What does Bart say? – A Theme Park blog!

In the 1999-2000 season, Efteling chose to open their doors during the winter period. This would be the first year Efteling was open during winter. The management felt they had invested enough in indoor attractions that a winter opening should be possible. 

Meanwhile, the 2024-2025 winter season is in full swing. In this blog, I want to take you through the Winter Efteling season 2024-2025. Is Winter Efteling still worth visiting after 25 years? You will find out in my latest blog; What does Bart say about… Winter Efteling 2024-2025.

I am a huge fan of the winter season, especially when it comes to the winter season in an amusement park. From the moment I see the first pine trees appear in the park, it starts to itch and I can’t wait for the winter season to start. This year you can visit the winter Efteling from 11 November 2024 to 2 February 2025. The park will be decorated with various pine trees, and the roofs on Anton Pieckplein will be coated with a layer of (fake) snow. Not only the Anton Pieckplein will be decorated in winter atmospheres, the various fairy tales in the Fairytale Forest will be given a winter touch. The Lavenlaar will be decorated with garlands and where you find Jokies zomerstrand in the summer season, you now find the Warme Winter Weide. The Ton van de Ven-plein will also be decorated in winter atmosphere, and the Dream Flight elves will come out to entertain you musically. Speaking of musical entertainment, on the Python plein you will find the Efteling musicians on weekends and during the Christmas holidays. Once the Efteling musicians have played their first notes, it is hard to stay still. 

One of the big changes to the winter Efteling took place a few years ago during the COVID-19 period (in the 2020-2021 season). The Efteling was allowed to open their doors by COVID-19 measures, and indoor venues had to remain closed. Efteling had to search for an alternative to het IJSpaleis, an indoor venue with a skating rink and catering facilities. The Efteling came up with the Warme Winter Weide, which still returns annually. There is a cosy winter atmosphere, with 2 large campfires to warm up by, and plenty of catering outlets where you can buy a winter snack or hot drink. Where you already feel the winter atmosphere during the day, the Warme Winter Weide really comes into its own once the sun goes down and the lights come on. Besides catering, game options (similar to the Game Gallery) and souvenir shops, entertainment has also been thought of. On the Warme Winter Weide, you can find Pardijns Meedein Festijn. This act is new for the 2024-2025 season. A 30-minute show where Princess Pardijn performs an opera act together with her lady-in-waiting and in the company of 2 opera singers. 

The show can be seen daily, show times can be found in the Efteling app. It is not my entertainment. If I go with company which has not yet seen the entertainment act and would like to watch it I will go with them. Otherwise, I will skip this entertainment act. When the show is over it isn’t possible to have your picture taken with Pardijn, if you want to have your picture taken with Pardijn or Pardoes, you can join the queue at the sleigh where you can take a winter photo together with Pardijn or Pardoes (the times of this meet and greet can be found in the Efteling app). 

If you leave the Warme Winter Weide and turn left towards the Carousel Palace, you can watch a Wonderful Wintertime. This show goes on on weekends and during the Christmas holidays. Mr and Mrs Time will take you on a musical journey in a 20-minute show, from Christmas songs to songs familiar from the show CARO (this is a paid performance at the Efteling Theatre, highly recommended!). If you want to visit a Wonderful Wintertime you have to keep in mind that the show is performed in the Carousel Theatre. This theatre has a low capacity. I recommend you queue up at least 15-20 minutes before the show starts to guarantee a seat in the theatre. All show times can be found in the Efteling app, it is advisable to set a notification before the show starts. It happens regularly that the show does not go on, this prevents disappointment. 

During the winter Efteling, in addition to the normal Sprookjesboom Show, you will find een avond met Heks in the Fairy Tale Forest Theatre, where in summer you can see een avond met Wolf, it’s now Heks her turn to tell her story. This show can only be seen on weekends and during the Christmas holidays and is entirely in Dutch. The Efteling is targeting a more mature audience with this show, and this is quite noticeable with the jokes and choice of music. Despite the show being aimed at a more mature audience, it is easy to follow for younger audiences.

Not only is the entertainment offer extended during Winter Efteling, the range of delicacies is also extensive. From sweet to savoury snacks, and from cold to hot drinks. You can find it all during the winter season. At the various Unox stalls in the park it’s possible to get the regular Unox, or you can choose the Chili Cheese special, this special was already introduced last year and is worth trying if you like a bit of spice! And what’s a winter without pea soup? This winter delicacy is also back on the menu, please note that this year there will be no pea soup for sale at the Warme Winter Weide. If you want to go for this Dutch delicacy you have to go to one of these horeca outlets: het Witte Paard (Marerijk), de Smaeckmaker (Fantasierijk), ‘t Gebraad (Marerijk) and de verse Oogst (Ruigrijk, in Station de Oost). I am not a fan of sweet snacks myself, but the winter Stroopwafe at Kogeloog (in the Fairytale Forest) is very tasty. 

Glühwein and the winter specialty coffee with Schrobbelèr are also not to be missed, both available at various places in the park. Both drinks are on the expensive side for the amount you get (even with the AP discount). 

I used to be very excited for the winter season, but this year is sadly different. The Efteling has put plenty of effort into new entertainment this year, or revamping shows and the souvenir range. Unfortunately, this did result in the dressing up of the park being at a lower level. You can notice during this winter Efteling that they are working on a new concept for the winter Efteling. There have been rumours for years that King Winter will make his appearance, and small details reveal that this will indeed happen but it is unknown when. 

Before King Winter makes his appearance in the park, Pjotr may call himself the face of winter Efteling. Pjotr has left Carnival Festival and now shows himself outside the attraction. On the facade of Carnival Festival, you can see Pjotr with his friends. Pjotr not only shows himself on the facade of Carnival Festival, the new merchandise line also revolves around this cheerful snowman. From the new winter jumper to pins, and from snow globe to cuddly toy. In addition to Pjotr’s souvenirs, the Efteling has expanded the winter souvenir range to include various garments and accessories. Dark blue garments with the well-known Efteling logo, snowflakes and twinkling stars.

Whereas a few years ago the park was decorated (almost) everywhere with pine trees with a layer of snow, they did not place them on the various paths this year. Another example is Vogelrok’s Christmas hat. Now that Vogelrok is part of Sindbad’s world, it is a logical choice to leave the Santa hat. Most one-day visitors will probably not realise that the Santa hat has disappeared. But as a season ticket holder, you notice the smallest things. What I do find lacking at the winter Efteling is the absence of the cross-country ski run (found on the Kinderspoor) and the winter illusion at Villa Volta. I hope to see the winter illusion on Villa Volta return for the 2025-2026 season, but I’m worried that they will leave the winter illusions out for the years to come. 

Conclusion: is the winter Efteling worth visiting during the 2024-2025 season? That depends on what time you visit Efteling. If you visit on weekdays, there is almost no winter entertainment, but you have shorter queue times. On weekends and during the Christmas holidays, there is extra entertainment, but the queue times will be a lot longer. If you visit for the winter entertainment, and want to experience the Efteling in the dark, I recommend visiting Efteling during this period. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to visit many attractions if you want to see all the winter entertainment, quite a bit of time will subconsciously go into this. 

If you visit Efteling for the attractions and not specifically for the entertainment, I recommend not visiting the park this time a year. If you have the opportunity to postpone your visit until after the winter Efteling (from 3 February 2025), I recommend it. From the beginning of February until the end of March, the park is almost deserted during the week, and on weekends, the queue times will be reasonable. Keep in mind that some attractions are under maintenance, and the modified opening hours. Both can be found in the Efteling app or on their website.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2025! 🎄

Bart