Carnival Festival
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Carnival Festival (or "Carnaval Festival" in Dutch) is a dark ride in amusement park Efteling in the Netherlands. It was designed by Joop Geesink and opened its doors in 1984.
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[edit] History and details
The ride, 240 m length, is original, but clearly influenced by Disney’s "it's a small world", and signified a breach with the fairy-tale style of the Efteling. The ride takes 2 guest, in 1 of the 118 cars, through a humorous simplification of the world populated by animatronics in just over 6 minutes, accompanied by a catchy music written by Ruud Bos and stand-up comedian Toon Hermans. The ride’s host is ‘Jokie de Prrretneus’, a carnival doll and an early version of the park’s mascot ‘Pardoes’. In 2005 the ride was redecorated with the famous Dutch doll "Loekie". Joop Geesink’s objective was to make it a hilarious ride, which is done by taking cultural aspects that have been generalized, and portraying them with funny dolls.
[edit] The Ride
The ride passes through 9 different regions, each represented by typical scenes and variations on the music.
- Netherlands
The first land the ride passes through is the Netherlands. Scenes of singing frogs, birds, fishermen, tulips, wooden shoes and farmers represent the Dutch cultural icons. - Belgium and France
After a short scene of Belgium the rides jumps from the Mediterranean to Paris, portrayed by can-can dancers in front of the Moulin Rouge - United Kingdom
Next in line is the British capital, London. Scenes here show the Underground, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard. The Scottish Highlands are also present. - Germany and the Alps
This region is represented by a Oktoberfest, where everybody is happily drinking beer, including a group of Monks. Some mountain scenes from the Alps conclude this part. - Italy
Here we see Venice, Pisa and a reference to Rome’s imperial history. - Japan and China
This scene opens with a tunnel decorated with Japanese Noh stage masks. After that we see some Geisha women, sumo wrestling and a Chinese Shadow play. China is portrayed by a large scene with a dragon. - The Artic
This is also a pretty deep scene, with an icy world filled with igloos and Eskimos and a lot of penguin-sized, snowman-like creatures. After this scene the ride goes through a tunnel where lots of these creatures stare down on the visitor through holes in the ceiling. - Africa
Here we see large trees as well as a giant monkey and hear jungle-screams - Mexico and Hawaii
Little donkeys transport Mexicans, off course with sombreros and maracas; guitars and trumpets. Hawaiian Hula girls bid us a farewell.
[edit] The Music
For the first time the Efteling ordered for a special music to be made. Ruud Bos was contracted, and the base theme was developed by Toon Hermans. The main tune varies per scene: a mandolin, bagpipe, gong- it seems simplistic but the actual presentation is very catchy. The multiple-track sound system was ‘borrowed’ from, again, "it's a small world" but is nowadays, off course, digitalized.
