Disturbing, livid-faced clerics stare at visitors, a black cat perches them on a ruined wall, a cemetery that seems to be inhabited… The atmosphere has suddenly become heavy at the Efteling center. In the forest that covers this amusement park in the Netherlands, still shrouded in autumn morning fog, thousands of visitors nevertheless flock to this unwelcoming corner, taking the path that leads to the ruined chapel overlooking the woods. In the circular hall at the heart of the building, we take our places on benches divided into six blocks, when a cadaverous conductor emerges from the organ with his sinister musicians beginning to play. Cursed, unwary visitors find themselves whirling around, trapped in the dance performed by these terrifying ghosts.

Such is the haunted atmosphere into which the Dutch park Efteling has been plunging visitors since October 31, with its new Danse Macabre attraction, inspired by the eponymous symphonic poem composed by Camille Saint-Saëns, which accompanies the whirling ballet into which passengers are drawn. An investment of 35 million euros, on a par with what Parc Astérix spent on its roller coaster in 2023 Toutatis. The only one of its kind in the world, the attraction, whose theming has been pushed to the extreme, is a veritable showcase for the know-how accumulated by the creative teams at this theme park, which opened near Tilburg in 1952 and has always sought to stand out from its European competitors.

Telling stories

Third most visited park on the continent with 5.6 million visitors in 2023 – behind Disneyland Paris and Europa-Park -Efteling has always focused on storytelling rather than sensations. Every time, “it’s not just an attraction, but a story we want to take visitors on”.says Koen Sanders, Product, Market and Image Manager. Whether it’s a roller coaster, a scenic ride or a simulator, the attraction is simply a means of telling the story. This is a similar philosophy to that applied at Disneyland, where other parks tend to do the opposite, first choosing an attraction around which to weave a story and then decorate it.

This is exactly the recipe applied to Danse Macabre, which replaces the park’s former haunted castle, Spookslot, which had fallen out of favor with visitors – younger visitors rated it only 6.8 out of 10 in satisfaction surveys. “We’ve been thinking about how to replace it, recalls Efteling designer Jeroen Verheij. We wanted something that visitors could be part of, not just spectators.” The park’s creative teams wanted to keep the music of the old attraction, which was highly identified by visitors. They drew on the legend of a conductor cursed since a concert in 1876, condemned to play his piece over and over again to please the creatures that had attacked him.

“And then we asked ourselves: how would our visitors want to experience this story? By dancing, of course!”smiles Jeroen Verheij. The designers approached no fewer than 20 attraction manufacturers with a request for a machine that would would “give the impression of dancing”.and only Switzerland’s Intamin responded “to be working on a new product that could have this potential”.. It consists of a platform that can move like a simulator and turn on itself, on which are placed six smaller disks with seats that welcome visitors, also able to turn on themselves. “It’s a prototype, so we had no certainty that what we saw on the computer would produce the sensations we imagined.”explains Koen Sanders.

The challenge here was all the greater in that we had to respect the memory of the former haunted castle which, although less frequented in recent years, was part of the park’s history,” stresses Koen Sanders. “Replacing experiences is a big responsibility: you have to do better.” The creators of Danse Macabre multiplied the nods to the late Spookslot, starting with the conductor, created from a concept drawing by the designer of the original Haunted Castle for a character ultimately never realized. Decor elements from the old attraction have also been reused in small ways, “but not too much, because we didn’t want to turn it into a museum either”.moderates Jeroen Verheij.

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Preserving the heritage

At the Efteling, a park so dear to the hearts of the Dutch – a quarter of the population visit it every year – heritage is no laughing matter. The Fairytale Forest, where it all began, still occupies a quarter of the park’s surface area. This succession of decors reproducing scenes inspired by famous European fairy tales is the real soul of the place, imagined by filmmaker Peter Reijnders and children’s book illustrator Anton Pieck. It’s Pieck’s pencil strokes that still determine the style of the Efteling’s sets, giving the whole an astonishing coherence despite the varied themes, from Dutch sailors to the tales of the Arabian Nights.

To preserve this specific style, most of the creative work is carried out in-house, a rarity in parks, which often call on specialist companies for their projects. Behind the scenes, some fifty employees are hard at work every day in the design department, at the drawing board or in the workshops, sculpting or painting the scenery. “This is part of what makes the Efteling unique, says Koen Sanders. There’s also the fact that everything here is real: if you see wood, it’s real wood.”not a resin imitation. “Even our office facade serves as a backdrop for a show [créé par le Puy du Fou, NDLR] It’s a set, but it’s also a building with life inside.”

With Danse Macabre, the challenge of “to renew oneself while respecting one’s heritage”. seems to have succeeded. Worried about the demise of the old haunted house, park fans flocked to the opening of its replacement on October 31. When it opened that morning, the queue for the attraction reached… 4h30! “We’ve never seen this for a new ride in 72 years”enthuses Koen Sanders. The mobile application even had to be reprogrammed urgently in the morning: it had not been planned that it would be possible to enter a waiting time of more than three hours.

Only 25,000 French visitors per year

With projects like these, the Efteling hopes to make its mark a little more… and extend its reputation. While the park has conquered the Benelux countries, it remains virtually unknown in France: a mere 25,000 French visitors are expected to visit the park in 2024, a derisory number out of the nearly six million annual visitors, albeit up 20% year-on-year. To welcome more foreign visitors, the site intends to increase its hotel capacity. In addition to the current 3,000 beds, a brand-new hotel will be built in 2025, the first to be installed directly in the park, near the entrance.

“We have to be welcoming to foreigners too”. from the point of view of the experiences offered, insists Koen Sanders. This is perhaps where the park’s room for improvement lies: while the attractions are above all story-based, these are very often only told in Dutch, which doesn’t exactly make it easy for international audiences to understand, even for the latest attraction, Danse Macabre. But even if you don’t understand everything, it’s hard not to be drawn in by the quality of the sets and attractions, at least visually. And the French are not mistaken,” smiles Koen Sanders: “In satisfaction surveys, they rate the park much higher than the average!”