Three elves sitting on a branch
Droomvlucht (Dutch for Dream Flight) is a dark suspended dark ride in the Dutch theme park Efteling. The ride takes its riders to a fantastical Dream Land which they fly by in five different scenes, which include a realm full of Bright Castles, an Enchanted Forest inhabited by different fantasy creatures, a Hidden Elf Village, a vision of space full of Ominous Floating Castles and a swampy forest inhabited by Trolls.The design of the ride was done by Ton van de Ven and the soundtrack was composed by Ruud Bos.
The ride opened in 1993 and has been the most popular ride in the park since. Its enduring popularity even spawned a full-blown musical adaptation in 2011.
Tropes present in Droomvlucht include:
- Amazing Technicolor Population: The second scene features the so-called “forest ghosts”, a race of creatures who stand out because of their green skin.
- All There in the Manual: As there is no spoken dialogue during the ride, all information about the names of the scenes, fantasy races and characters comes from documentaries, merchandise products and printed material.
- Bright Castle: Present in the first and fourth scene of the ride.
- Elves versus Trolls: Averted during the ride, as the elves and trolls can be seen playing with each other in the last scene. However, the trope was completely played straight in the the musical adaptation of the ride.
- Enchanted Forest: The main theme of the second scene of the ride, in which the riders fly past a forest inhabited by elves, forest ghosts, fauns, unicorns and talking trees.
- Dream Land: The central theme of the ride is that the riders are taken to one.
- Dreams of Flying: It is not for nothing that the Dutch name of the ride translates to “Dream Flight”.
- Faerie Court: The elves are ostensibly ruled by a king who is commonly known as Oberon.
- Fauns and Satyrs: The second and last scene features a race of creatures which are called “fauns”, although they lack the horns and goat legs that fauns are commonly associated with and seem more like a nondescript kind of troll.
- Garden Garment: The clothing of both the elves and forest ghosts seems to be partially made of flowers.
- Hidden Elf Village: A garden which is inhabited by elves is the main theme of the second scene of the ride.
- Land of Faerie: Depending on interpretation, the whole ride or at least some scenes of it take place in this kind of world.
- Ominous Floating Castle: The fourth scene consists of castles floating through space.
- One-Gender Race: The elves are almost exclusively female (apart from the elf king Oberon), while the trolls, fauns and “forest ghosts” all seem to be male.
- Our Fairies Are Different: Although they are called “elves”, the small only-female winged humanoids prominently featured in the second, third and last scenes are actually fairies.
- Our Trolls Are Different: The climax of the scene takes place in the forest of the so-called “blubber trolls”, a swamp-dwelling race of small humanoids with long hair, big noses and a wrinkly skin.
- Pointy Ears: All of the fantasy races in the ride have them.
- Silence Is Golden: Apart from the music in the background, the ride is completely devoid of spoken words or sound effects.
- Standard Fantasy Races: The ride features fairies (which are called “elves”), trolls, fauns and a nondescript race of green creatures which are called “forest ghosts”.
- Unicorn: One can be seen in the background of the second scene.
- Winged Humanoid: The elves.
