Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

You’ve just crossed over into… The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is housed inside of (what looks like) a rundown hotel called The Hollywood Tower Hotel. This building is so iconic that it is sometimes used as a symbol for Hollywood Studios on apparel and merchandise.

Found at the end of Sunset Boulevard, this is one of Disney World’s most thrilling attractions. The whole rundown aspect of the building helps to create a very eerie atmosphere. As you get closer to the “hotel”, you will hear the screams of it’s victims. This is because, after you travel up an elevator 13 stories, you will drop straight down as much as 130 feet!

The Hollywood Tower Hotel is 199 feet at it’s tallest point. Why did they stop at 199 feet? If the building was one foot taller, it would have to have airplane beacons installed at the top, and Disney didn’t want that to interfere with the theming.

The Story

“On Halloween night in 1939, a thundering storm descended on Hollywood hills, trapping several guests in the lobby of the star-studded Hollywood Tower Hotel. A party of five entered the elevator — a couple, a bellman, a child actress and her governess — and with one crack of lightning, each of them vanished. Now, on a night ‘much like this,’ guests are welcome to follow in their footsteps and take a ride in a service elevator that leads ‘directly to … The Twilight Zone.’”

Similar to The Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom, the cast members, here are always in character and add a lot to the atmosphere of the attraction. They act as “bellhops” for the hotel. You’ll see lots of stoic faces, and they seem to have a grim personality, but it is all to add to the immersion.

Queue and Preshow

The queue of the Tower of Terror starts outside and continues inside. The highly detailed queue sets the tone of the attraction. The outside will wind you through the eerie, unkempt hotel gardens. The abandoned feel of the hotel is continued inside, where you will see lots of cobwebs and dust. In fact, the furniture and antiques are real, and they were purchased at Los Angeles-area auction houses. After you get through the lobby, you will be taken to the boiler room of the hotel.

Once you get through the lobby, you will enter a small room where the library is located. After the doors close, lightning flashes, thunder sounds, and a staticky, black and white television screen turns on. This is where the story of the attraction starts.

Credit: MagicGuides.com

TOWER OF TERROR NARRATOR

When the doors open, the “bellhop” will take you into the boiler room (where you will be waiting in more lines).

The Elevator

Once the line ends, you’ll board a “maintenance elevator.” Before the door closes, the “bellhop” will usually say something to scare you (like I said, they always stay in character). This is where the fun starts. The Tower of Terror is more than your typical freefall attraction. It wouldn’t be a Disney attraction without adding some special effects. Before the fall, you will come across more supernatural happenings.

Once you get past the story elements, the drop sequence is actually random! You won’t (usually) just go down once. In fact, you may even take off by going up first. You will go up and down more than once, and the doors will open at some point to reveal the outside world. Having said that, there is actually one sequence that will take you all the way to the top, and take you all the way down once. You just never know! However, you will ALWAYS experience at least one full drop.

FUN FACT: You don’t actually free fall in this attraction. The ride system actually pulls you down faster than gravity!

Once you are back down on the ground, the doors will open, where another bellhop will be waiting for you to let you off the elevator.

Pictures

Your photo will be taken during the drop sequence of the attraction. It tries to catch you at the most intense part of the attraction. Sometimes, you will even get a neat little video if you are wearing a MagicBand (so that it can link to your account) and have MemoryMaker.

Dual Theming

If the immersive theming of this run down hotel attraction doesn’t impress you by itself, there is even more to consider. While this attraction was being built, Disney’s imagineers realized that the tower would be visible from Epcot. When you are standing in the world showcase, if you are looking from a certain point of view, you can see it behind the Morocco pavilion. Because of this, the back architecture of the Tower of Terror was embellished with Moroccan-inspired decorations, and it was painted the same color as the buildings in the Morocco pavilion. This helps it blend into the background, so that it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb when you are in a park that is themed differently. This kind of detail can be found all around the resort complex, but this was a very creative solution to an issue that the majority of guests probably won’t even notice. This is a prime example of the lengths Disney goes to, to ensure that everyone is immersed in the moment.

This is the Morocco Pavilion at Epcot. You can see Tower of Terror there in the background. It can be seen clearly here, but it can actually only be seen from certain angles when you are in the park, and it’s off in the distance.

Conclusion

Not only is Tower of Terror one of the most thrilling attractions in Walt Disney World, it is also one of the best themed attractions in all of Walt Disney World, making it a top notch attraction. This should be on the must do list for anyone that can handle these thrills.