Robe Makes its Mark at Duinrell

	"I wanted a system with fixtures that any incoming / visiting LD would be happy to use for their event," van Zutphen comments. Photo: Louise Stickland

Duinrell -- a combined holiday, amusement park and water park in Wassenaar, South Holland, which is popular with families -- celebrated 90 years of operation in 2025. It started as a family park in 1935 on the historic estate of the Van Zuylen van Nijevelt family, a short distance from the beach, and is one of the Netherlands' best-loved and most successful theme parks, attracting 1.4 million visitors a year.

In recent years, Robe moving lights have started making an impact, contributing to the positive vibes and great Duinrell energy.

Roy van Zutphen is the electrician and engineer in charge of lighting. He leads a team of 29 who look after all things technical and operational, including all the venues and rides. Their work also covers mechanical, carpentry, and set building.

When a brand-new Arcade Game Hall was opened in 2023, van Zutphen reached out to Controllux's Maikel Sakkers, one of the company's main sales managers, who had a connection at Duinrell via one of their service technicians who used to be an intern there.

He asked for some advice on the best lighting options for the Arcade Hall, which was a hybrid design to also accommodate events of up to 1,500 people.

Sakkers arrived on site and, when he realized the scale of the new building, recommended a combination of Robe moving lights in the form of PAINTES, LEDBeam 150s and CUETEs.

"We needed the most flexible and adaptable lighting and also a reliable solution," explains van Zutphen, who is delighted with the results. Reliability was a major consideration as the Arcade is open 8 or 10 hours a day every day, so the lights had to be robust and well-built.

Four PAINTEs were chosen for the staging area in the middle of the Arcade venue, as that is the main area used for events. These fixtures give the option of great quality light, have plenty of scope for effects and are also capable of excellent key lighting.

The 24 LEDBeam 150s are deployed around the stage -- which is in the center of the building -- and around the room on roof trusses.

Van Zutphen also wanted some additional fixtures for the space that could produce great gobo effects and colors but didn't need to be as complex as the PAINTES, so for this he chose CUETEs, which have complementary CMY colour mixing to the PAINTEs but no zoom.

They are also both TE fixtures, benefitting from Robe's TRANSFERABLE LED engine. Robe was chosen as a rock-solid brand that would require little maintenance, and van Zutphen also thought the TRANSFERABLE ENGINE was a huge advantage in this scenario.

"I also wanted a system with fixtures that any incoming / visiting LD would be happy to use for their event," he comments.

The lights also needed to be delivered in a really short timescale -- around six or seven weeks -- so once van Zutphen confirmed the specification and placed the order, Sakkers got to work co-ordinating with Robe in the Czech Republic to ensure that the kit would be there to meet the deadline.

The day-to-day Arcade Hall lighting is run via a Mosaic show controller, but the lights can be hooked into external consoles and controlled independently for events.

van Zutphen was so pleased with the results of the Game Arcade lighting that he again turned to Controllux last year when it came to refurbishing the classic Duinrell Express train ride.

It had been running for 47 years at that point, so an upgrade was definitely due. He again wanted to find out the best options for lighting, choosing 16 x Robe iBar 15s and iParFects.

The iBar 15s are used to light the walls and the scenery, and the iParFect was needed for the opening of the cave, for which a zoomable light was required.

van Zutphen has worked at Duinrell for 15 years and is very passionate about the job and the venue.

"There's never a dull moment here, everything is dynamic, different and it is really almost like a hyper-busy vacation for me working here!" he enthuses. He enjoys a "brilliant and highly productive" partnership with Controllux and appreciates their attention to detail and thoroughness.

He also recently visited the Robe factory in the Czech Republic and thinks it is "amazing," particularly appreciating "the craft and diligence that goes into making each product."