New in 2024: Dance Macabre

Dance Macabre

In 2024 Spookslot (The Haunted Castle) will be replaced with a new attraction by name of Dance Macabre.
The new attraction will have a capacity of 1250 per hours.
It will have a spooky atmosphere and feature the Dance Macabre music.
Height restriction will be 120cm / 3ft 11
It will be suited to ages 8 and up.
The new building will be an eye catching 20 meters high

Image Source: Efteling Blog

The gate on the right hand side of the Abdijplein (Abbey square) will have a single rider entrance and the normal entrance or Family Lane which should be accessible to all over the age of 8 including people with a disability.
When you pass through the gate you will enter the Kruysgang (Cloister)

Image Source: Efteling Blog

which leads to De Kruydentuyn (The Herb Garden) where Virginie Charlatan grows her healing and fear reducing herbs. She uses them to make various potions and products.

Image Source: Efteling Blog

Soon you will reach a large black gate which leads to the graveyard which a member of the Charlatan family gives us access to. Here we will be getting a small taste of what awaits us in the chapel yonder. Mysterious music plays and the black kitten yowls. A close inspection of the graves reveals that all the graves here belong to various musicians.

A smaller gate at the end of the graveyard leads to Huyverwoud. A forest filled with tall trees. Glowing eyes peer at us from the bushes and shreds of old worn banners show that some kind of musical contest took place here one day long ago.

A wooden bridge takes us to our final destination. The Chapel where we will experience Dance Macabre.
Guests who are unable to walk a short distance or complete a transfer will at this point be escorted into a different area where they will be able to experience the ride in a different way.

The Making Of:

Image Source: Efteling Blog

Autumn 2022: Spookslot will be closing for good to be replaced by a new attraction

Spookslot (The Haunted Castle)

When the bell in the Haunted Castle tolls, the graves start to creak and the ghosts start to feel restless as their pasts torment them. This marks the start of a bone-jangling show.

360 Panorama View

Indoor attraction

Relive the experience in this 360 VR POV!

Accessibility

Wheelchair users can enter through the usual entrance.

Translation

The below dialogue is played right before admittance to the main show. This dialogue is spoken in Dutch. Please find below a translation for your benefit.

"Long, long ago, when in times of storm and high water the Maas could still reach the foot of this fortress, the fourth Viscount of Kaatsheuvel Capelle lived in this castle.

He collected fairy tales and legends from around the world and ... practiced magic. He could make the flowers sing and the walls dance. There was only one obstacle in his life, the wicked witch Visculamia. She lived under lock and key in nearby Druinen.

She wanted to take his tales away from him. One day, when the witch was on the prowl disguised as an untempered young maiden, she was caught by the gardener of castle 'De Efteling. By the three judges of the Duchy she was condemned to the stake in the eastern wing of the palace.

With her last breath she spoke a curse in which the Viscount was doomed forever to find his last story ...: his daughter, Esmeralda.

And every time the water of the Maas rises, the enchanted crow of Visculamia strikes the clock at twelve. Then the corpse of the gardener who betrayed her dangles from the bell cord again. The judges who condemned her, wail from the attic window and in the catacombs the count chases his daughter, without ever finding her...

While the flowers sing and the walls dance. The witch's throws her curses into the sarcophagus where the remains of the Count lie trapped. On the south hill of the yard his daughter will find no peace. And this will continue for many a year, until the song of flowers the owls’ eyes doth close, lulls the evil crow, and the curse is broken ...."