Define: Tower of terror

[plutosnana]

Can anyone define Tower of terror to me? Does anyone know the kind of year it's themed? I've never been on it before so I wouldn't know..

[BrerGnat]

What do you mean by define?

I can describe it as a freefall type ride with a twist. In addition to falling, it goes shooting up and falls over and over again, in a random pattern. The theme is 1930's Hollywood, as far as I know. The theme is carried out in the queue and boarding area. Once you're on the elevator, it's more of a Twilight Zone theme (the "dark ride" portion of the ride, prior to the freefall part).

Is that what you were looking for?

[TexansInNY]

BrerGnat is spot on - 1939. The ride is an autonomous guided vehicle that locks into vertical motion cabs. Freefall with randomly generated number.

Don't forget to see what the little girl is holding the entire time!

[brownie]

You're about to enter...the Theme Parks forum.

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

How do I describe it???

As one of the rides I won't ride! I have an extreme fear of heights.

My husband and oldest boys love it. The free fall flight down, the yo-yo, the open door out to the park, all part of what they love.

[Mufasa]

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is presented to guests in a way of being able to experience and step into a "lost episode" of the Twilight Zone.

The story revolves around the events of Halloween 1939, and the disappearance of five guests of the Hollywood Tower Hotel during a fierce storm as lighting was reported to have struck the tower.

During the pre-show:

Hollywood 1939- amid the glitz and the glitter of a bustling young movie town at the height of its golden age, the Hollywood Tower Hotel was a star in its own right, a beacon for the show business elite.

The time is now on an evening very much like the one we just witnessed.

Tonight's episode of the Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction.

This as you may recognize is a 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

In fact, portions of the audio for the pre-show introduction are taken from an actual Twilight Zone episode (It's a Good Life- perhaps one of the best episodes of the series)- there is also a fun reference to this episode with a poster in the queue announcing Anthony Fremont and his Orchestra performing at the Tip-Top Club (at the top of the tower). The name is a sort of play on words, because in the episode all the adults tip toe around Anthony (the boy with mysterious powers who could wish things away to a cornfield).

Several different ideas were floated around about investigating the disappearance of hotel guests during a storm, including a walk through attraction or even an interactive sort of quest in an actual working hotel to be built at the entrance to the park (I think that was a concept by Bob Weis, though I might be mistaken) where you would discover clues along the way and be able to finally unlock the mystery by boarding an elevator.

Once you actually board your elevator (making sure to note the inspection certificate from that fateful day- dated October 31, 1939 and signed by Mr. Cadwaller- the name the devil took in the Twilight Zone episode Escape Clause), you first stop at a hallway where you see ghostly images of the guests that disappeared beckoning you as a storm is blowing and see the walls fade away into a starfield which evokes the opening of a Twilight Zone episode with the shattering window (the dimension of sound)

Next you move onto what is called the Fifth Dimension room. Here you hear Rod Serling say:

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 first glance, looking around this room it looks like a maintenance area for the hotel, but then your elevator car moves forward and you start to see the other iconic images from the series opening like the eye- (the dimension of sight), or the E=mc^2 equation (the dimension of the mind) and hear the theme and the ticking clock as you see the stars start to disappear and collapse revealing a portal and the start of your drop experience.

The idea of the Fifth Dimension room draws a lot of inspiration from the episode Little Girl Lost about a little girl who discovers an invisible portal to another dimension (the 4th dimension) in her bedroom. In the California and Paris versions of the tower, there is a portion of the wall in the queue which looks like the portal from the episode (and if you listen carefully you can even hear the cries from the girl coming from behind the wall or the radios scattered around the boiler room)

Assuming you survived your thrilling journey you hear:

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 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

[Mufasa]

Tokyo DisneySea's Tower of Terror has a unique and perhaps even more elaborate backstory involving Harrison Hightower III (since the Twilight Zone would be a concept somewhat lost in translation for the Japanese audience)

Harrison Hightower III serves as a major part of the backstory for the American Waterfront section of Tokyo DisneySea- he is a business magnate (somewhat modeled on William Randolph Hearst and portrayed in the attraction by Imagineer Joe Rohde)- who is a controversial member of S.E.A (the Society of Explorers and Adventurers- the SEA portion of the DisneySea name which is why it appears officially in all capital letters and forms part of the backstory for the park and extends into other resorts like the upcoming Mystic Point/Mystic Manor and his friendly rivalry with Lord Henry Mystic and the Adventurer's Club being built into Hong Kong Disneyland) who has opened the spectacular new Hightower Hotel to join his SS Columbia.

Anyway, the events in Hightower's Hotel (thus the HTH in the logo rather than Hollywood Tower Hotel) surround New Year's Eve 1899 where Hightower has returned from his latest Congo River expedition and brought with him the mysterious Shiriki Utundu idol stolen from the Mutudu tribe (Shiriki Utundu roughly translating to "believe the misfortune")

If you carefully look at the murals around the lobby of the hotel, you'd actually see that all the paintings of Hightower usually depict him escaping or evading what is presumed to be where he unscrupulously snagged his latest fortune.

Hightower holds a press conference where he is asked by a budding reporter, Manfred Stang about the supposed curse on the idol. Hightower laughs off the talk of this curse and is witnessed at the end of the evening carrying the idol with him as he steps to the elevator to retire to his Penthouse suite, extinguishing his cigar on the idol's head.

At midnight, a strange green glow is seen and Hightower's screams are heard as the elevator plunges and crashes in the lobby (buckling the doors) but when witness look inside they find no trace of Hightower- only the Shiriki Utundu idol and the hotel is immediately closed.

Years later, in 1912, Beatrice Rose Endicott of the New York Preservation Society wants to preserve and re-open the hotel for tours as a museum (because of Hightower's vast collection of artifacts scattered around and hidden in various storage rooms) but is warned of the danger and mystery surrounding the Shiriki Utundu by Manfred Stang so they decide to explore the hotel together and that is where the guests get to join them.

[Totodog]

Not to be picky (which is another way of saying...I'm being picky) but, Tower of Terror is not a free fall. You are actually being pulled down faster than gravity.

Now back to your regular discussion.

[sixshot19]

Easy definition......Awesome.

[Belster]

Not to be picky (which is another way of saying...I'm being picky) but, Tower of Terror is not a free fall. You are actually being pulled down faster than gravity.

Now back to your regular discussion.

I was thinking the same thing...lol. Due to the way this is done..I don't get that horrible stomach drop feeling which makes me LOVE the ride!!!

[big blue and hairy]

Hmmmm.....define Tower of Terror....

how about, tall, scary thing?

[Rosemickey68]

AWESOME!!! It's one of my favorite rides!!!
If you've never been on, you just gotta go ride it!!! I like to say it is my favorite stress relievers in the whole world!

[linedropper]

Its a blast, Up down, come out of your seat! Cant wait to get there in less then 3 weeks!

[Zawadi]

ToT is my favourite ride at WDW.

Between WDW, DLR at both California & Paris I've ridden it just shy of 300 times. I should have a hotel loyalty card

There is a website dedicated to ToT which include a game where you are the ride's controller sending guests through the libraries to the elevators

[johnO]

How to describe it? It can be described as a ride that "Can't be missed", regardless of how scared you are.

[RBrooksC]

Not to be picky (which is another way of saying...I'm being picky) but, Tower of Terror is not a free fall. You are actually being pulled down faster than gravity.

Now back to your regular discussion.

Thank you for saying that because it isn't a free fall ride. It is very smooth and heights really doesn't come into play because it is dark and the brief view of the park one gets is too short to illicit any height fears. I should know, I couldn't go out on our balcony in the CR in May due to how high it was.

But just know this, my five year old son went on it and the first thing he said when we were done was, "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

[RAIDER]

In essence its a ejection seat without the parachute

[seanyred]

simply put one of the best thrill rides ever made. Not even the tallest coaster in the world can compare to this ride. It has everything. Dark, Scary, Good Story and a unpredictable free fall. I've been on it 20+ times and I have yet to have duplicate fall (from what I remember).

[LudwigVonDrake]

The only thing I'll add is that it's AWESOME!!!