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The Holiday That Topped Disneyland…

Ask the Slinky kids where they want to go on their holidays this year, and I guarantee all three will give you the same emphatic answer. After 8 years of one or two Disneyland trips per year, their previous Parisian favourite, has been shunted down the list in favour of the most magical and authentic trip, our whole family now recommends.

EFTELING is in the Netherlands. 9ish hours drive, the same as Disneyland Paris. We have a strong preference for driving, via the Eurotunnel from Folkstone to Calais. Not least because my husband doesn’t enjoy flying, but cutting out all the airport stresses with three young children, means the travel is pretty stress free, we can load up the car with snacks and costumes and everything we could possibly need, and the kiddos are happy with a cup of sweets and a film/book/car games for the duration.

We always leave early morning, scooping the kiddos out of bed in their onesies and hitting the road while they’re still bleary-eyed… and we catch the Eurotunnel late morning. They’re usually pretty flexible, and there’s often no charge to get on an earlier or later one than booked.

We usually stop off once this side and once after the ‘sea-train’ as the kids call it, to stretch legs, eat and get some fresh air. We decided when booking to spend a night in Bruges on the way, it’s directly en route and we’ve both wanted to go for some time! We stayed in an adorable hotel – right in the centre of Bruges, for one night, so that we could explore and then head to the Efteling first thing the next morning. We had dinner in a restaurant in the square, strolled around the city, played in a park, stopped off for ice cream and of course, bought a huge box of Belgian chocolates that we carefully selected from one of many stunning chocolatiers.

We had decided to stay on site at the Efteling Hotel, for the same reason we prefer to stay on site at Disney. It’s so easy to pop back to the room if we need to, you benefit from the extra opening times in the morning, and we really like to soak in the whole atmosphere staying within the park. We booked into a themed suite as they were only marginally more expensive than a family room, and man am I glad we did. The suite was stunning, with a seperate ‘turret’ sitting area and amazing theming that made all of our jaws drop.

Hotel reception made such a fuss of our girls at check-in. They got to meet Pardoes – a jester style character and the Efteling version of Mickey Mouse. Then reception gave them a Pardoes doll in a little wooden bed, that they could keep in our room for the duration of our stay! He came with a little guestbook style diary and they loved reading all the other children’s entries, then writing their own each morning, about the day before.

The thing that struck us most about the Efteling, was it’s ‘realness’. All of the trees and greenery, beautiful flowers, the amazing location, all real. I’ve described it as ‘Disneyland without the glitter’ but it’s certainly not lacking any sparkle. That sparkle is just more authentic somehow. The characters are beautifully traditional, as told in the Hans Christian Anderson fairytales, and the stories are varied, some familiar and others we were able to learn about!

Cora was just over 120cm when we went, and as such, was able to go on all of the rides, except Baron, their ‘Oblivion’ equivalent, if you’ve been to Alton Towers. Cora was particularly proud of herself for riding her first ‘loop the loop’ rollercoaster with corkscrews and upside-down moments aplenty! There’s rides for everyone their, I personally loved Vogel Rok with the huge Eagle outside it. But even if you’re not a thrill-seeker, you can happily spend days walking the fairytale forest, and browsing all of the non-ride based attractions on site.

We watched the ‘Caro’ show which was spectacular. I beleive they have a Knights dinner and show experience too, we didn’t manage that on our last visit, but if ever an excuse was needed to return, that sounds like a good ‘un! One of the more noticeable differences between Disneyland and Efteling, was the availability of good quality and reasonably priced food on the go. There’s SO much variety at Efteling, and we spent much of our stay completely stuffed, wanting to try things out regularly. The breakfast buffet and evening meals in the hotel were wonderful too, and the pancake house in the park itself was a huge hit with the kiddos!

The waterplay in the park was the icing on the cake during our last afternoon. The girls were happy there for hours. We visited in July and had weather around the 25-28 degrees mark for our stay, which was a lovely bonus, but I genuinely don’t think the park would have been any less enjoyable in a colder month. We’ve religiously visited Disney in the winter, and I’d love to see Efteling in Autumn or Winter too, the next time we go.

But the holiday didn’t stop there…

After three days at Efteling, we took a fifteen minute drive down the road to our next stop. Beekse Bergen a safari resort with newly built hotel with ‘Savannah Rooms’ – meaning, yes. Lions, giraffes, zebra, rhino, all at your balcony. To say I was excited about this stop on the tour, was an understatement, and beleive me when I say Beekse Bergen exceeded our expectations!

The hotel itself is immaculate and beautiful done out to a high standard. In ‘Centre Parks’ stylee – you have a swimming pool, shops and restaurants and little parks and activities spread out throughout the amazing lakeside location. From watersports and softplay to evening entertainment and just SO much to do… and did I mention the lions?

We stayed two nights at Beekse but really, four would have been two short. I can’t wait to return here and utilize at least some of the time, just sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine and soaking it all in.

The whole trip cost us less than four days at Disneyland and although it was 18 months ago, we still talk about it as a family on a near weekly basis. Any time I’ve asked the girls ‘where next then, ladies’ it’s been a unanimous EFTELIIIIING AND BEEKSE! So I guess that’s that.

Let me know in the comments, have you been? Are you considering this kind of holiday? I’m sure i’ve missed out lots of useful info, so please, ask away if you have any queries!

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