Sounds like you had a great day, and what a lovely photo of your daughter to start the day with. Such a lovely experience to share with her dad (small tent and creepy mouse notwithstanding).
The dark undertone is most definitely there in European theme parks isn't it; we noticed it in Efteling too. I think within that environment it kind of grew on us, though anywhere else we wouldn't really care for it. I suppose when you think of it, many of the old fairy tales, and most definitely the Grimm brothers' fairly tales, are really quite dark, and well... grim
I've been looking at the map, and it does look very(!) big (thanks for the offer of a paper map, but I've managed to download a good PDF version). I'm planning two days at the park, and an additional day at Rulantica - I hope it's adequate (we won't be riding any of the very scary coasters).
Food seems decent and reasonably-priced. Have you noticed, by any chance, if there are any plant-based options? I know no one goes to Germany to have a vegetarian sausage or schnitzel
, but I'm hoping they still cater for that. We had very low expectations on that front from Efteling and were positively surprised. The waffles look good, but I'm with your daughter there on the sour cherry topping
The hotel where you had dinner is one of the cheaper ones; in fact if you go out of season and book in advance it's not too bad at all. I think the new hotel that just opened is even cheaper though. I contemplated a split stay with maybe a couple of nights there, and the rest in a guesthouse, but I don't think we can be bothered to move (and we'll be spending all day in the park anyway).
Looking forward to the next instalment - great report so far.