My own birthday, 29th, May 11th 2009

Yes everyone, I am almost 30. My friends surely let me know that during our party on May 9th... The next cake would have a 30 on it. And it was said by someone who will turn 32 this year... So go figure... I am already getting curious to what they are thinking of planning in about 358 days).

But I used to visit the Dutch Amusement park "De Efteling" every year on my birthday. Last year, due to my hip problems, that was not possible. The year before that, we went in June... So this year, I could finally visit the Efteling on my real birthday again. And seeing it fell on a Monday after school holidays, it would (hopefully) not be a too busy day. I asked my mum if she'd like to come along and she told me she would on the 9th. So we'd be going with the 4 of us this year.

We drove to Nijmegen, dropped Chance off with my dad and took my mum on to Kaatsheuvel, the city where the famous Efteling lies. My mum had a "invalid" card with her, which we normally use to park nearby the entrance. Seeing I am not too good in walking a lot/whole day and she surely can't do so either... There was a dude checking the card and after a wicked look, he let us through. We parked and walked on. Seeing we already got our tickets from the AH supermarket (8 euro's off per ticket!), we could walk on to the entrance. There, they scanned our cards, and we went inside.

*note: when a name of an attraction is underlined, you can click it to visit the official Dutch page about it*

I wanted to go to the "Droomvlucht" (Dreamflight) first, but George showed us the wrong way. So we ended up at the "Ship"De Halve Maen first. Mum went to the toilet and George held the bag, seeing he always gets nauseated when he goes into an attraction like this. Seeing it was very quiet, we had to wait for a while, and we waited long enough for mum to be able to join us. Then they closed the gate and there it went! Higher and higher!

But seeing it was very quiet, we got the longer program, which caused Joyce to turn a little paler in the end of the ride. Then we went into the "Phyton" and Joyce was really surprised that my mum joined us.

The next ride was "De Vliegende Hollander" (the flying Dutchman), one of the newest bigger attractions at the park. Mum had never been in it, we had. But that time, we waited for almost an hour and were quite disappointed. This time there was a waiting line of about 5 minutes, tops, so that was really do-able. I made a video with my digital photo camera, which I uploaded to my YouTube. Here it is!

During the beginning of the ride, it's quite dark...
I did my best to film all that was visible during that time...


Waiting in the "huge" queue


A picture of the flying Dutchman, where the cart/boat comes out into the open air.

After this ride, we went to the "Pegasus". It's a small wooden roller coaster, not merely as big as the Robin Hood (in what used to be Six Flags) nor the wooden ride in Warner Brothers Movie World (this is still my favorite one), but it is quite fun.

After which we headed for another ride: The "Fata Morgana". I did make a video, but it still needs some editing before I can upload it to my YouTube. So for now you can only enjoy some video's.

We went to the "Bobsled", where we had the longest waiting line, of approx 25 minutes.

Then, we were getting a bit hungry and since there were quite some school classes in the park, we thought it wisest to grab a meal before they would. And that was a good idea.

When we were almost done, there indeed came some classes, ready to eat their lunch. So then we went on, and the waiting lines were even shorter due to those eating kids.

Since the weather was quite OK, we went for the wild water ride, the "Piraña" *smile*.

Then we finally we were heading towards the "Droomvlucht"!!! *yay* I made a video there, but I still need to edit it before I can upload it to my YouTube and share it with you. So you'll have to enjoy some pictures at this time...

After the Droomvlucht, we went to "Villa Volta". It's one of my favorite attractions here at the Efteling, and I LOVE the music they are playing. I made a video so check it out!

We went to the "Vogel Rok". I did make a video but it was just too damn dark so it was of no use.

Then we headed for the "Carnaval Fesival". I also made a video during that ride, which I also uploaded to my YouTube.

George and Joyce in a cart during the ride

After this ride, Joyce, George and I went for another run of Vogel Rok, while mum sat on a bench and held our bag safe.

And then we headed on to Joyce's favorite attraction in the whole park: De Pagode. The last time we were there, we had to grab her by her arms and legs to drag her in.

Then we were heading to George's favorite part of the park: "Het Sprookjesbos" (the fairy tale woods). *winks* There you can find his favorite thing in the whole park: the guy with the very long neck *smile*

On our way there we saw these young ducklings.




Throughout the whole Sprookjesbos, you can see and hear these musical mushrooms. They are always fun to hear (and sit on)...

On our way through the park we were "introduced" to several of the old time fairy tales. Here you can see some pictures, and video's. Enjoy!

The dragon






Finally meeting "Langnek" again.



Together on the canon



The "Trollenkoning" (king of trolls)



Rapunsel



Ezeltje Strekje



Just some random pictures of us together...



"Vrouw Holle"



Having fun in an Efteling shop



The last thing we went to see: "Het Spookslot" (the haunted castle).
Every time you go to this, you will see things that you've never noticed before. I sometimes wonder if they make small changes to the program every year...




Heading home after a great and fun-filled day!

After a good day at the Efteling, we drove to Cuijk where we went to "Birsen" for some good shoarma/dönner for dinner. Then I copied the pictures from my mum's camera, George's camera and mine and put them on a DVD for mum. George took her home, while I went to bed seeing I was very tired and had to work all day the next day (from 8am till 5pm). So I needed some of your rest.

This was my story about May 11th. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I have... Well, reading it anyway...

TTFN!
Cynni xxx