Danse Macabre - Efteling review
Efteling is often listed as one of Europe's best theme parks, and its whimsical mix of story telling and grand scenery, easily makes it one of the most beautiful parks we have ever visited. But its not somewhere that would normally be found on a ScareTOUR itinerary. Granted, some fairy tales are genuinely dark and scary, but we usually like our horror to be a bit scarier!
But we were in the Netherlands visiting some real scare attractions, just a few days after the Halloween opening of the new ride, Danse Macabre, so thought we would check it out.
For the uninitiated, Danse Macabre takes the spooky theming and music from an old animatronic theatre presentation, yet adds in a unique new ride element, to make guests feel they are waltzing along with the ghosts!
Being brand new - the queues were long, but moved quickly through the elegant but creepy grounds of an old church. Towering above us (and looking absolutely stunning when lit up at night) was what looks like the remains of the church tower. As we got closer to the building, a pre-show explained in Dutch some back story as to what we could expect once inside. But nothing can really explain the attraction that was about to unfurl.
A large group of over 100 at a time are led into the circular chamber in what appeared to be church pews (but with safety bars) and once the appropriate checks were made - the story started.
Well we say story, but Danse Macabre is really just a showcase of tricks and spooky effects all set to the classical music, and as things came to life around us, our seats started to revolve so we could get better views of the effects.
But then the weirdest thing happened, in that the whole floor tilted at quite a sharp angle meaning we were spinning round and round and up in down in a chaotic dance that teetered between dreamy floatiness to genuine high G spinning. It was certainly an unusual but highly exciting ride experience, and we tried to make sure we saw everything that was happening around us at all times.
But then as the music came to an end and the floor and ride returned to level - the attraction had one last trick in the darkness, which gave everyone one final thrill before leaving.
We loved the whole experience but sadly only managed to ride it once. The low height requirement and nostalgic memories of the original attraction, meant that the ride was extremely popular. We would have loved to have seen more of the details and scenes. But its been a very long time since we have seen a whole room full of riders break into spontaneous applause at the end of a ride. Efteling have a sure fire hit on their hands!
But we were in the Netherlands visiting some real scare attractions, just a few days after the Halloween opening of the new ride, Danse Macabre, so thought we would check it out.
For the uninitiated, Danse Macabre takes the spooky theming and music from an old animatronic theatre presentation, yet adds in a unique new ride element, to make guests feel they are waltzing along with the ghosts!
Being brand new - the queues were long, but moved quickly through the elegant but creepy grounds of an old church. Towering above us (and looking absolutely stunning when lit up at night) was what looks like the remains of the church tower. As we got closer to the building, a pre-show explained in Dutch some back story as to what we could expect once inside. But nothing can really explain the attraction that was about to unfurl.
A large group of over 100 at a time are led into the circular chamber in what appeared to be church pews (but with safety bars) and once the appropriate checks were made - the story started.
Well we say story, but Danse Macabre is really just a showcase of tricks and spooky effects all set to the classical music, and as things came to life around us, our seats started to revolve so we could get better views of the effects.
But then the weirdest thing happened, in that the whole floor tilted at quite a sharp angle meaning we were spinning round and round and up in down in a chaotic dance that teetered between dreamy floatiness to genuine high G spinning. It was certainly an unusual but highly exciting ride experience, and we tried to make sure we saw everything that was happening around us at all times.
But then as the music came to an end and the floor and ride returned to level - the attraction had one last trick in the darkness, which gave everyone one final thrill before leaving.
We loved the whole experience but sadly only managed to ride it once. The low height requirement and nostalgic memories of the original attraction, meant that the ride was extremely popular. We would have loved to have seen more of the details and scenes. But its been a very long time since we have seen a whole room full of riders break into spontaneous applause at the end of a ride. Efteling have a sure fire hit on their hands!
Links:
Efteling website
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