Efteling Theme Park has today announced the highly anticipated opening date for their spooky new ride Danse Macabre.
For two years now Efteling staff members have been working tirelessly night and day to bring this new attraction to live.
Standing on the spot where the old Spookslot Haunted House used to stand, a mysterious abbey with a terrifying history has arisen little by little, and the dilapidated building can now be admired in all its glory from behind the construction fences.
For the first time, Efteling is now sharing images of the inside of the abbey, with recently installed choir seats, old, reused elements from the Spookslot and an immense organ.
Efteling has today confirmed the opening for Danse Macabre is October 31st.
Danse Macabre is a haunted spectacle full of dark twists where 108 souls each take their seats to “dance” to the musical piece of the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns of the same name. The design team visited several abbeys in Belgium for inspiration. Efteling’s investment in Danse Macabre and the new Huyverwoud themed area is around EUR 35 million.
The ride system, designed by Intamin is the first of its kind in the world. Named the ‘Dynamic Motion Stage’ guests will step aboard this system for the first ever time in October and experience something very unique from a world-renowned manufacturer.
Designer Jeroen Verheij said:
The bizarre thing -and at the same time the beautiful thing- is that, as a designer, you are at the very beginning of inventing and sketching what we are showing here now.
That means that I am actually in my own drawing now. I hope our guests will be overwhelmed by what they see when they soon enter this chapel. It is a hugely impressive space. This will be an unforgettable attraction.
The Dynamic Motion System will allow visitors to dance on a large 18-metre turntable. Atop this turntable are six smaller turntables housing the choir seats with three rows capable of holding 108 visitors at a time.
Accompanying the music the turntable will rise, tilt and fall spinning like a coin before falling flat.
This debut system in the 20-metre high buildings is located in a completely new 17,000m² creepy-themed area with catering, retail and matching entertainment: the creepy Huyverwoud forest.
The Huyverwoud forest makes up the surrounding area as guests can explore dark catering locations In den Swarte Kat and ‘t Koetshuys and toilet facility De Laetste Hoop.
The Charlatan family and their special barrel organ, Esmeralda, will provide creepy entertainment. Through a gate, visitors from eight years onwards enter the ‘waiting route’. This queue full of surprises leads them via the cloister, a mysterious herb garden, a grim cemetery and a creepy forest to the entrance of Danse Macabre. There, a creepy spectacle full of dark twists awaits them.
Danse Macabre is once again pushing the boundaries of high standards when it comes to visitor attractions. The level of effort and immersion that the park has gone through for a unique flat ride is unparalleled and will complement the beautiful new gothic surrounding area.
Roll on October 31st!
