Volume 3, No. 6. March 28, 2003
Springing
into action
The summer was a
given. Then Efteling conquered winter. Now the venerable Netherlands theme park
in Kaatsheuvel is aiming to grow its spring season through, well, growth.
That growth will come in the form of 400,000 flowering bulbs and more than 100,000
spring plants, in addition to the park’s voluminous trees. Called Spring
Efteling, the festival from April 1 to the end of June will feature a demonstration
area on the central square utilizing the park’s own gardening and landscaping
staff to answer park guests’ questions and offer advice. Multi-lingual
signs will be placed around the park identifying various plants, trees, fish
and ducks. Supplementing the nature-driven festival will be a sand sculpture
festival running the duration of Spring Efteling and a sheep shearing display
at the end of June.
The purpose of the festival, said Henk Groenen, Efteling’s head of communications,
is to drive attendance during a traditionally soft period, a strategy emboldened
by the park’s immense success with its winter program. “What we are
now trying to do is give extra attention to spring time,” he said. Annual
pass holders make up a small percentage of the 3.4 million visitors per year,
Groenen said, so rather than spurring repeat visits from regulars, Spring Efteling
is seen as a way to get the bulk of the park’s patrons to make bi- or tri-annual
visits.
While bringing attention to its spring beauty, Efteling is in the midst of an
ambitious capital improvement program to solidify the park as a resort destination.
The park is nearing completion on its new theater which will include a 400-seat
restaurant and “great foyer.” The theater will anchor a new themed
district in the park, the Entertainment Realm, that will include more restaurants,
theaters and possibly a wedding chapel. Groenen said the new realm will be similar
to a Universal’s City Walk or Downtown Disney “but done in the Efteling
way, magical like in the 18th century.”
In 2004 Efteling plans to open another new district, the Dream Realm, which
will include a new hotel fashioned as a castle, woodland villas and cottages
that resemble manors. As a place for families to spend their nights in an Efteling-style
themed environment, it literally will be a dream realm, and for Efteling itself
an attempt to catch a dream of expanding its primary market throughout Europe.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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