The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

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Tower of Terror
Locations, openings and status
Disney-MGM Studios July 22, 1994
Open
Disney's California Adventure May 5, 2004
Open
Tokyo DisneySea September 4, 2006
Open
Walt Disney Studios Park 2007
Under construction
This article is about the Disney ride. For the roller coaster at Australian amusement park Dreamworld, see Tower of Terror.

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.

A new Tower of Terror attraction opened at Tokyo DisneySea in Japan and in 2007 the Walt Disney Studios in France will open theirs. The Tokyo DisneySea version of Tower of Terror does 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 that of a 1930s bellhop. At over one thousand dollars (US) per uniform, it is the most expensive costume in the various theme parks.[1]

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

[edit] Ride description

The attraction facade at the Disney-MGM Studios, October 2005.
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The attraction facade at the Disney-MGM Studios, October 2005.
Spoiler 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.

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 vehicles which lock into the elevators. The cabs move out of their elevators to make the horizontal transit [The Fifth Dimension scene] to the drop shaft. The California and Tokyo versions were able to take advantage of a relatively new technology that allowed guests' reflections to be transformed into ghosts before their eyes (a thermal camera).

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.

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.

[edit] Florida version

Looking up at the attraction facade at the Disney-MGM Studios, October 2004.
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Looking up at the attraction facade at the Disney-MGM Studios, October 2004.

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.

A field of stars appear and begin disappearing, and on the echo side of the tower, the stars form a Hidden Mickey. The stars completely disappear, and they 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. The slogan for the ride now is "The Tower is in Control!!"

[edit] California version

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

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 a 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 with the narrator saying "For you have just entered ... the Twilight Zone!" 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 show place 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."

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.

[edit] Tokyo version

Tokyo Tower as of 4/30/06
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Tokyo Tower as of 4/30/06
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 1890s hotel owned by eccentric billionaire Harrison Hightower III who disappeared while taking the elevator up to his private quarters shortly after taking a mysterious idol of a trickster spirit called Shiriki Utundu from an ancient civilization in Africa. The facade is more gothic in architecture, and is located in the American Waterfront area of the park, opposite the S.S. Columbia cruise liner.

[edit] Paris version

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Walt Disney Studios Park is almost an exact copy 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, this is one of the few details of the ride that differ from its Californian counterpart upon completion. The use of concrete in the construction instead of steel has been dictated by French construction regulations.

[edit] Seasonal enhancement

For Halloween 2006, the Tower of Terror received decorations and minor enhancements. Items include Halloween decorations in the hotel lobby, items surrounding the exterior of the building and a selection of cast members in period costume including a reporter, a janitor and a pair of 1930s Los Angeles citizens.

[edit] Soundtrack

In the queue for the Tower of Terror at Disney-MGM Studios, music from the 30s is 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:

[edit] Historical site

The hotel lobby, Florida, MGM Studios, October 2005.
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The hotel lobby, Florida, MGM Studios, October 2005.

In Hollywood, California, visible from Highway 101, are the Hollywood Tower apartments on Franklin Avenue. A plaque by the front door reads:

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.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-disneycostumesdog_19nat.ART.State.Bulldog.3eaf34b.html

[edit] External links

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