Villa Volta

As you approach Villa Volta, you will probably wish you had such a beautiful house. Once you get inside, you might think twice!
What’s going on? Why am I starting to feel scared? And who is Hugo the Goat Rider? And if that was just the welcome, what is going to be waiting for you inside the magnificent drawing room? “Do come inside...”
If you do, you might have to think three times before wanting the Villa Volta!

Villa Volta was opened in 1996. A beautiful villa surrounded by an English garden, this house is no ordinary house. Hugo, the gentleman of the house, will never be at peace. He will haunt it, twist it and turn it until the end of time.

Indoor attraction
Main show not access able to wheelchair users
Children under 1 m need supervision
May induce dizziness
Baby switch available

Story

Read the official Efteling version of the story in 'En Ze Leven Nog Lang en Gelukkig' available from the souvenir stores (Only in Dutch)

Villa Volta, 1st Preshow Translation

The legend of Villa Volta is played on audio during the pre shows.
This is in the Dutch language. Please find below a translation for your benefit.

In the middle of the 18th century a wave of violence engulfed our Brabantian Campine and Limburg countryside. Hordes of unscrupulous bandits tore through our peaceful avenues plundering and starting fires. They called themselves “The Buckriders” after shadowy spirits of the air that, according to a medieval myth, hunted seated on bucks swarmed by the dark night sky and could even penetrate sealed houses.

Marie:
The Buckriders, vipers spawn that they art. They’ve got to exterminate them,
root them out.

Man 2:
I have heard that last night they burned down the home of Arjan de Stoere and took everything of value.

Woman 2:
They say that their eyes light up in the dark and are so fast that fate hits you like thunder.

Jonge Peer:
Yes, that's for sure Marie, that's for sure.

Woman 2:
Oh really, this cannot be true, can it?!

Marie:
Vipers spawn that they art.

Marie:
All talk I tell you. Disingenuous plebeians that with low tricks and bribes, the common people a servant they make. Let them rob the Lord of the Land then it will be cold day for them indeed.

The myth tells that this devilish army of Buckriders found its end in a gruesome battle, high in the heavens above the Postel abbey. Sixty long years the gang carried out a reign of terror over the rural population. Their satanic guild sign a bucks foot, filled everyone with shudders and fear ....

Jonge Peer:
Cursed are those Buckriders, the parasites of this region and their Hugo in particular.

Woman 2:
Not to mention your house and home.

Woman 2:
Oh lord, who will be able to deliver us from such tormentors.

Man 2:
That may be, Jonge Peer, but for now he couldn’t care less.

Marie:
He’s a godless troublemaker that Hugo. With his long black mane he’s like the Devil’s twin. When he's around your life is in peril.

Marie:
Even the bolts on the drop door don’t stop him.

Jonge Peer:
A blasphemous bandit that's for sure but remember: Pride comes before the fall

Marie:
Even as a youngster he was no good. Always against the authorities. You saw it coming even then that he would become a rascal.

__Hear the story of Hugo, Hugo van de Loonsche Duynen, who joined this mean pack of robbers. A man without any compassion possessed of an unbridled greed, and yaw for money. Hugo, the Buckrider!

Villa Volta, Hugo 2nd Preshow Translation

The legend of Villa Volta is played on audio during the pre shows. This is in the Dutch language. Please find below a translation for your benefit.

This house, this cursed house ... Hell hath found its equal. That one cursed evening in the Belgian Kempen ... The sun was low and we sought beds for the night but found no trace of villages. But suddenly, in the distance ... a great building. The Abbey Postel, we knew. We brought the horses to gallop, and when the sun had sunk, we arrived at the chapel.

There was light behind the windows and it was dead quiet. No monks singing or pious mutterings. Behind the chapel door, gold cups and silver candlesticks for the taking, hahaha! With this in mind we rammed the door! No one .... The altar shined with its spoils. The candles were lit ... strange. My men cracked the offertory box, and I myself emptied the altar.

And then, suddenly, a slender hand appeared on my shoulder. I looked around, and behind me stood a young woman, her eyes full of fire. All saw her, and the clanging silenced.. She seemed ... to float in her long white dress. For a moment I felt something like fear, and she spoke to me: " You, Hugo van den Loonsche Duynen, thou art desecrated here this house. So repent, and seek not to call the Lord's wrath upon you ....'

But I, I overcame my fear, taunted her away with sneering smile and shoved her roughly away. I called the men to go and saw that she dissolved into nothing ... A day later, I reached my house. I was shocked; atop of the facade was ...HER! The lady from the chapel! Her arms waved as they swayed in the wind. I heard her voice, as if it were floating in my head: "Nowhere in your own home, nor anywhere in the world shall thou find rest or peace, now that thou hath violated God's house ... only then, when a noble man with the clean conscience of a newborn child will enter your dwelling, shall thou find peace in your home and in your heart ... That ban, my gruesome fate, so far has not been broken ... Enter with a pure soul, so that the doom may fall from this house, and my soul can acquire the rest, which I so greatly desire .....

Dames en heren, let u op! De deuren openen in uw richting. Ladies and gentleman, please stand back. The doors will open in your direction.