The Droomvlucht with elves in all skin tones: the renewed attraction is open again from today. Earlier, the attraction Monsieur Cannibale already disappeared and Carnival Festival also underwent a metamorphosis. For a long time, Efteling paid no attention to diversity and inclusivity, but now it is high on the agenda.
Efteling added Monsieur Cannibale to its list of attractions in 1988, more than thirty years after the park opened its doors. Young and old revolved in cooking pots that hung over a crackling fire. The protagonist of the attraction was Monsieur Cannibale: a thick-lipped black figure with a spoon through his nose, clutching an ice cream cone between hands and feet. On his knee sat a blond cook holding on to the spoon stuck in Cannibale’s nose.
Henny Knoet designed the attraction. At first he wanted to make cars revolve around a traffic cop. Nevertheless, it became a cannibal theme, because it suited the adjacent Carnival Festival better. Even before the attraction was built, the discrimination hotline in Tilburg was already receiving complaints. The attraction is said to portray a racist stereotype.
The attraction was also criticized in the years that followed. Journalist Gisela Williams visited the park in 2014 and wrote about it The Wall Street Journal. She described the amusement park as a “life-size fairytale with vintage merry-go-rounds and affordable treats.”
But she also added a caveat. “The way people with dark skin are depicted is wrong. At a merry-go-round called Monsieur Cannibale, for example, a huge figure wore a chef’s hat on his head and a spoon through his nostrils – a racist throwback to the time of the Dutch East India Company. “
‘Attraction no longer fits in this time’
Efteling has received complaints about Monsieur Cannibale, especially in recent years, Steven van Gils, spokesperson for the amusement park, told NU.nl. In 2021, the park removed the attraction.
“People are increasingly aware of stereotyping and that is no different with us,” says Van Gils. “When an attraction is due for major maintenance, we decide whether the attraction still fits in with the current zeitgeist and with Efteling. We then replaced Monsieur Cannibale with the new Sindbad de Zeeman attraction.”
Monsieur Cannibale is not the first attraction that Efteling has adapted. In 2019, the park overhauled Carnival Festival. Dolls with frizzy hair and nose rings and figures with slit eyes and hare teeth disappeared after 35 years.
Droomvlucht also tackled
After Monsieur Cannibale and Carnival Festival it was the turn of the Droomvlucht. The popular attraction has been closed for major maintenance since October. When the attraction reopens on Saturday, eleven elves will have a different skin color and a matching haircut.
According to Van Gils, this is a conscious choice in the context of diversity and inclusiveness. “We would like the young children in particular to be able to imagine that they are an elf. That is why we opt for different elves that all children can identify with.”
‘Diversity and inclusivity do have our attention now’
Van Gils admits that Efteling has not taken diversity and inclusiveness into account enough in the past. Now it is high on the agenda. The park therefore calls in external advisors to think along. There is also an internal working group that is responsible for inclusiveness in the amusement park. This working group includes designers, for example, but also researchers who measure the satisfaction of amusement park guests.
The adjustment to the Droomvlucht is the last for the time being in the context of inclusiveness, says the spokesperson. “Of course, with every major maintenance, we continue to look at whether changes are possible or necessary in the field of sustainability, technology and inclusiveness.”
