If your Karlijn ter Horst (36) would come across a sun -drenched summer day in shorts, it is immediately clear that she has an insane love for Efteling. Raveleijn, the bats from the ghost lock, Dance Macabre and the singing fungus from the Fairytale Forest, everything is in finely lined drawings on her legs. For her, that nice fantasy bubble is a party that never goes out.
When we call the Helmondse Karlijn for the interview, she is – how could it be otherwise – with her family and a couple of suitcases in the car on the way to Kaatsheuvel. “We are on the way to a house in Bosrijk, to stay in the Efteling for a few days,” she is lagging.
And that’s not for the first time. As a little girl, she stepped through the fairy tale forest on the basis of her father and mother and bite a bright red sugared apple. The Efteling, that was Sinterklaas and Christmas in one.
Screaming the depth diving into the baron, floating over the White Waterbaan Piraña and swooning at Langnek, Karlijn is a fan. A visit to the amusement park brings up the happy, unrestrained child in her. “I enjoy myself drowsy, even though I have been there so often that I know every corner and every detail,” she says.
“My friend went to my knees in Raveleijn.”
True love does not rust. She grew up, got a dating and also boyfriend became under the spell in the world full of miracles. “He even asked me to marry him in Efteling. In the restaurant of the castle of Raveleijn he went to his knees. Everything was arranged down to the last detail, even the staff was aware and was in the conspiracy,” She tells. “There was champagne, there were rose petals and all the people in the restaurant clapped. Of course I said yes.”
It was a tough wedding, they married in the prehistoric village in Eindhoven. The bridalphoto shoot Was in the Efteling, of course at Raveleijn. And that special moment had to be immortalized in ink not long after, they thought. “I had a black raven tattooed, with the gate of the castle in the background, my husband has the fire -breathing dragon.”
“I also have that cake and mushroom as a tattoo on my body.”
The couple now have two children. The announcement of both pregnancies were also done in the amusement park. “We brought two bright red slippers from Pardoes to the Fairytale Forest and with a singing mushroom and at the cake of Hans and Grietje we took pictures with the announcement ‘A new fairy tale starts on ….’.
“We sent those photos to all friends and acquaintances,” she continues. “When I was pregnant with the first, it was in the middle of the coronation time, so we couldn’t visit anyone. But that’s how we were able to announce it in a fun way. That sugar-sweet cake and red-white mushroom are now also on M a body. “
“We are not from that man biting dog types,” she emphasizes. “For us it is just a place to relax as a family. If we have had a busy time or something bad happened, we will dive into the park.”
The first tattoo came when she was 17. “After a long whining I got permission from my parents,” she laughs. “It was a rune sign (a symbolic alphabet used by former Germanic peoples, ed.) On my ankle. I started obediently and small, but the drawings have become bigger and colorful with the years. In the meantime I have now. about thirty, I think. “
Fairy tales and funny figures are a bit the common thread for Karlijn. “The whole story of Alice in Wonderland is on my body, just like a green shark and the logo of the Citroën car brand.”
She is not ready yet. “The next appointment is already planned, in March. Because it is a bit addictive, you know.”
