Dreamflight

Dreamflight (or "Droomvlucht" in Dutch) is a dark ride in Efteling amusement park in the Netherlands. It was designed by Ton van de Ven, built by Translift and opened in 1993.

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 seeming 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, which coincided with the opening of Disneyland Paris. However, due to problems with the seating cabins it was not ready until 1993. Due to this problem, the ride cost €4.5 million more than was estimated, bringing the total costs up to €12.5 million, the most expensive attraction at Efteling to that day.

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 dream begins upon entering the Castle Realm. Four lighted castles float against the evening glow. The hazy realm also has a waterfall and a smell of moist vegetation.

The 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. Another one is a troll-like creature, the Squelch, here playing a harp. Behind a magic fairy a satyr can be seen bathing in the nude, and above him is a unicorn.

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Wikipedia