Carnaval Festival

Carnaval Festival is the first dark ride that opened in Efteling. It was designed by Dutch film producer Joop Geesinkwho worked mostly on puppet movies. Geesink was an adviser for Efteling in the years leading up to this project.

It became clear in 1983 that the development of what was supposed to be Efteling's first dark rideFata Morganatook longer than expected. Geesink pitched the idea for Carnaval Festivalinspired by Disney’s It’s a Small World. To this dateCarnaval Festival is the only ride at Efteling for which the complete development was outsourced. Joop Geesink passed away a couple weeks before the opening of the ride.

While the puppet figures were created by Geesink's own studiothe mechanisms along with the larger animated figures like the dragon and gorilla were supplied by Heimo.

The melody for the music was created by Dutch comedian Toon Hermans. Ruud Boswho later became Efteling's main composertook this melody and arranged it into a complete soundtrack with variations for the different countries.

The ride was modified several times over the years. Loekie de Leeuw (a puppet from stop-motion commercialsoriginally created by Geesink) was added to various scenes in 2005 and was removed in 2012. That year also marked the re-introduction of Jokiethe mascot for the ride. In 2019 the Asian and African scenes were altered following controversy over alleged racial stereotyping.