The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

History

In the late 1980s, a second phase of development was being designed for Disneyland Paris (then Euro Disney). Included was a free-fall type ride in Frontierland that was to be named Geyser Mountain. It would have been part roller coaster, part free-fall ride that shot guests up a vertical shaft. The plan was scrapped, but was picked up by Disney's Hollywood Studios (then Disney-MGM Studios) as part of a massive expansion to their U.S. park. Several attractions had already been proposed, including "Dick Tracy's Crimestoppers", which would be later made into Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland. Still needing a major "E-ticket" attraction, the idea of a drop-shaft ride came up and was chosen.^[12] There had been several proposed ideas for haunted attractions, including a ride based on Stephen King's novels, a Vincent Price ghost tour, a Mel Brooks-narrated ride, a real hotel, and a whodunit murder mystery, but none progressed into development.^[13]

Walt Disney Imagineering eventually took inspiration from Rod Serling's anthology stories featured in The Twilight Zone, as a foundation for their original story. Imagineers mused that the attraction would be able to take guests into the Fifth Dimension that Serling always described as unlocking in every episode of the series. With the project in firm development, Disney licensed the rights to use The Twilight Zone intellectual property from CBS Inc.^[14] The Imagineering team settled on a 1930s-era Hollywood hotel with a Twilight Zone theme, but a new ride system had to be built, which would allow both more capacity inside the ride and make the drop fast. Otis Elevator Company created the vertical ride system, and Eaton-Kenway a ride vehicle that could drive itself horizontally.^[12] Joe Dante directed the ride's short preshow film.^[15] The archival footage of Rod Serling used in the preshow was taken from the episode, "It's a Good Life".^[16]

Disney felt Rod Serling needed to be part of the attraction, although he had died almost two decades earlier. In order to have Serling in the attraction, Disney opted to hold auditions to cast his voice, with Carol Serling, Rod's wife, serving as a consultant for the casting. After many auditions, Mark Silverman was chosen by Rod's wife to provide her husband's voice.^[7] Silverman would later reprise this voice role for additional lines for the Disney California Adventure attraction. He also reprised the voice of Serling for the Season 2 Episode 9 of the TV series Medium, in which Rod Serling asks the audience to put on anaglyph 3D glasses to enjoy the episode.

Site-clearing and prep began early 1992. A sinkhole led to the site being moved slightly. The tower's interior and exterior design took inspiration from existing Southern California landmarks, including the Biltmore Hotel and Mission Inn.^[7] The distinctive Spanish Colonial Revival architectural features on and around the attraction's roof were designed so that the rear facade, which is visible from Epcot, would blend with the skyline of the Morocco Pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase Lagoon.^[17] After construction ended, the ride was initially set to open on July 4, 1994. However, the Tower of Terror actually opened on July 22, 1994, along with the Sunset Boulevard thoroughfare.^[12]

Technical details

The ride system of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios employs specialized technology developed by Walt Disney Imagineering, particularly the ability to move the vehicle in and out of the vertical motion shaft. The elevator cabs are self-propelled automated ride vehicles, also known as automated guided vehicles, which lock into separate vertical motion cabs. The cabs can move into and out of elevators horizontally, move through the "Fifth Dimension" scene, and on to the drop shaft.

In order to achieve the weightless effect the Imagineers desired, cables attached to the bottom of the elevator car pull it down at a speed slightly faster than what a free fall would provide. Two enormous motors are located at the top of the tower, measuring 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, 35 feet (11 m) long, and weighing 132,000 pounds (60,000 kg). They are able to accelerate 10 short tons (9.1 t) at 15 times the speed of normal elevators. They generate 275 times the torque of a Corvette engine, reaching top speed in 1.5 second. The ride's slogan, "Never the Same Fear Twice!", refers to the drop pattern being randomly selected by a computer before the ride begins. The drop reaches a top speed of 39 miles per hour (63 km/h).^[18]

After the elevator cab has completed the ride, it propels itself to the unload dock and then back to the show shaft. The Florida ride runs on a unique loop system different from the versions used in California, Paris and Tokyo.

Ride experience

Fifth Dimension scene

The lobby of The Hollywood Tower Hotel at Disney's Hollywood Studios, May 2010

The elevator doors close and the car continues its ascent. Serling's narration goes on, saying:

One stormy night long ago, five people stepped through the door of an elevator and into a nightmare. That door is opening once again, and this time, it's opening for you.

The elevator stops once more. The doors open to what at first looks like a maintenance room, but slowly transforms into a field of stars. The elevator car emerges horizontally from the lift shaft and enters a section of the ride called "The Fifth Dimension", which is a collection of sights and sounds and star fields, again in the style of the television show's opening sequence. A rendition of The Twilight Zone theme plays throughout. The scene ends as the elevator reaches another star field which splits and opens much like elevator doors. The elevator enters another vertical shaft, this one pitch black. Serling's voice is heard again, saying:

You are about to discover what lies beyond the fifth dimension, beyond the deepest, darkest corner of the imagination, in the Tower of Terror.

Summer Nightastic update

In February 2010, Disney announced that the Tower of Terror would receive "new lighting effects and a new addition" as part of a summer entertainment package called "Summer Nightastic!".^[22] The Fifth Dimension scene is changed, mostly covered by black tarps with fiber-optic stars, and Serling's voice is removed from just before the drop profile. Replacing it is music played in the drop shaft, along with a projected picture of the riders just before they enter the drop shaft. Similar to the Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park versions of the ride, the riders disappear, leaving an empty elevator. A new drop profile was created for "Summer Nightastic!", and replaces the other drop profiles on all rides. The profile mainly consisted of utilizing the entire tower for the drop sequences, as compared to the numerous faux and shortened drops in the randomized version. The changes were implemented on June 5, 2010, but were officially introduced the day after. All changes were temporary, and lasted until August 14, 2010.^[23]

New ride operation system

Imagineers redesigned the ride system for the attraction at Disney California Adventure and made some changes to the show scenes. The attraction featured three elevator shafts. Each shaft was its own separate ride with its own separate operating system. This made it easier to repair individual areas of the attraction without causing the entire attraction to go down. Each shaft had the capacity to accommodate two vehicles operating from two load levels, each vehicle loading and unloading at the same point. The ride was designed so that one vehicle could be in its ride profile while the other was at its loading level, giving each ride shaft the ability to accommodate more riders. Disney used this ride system again for Walt Disney Studios Park's version of the ride, and for Tokyo DisneySea's Hotel Hightower.

Ride experience

Instead of the autonomous vehicle found in the original incarnation, the Disney California Adventure attraction limited a car to a single shaft. As the elevator doors closed, the lights of the service elevator flickered out. The redesigned, multiple-cars-per-shaft, multilevel-boarding ride system for the California version of the tower required that one elevator load while another be in the drop shaft progressing through the ride cycle. As such, the first movement guests experienced is horizontal, as the elevator itself was pulled back from the doors as Rod Serling's voice was heard:

You are the passengers on a most uncommon elevator...

With a flash of lightning, the walls of the basement disappeared altogether, leaving only a starfield around the 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 rose quickly to the 5th floor. Because the dark-ride portion of California's tower took place in the drop shaft, the physical vertical vehicle conveyance system moved 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 felt a moment of weightlessness as the elevator quickly ascended and then stopped on the 5th floor, where when the doors opened, an ornate, wood-framed mirror stood in a brightly lit hallway of the hotel and riders saw their reflection in its glass. Serling then said:

Wave goodbye to the real world.

Suddenly, lightning struck the hotel and the lights of both the hallway and elevator flickered out. A ghostly wind blows through a window and the reflection of riders in the elevator became distorted. With another blast, the elevator rumbled and shook and with a final blast of lightning the electrified reflection disappeared, leaving only the image of the empty elevator in the mirror as the doors closed.

For you have just entered the Twilight Zone.

The elevator descended and opened to reveal the "corridor" scene with an image of another elevator at the other end of the hallway, while Florida's version shows a window. Serling delivered his next narration:

What happened here to dim the lights of Hollywood's brightest showplace is about to unfold once again.

The five missing guests from 1939 appeared in the hallway, crackling with electricity and beckoning riders to join them. Then they disappeared in a bolt of electricity, and the walls in the hallway became a starfield, leaving just the other elevator, as Serling said:

One stormy night long ago, five people stepped through the door of an elevator and into a nightmare.

The other elevator doors opened to reveal the lost passengers inside as both elevators appeared to float through space.

That door is opening once again, but this time it's opening for you.

The distant guests fell, then the distant elevator, followed by the ride elevator. California's version did not have a randomized drop sequence. The ride experience was identical in every drop shaft, regardless of which floor passengers boarded on. Two small drops occurred in pitch-black darkness, followed by a rise to the top of the tower as in-cabin lights flickered. The doors then opened out to reveal the view from the top floor before the ride drops briefly, pauses, and drops along the remainder of the shaft. The elevator then raised and immediately dropped without stopping, in complete darkness. The elevator then was raised to the top of the tower, shuddered, and fell to the bottom of the shaft, to the area in between the two loading floors (to assure each ride is identical), with the elevator being finally returned to its load level and horizontally pushed back into place at the boiler room service doors. The height of the ride is 130 feet (40 m) and the elevator drop 124 feet (38 m) in total.

As the elevator was pushed back into place, Serling delivered his final narration:

The next time you check into a deserted hotel on the dark side of Hollywood, make sure you know just what kind of vacancy you're filling. Or you may find yourself a permanent resident... of the Twilight Zone.”

After which, the service doors opened and guests exited the hotel through the basement and the gift shop.

Closure

On July 23, 2016, at San Diego Comic-Con, Disney announced that the California version would be replaced by an attraction based on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy film series, titled Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!, which opened in May 2017 and utilizes the same structure and ride system.^[2][24] This is the first American Disney attraction to be based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Marvel Entertainment having been wholly acquired by Disney in 2009).^[25]

The Tower of Terror's final day of operation was January 2, 2017; the ride then closed January 3.^[3][4] In preparation for the closure, Disney began a "farewell" promotion of the ride on September 9, 2016, which featured a "Late Check Out" option to experience the drop portion of the ride in total darkness. On the night of September 19 and early morning of September 20, the "Hollywood Tower Hotel" sign was removed to prepare for the new attraction.^[26][27]

The other three Disney parks with versions of the Tower of Terror are unaffected, and Disney has stated that there are no plans to change the ride in its other locations.^[28][26]

Queue and preshow

The queue area winds through gardens filled with statues from many different countries up to the Hotel Hightower, where guests can see that the windows are almost completely shattered. Signs are posted all over the hotel front advertising the tour. Guests then enter the lobby, an elaborate and well-decorated room filled with plush furniture and beautiful art. On each ceiling arch is painted a mural of Hightower on one of his adventures, showing him escaping native people with a valuable artifact or item in his possession. At the end of the lobby is the elevator in its destroyed state, its doors left open with only a single plank of wood holding them together, a broken cable visible inside. Guests are then ushered into a room filled with many pictures of Hightower, his expeditions, and his hotel.

Guests enter one of two rooms that are Hightower's office. In each room a large stained glass window depicts a confident Hightower with Shiriki Utundu sitting on a pedestal nearby. A tour guide talks about Hightower, then winds up an old gramophone that plays a recording of Hightower's last interview. At this point, the lights dim. Suddenly, the stained glass window changes to show a frightened Hightower holding the idol and then entering the elevator on that fateful night. It then shows the outside of the hotel as the elevator ascends. Suddenly, all the lights in the hotel go out, and there is a flash of green lightning, shattering the bottom of the window. At this point, Shiriki Utundu comes to life, looks around, laughs mischievously at the guests, and then vanishes into a star-field. A gray fog covers the window, which remains the same when the fog lifts. Guests are then ushered into an enormous storage room where Hightower kept his treasures. There are multiple loading rooms on the second floor, each themed to a different type of item. One has swords, another has tapestries, the third has stone tablets and other valuable artifacts.

Ride experience

The mechanics of the DisneySea tower are identical to those of the Californian and Parisian towers, with dual loading floors, horizontal push-back from the doors and into the drop tower, a "hallway" scene, and a mirror scene, but with thematic changes. The order of the mirror and "hallway" scenes is reversed compared to the American and European counterparts.

As the ride begins, a flash of electricity appears on the top of the elevator doors. The lights flicker, then go out. Hightower explains what happened to him, then the elevator is pulled backwards. The glowing green eyes of the idol appear in the darkness as the elevator enters the drop shaft. The elevator begins its ascent, stopping at the first scene.

The elevator doors open to reveal the private apartments of Harrison Hightower, the idol sitting on a table in the center. Hightower's ghost, glowing blue, appears beside it and reaches out to touch it. The idol zaps him with a bolt of green electricity, blasting him backwards past open elevator doors at the opposite end of the apartments, where Hightower falls down the shaft, which then fades away, replaced by a star field. The idol turns toward the guests' elevator and laughs before the doors close.

The elevator ascends to another level. The doors open, revealing a large, ornate mirror. Hightower tells the guests to wave and say "good bye to themselves". As they do, the lighting of the hotel is replaced with an eerie green glow, which makes the reflections of the guests ghostlike, an effect similar to the California and Paris rides, but absent the lightning strike. The ghostly reflection of the riders disappears and leaves the idol alone in the empty elevator. The idol laughs menacingly at the riders, and suddenly shoots forward at them. The elevator vibrates, then begins the drop sequence. The sequence is identical to the US version except the first two drops are missing (the ascent comes first) and the final drop takes place from the bottom set of doors rather than the top of the shaft.

At the end of the drop sequence, the elevator returns to its loading level, where the idol's green eyes glare one last time in the dark and then disappear, replaced by the service doors through which guests entered.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

• The Mystic Seer machine from the episode "Nick of Time" can be seen sitting on the high shelf in the libraries, nearby the television.
• The book titled "To Serve Man", from the episode of the same name, is seen in both libraries.
• Chalk marks can be seen on one of walls of the waiting area that leads from the elevator unload, a reference to the episode "Little Girl Lost". In Walt Disney Studios, this can be found in the upper level of the boiler room next to the attraction warning signage. Periodically the girl's voice can be heard calling out for help from the wall and from the radios around the boiler room; a similar version was present in Disney's California Adventure.
• The slot machine from the episode "The Fever" is seen in one of the unload areas.
• The ventriloquist dummy "Caesar" from the "Caesar and Me" is present in both unload areas.
• From the episode "The Invaders", the eponymous characters are found on display in both libraries; they are also present in Walt Disney Studios Park.
• An envelope with the name of Rod Serling on it can be found in one of the libraries as well as another envelope with the name of Victoria West in the other library, a reference to the episode "A World of His Own".
• A poster advertising "Anthony Fremont's Orchestra" is displayed next to the concierge desk in the lobby; Anthony Fremont was the young boy with god-like powers from the episode "It's a Good Life". This poster was displayed in the photo gallery at Disney California Adventure.
• Although not a reference to "The Twilight Zone", there is a felt letter board with the hotel's directory for amenities, located between the inoperable elevators in the lobby, with missing letters that have fallen to the bottom of the board to spell "evil tower". After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Disney Imagineers opted to remove those letters in the bottom. The board remains unchanged, still with missing letters that would spell "evil tower".
• The attraction was featured in the Disney Channel 1994 Halloween edition of Walt Disney World Inside Out, hosted by Scott Herriott, where guest star Gilbert Gottfried set out to experience the Tower of Terror himself.
• Following the attraction's success, Walt Disney Television produced the TV film Tower of Terror, starring Steven Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst. Based on the attraction and not "The Twilight Zone" itself, it is Disney's first film based off one of its theme park attractions. Many scenes were filmed at Disney's Hollywood Studios, when it was still named Disney-MGM Studios, while other scenes were filmed in Disney's Burbank studios.

Disney California Adventure

• A door with the number 22 in brass numbering was present in the hotel lobby as a reference to the episode "Twenty Two".
• A Shirley Temple doll sat on the hotel lobby, similar to the one at Walt Disney Studios.
• Outside the library 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 episode "The After Hours".
• An envelope with the name of Rod Serling on it was found in one of the libraries as well as another envelope with the name of Victoria West in the other library, a reference to the episode "A World of His Own".
• Similar to the queue of the Disneyland Paris version, chalk marks on the walls in the same style as those in the episode "Little Girl Lost" were present in the upper level of the boiler room next to the attraction warning signage. Periodically the girl's voice can be heard calling out for help from the wall and from the radios around the boiler room.
• There was a display case in the photo gallery that contained two items relating to the episode "A Thing about Machines" episode. One was a typewriter with a message that read: "GET OUT OF HERE FINCHLEY" and a card next to it that read "Almost Writes By Itself". There was also an electric razor; its card read "Has A Long Cord - Can Follow You Everywhere". There was also a toy telephone from the episode "Long Distance Call" with a card reading "Perfect for the children's room and those late night calls from Grandma".
• Whilst exiting, there was a display window for "Willoughby Travel", a nod to the episode "A Stop at Willoughby".
• A poster advertising "Anthony Fremont's Orchestra" was displayed in the photo gallery; Anthony Fremont was the young boy with god-like powers from the episode "It's a Good Life". This poster is displayed next to the concierge desk in the lobby at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Walt Disney Studios Park

• A dusty old doll sits on a couch in the hotel lobby, believed to be Talky Tina from the episode "Living Doll", the little girl in the attraction's pre-show and experience or Sally Shine from the 1997 movie Tower of Terror.
• The queue of the Disneyland Paris version features a reference to the Twilight Zone episode "Little Girl Lost". Chalk marks on the walls are in the same style as those in the episode, when people were trying to find the portal to the girl. This can be found in the upper level of the boiler room next to the attraction warning signage. Periodically the girl's voice can be heard calling out for help from the wall and from the radios around the boiler room. In Disney's Hollywood Studios, this can be seen on one of walls of the waiting area that leads from the elevator unload.
• Upon exiting, the display cases on the ground floor contain advertisements for, among other things, a "Housemaid Wanted" (a reference to the episode "I Sing The Body Electric") and for "A Pair of Reading Glasses Wanted" ("Time Enough At Last").
• From the episode "The Invaders", the eponymous characters are found on display in both libraries; they are also present in Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Florida, California and Paris

• The pre-show includes a little girl holding a hidden Mickey in the form of a Mickey Mouse plush toy; this one appears again in the corridor scene.
• The trumpet from "A Passage for Trumpet" can be seen in one of the libraries.
• The elevator has an inspection certification, signed by Mr. Cadwallader, the sinister deal-maker from the episode "Escape Clause". The last inspection date of the elevator is October 31, 1939, the very same night lightning struck the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Its certification number is 10259, a nod to October 2, 1959, the date The Twilight Zone first aired.
• The flying saucer from the episode "The Invaders" is present hanging from the ceiling in both unload areas.
• "Picture If You Will...", a phrase Rod Serling often used in various Twilight Zone episodes, appears in the area where guests purchase their on-ride photo; in Disney's Hollywood Studios, this phrase appears in the area where guests scan their park ticket or MagicBand for their on-ride photo and video.
• In promotional television commercials for the attraction, an elevator's floor indicator outside the doors can be seen with it's needle pointing past the 12th floor to the 13th, a reference to the 9th floor in the episode "The After Hours".