Symbolica - Efteling (NL)
In 2017 Efteling opened their newest attraction yet: Symbolica. This 35 million euro trackless darkride by ETF is home to the parks mascot: Pardoes. The ride is located in the center of the park at the end of the main path, which delivers a nice view when you come around the corner.
You enter the queue in front of the caste and walk trough what should be the palace's gardens, although their are no fancy flower beds, hedges or marble statues. There are two pavilions with some announcements by O.J. Punctuel, one of the main characters in the ride. When you enter the palace you enter in a room with on the stairs Punctuel himself, reading the rules.
During the preshow Pardoes interrupts him and wants to take us on a tour trough the castle, when we acctually are supposed to meet the king. Pardoes splits the stairs in two parts so we can walk trough towards the station, which is a nice surprise you don't see coming.
You have to choose between three tours, which are, except for one scene, about the same. The ride starts with in my opion the best scene, the observatory. Why they chose to open with the best scene is beyond me since you should build up the excitement.
After this scene you pass by a beautiful panorama scene and a green house which turns into an aquarium with some kind of whale breaking the glass, which is not very convincing. A giant whale just causing some cracks is quite disappointing.
Then you split of from the other tours and go into a separate room with a screen, this is one of the main moments of interactivity in the ride. The interactivity in this ride is questionable. It doesn't really do anything, it is unclear what to do and when to do it.
In the next room, the main scene of the ride, a few Fantasy Floats (the rides vehicles) drive in a seemingly random route through the room, each stopping to look at different things with some more interactivity, which is better done this time.
The next room is the room where you finally meat the king and your Fantasy Floats dance trough the room. You pass by your onride photo and then you exit.
My main point about this ride is it is too good. The ride is full of details, but there are so much, you don't get what just happened. The ride is a bit confusing for most riders since the scenes may seem random. It probably becomes clear after riding multiple times, but most visitors probably don't do that, especially since this attraction has a questionable capacity for the status it has.
Also the exterior does not meet the same standards as the interior, it isn't even in the same style. The inside is very colourful and vibrant, and the exterior is more simple and calm. The last one suits Efteling's style more, in opposition to the interior.
All in all this is an amazing attraction, the quality is unprecedented and Efteling should be really proud of this one. There are some perks, but these are only noticeable because the rest is really good. I rate this ride 8.5/10, but note I am not part of the target audience since I am no longer under 12!