Spookslot - Efteling (Netherlands)
Spookslot 08/03/2022 12h41
The main show as seen from the extreme right side of the scene.
View from the extreme left side of the scene.
After the 2022 Summer period, the attraction from 1978 will be permanently closed and demolished. The Efteling will announce this on January 24. According to general manager Fons Jurgens, the haunted castle is due for replacement after 44 years.
"The Spookslot was, if we are very honest, perhaps ten years ago no longer of this time," he says in conversation with the Brabants Dagblad. That is why a new attraction will take its place, which will cost 25 million euros.
Efteling does not want to say anything about the attraction type yet, except that it will be a covered addition with a theoretical capacity of 1250 people per hour.
The Spookslot was the first major Efteling attraction designed by the late creative director Ton van de Ven. Later he was also at the helm of, for example, Fata Morgana (1986), het Volk van Laaf (1990), Droomvlucht (1993), Villa Volta (1996) and Vogel Rok (1998).
Spookslot
The Haunted Castle (Dutch: Spookslot) is a haunted attraction in the Efteling in the Netherlands. It was designed by Ton van de Ven and was the first attraction built outside the Fairy Tale Forest.
On July 24, 1976 the announcement on the making of the world's biggest haunted castle appeared in Brabant's daily newspaper, Het Brabants Dagblad. The article mentions that the castle would be built between the Fairy Tale Forest and the rowing and canoeing pond. This was a strategic choice, because the location of the attraction would attract visitors to the normally ‘forgotten’ southern part of the park.
The main reason for this mega-attraction was declining numbers of visitors at Efteling. Aiming for a more general public, with an attraction that didn’t depend on the weather conditions, Efteling authorized their young designer Van de Ven to start designing the ride.
Van de Ven designed the castle as a walk-through attraction and, in the style of Anton Pieck, the castle was designed to look old and decayed. It is meant to look as though it was once beautiful and majestic, but is now hahttps://www.flickr.com/photos/meteorry/unted and in ruins and somewhat romantic.
The construction took about 18 months and the castle was officially opened May 10, 1978.
On May 12 a television special was broadcast with Kate Bush singing in and around the castle. She had a big hit around the globe with "Wuthering Heights" at the time.
The waiting hall is a dimly-lit area, with several spooky items, of which an oriental ghost with a crystal looking glass is the most notable. The glass uses the pepper's ghost technique to show a beautiful woman turning into a skull. In the tower area a hairy arm stretches from the roof, holding a big chandelier. Once in a while one might have a glimpse of three horrible batlike creatures, leering down at the visitors.
Upon entering the main attraction hall, a number of scary statues and scenes prepare the audience for the main course: a look into the inner court, graveyard, and the ruins of a monastery at night. When the clock strikes twelve, a violin (also a pepper's ghost effect) starts playing the Danse Macabre of Saint-Saëns and the graveyard comes to life and a number of skeletons and ghosts are visible. One tombstone is labeled in Latin "Puella Innocenta" (innocent girl). The years on her stone (in Roman numbering) reveal that she has been living backwards in time, however it is possible that it is merely a mistake of the artist who made the stone. There is also a tombstone inside the mansion with the name "Den Hegarty", an Irish rock singer who happened to be on the radio when the stone was made. Also, it is said that the main show's appearance was influenced by the 1971 horror film "Tombs of the Blind Dead".
The maintheme of the show is a shortened version of the Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns. The movements of the animatronics are synchronized with the music; the violin that opens and closes the main part of the show demonstrates this. The show itself has been adapted four times. During the opening season in 1978 the show lasted about 12 minutes. Three months later it was cut back to 8 minutes. In 1987 the show was renewed and in 1989 the final version was completed.
FACTS & FIGURES:
Opening: 10/05/1978
Design: Ton van de Ven
Costs: 3.5 milion Dutch guilders (€1,588,823)
Capacity: 800 - 1000 per hour
Show time: 6.27 minutes
Source and more information:
Spookslot - Efteling (Netherlands)
Spookslot 08/03/2022 12h41
The main show as seen from the extreme right side of the scene.
View from the extreme left side of the scene.
After the 2022 Summer period, the attraction from 1978 will be permanently closed and demolished. The Efteling will announce this on January 24. According to general manager Fons Jurgens, the haunted castle is due for replacement after 44 years.
"The Spookslot was, if we are very honest, perhaps ten years ago no longer of this time," he says in conversation with the Brabants Dagblad. That is why a new attraction will take its place, which will cost 25 million euros.
Efteling does not want to say anything about the attraction type yet, except that it will be a covered addition with a theoretical capacity of 1250 people per hour.
The Spookslot was the first major Efteling attraction designed by the late creative director Ton van de Ven. Later he was also at the helm of, for example, Fata Morgana (1986), het Volk van Laaf (1990), Droomvlucht (1993), Villa Volta (1996) and Vogel Rok (1998).
Spookslot
The Haunted Castle (Dutch: Spookslot) is a haunted attraction in the Efteling in the Netherlands. It was designed by Ton van de Ven and was the first attraction built outside the Fairy Tale Forest.
On July 24, 1976 the announcement on the making of the world's biggest haunted castle appeared in Brabant's daily newspaper, Het Brabants Dagblad. The article mentions that the castle would be built between the Fairy Tale Forest and the rowing and canoeing pond. This was a strategic choice, because the location of the attraction would attract visitors to the normally ‘forgotten’ southern part of the park.
The main reason for this mega-attraction was declining numbers of visitors at Efteling. Aiming for a more general public, with an attraction that didn’t depend on the weather conditions, Efteling authorized their young designer Van de Ven to start designing the ride.
Van de Ven designed the castle as a walk-through attraction and, in the style of Anton Pieck, the castle was designed to look old and decayed. It is meant to look as though it was once beautiful and majestic, but is now hahttps://www.flickr.com/photos/meteorry/unted and in ruins and somewhat romantic.
The construction took about 18 months and the castle was officially opened May 10, 1978.
On May 12 a television special was broadcast with Kate Bush singing in and around the castle. She had a big hit around the globe with "Wuthering Heights" at the time.
The waiting hall is a dimly-lit area, with several spooky items, of which an oriental ghost with a crystal looking glass is the most notable. The glass uses the pepper's ghost technique to show a beautiful woman turning into a skull. In the tower area a hairy arm stretches from the roof, holding a big chandelier. Once in a while one might have a glimpse of three horrible batlike creatures, leering down at the visitors.
Upon entering the main attraction hall, a number of scary statues and scenes prepare the audience for the main course: a look into the inner court, graveyard, and the ruins of a monastery at night. When the clock strikes twelve, a violin (also a pepper's ghost effect) starts playing the Danse Macabre of Saint-Saëns and the graveyard comes to life and a number of skeletons and ghosts are visible. One tombstone is labeled in Latin "Puella Innocenta" (innocent girl). The years on her stone (in Roman numbering) reveal that she has been living backwards in time, however it is possible that it is merely a mistake of the artist who made the stone. There is also a tombstone inside the mansion with the name "Den Hegarty", an Irish rock singer who happened to be on the radio when the stone was made. Also, it is said that the main show's appearance was influenced by the 1971 horror film "Tombs of the Blind Dead".
The maintheme of the show is a shortened version of the Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns. The movements of the animatronics are synchronized with the music; the violin that opens and closes the main part of the show demonstrates this. The show itself has been adapted four times. During the opening season in 1978 the show lasted about 12 minutes. Three months later it was cut back to 8 minutes. In 1987 the show was renewed and in 1989 the final version was completed.
FACTS & FIGURES:
Opening: 10/05/1978
Design: Ton van de Ven
Costs: 3.5 milion Dutch guilders (€1,588,823)
Capacity: 800 - 1000 per hour
Show time: 6.27 minutes
Source and more information: