Dreamflight
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Dreamflight (or "Droomvlucht" in Dutch) is a dark ride in Efteling amusement park in the Netherlands. It was designed by Ton van de Ven and opened its doors in 1993.
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[edit] History and details
In Dreamflight, the visitors fly through a dream world of forests, castles, fairies, trolls and other fairy-tale-like creatures and scenes. The visitors are seated in small open cabins hanging from the ceiling. The ride takes them past five different scenes in about six minutes: the Castle Realm, the Wondrous Forest, the Fairy Garden, Heavenly Strongholds and the Squelch Forest.
The speed and height of the individual cabins vary throughout the ride, with a climax in the troll marshes at the end, where the cabins come to a seemingly free fall in a spiral downwards from 13 meters of height.
Efteling wanted to present Dreamflight in 1992, for the 40-year anniversary of the park, that also coincided with the opening of Disneyland Resort Paris. However, due to problems with the seating cabins it couldn’t be used until 1993. Due to this problem, the ride cost € 4.5 million more then was estimated, bringing the total costs up to € 12.5 million, the most expensive of Efteling to that day.
Ride length: 425 m. in 6 minutes. Height: 17 m. Capacity: 1800 persons/ hour Max. speed: 20 km/ph
48 fairies, 10 trolls, 38 animals (including e.g. a unicorn, 1 million flowers, 1.5 million plants and 3.8 million leaves [1].
[edit] The ride
Due to the ride’s popularity, the original entry was moved from the thematic hall to a standard queue line. The original entry hall is still in use for special events. The ride starts with some animatronics. Integration between the scenes consists of scarcely lit tunnels with ambient music.
- the Castle Realm
The dream begins upon entering the Castle Realm. 4 lighted castles float against the evening glow. It must be assumed that the powers that be hold residence here. The hazy realm also has a waterfall and a smell of moist vegetation.
- the Wondrous Forest
There forest is filled with fairies and creatures that look like fauns, but because of the lack of goat-like legs they appear to be satyrs. A new creature, so it appears. Another one is a troll-like creature, the Squelch, here playing a harp. Behind a magic fairy we see a satyr nude bathing, and above him an unicorn.
- the Fairy Garden
Here we enter into a garden with fairies paddling and swinging, while others watch us from branches on all sides. A deer is quenching her thirst. The troll king Oberon is waving us out when we enter into a long tunnel with stars, to be transferred to the next scene.
- Heavenly Strongholds
In this scene there are several moons and strongholds circling each other against a starlit sky. The moons are urbanized with magical cities. Several giant lighted strongholds are floating in the latter part of the scene.
- Squelch Forest
In this last scene we spiral 13 meters down around in a rainforest, populated by trolls and squelches who are enjoying themselves in the rain. A troll comes at you when you are at ground level, for reasons which can be but guessed. Some elves, trolls and squelches conclude the ride.
[edit] Music
The music for Dreamflight – for each scene a different theme - was composed by Ruud Bos, who also wrote the musical themes for (among other attractions) Fata Morgana, Vogelrok and Villa Volta.
