News about Halve Maen

In June 2025, Halve Maen drew attention from a different angle than faults and maintenance. An Efteling employee shared a social media photo from the top of the swinging ship. Looopings described how the image showed the height and impact of the structure when seen not from below as a guest, but from within it as a technician.

The report stressed that the employee was properly secured and that climbing the attraction was part of his work. It gave the classic ship a human behind-the-scenes story: visitors are not the only ones who experience its height; maintenance staff literally have to enter the structure.

For the attraction page, this adds a different kind of value. Halve Maen is twenty metres high, 27 metres long and reaches 54 kilometres per hour. Those figures become more tangible through a view from the top, where the engineering behind the huge swing becomes visible.

On 11 April 2025, Efteling was able to add Halve Maen back to its ride line-up. The swinging ship had been closed for almost a month after a technical fault on 13 March. Work had been visible in the days before, but the park did not reveal exactly what had been wrong.

The reopening was reported concretely: from 17:15, guests could swing again, and the waiting time at that moment was fifteen minutes. At the same time, the maintenance context remained. Efteling already knew that the 43-year-old ship would be out of service again briefly in late June and early July for planned maintenance.

For visitors, the news mainly meant that a familiar Ruigrijk classic was back for the spring period. For fans, it fit the wider pattern: Halve Maen remained preserved and popular enough to draw an immediate queue, but clearly required substantial technical care.

In March 2025, technical uncertainty returned around Halve Maen. On Thursday 13 March, another persistent fault occurred, after which the swinging ship remained closed. Efteling did not know when guests would be able to ride again and gave no details about the nature of the problem.

The article immediately placed the new fault alongside previous years. In 2022 and 2023, Halve Maen had already been closed for long periods several times because of technical issues. By August 2023, the situation had seemed under control, but a year and a half later the ship was out of service again.

For visitors, the uncertainty mattered most: there was no end date, only the message that the ride would remain closed in consultation with the supplier until a solution was found. For fans, the news confirmed that the 1982 Intamin classic remained a technically vulnerable part of Efteling’s line-up, despite its lasting recognizability.

In October 2023, Halve Maen appeared in an unexpected form outside the ride itself. Looopings reported that Efteling’s swinging ship was available as a scale model, alongside the Vlindermolen. For 200 euros, visitors could buy a miniature version of the well-known ship, developed by Luville for Christmas village displays.

The model was more than a static souvenir. The small Halve Maen actually swung back and forth, worked on batteries and included lights. Measuring 29 by 21 by 26 centimetres, it translated the ride into a recognizable collector’s piece for home use.

The timing gave the news a wry edge. In a year when the real Halve Maen had repeatedly been down because of technical problems, a working miniature version appeared in the shops. For fans, that underlined how recognizable the attraction remains: despite all the downtime, the VOC-themed ship was iconic enough to become a premium souvenir.

On 25 August 2023, Looopings reported that Halve Maen was open again, but the tone remained cautious. Since Wednesday 23 August, guests had been able to board the swinging ship once more, after a closure of three and a half weeks. That came shortly after the earlier downtime of more than eight weeks.

Efteling did not give details about what had gone wrong. It did make clear that the problem had been found and that continuous measurements were being taken to check whether the attraction was still functioning properly. This gave the reopening a different feel from a carefree return: the park was clearly monitoring the ride closely.

For fans, the most reassuring message was that Efteling had no plans to remove Halve Maen. In a park where Bob, Polka Marina and Spookslot had disappeared, that mattered. The classic would stay, but its technical future was clearly under close attention.

The relief of July 2023 did not last long. Less than a month after Halve Maen had returned from more than eight weeks of downtime, the swinging ship was already closed for several days again. Since Friday 28 July, guests had been unable to board, and by 1 August the cause of the new closure was still unclear.

Efteling said the situation was being investigated thoroughly. Test rides had already been seen, but the ship remained closed to the public. Notably, the closure did not appear on the public maintenance calendar, even though a sign at the entrance referred to work.

For visitors, this meant uncertainty once more. For fans, it was especially painful because the previous reopening was so recent. Halve Maen increasingly became a problem child: beloved, characterful and historically valuable, but difficult to keep stable during this period.

On 7 July 2023, the long-awaited breakthrough arrived: Halve Maen was operational again after more than eight weeks of technical problems. The attraction had closed unexpectedly in May, initially because of suspected wear. Scaffolding followed, work was carried out and an additional issue was discovered during maintenance.

All of that made the reopening more than a routine maintenance note. Visitors could finally swing aboard the VOC-themed ship again, while fans saw the end of a strikingly long period of downtime. Looopings also highlighted the ride’s historical value: Halve Maen stands in Ruigrijk, was built by Intamin and received its nautical theme from Ton van de Ven.

The reopening underlined why the attraction still matters. It is not a modern coaster, but a powerful Efteling icon: a large physical ride with recognizable decoration. That is exactly why long closures stand out so strongly in the park’s daily experience.

In early July 2023, Halve Maen’s return seemed close, but the technology proved stubborn again. During the work on the swinging ship, a new defect was discovered. As a result, the attraction, which had been closed since May after suspected wear on a technical component, was still not operational.

Efteling hoped the ship could reopen later that week. That made the report tense for regular visitors and fans: after weeks of scaffolding, inspections and delays, the finish line seemed visible but not guaranteed. The attraction had already been through several technical hurdles.

For Halve Maen’s history, this is an important in-between moment. It shows that the recovery was not a straight path. Even after the major visible work had been completed, a new technical detail could still delay the return of the classic VOC-themed ship.

Later in June 2023, the major work on Halve Maen seemed to enter a new phase. The huge scaffolding around the ship had been removed, but the reopening was delayed again. Where 22 June had previously been targeted, the maintenance calendar now pointed to 30 June, without that date being a firm promise.

Efteling explained that the attraction had been stopped in May after suspected wear on a technical part. For guest safety, the park chose not to wait, but to investigate the situation. The scaffolding around the ride was part of that process; on the day of the article, work was being carried out underneath the ship.

For visitors, the news meant another delay. For fans, it added useful context: Halve Maen was not undergoing cosmetic maintenance, but a safety-driven technical diagnosis around an older, heavy moving ride system.

By early June 2023, the scale of the work on Halve Maen had become visible. Looopings reported that a huge scaffolding structure was being built around the towering swinging ship. The attraction had already been closed for four weeks because of a technical fault, and the issue turned out to be located high in the installation.

The scaffolding made clear that the work could not simply be carried out from ground level. Some decorative parts of the VOC-themed ship had already been removed. At that point, Efteling hoped the attraction could reopen later in June, but the timeline remained uncertain.

For visitors, an abstract fault became a visible construction scene in the middle of Ruigrijk. For fans, it offered a rare look at the technical side of a classic usually experienced as a mix of swinging mass and nostalgic decoration.

In May 2023, Halve Maen again appeared in the news because of technical trouble. The swinging ship had closed unexpectedly on 10 May due to a fault and was still out of service more than a week later. Efteling spoke of ongoing problems, but could not yet explain exactly what was wrong or when guests would be able to ride again.

The article immediately placed the closure in a wider pattern. Halve Maen had already been down for six weeks in late 2021, followed by another problem in early 2022. That made the 2023 closure feel less like an isolated incident and more like the continuation of a technical file around a beloved classic.

For visitors, it brought uncertainty to their day planning, especially because the ride was also scheduled for planned maintenance later in June. For fans, the question was how structural the problems with the twenty-metre ship had become.

In early February 2022, there was finally good news for Halve Maen. After Efteling was allowed to reopen at the end of January, the swinging ship had remained closed because of a fault discovered during startup. Looopings reported that this complication had now also been solved and that the twenty-metre-high ship was operational again.

The timing made the reopening more meaningful. In late 2021, the attraction had already been closed for six weeks because of a technical defect, after which Efteling itself had to close under tighter coronavirus rules. When guests returned, they still could not immediately board the VOC-themed ship.

After test rides on Friday afternoon, Halve Maen returned to service around 16:30. The exact cause remained unclear. For fans, it felt like relief, but also like another chapter in a longer technical search.

In early 2022, the calm around Halve Maen proved short-lived. When Efteling was allowed to welcome guests again after coronavirus restrictions, the swinging ship was once more out of service. A technical issue had appeared while starting up the attraction, shortly after the previous long closure seemed to have been solved.

For visitors, that was frustrating: the park was open again, but one of Ruigrijk’s major classics remained unavailable. Efteling could not say whether the new issue was the same as the fault from late 2021. The park did expect the defect to be fixed more quickly, although that depended on an external party.

For fans, the report confirmed that Halve Maen had entered a vulnerable phase. Its theme and popularity were not in question; the concern was how stable the technology of this forty-year-old ship still was.

By mid-December 2021, guests could finally board Halve Maen again. After more than six weeks of downtime, Looopings reported that the fault had been fixed and the VOC-themed ship was back in service. The solution was not a visible upgrade: Efteling said parts had been replaced, research had been carried out and maintenance had been performed.

That nuance made the reopening noteworthy. For guests, the ride experience did not visibly change, but behind the scenes it had clearly taken substantial work to make the attraction reliable enough again. The ship was heading toward its fortieth anniversary, and for older classics like this, maintenance increasingly determines continuity.

For visitors, the result was simple: Ruigrijk had its large swinging ship back. For fans, it brought relief, while also showing that Halve Maen’s technology would continue to need attention.

Two weeks after the first report, the scale of Halve Maen’s fault became clearer. Looopings observed work around the twenty-metre-high structure, with an aerial platform next to the ship and employees focusing on the top of the ride. By then, the closure had already lasted three weeks.

Efteling said the likely cause had been found and that several parts were being replaced. That did not give visitors a reopening date, but it did make the work more concrete: this was not a quick reset, but technical maintenance in a hard-to-reach part of the attraction.

For fans, the location of the work stood out. On a swinging ship like Halve Maen, the thrill comes from the large pendulum movement, so the upper support structure has to perform perfectly. The photos showed how much engineering sits behind a classic that can look deceptively simple from the ground.

In November 2021, Halve Maen entered a difficult period. The large swinging ship had been closed since 3 November because of a persistent technical fault, while Efteling could not say when it would reopen. For visitors, that left a noticeable gap in Ruigrijk: this classic ride is normally one of the park’s most recognizable thrill moments.

Efteling described the issue only as a technical problem and worked with supplier Intamin to find both the cause and a solution. That matters because Halve Maen is not a simple decorative ride, but a heavy 1982 installation built by a manufacturer that supplied several major Efteling attractions.

For the ride’s history, this closure marked the start of a period in which reliability became a recurring theme. The ship remained beloved, but technical vulnerability increasingly became part of its story.