“In 2024, Danse Macabre will add another phenomenal experience to Efteling‘s range of stories,” the Supervisory Board concluded its message in Efteling’s latest annual report. ‘We are looking forward to it with great anticipation.’
Bull’s-eye
The visitor too, as it now appears. Danse Macabre, Efteling’s newest attraction, performed for the first time yesterday and was visited en masse. The handful of die-hard fans who were already at the gates at 6 a.m. had grown to hundreds of visitors by opening time – an hour earlier, at 9 a.m. writes Omroep Brabant. At its peak, the line for the attraction was one kilometer, equivalent to a four-hour wait.
Twenty times more expensive
What is the bill for this new fairy tale? Danse Macabre reportedly cost around €35 million. This makes Danse Macabre more than twenty times more expensive than its predecessor, the Spookslot, which was built in 1978 for 3.5 million guilders. Parallel to the investment in the new attraction is the construction of the Efteling Grand Hotel, which should open next year. “These two projects together represent the largest investment in Efteling history and they are important for the survival of the World of Efteling,” reads the annual report.
People first
However, Efteling consciously chose to slow things down a few years ago, when the park had to close its doors due to the pandemic and saw revenues fall drastically. At the time, the park chose to retain its staff. “Because if you are allowed to open again afterwards, and you could expect that after corona, you have to be ready with your people, and not with the latest attraction,” board member Hans Janssen told us earlier.
A cash box full of money
Moreover, staff shortages will be more of a problem for the amusement park than a lack of resources, because Efteling is financially healthy. It has been writing significant profits for years; in 2023 even a record profit of €37.7 million, generated by 5.6 million visitors. Danse Macabre and the Efteling Grand Hotel must contribute to the goal of attracting 7 million visitors annually.
How did Efteling become such a financially fit park? Strangely enough, this appears to be mainly due to the fact that the park does not belong to anyone, according to research that Quote conducted earlier this year. You can read exactly how that fairy tale works here.
