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 drop tower thrill ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's California Adventure Park, Tokyo DisneySea and Walt Disney Studios Park. It is based upon the television show The Twilight Zone. The original version of the attraction opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios in July 1994, with the California Adventure version opening 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.

The attraction is themed to resemble the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel. The story of the hotel, adapted from elements of the television series, includes the hotel being struck by lightning on October 31st, 1939, mysteriously transporting an elevator cart full of passengers to the Twilight Zone. The exterior of the attraction 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 USD$1000 per uniform, it is the most expensive costume in the various theme parks.

At 199 feet, it is the second tallest attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort, shorter only than Expedition Everest's 199.5 feet. 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. In Disneyland Resort Paris it is the second tallest attraction, although, when aloft, the Jules Verne-themed "Panoramagique" tethered balloon attraction climbs over 200 feet.

Attraction storyline and description

Queue and pre-show

In the American and European versions of the attraction, guests enter the hotel through the main entrance gate. The outdoor queue winds itself through the overgrown gardens of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, and then it enters the lobby. From this point, guests are assisted in entering the hotel's library. Through the window, guests can observe that there is a thunderstorm going on outside. Lightning strikes and the television comes on, apparently of its own accord. The opening sequence of Season 4 of "The Twilight Zone" plays, followed by an explanation of the events hosted by Rod Serling. (The late Serling is able to "host" the events via some reused footage and audio from one of the episodes, along with additional dialogue dubbed by a voice actor. Henceforth, all future references to Rod Serling refer to the character in the attraction.) He then invites guests, if they dare, to step aboard the service elevator. With that, the TV goes out and the sliding wall in the back of the library opens. The guests exit the library and enter the basement boiler room, where they wait until their elevator is ready.

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.

Disney's Hollywood Studios Version

The ride system employs specialized technology developed specifically for Disney, particularly the ability to move the vehicle in and out of the vertical motion shaft. The elevator cabs are self-propelled, automated vehicles which lock into the vertical motion cabs. The cabs move into and out of elevators horizontally, move through the "Fifth Dimension" scene, and on to the drop shaft. After the vehicle has completed its profile, the vehicle propels itself to the unload dock and then back to the show shaft. The Floridian ride system runs on a loop, though it's not as efficient as the newer "franchise" version used in California, Paris, and Tokyo.

In this version of the attraction, Rod Serling greets passengers the moment the elevator doors close, saying, "You are the passengers on a most uncommon elevator about to ascend directly into your very own episode of The Twilight Zone." 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, except the window at the end of the corridor. The window then morphs into a more ghostly black-and-white version and shatters (like in the opening segment of each episode).

The elevator doors close and the car begins to rise again. Serling's voice continues: "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."

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 then opening sequence of the Twilight Zone. Then after the segment is done, the stars fade, forming a hidden Mickey right before disappearing, then reveals a vertical line, which splits in half and opens like elevator doors. 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."
After the elevator moves in to the shaft, the randomly-selected drop sequence begins. Rather than a simple gravity-powered drop, however, the elevator is actually pulled downwards by a cable, meaning it drops unnaturally fast, causing most riders to rise off their seats, held down only by the restraining bar. At one point, doors in front of the riders will open to reveal a view of the park from a height of about 170 feet..

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. Other effects were also added, including new projection images of the breaking window, wind effects, lightning flashes, and ominous blacklit figures of the five ghostly original riders. These changes were made to make every trip to the Twilight Zone a different experience.

After a series of these drops have been made, the second corridor when returning to the basement is as the opening for the third season of the Twilight Zone. Then Rod Serling's voice says, "A warm welcome back to those of you who made it, and a friendly word of warning; something you won't find in any guidebook. The next time you check into a deserted hotel on the darkside 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!" The ride vehicle returns to the basement of the decrepit Hollywood Tower Hotel. The slogan for the ride now is "Never the Same Fear Twice!!" This is also Disney's fourth version of the ride called T4 (for Tower Version 4), adding the slogan, "the tower is in control!"

Twilight Zone references and design information

The opening lines and appearance in the introduction video during the queue--
“ Tonight's story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. This as you may recognize is a... ”

In the original episode, Rod Serling says "...map of the United States." In the Tower of Terror opening lines, the line instead is "...maintenance service elevator, still in operation, waiting for you. We invite you if you dare to step aboard because in tonight's episode, you are the star. And this elevator travels directly to...the Twilight Zone." The opening line is a modified version of the introduction from the episode "It's a Good Life."

• There is a display case in the photo gallery of the Tower Of Terror attraction at Disney's California Adventure that contains two items relating to the "A Thing about Machines" episode. One is a typewriter (with the GET OUT OF HERE FINCHLEY message); the card next to it reads "Almost Writes By Itself." There is also an electric razor; its card reads "Has A Long Cord - Can Follow You Everywhere." There is also a toy telephone from the episode "Long Distance Call" with a card saying "Perfect for the children's room and those late night calls from Grandma."
• The queue at California Adventure features a reference to the Twilight Zone episode "Little Girl Lost." Chalk marks on the wall are in the same place 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. Periodically the girl's voice can be heard calling out for help from the wall and from the radios around the boiler room.
• Outside the libraries at DCA, 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."
• Both of the elevator exit areas of the Florida ride contain a display featuring, among other things the ventriloquist dummy "Caesar" from the Twilight Zone episode "Caesar and Me."
• In the lobby of the hotel on a dusty couch sits Talky Tina from the Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll," at California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios (Paris).
• In the library, the Mystic Seer machine from the episode "Nick of Time" can be seen sitting on the high shelf.
• At DCA, envelopes with the names Rod Serling and Victoia 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.
• 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".
• The trumpet from "A Passage for Trumpet" can be seen in the display while exiting the libraries.
• As the ride comes to a stop in Florida the slot machine from the Twilight Zone episode "The Fever" can also be seen.
• As the ride comes to a stop the flying saucer from the Twilight Zone episode "The Invaders" is hanging from the ceiling.
• 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 DCA's there is a picture of a man, who is said to be Walt Disney, behind the counter in the gift shop of him at a Tip Top Club party holding a Mickey Mouse plush toy as well.
• 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 which is the date The Twilight Zone first aired and 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 you can buy your on-ride photo, something Rod Serling would say in the Twilight Zone episodes.
• In the Florida library there is the book titled To Serve Man from the episode of the same name.
  

The article text above is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror".

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