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The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

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The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, more commonly known as Tower of Terror, is a simulated freefall thrill ride at Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and at Disney's California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California. It is based upon the television show The Twilight Zone. The Disney-MGM Studios ride opened in 1994 and the California Adventure version in 2004.

As part of the Happiest Homecoming on Earth celebration, another Tower of Terror attraction will open at Tokyo DisneySea in Japan (2006), and later at Walt Disney Studios in France (2008). The Tokyo DisneySea version of Tower of Terror will not have a Twilight Zone theme.

The ride is themed to resemble the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel. The storyline of the ride is that on October 31, 1939, the hotel was struck by lightning, transporting an elevator car full of passengers to the Twilight Zone. The exterior of the ride resembles an old hotel with a blackened scorch mark across the front of the facade where the lightning destroyed part of the building. All of the cast members wear a costume that resembles a 1930s bellhop. At over one thousand dollars (US) per uniform, it is the most expensive costume in the various theme parks.http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-disneycostumesdog_19nat.ART.State.Bulldog.3eaf34b.html

At 199 feet at Disney-MGM Studios, it is the third tallest attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort (Expedition Everest is half a foot taller, and the wand decorating Spaceship Earth adds 41 feet to that 180-foot tall attraction). The Tower of Terror is 199 feet high at Walt Disney World because of FAA regulations that require a fixed red light beacon to be added to the top of any 200-foot or taller building. Imagineers thought that the beacon would take away from the hotel's 1939 theme. At the Disneyland Resort, the 183-foot attraction is the tallest attraction at the resort, as well as the tallest building in Anaheim.

Contents

Ride Description

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Guests entering the ride are ushered into the library, where they view the Twilight Zone season 4 opening sequence and a short clip of Rod Serling describing the events at the hotel, presented in the style of The Twilight Zone television series' opening segment. From there, guests pass through the hotel's basement "boiler room" and into a large elevator equipped with 6 rows of seats, accommodating 21 passengers.

Florida version

In the Florida version of the ride, the elevator rises for a few seconds before coming to a stop. The doors open to reveal a corridor populated by the ghostly occupants from 1939, who then disappear. The corridor fades to a starlit night sky, and a window breaks (like in the opening segment of each episode). The elevator doors close and the car begins to rise again. At the top, the doors again open and the car mysteriously moves forward out of the shaft, through a section of the ride called The Fifth Dimension: a surreal collection of objects and sights, once again in the style of the television show's opening sequence.
Looking up at the attraction facade at the Disney-MGM Studios, December 2004.
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Looking up at the attraction facade at the Disney-MGM Studios, December 2004.

A field of stars (which includes a Hidden Mickey) appear and disappear and form a vertical line, which splits in half and opens like elevator doors. After the elevator moves in to the shaft, the randomly-selected drop sequence begins. At one point, doors in front of the riders will open to reveal a view of the park from a height of 13 stories. In the years since the attraction's initial opening, a randomized pattern of drops and lifts have been added, where the ride vehicle will drop or rise various distances at different intervals. This change was made to make every trip to the Twilight Zone a different experience. After a series of these drops have been made, the ride vehicle returns to the basement of the decrepit Hollywood Tower Hotel.

Florida attraction facts

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California version

While similar in concept and theme to the original ride in Florida, the version of this attraction in Disney's California Adventure Park does have some differences. The first difference is that the elevator pushes backwards away from the elevator door while a starfield appears around it. The narrator (Rod Serling) says, "You are the passengers of a most uncommon elevator, about to take the strangest journey of your lives. Your destination...unknown, but this much is clear, a reservation has been made in your name for an extended stay". A door closes, placing riders in darkness as the elevator rises.

The first stop of the elevator is in front of large mirror. The voice of the narrator tells riders to "wave goodbye to the real world". As they do, electricity begins to arc around the mirror and the reflection of the riders is replaced by a ghostly image. The audience's reflection then disappears. This is actually a thermal-mirror, which shuts off to reveal the dummy vehicle behind it. The elevator shudders as the door closes and the elevator moves to its next stop, a corridor of the Hotel, similar to the one in Florida. Here, the narrator says that "What happened here to dim the lights of Hollywood's brightest hotel is about to unfold once again.", which is followed by a similar sequence of events to that of Florida. Rod Serling continues his narration, assuming the dialogue from the Florida attraction: "One stormy night long ago, five people stepped through the door of an elevator and into a nightmare... That door is opening once again, but this time, it's opening for you."

California version of Tower of Terror.
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California version of Tower of Terror.

Because the California version has three elevator shafts instead of two, the room is much thinner. As well, the ghosts are green instead of blue. Instead of the window at the end of the corridor, there is an elevator door that, after the lightning striking and the ghosts vanishing through bolts of electricity, opens to reveal the ghosts of the 1939 guests dropping into the "5th Dimension." As the ghosts of the 1939 guests reappear in their elevator, the Rod Serling narration continues with "That door is opening once again, but this time... It's opening for you." With that, the rider elevator drops into the 5th Dimension a mere split-second after the riders see the ghosts' elevator drop.

The passenger's car drops into darkness before ascending to the top of the shaft for a view over the Disneyland Resort before dropping to the bottom window, and falling to the bottom.

New Drop Profile

A new "random" drop profile similar to the Disney-MGM Studios version was rumored to be added to DCA's tower in July 2006. This new profile has been confirmed by many CMs. However, due to the ongoing success of Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration and perhaps because two other Tower of Terrors being built at the same time, the release date has been pushed back. It is likely to happen in 2007 or when best fits marketing plans to create publicity for the park.

California attraction facts

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Tokyo version

The Hotel Hightower Concept Art
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The Hotel Hightower Concept Art

The Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea has no connection or tie-ins with The Twilight Zone, and is instead themed as the Hotel Hightower, a New York City 1920s hotel owned by eccentric billionaire Mr Hightower. The facade is more gothic in architecture, and is located in the American Waterfront area of the park, opposite the S.S. Columbia steamboat - when the attraction opens, the Imagineers will revise other attractions in the American Waterfront to include ties to the Hotel Hightower with the steamboat which is also 'owned' by Mr Hightower.

Tokyo Walk-Through

Welcome to the Glorious "Hightower Hotel" and the "Hightower Trust". Mr. Harrison Hightower welcomes you to his humble, but peculiar establishment filled with antiques and artifacts from his travels around the world. The Hotel is located on 1st Park Avenue in New York City across the street from Waterfront Park.

Inside the Hightower Hotel, guests will enter the hotel establishment which has been abandoned since the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Hightower. The hotel lobby is filled with various artifacts and murals depicting Hightower's various travels around the world. In one of the murals, it depicts a visit to the Lost River Delta to a mysterious ruins, ala Raging Spirits.

As guests venture deeper into the hotel's dilapidating innards, they arrive at Hightower's private office. Inside, guests are greeted by a mysterious Cast Member dressed as a bellhop inviting them to come inside. When guests enter the room, they will notice various books, maps, objects and paperwork scattered around through the room.

The real focal point within Hightower`s office is several stain-glassed windows. As the guests are finally situated in the office, the mysterious bellhop exclaims to the them that Mr. Hightower has left them all an important and most urgent message. The bellhop cranks up an old time phonograph and mysteriously the room darkens leaving the only illumination in the room through the stained glass windows.

As the record plays, Mr. Hightower explains what happened to his glorious empire and establishment and the doom to come if his warnings are not abided. He discusses a certain ancient idol which he collected (read: stole) from a certain far-off expedition. This particular idol is, of course, cursed! A little further into the recording, something appears out of thin air on an adjacent bookshelf. It's the idol itself!

Tokyo Tower as of 4/30/06
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Tokyo Tower as of 4/30/06
The idol's eyes turn ablaze! A frightening laugh can almost be made, as the darken room transforms into a star-field leaving still the stained-glass windows in view. Lightning can be heard and eventually it hits the windows. They are shattered to pieces as the room goes completely dark. Seconds later, the light comes back on, but the idol has not disappeared, and only one window is gone (replaced with an entryway into Hightowers private trust or so-called vault.

As guests walk through the vault, they will notice different individual areas dedicated to certain locations around the world. They are filled with corresponding artifacts and booty along with opened and closed boxes filled with Mr. Hightower's personal collection. Guests come to a merging point to where they are escorted in groups to these individual areas.

Unbeknownst to the guests, no mention of an elevator or even elevator doors are present upon entering the loading areas. They virtually are looking at a wall in front of them. Hightower's voice is once again heard, ala safety spiel, and the wall in front of them slides away revealing a cargo elevator. Once in the elevators, your friendly bellhop gives you a warning or two before your journey. The elevator doors close.

Virtually, the ride at this point is almost identical to DCA's version. The elevator pulls back, it travels up to scene one. Scene one consists of the mirror effect, but directly in front of the mirror stands the idol, which zaps your elevator making the guests disappear. The lift then travels up to the corridor scene. Hightower's ghost appears and next to him on a table is the cursed idol. He reaches over to pick it up and he get's zapped by the idol! He's thrown into an empty elevator across the hallway which then drops! The idol then turns to the elevator with the guests and they get zapped. What comes next is.....AHHHHHHH!

When the ride ends, you hear Hightower's deep voice explain how lucky you were surviving this time, but perhaps not the next time. The bellhop opens the door and greets the thrilled guests not necessarily knowing what has just taken place.

Tokyo attraction facts

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Paris version

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Walt Disney Studios Park is identical in every way to the version at Disney's California Adventure. The ride is currently under construction in the central area of the park, behind the "La Terrasse" seating area. Unlike its American cousins, the Paris version is being constructed using concrete rather than steel, but it will be identical to the Californian version upon completion.

It is widely understood that this version of the Tower of Terror was originally designed for Walt Disney Studios Park, but that the plans were quickly adjusted for Disney's California Adventure when the California park ran into attendance troubles.

Paris attraction facts

Ride system

The ride employs specialized ride technology developed specifically for Disney, particularly the ability to move the elevator cab in and out of the drop shaft in the Florida version. The elevators are actually automated guided vehicles (AGVs) which lock into Vertical Vehicle Conveyances (VVCs, the elevators). The AGV cabs move out of their VVCs to make the horizontal transit [The Fifth Dimension scene] to the drop shaft VVC. This element was removed for the version in California, reportedly due to the fact that this was the area in the Florida attraction that causes the most shutdowns as the computers lost track of elevators while they made their horizontal transit. The California version was able to take advantage of a relatively new technology that allowed guests' reflections to be transformed into ghosts before their eyes (a thermal mirror).

Although the ride is designed to feel like a freefall, the elevator is actually accelerated downward faster than the pull of gravity for extra thrills. This can actually be observed by passengers: loose objects such as water bottles or purses will actually "float" in mid-air for a couple of seconds during the longer drops, as the lift falls faster than the objects themselves can. This effect is similar to that seen in the Reduced Gravity Aircraft used by NASA to simulate weightlessness.

In an effort to be true to the spirit of The Twilight Zone, Disney Imagineers reportedly watched every episode of the original television show at least twice. The attraction buildings are littered with references to Twilight Zone episodes, with most of the references being found in the library.

Soundtrack

In the queue for the Tower of Terror at Disney-MGM Studios, music from the 30s and 40s are played. The listing can be found here: [Disney Music Loops: Tower of Terror Area Music].

The ride's theme was conducted by Richard Bellis, and can be found on several theme park albums:

Historical Site

In Hollywood, California, visible from Highway 101, are the Hollywood Tower apartments on Franklin Avenue. A plaque by the front door states: 
"HOLLYWOOD TOWER. 1929. SOPHISTICATED LIVING FOR FILM LUMINARIES DURING THE "GOLDEN AGE"
OF HOLLYWOOD.PLACED ON THE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR."

See also

References

External links

 

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