On 8 April, Efteling Imagineering Officer Olaf Vugts was awarded a Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement for the theme park’s newest attraction, Symbolica, at the Thea Awards Gala in Anaheim in California, United States.

Efteling, the fairytale theme park in the south of Holland, opened Symbolica last summer in honour of its 65^th anniversary. The prestigious Thea Award is presented annually by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), an organisation that develops and designs theme parks and theme locations worldwide. The jury from TEA commented: ‘The Symbolica dark ride is a world-class attraction, in which a story comes to life in an innovative way. This is combined with astonishing creativity, imaginative power, craftsmanship, detailed themes, lifelike animatronics and a trackless transport system on which the vehicles can move in all directions’.

Olaf Vugts says: “Since the opening, we have received a lot of positive feedback from our visitors about Symbolica. This award and the reaction of the judging panel from the theme park industry, about our new ride, really is the cherry on top of the cake.”

Symbolica: Palace of Fantasy

Symbolica is an indoor ‘dark’ ride and the latest family attraction to open in Efteling. It is an enchanting palace where nothing is what it seems. Visitors are invited to an audience with the king, and Magic Jester Pardoes ensures that every visit is exceptional. Guests are led through secret corridors and royal apartments for the duration of the ride.

Thea Awards

This is Efteling’s fourth Thea Award. Twenty years ago in 1997, the attraction Villa Volta madhouse was the only Efteling-attraction rewarded at the Thea Awards, and the water show Aquanura was awarded in 2012, both for Outstanding Achievement. In 2004, Efteling won the Thea Classic Award for its overarching success for fifty years.

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