Sander de Bruijn took on the role of team lead design at Dutch theme park Efteling in 2018, where he has overseen a number of successful projects, including Raveleijn, Symbolica and Baron 1898.
In 2024, Efteling will open a new hotel with a pool and spa, as part of the ambitious World of Efteling 2030 development plan. The Efteling Grand Hotel will have seven floors and 143 rooms with around 700 beds, as well as two restaurants, two shops, a swimming pool and a luxurious spa. As the new Efteling Grand Hotel broke ground in 2022, blooloop visited the site and spoke to de Bruijn about what inspires him when designing the future of the world’s most enchanting theme park.
For de Bruijn, it was key to create a unique concept for the hotel, while also making sure that the new addition is in keeping with the feel of the theme park, which dates back to 1952. The Fairytale Forest, designed by illustrator Anton Pieck, is full of charm and serves as a familiar place of connection to the pre-digital era. With this new project, de Bruijn says that he feels he is, “taking the pencil over and extending the story of Efteling”, which is a “real-life fairytale book”.
Another of de Bruijn’s projects at Efteling was Symbolica, which later went on to win a Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement from the TEA in 2018. The jury called Symbolica “a world-class attraction in which a story comes to life in an innovative way…This is combined with astonishing creativity, imagination, craftsmanship, detailed theming, lifelike animatronics and a trackless transport system that allows the vehicles to move in all directions.”
Fons Jurgens, Efteling’s CEO, says:
“Efteling is the life’s work of giants such as Anton Pieck, Peter Reijnders and Mayor Van der Heijden. And now, led by Sander de Bruijn, many designers and storytellers are following in their footsteps.”