Efteling is the largest theme park in the Netherlands and one of the oldest theme parks in the world. Efteling is located in the town of Kaatsheuvel, in the municipality of Loon op Zand. It has received over 100 million visitors.
Since its opening in 1952, the park has evolved from a nature park with a playground and a Fairy Tale Forest into a full-sized theme park. Efteling now caters to both children and adults with its cultural, romantic and nostalgic themes and its variety of amusement rides. It is twice as large as the original Disneyland park in California and predates it by three years.
The park is fantasy-themed; its attractions are based on elements from ancient myths and legends, fairy tales, fables and folklore.
The success of Efteling has been attributed largely to its high-quality ride designs and architecture and its pleasant green environments and gardening. The park, under the aegis of its creative directors, has always had high standards. When Anton Pieck was asked to design the initial fairy tales for the park, he made sure the park would live up to his personal high standards: there would be no use of cheap building materials, plastic or concrete. Pieck's illustration style, somewhat grim and dark, yet also romantic and nostalgic, was the thematic base on which most future expansions were built.
Pieck worked for Efteling until the mid-1970s, when his position as chief designer was passed on to the young Ton van de Ven. Van de Ven had already been working for Efteling for several years and Pieck was very pleased with his work. The Haunted Castle (het Spookslot), which opened in 1978 as the park's first new large ride, was the first attraction designed entirely by Van de Ven (although he used some ideas from joint brainstorming sessions with Pieck). Later on he designed many more successful rides and new fairy tales, leading him to be considered by some as the world's best 'imagineer' after Disney.
Van de Ven continued his work until 2002, when he retired. A new team of imagineers is currently working on new Efteling rides.