The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, more commonly known as Tower of Terror, is a drop tower thrill ride. Join thrill-seekers at the mysterious Hollywood Tower Hotel for the ultimate adrenaline rush. For the longest 2 minutes of your life, rise and fall at terrifying speeds in the hotel's haunted elevator, again and again! Cross the decrepit grounds of the once-elegant Hollywood Tower Hotel and wind your way into the abandoned lobby. Time has stood still since the night of October 31, 1939 when lightning mysteriously struck the tower, plunging 5 unfortunate elevator occupants into oblivion.

The attraction takes place in the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel (itself inspired by the Hollywood Tower, named a historic landmark by the US Department of the Interior). The story of the hotel, adapted from elements of the television series, includes the hotel being struck by lightning on October 31, 1939, mysteriously transporting an elevator cart full of passengers to the Twilight Zone and causing an entire wing of the building to disappear. The exterior of the attraction resembles an old hotel with a blackened scorch mark across the front of the façade where the lightning struck it. All of the cast members wear a costume that resembles that of a 1930s bellhop, and is the most expensive costume in any park in the world.

At 199 feet (60.7 m), it is the second tallest attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort, shorter only than Expedition Everest's 199.5 feet (60.8 m). The Tower of Terror is 199 feet (60.7 m) 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 feet (55.8 m) structure is the tallest attraction at the resort, as well as one of the tallest buildings in Anaheim. At Disneyland Paris it is the second tallest attraction, although, when aloft, the Jules Verne-themed "Panoramagique" tethered balloon attraction climbs over 200 feet (61.0 m).

While similar in concept and theme to the original attraction in Florida, the versions of this attraction at Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney Studios Park at the Disneyland Paris Resort do have some differences. These versions of the ride opened in 2004 and 2007, respectively, 10 and 13 years after the opening of the original Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

In order to conserve space and money, Imagineers redesigned the entire ride system for the attraction at Disney's California Adventure and made some general changes to the show scenes. The attraction features three elevator shafts. Each shaft, in theory, is its own separate ride with its own separate operating system. This makes it easier to repair individual areas of the attraction without causing the entire attraction to go down. Each shaft has two vehicles and two load levels. It is designed so that the lower vehicle can be in its ride profile while the upper vehicle is loading, giving the attraction the ability to move its line much faster. Since each vehicle loads and unloads from the same point, it ended up saving space. Due to the smaller budget and fewer breakdowns, Disney decided to use this ride system again for Walt Disney Studios Park's version of the ride and for Tokyo DisneySea's Hotel Hightower (Tokyo's version of the Tower of Terror).

Ride Experience

As the elevator doors close, the lights of the service elevator flicker out. The re-designed, multi-level boarding ride system for the Californian version of the tower requires that one elevator loads while another is in the drop shaft progressing through the ride cycle. As such, the first movement guests experience is horizontal, as the elevator itself is pulled back from the service doors and into the shaft. This effect is meant to be unsettling, as guests become immediately aware that their "elevator" is capable of performing movements that are unexpected of a traditional elevator.

Rod Serling's voice is heard as the elevator is pulled back from the doors. "You are the passengers on a most uncommon elevator..." with a flash of lightning, the walls of the basement disappear altogether, leaving only a star-field and the floating service doors with a rotating purple spiral "...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." The elevator rises quickly to the fifth floor. Because the dark ride portion of California's tower takes place in the drop shaft, the physical vertical vehicle conveyance system can move much more quickly and nimbly than Florida's (in which the first tower functions only as a dark ride and is not built for the quick movements that the drop portion requires). As such, visitors feel a pop of weightlessness as the elevator quickly ascends and then stops on the fifth floor.

When the doors part, an ornate, wood-framed mirror stands in a brightly lit hallway of the hotel and riders see their reflection in its glass. "Wave goodbye to the real world." At once, lightning strikes the hotel and the lights of the hallway and elevator flicker out at once. A ghostly wind blows through a window and the reflection of riders in the elevator becomes distorted, with elongated, electrified echoes of movement. With another blast, the elevator rumbles and shakes and the electrified reflection disappears, leaving only the image of the empty elevator in the mirror as the doors close. "For you have just entered The Twilight Zone."

The elevator descends quickly and opens to reveal the "hallway" scene with an image of an elevator, unlike Florida's version with a window. (which functions as the first scene in the Floridian and Japanese version of the attraction). "What happened here that dimmed the lights of Hollywood's brightest showcase is about to unfold once again." The five missing guests appear in the hallway, crackling with electricity and beckon riders to follow them. They disappear, and the walls of the hotel become a star-field. "One stormy night long ago, five people stepped through the door of an elevator and into a nightmare." The doors open to reveal the lost passengers inside as both elevators appear to float through space. "That door is opening once again, but this time it's opening for you." The distant elevator falls, followed quickly by the ride elevator.

California's Tower of Terror does not have a randomized drop sequence. The ride experience is identical in every drop shaft and regardless of which floor passengers board on. Two small drops occur in pitch black darkness, followed by a rise to the top of the tower as in-cabin lights flicker. The doors then open out to reveal the view from the top floor before the ride plummets to the basement. A series of quick rises and drops occurs, then another near-complete drop to the area in between the two loading floors (to assure each ride is identical) before the elevator returns to its load level and is horizontally pushed back into place at the boiler room service doors.

Touring Tips

• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a FastPass attraction. The Standby line at this attraction can be long on busy days, but generally moves pretty quickly. The line gets longer right after the Aladdin show in the Hyperion Theatre next door finishes a show.
• You will want to either store your loose belongings - such as hats, glasses and purses - in a pack that you can hold on the ride or hand them to a friend or family member who is not boarding the attraction so that you can fully enjoy the experience.
• Just before you board the elevator for the ride, there is an exit for those who change their minds at the last minute. Be sure to let the Cast Member know if you wish to exit at this point. If you find the Hollywood Tower Hotel too frightening and decide you would rather not board the elevator, just notify one of the bellhops of your intentions. You can exit the attraction or wait there for your party to return.
• When the attraction is a walk-on, the time on the Standby line typically reads "13 minutes".
• The loading area has two floors - you will need to climb stairs to get to the upper loading area, so alert the Cast Member at the Check-in podium if you do not wish to do so. There are three elevator shafts, and each loading area has three different elevator loading areas, for a total of six. Each elevator seats 21 people.
• This is a dark ride and may be too intense for many young children (not to mention some adults!). This attraction is very dark and is probably not advisable for folks with a fear of the dark or claustrophobia. Those with a fear of heights should also consider the advisability of riding.
• If you stand outside the Tower of Terror, you can hear the screams and squeals of its passengers - you may even watch the elevator doors open and see the hapless guests dangling in mid-air before their next drop!
• Be sure to check out the photo that was snapped of you while on the ride - the photo monitors are at the end of the exit hall right before you enter the gift shop.
• The repeated drops can be jarring to guests with sensitive backs or other medical concerns. Pregnant women or others with medical considerations are advised not to ride this attraction.

Facts

• Throughout the attraction, you can find props from episodes of the original version of television's classic series, The Twilight Zone.
• Disney California Adventure opened Tower of Terror in 2004 to better lure crowds into the struggling theme park, while bringing the Tower of Terror to the west Coast as well.
• The original version of the attraction opened at Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) in July 1994; the California Adventure version opened nearly ten years later in May 2004. The Tokyo DisneySea version-named simply "Tower of Terror" and featuring a modified storyline-opened in September 2006, followed by the Walt Disney Studios Park version in April 2008.
• Started in 2006 for Disney's Halloween Time, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's California Adventure receives special sound and lighting effects for the exterior and themed Halloween decor for the surrounding area and in the lobby. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is the starting point of Disney's "Happiest Haunts on Earth" tour. The Halloween decor was not put up in 2008, but lights projected spinning spider webs upon the exterior of the hotel. As of the beginning of the Buena Vista Street construction project, the special Halloween decor and lighting effects have not been used.
• In the queue for the Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios, music from the 1930s is played.
• The ride is about 2 minutes and 28 seconds long. When all the elevators are in use 1,543 people per hour can ride.
• Many of the items in the queue and other areas of the attraction are from actual episodes of the original Twilight Zone series, such as a broken stopwatch and a dented thimble in the lobby, and a metal robot in the library.
• Many of the drop sequences feature assisted freefall, where the elevator is propelled downward at speeds faster than gravity, making you rise off your seat and giving you the sensation of weightlessness for a couple seconds.
• The building is 183 feet tall, with three stories below ground.

Twilight Zone References

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, including:

• In the hotel Lobby at California Adventure, there is a door with 22 in brass numbering. This is a reference to the episode "Twenty Two".
• In the lobby of the hotel, at California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios (Paris), on a couch sits a dusty old doll. Some say the doll is supposed to be Talky Tina from the Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll," but others say is Sally Shine, the little girl in the pre-show and ride experience, from the 1997 movie "Tower of Terror".
• At all rides besides Tokyo's, the preshow includes the little girl holding a Mickey Mouse plush toy, along with her still holding it on the hallway scene. At California Adventure's there is a picture behind the counter in the gift shop, that is said to be of Walt Disney at a Tip Top Club party holding a Mickey Mouse plush toy as well.
• Outside the libraries at California Adventure, in the glass case adjacent to the doors there is a gold thimble accompanied by a card that reads, "Looking for a gift for Mother? Find it in our Gift Shop!" This is a reference to the Twilight Zone episode "The After Hours".
• In the library, the Mystic Seer machine from the episode "Nick of Time" can be seen sitting on the high shelf.
• At California Adventure, envelopes with the names Rod Serling and Victoria West can be found in both libraries, near the sliding wall, a reference to the episode "A World of His Own." In Library 1, it sticks out of the top of the green books. In library 2, it sits in front of the books. The green books contain titles of selected Twilight Zone episodes. Other books in the libraries are in various languages from around the world, including German and Danish.
• The trumpet from "A Passage for Trumpet" can be seen in the display while exiting the libraries.
• The queue at both the California Adventure and the Paris venues, features a reference to the Twilight Zone episode "Little Girl Lost". Chalk marks on the walls are in the same style that they were in the episode when trying to find where the portal to find the girl was. This can be found in the upper level of the boiler room next to the attraction warning signage at each of the 2 venues. Periodically the girl's voice can be heard calling out for help from the wall and from the radios around the boiler room.
• The elevator has a plaque that says the last time the elevator was checked. Its number is 10259, which is a nod to the date October 2, 1959, the date The Twilight Zone first aired. The plaque also states the elevator was checked by Mr. Cadwallader, the sinister deal maker from the episode "Escape Clause."
• "Picture If You Will..." is in the Hotel Gift Shop where guests can buy their on-ride photo, something Rod Serling would say in the Twilight Zone episodes.

Hidden Mickeys

• In the 88 second library film, and where ever else you see her in the Tower of Terror, the little girl on the elevator is holding a plush Mickey Mouse doll. The little girl ghost is holding the very first Mickey doll ever made. You can clearly see it when the group in walking into the elevator. Also, when on the ride, the ghosts of the girl is still carrying the plush.
• In the Basement / Boiler Room This is a tricky one to find. Locate the horizontal cylinder boiler. If you divide it's length in half, you will see two of the many pipes going up. look at the dial on the pipe just to the right of center. you will see a micky on the needle. It's in the line after you go through the hotel lobby and into the basement, if you're on the bottom floor, there are a bunch of pressure gauges and on one of them, the hands are mickey mouse heads.
• Once you get through all the lines, there are six "Service Elevators" that constitute the actual ride, three on the upper level and three on the lower. The leftmost elevator on the lower level has a metal grate above it's waiting area and there are stage-type lights above it. Where three of the lights hit the grate the large round beams form a Mickey.