dive coaster was also closed for maintenance or repair on both days. The water ride closed for maintenance too. Check the maintenance roster before you book! But this won't necessarily guarantee no closures. Disappointing.

For children and families the park probably brushes a soft five stars, it especially makes a great option for a child's first theme park experience. For adults, couples, young people and everything in-between, it's 3-4 stars. Many attractions are dated (although well-maintained) puppet shows and animatronics. The fairytale forest is incredibly charming, but the fairytale animatronics often struggle to illustrate genuinely engaging renditions of these famous fairytale stories. The language barrier problem rears its head here too, FYI. A small placard at each fairytale site with a heavily abridged summary seems almost pointless or rather insufficient as an insight into the given tale.

There are loads of food options available around the park at okay prices, which is all well and good for the options, however it feels like there are far too many eateries and because of this the park feels focused on upsells. A restaurant at every square meter just struck me as slightly odd.

The standout rides were the ‘dark’ rides, in particular the ride ‘Symbolica’ was incredible with wonderful details and colours. That ride contrasts the older dark rides quite dramatically. The ‘It's A Small World’ style (Carnival Festival) ride looked quite amateurish when compared to Symbolica. The park is a bit inconsistent in that regard. The ‘Vogel Rok’ coaster is underwhelming, it is a fast coaster in the dark. No visual stimulation at all. Once again, I found the closures of various rides disappointing with no recourse for compensation available.

Overall I'd visit as an added extra to a holiday in the region, I wouldn't travel here solely for the park unless you are coming as a family and want to enjoy a theme park cheaper than Disney, but nonetheless with its own unique offerings and strengths — that's also treasured by the locals and tourists alike.