Fairytale Forest
[2] It took roughly two years to develop and build the first ten fairy tales:[3] The Chinese Nightingale, The Naughty Princess, Sleeping Beauty, The Gnome Village, "Number One" (referring to the toilets), The Frog Prince, The Magic Clock, Mother Holle, Snow White and The Six Servants.
Some include specific events, such as Little Red Riding Hood at the door of her grandmother's house, while others are more general, like The Gnome Village.
There are three types of fairy tale scenes: indoor scenes with a commentary telling the tale (such as The Indian Water Lilies); structures too small to enter but which can be viewed by visitors through the windows (Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother's house); and open-air attractions, such as the fountain for The Frog King or The Naughty Princess.
There are ten scenes based on Brothers Grimm fairytales: The Wolf and the Seven Kids, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstilskin, Mother Holle, The Six Servants (Long-neck), Rapunzel, The Frog King, The Wishing-Table and Sleeping Beauty.
Five scenes are from Hans Christian Andersen tales: The Emperor's New Clothes, The Red Shoes, The Little Mermaid, The Chinese Nightingale and The Little Match Girl.
The park's cleanliness is maintained with the help of an ingenious waste disposal system designed by Anton Pieck and Ton van de Ven, and originally conceived by Henk Knuivers.
For each scene, the fairy tale can be read from book plaques provided nearby (usually in Dutch, English, German and French).
The story is about a young maiden; who has been cursed by an evil fairy at birth and fell into an enchanted eternal sleep, and awaken by the kiss of a prince.
Snow White first stood in a cave with a hole so you could watch it from outside, with seven stone dwarfs crying over her sleeping death.
Dwarf Village was originally designed by Anton Pieck with later contributions by Ton van de Ven.
In 1952, the village consisted of three large toadstools, through which children could walk, with miniature adornments, such as little chairs and dwarf laundry hanging from a wire.
In 1960, the scene was replaced by Granny's house, with the wolf lying in bed and Red Riding Hood at the front door, ringing the bell.
On August 15, 1998, the figure of Little Red Riding Hood was stolen; but was found the next day at the Dominicus Church in Tiel.
The scene consists of the witch's house with candy on the walls, pancakes as roofing tiles and a cake on top; and in the garden, a fountain of red lemonade.
An interactive element was added by Peter Reijnders: when one moves the front gate, a crow on the roof caws, smoke comes out of the chimney, a black cat with yellow eyes comes out of a hole in the wall and the witch (voiced by Peter Reijnder's daughter) says "Knibbel, knabbel, knuisje, wie knabbelt aan mijn huisje?"
The consistency and style of the music, lighting, decorations and animatronics can be found in many other rides built later, like Spookslot, Fata Morgana and Droomvlucht.
Peter Reijnders wanted to create this ride to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Efteling, and went to the Royal Castle of Laeken at Laken for an audience with Queen Fabiola of Belgium.
The queen agreed to let the Efteling use her story, which she had published in a book of fairy tales entitled Los doce cuentos maravillosos, on the condition that a contribution to charity was made.
Two large gates give access to a cavern leading to a subterranean jungle lake, enclosed by tropical plants, a creek and a roaring waterfall.
The principal musical theme for The Indian Water Lilies is “Afrikaan Beat” by Bert Kaempfert, but the ride starts with the Inca chant, “Taita Inti” (Virgin of the Sun God), taken from the album Voice of the Xtabay by Yma Sumac.
The Dragon, designed by Anton Pieck and Ton van de Ven, was supposed to open on April 6, 1979.
The Scandinavian myths inspired Ton van de Ven, who had illustrated a Norwegian fairy tale book in 1974, to create this old, somewhat confused creature, sitting in a hollow tree, predicting the future of his visitors.
The story is told by Wieteke van Dort; the witch's sounds are by Robert-Jaap Jansen, an Efteling designer.
To create some publicity for the official opening, Efteling organized a contest to find the girl with the longest hair from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the UK.
Based on the tale by Hans Christian Andersen, the scene was designed by Michel den Dulk as Het Meisje met de Zwavelstokjes.
The visitors enter the mansion, where they can watch through a window and look into a dark room, where birds are eating beans and a large music box stands in the middle.
In 2008, Efteling began to build an interactive tree, De Sprookjesboom, designed by Pim-Martijn Sanders and Karel Willemen, in the Fairy Tale Forest based on the character from their animated TV series Sprookjesboom, but the plan was unexpectedly shelved until July 2009, opening only on April 1, 2010.
When the emperor is carried to his palace naked, a fountain is used to hide his private parts, which is a comical addition to the attraction.
A few meters to the left of the shop the visitors can see monstrous fish which has devoured both Geppetto and Pinocchio who are visible when in opens its mouth.
The fairy tale was created by the Efteling in association with the 'Fondazione Nazionale Carlo Collodi', an organisation from the city of Colledi which tries to promote the story of Pinocchio.
