The new Efteling Grand Hotel now has an opening date.
Efteling announced today that its new hotel will open to guests on August 1. Located next to the theme park's front gate, the new Efteling Grand Hotel offers 140 rooms and suites across seven floors, with many rooms overlooking the park's Fairytale Forest.
The park made the announcement during a ceremony to install the spire atop the hotel's largest dome.
"Efteling Grand Hotel is an investment in the future, and in line with our vision, we are focussing on international growth," Efteling Director of Park & Resorts Nicole Scheffers said. "Over the past few months, the entire team has worked incredibly hard to ensure that from 1 August, our guests can experience the highest level of luxury within the World of Efteling."
Registrations are now available to guests who pre-registered for early access with the park. Efteling Grand Hotel reservations will open to the public on March 17. The Efteling Grand Hotel is the fourth resort at the park, joining the original Efteling Grand Hotel, which reopens next month, plus the holiday villages Efteling Bosrijk and Efteling Loonsche Land.
For more on what guests can expect at the new hotel, please see Efteling shares new looks inside its new Grand Hotel.
For more information about the park, which is a former winner of our Theme Park Insider Award as the world's best theme park, please visit our Visitors Guide to Efteling.
Finally, to keep up with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
@Herwig - I've only spent 2 days ever in Efteling, but I didn't feel that the new hotel infringes upon the intimacy or feel of the Fairtale Forest - the tower was at its maximum height, and was barely visible from any of the vignettes - you could only see the tops of the finials from the Emperor's New Clothes and Pinocchio sets where vegetation was a bit thinner. I would anticipate as the greenery fills in after the completion of construction, you probably won't be able to see the hotel at all from that section of the park.
FWIW, given how long the walk is to the park from Loonsche Land and Kaatsheuvel, it will be nice to have another closer option aside from the Efteling Hotel.
And you have full memories of the origin ?
For all visitors who know it from the past, it is a full disaster.
The view from the entrance, same.
The hotel got marketed as "overlooking" the fairy tale forest. It goes both ways. Impossible to "overlook" something, if there is not the exact same "outlook" on it. It even blocks out the evening sunlight over the forest.
A 'magical forest" with the faintest infriction from outside, is no more... (Minor infrictions occured already in the past. ALL are the result of a most total lack of genuine master planning in the park, over the last decade.)
I also know backgrounds of the whole history there, and it is not clean. Not going to post about that on here, as it has a highly legal load... (It will appear in court, in some of the upcoming years)
___
"...FWIW, given how long the walk is to the park from Loonsche Land and Kaatsheuvel, it will be nice to have another closer option aside from the Efteling Hotel. ..."
> I addressed that one already, in my post. It is NOT about the location, the location is totally OK, it's about the EXECUTION ...
@Herwig You cannot share your opinion as true. To everyone else this is one mans opinion about the Efteling. The Hotel looks amazing. The Efteling is really taking efforts to keep environment / trees / nature as is with all respect. The hotel looks amazing. It elevates the park. The fairytale forrest isn't much affected by it at all.
It seems like you have a personal issue with the choices Efteling makes. It's their park and their right to do so.
I'm a passholder for years and i 100% approve this new build.
Also symbolica and Danse Macarbe are a great addition to the park.
If you wanna keep things as is.. (as it seems like) please visit somewhere else.
You must be registered and logged in to submit a comment.
Nothing to be happy about, dear (+95% American) readers !
Building a hotel at the entrance area of the theme park is not wrong at all.
"As such".
But the whole master plan was and is completely wrong.
The hotel should not be "overlooking" the Fairy Tale Forest. This OLDEST place of the whole theme park now got a draconian moloch HARMING the epic ... intimity... of that place. Part of the magical "forest" is no more magical from now on, as a stone moloch rose up, towering over the trees. Visible from over a dozen of 'fairy tale spots' in the forest. What a sacrilege.
Mrs Nicole Scheffers is one of the most cold-hearted ceo members we have ever seen at the park. (Along with general ceo Fons Jurgens, and the design ceo Koen Sanders, who WAS an interesting designer in his first years; until he got promoted to a ceo function, and fell into the trap of the officially cold hearted crew....)
This is a fatal planning mistake, typical for a leadership that has ZERO affinity with the soul of a park. And ZERO insight in whatever form of master planning. (The very first mistake was done with the planning of the show building of "Symbolica". Nothing of that attraction is wrong BUT the master planning of it in the park. ...
OK >
The hotel site, as I said, is no problem as such. However the HEIGHT is, in such an extreme sensible place. Three stories SHOULD have been the maximum there, equals : make it more streched out, a nice snake...
I referred (2 years ago) already to this fatal problematic. (I was involved in the legal heritage studies, there)
THe fairy tale forest is not the only victim of this master plan issue. The general view of the entrance area as a whole is a victim. The epic entry building (everybody pictured it in the past) is dwarfed ridiculously from the left side by this hotel. Scandalous.
... it is one endless (already 5 years *) suite of inflictions on heritage and master planning.
(1) massive destructions on big trees (several hectares of big tree areas went destroyed)
(2) destruction on the epic (and heritage valued) "Spookslot", to replace it with a totally inspirationless structure, to host a ... BIG CARNIVAL RIDE.. (Zero storytelling) >>> I know everything about it, I was essentially involved in the heritage protection procedures.
(3) the hotel moloch, totally unsuiten for the place where it is built.
I'm working at a "post destruction report", for the heritage activist organisations.
Greetings
(*) When also considering the Symbolica show building problematic, the master planning issue is already 9 years old)