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Infos about "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror"

The highest rooftops of the Hollywood Tower Hotel can be seen already when approaching the front gate of the Walt Disney Studios, towering high above Studio 1 in splendid Art-Deco style. But only upon exiting Studio 1 is the sheer incredible height of the tower really becoming obvious. It is also at this point that it becomes clearly visible that something strange must have happened to the Hollywood Tower Hotel ... its front around the giant neon sign blackened and charred, what looks like a complete wing ripped off but without any trace except for the pipes and bare stones poking out. What has happened here?

Dare to step closer, past the beautiful buildings lining the Hollywood Boulevard in the Tower's shadow and you will discover an ominous sign which suddenly, right in front of year eyes transforms from reading "Hollywood Tower Hotel" to "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" ... the Twilight Zone ... this strange dimension where unexplainable happenings occur every second. But don't be afraid, explore the decrepit but beautiful gardens around the Tower, especially the Rose Garden is beautiful during blooming season. But what was that? Did you hear those screams?? They came from up at there, the top floors of the Tower! Yes, there, the elevator doors open to reveal a group of guests inside an elevator ... falling down!!

Now, you could turn around and take a look at the Hollywood Boulevard or wander a bit more around the statues among the roses - that is supposed to be all safe and sound, but don't you want to know what is really going on inside this once proud Hollywood Tower Hotel, which - during its best days - was the location for all stars and starletts of Hollywood? So step inside the lobby where nothing has been touched since that fateful Halloween night of 1939. Cobwebs stretch over the furniture, tea cups on a small tray seem to wait for the next guest. Over at the desk letters wait for guests, one of which left his luggage and coat right there. While clearly nothing has been touched for nearly 70 years the place still radiates glory and luxury - if there wasn't the elevator door cracked and the indicator stuck on what would be the 13th floor. There are details to discover all over the lobby - did you see the book a guest left still opened on the page he was reading?

But there is no time for a closer look as a grinning bell boy waves you on into the hotel's library. When he closes the doors suddenly the light dims and an old tv-set in the corner turns on ... it is time for "The Twilight Zone" - the famous black-and-white tv series. Just today the presenter - a striking Rod Sterling look- and sound-a-like - welcomes YOU to a very special episode in which you are about to travel into the Twilight Zone to discover the secrets of the Hollywood Tower Hotel. But before that you need to learn what is already known as the presenter introduces you to the Hollywood Tower Hotel in its original glory ... "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. Now, something is about to happen that will change all that." ... and what happened the tv-set shows in all its black-and-white detail ... you see the lightning hitting the building. Suddenly the front wing is engulfed by strange energy and disappears together with the guests and staff in it!

But back to today and YOU! "The time is now on an evening very much like the one we have just witnessed. Tonight's story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction." With these words you are shown a 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." But enough introduction ... it is time to step out of the library and into the boiler room, a hot, steamy backstage area of the Hollywood Tower Hotel where siad service elevator awaits the most daring among the guests. Don't let the grinning bell boys scare you away, take a seat - what could happen? Afterall ... this is your way into the Twilight Zone!

Once everyone buckled up(?!) something strange is happening, while the doors close your elevator suddenly starts moving - but neither up or down. Soon enough so the elevator does what you expect and slowly ascends in its shaft. When it stops and the doors open you look out onto a hotel corridor with a huge mirror facing you in which you can see yourself and your fellow guests. Then suddenly something strange happens, your mirror image transforms into a ghostly shilouette before disappearing - as the doors close you might feel a sense of foreboding. But, it is too late the elevator continues its ascend, stops and once again the doors open to reveal another corridor with a guest elevator at the far hand. And there! Do you recognize them? It's the group of guests you saw on the tv set in the library! Are they stranded in the Twilight Zone? But before you can give a second thought to it the whole corridor starts to fade into a starfield. As the doors close one more time you know it is now too late as you have entered the Twilight Zone yourself!

Brace yourself for what is to come next, as you might drop to the bottom of the shaft or be shot straight up to the 13th floor of the hotel, where the elevator doors open one more time to grant you a unique view over the Studios all the way across the Fantasia Gardens to the Disneyland Hotel ... but don't relax just seconds later you suddenly drop - down all 13 floors, past the ground level into the basement while strange lights wander across the walls of the shaft, only for you to be shot up again for another drop...

This Twilight Zone is a safe way to enjoy the incredible acceleration of shooting high up through the shaft and dropping down all the way at accelerations higher than a normal free fall would provide - in pitch black without any advance warning. Certainly no experience for the faint of heart ... breathtaking in the purest sense of the word ... and teaching a valuable lesson - not only about that unique dropping experience: "The next time you check into a deserted hotel on the dark side of Hollywood, be sure you know just what kind of vacancy you're filling or you may find yourself a permanent resident of...The Twilight Zone."

Tips for "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror"

The feareless among the guests are encouraged to ask the cast member assigning seats to be selected for the middle seat of the last row. As this one is located at the rear end of the aisle through which guests get to their aisles there is no bench in front to which the guests could hold on ... adding some extra thrill. Speaking of extra thrill: when the cast member has checked that all guests have closed their lap belt the system locks down the length of all lap belts. So to give yourself some extra space to float higher above the seat during the drop just pull out more of the lap belt before the lock down ... so there might be some extra thrills for you.

The attraction features narration for the video display in the library as well as at certain times on the actual ride. Both narrations can be played in English or French at the discretion of the cast members. The video display in the library at all times features subtitles for the language not used, a convenience not available during the actual ride. But the enjoyment of the ride is assured even if the narration might not be understandable. Nevertheless it is worth noting that the cast member can choose the language for the narration during the ride when guests have boarded the elevator, so make yourself heared if the cast member asks for a language preference...

If not all of your party are ready to drop into the Twilight Zone they can still enjoy a walk through the Tower's garden, including its picturesque Rose Garden, to await the riders in your party either at the exit of the Tower Hotel Gift shop or (especially on rainy or cold days) inside the gift shop which offers a wide selection of attraction specific as well as general WDS merchandise.

Waitingtime for "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror"

"The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" compact

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Specials about  "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror"

 'Third time is the charm' seems to apply to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at the Disneyland Resort Paris quite well - or at least sort of. Afterall the Tower was the third free-fall-ride that was envisioned for the resort's theme parks, but as is obvious it is the only that made it off the drawing board and into the theme parks.

The first free-fall-ride considered was part of the original "Discovery Mountain" project for Discoveryland at the Disneyland Park next doors. This one would have taken guests on a ride to discover the secrets behind the energy source of Captain Nemo. Technically it was based on a first generation drop twoer by Intamin and accordingly would have featured only one drop and a much lower capacity per ride vehicle. MickeyFantasmic detailed the ride in the second instalment of his F-File series about the "Discovery Mountain" project. When the project was ultimately scaled down to the "Space Mountain" rollercoaster now found in Discoveryland the first incarnation of a free-fall-ride at the resort was laid to rest as well.

But as no good idea ever dies at Imagineering not only were teams soon busy coming up with the concept of the "Tower of Terror" for the Disney Hollywood Studios (back then "Disney MGM Studios") at Walt Disney World, but also for a new free-fall-ride to be placed at Disneyland Resort Paris. At this time in the early 90s the technical side of the ride had already progressed past the first generation Intamin rides to the ride system as used - more or less - in today's ride. This allowed Imagineering not only to provide guests with several drops and shots upward in the same drop shaft and moved the drop from an actual "free fall" to pulling the ride vehicle down faster than it would naturally drop to increase the feeling of g-forces. It also allowed them to combine the drop with a dark-ride segment featuring horizontal movement. And this they did with the concept of "Geyser Mountain" for Frontierland. This never build ride would have had guests exploring deep coverns below the geysers next to Phantom Manor before their ride vehicle would suddenly be shot high up into the sky by a giant geyser offering them a bird's eye view of the Rivers of the Far West and Big Thunder Mountain. Obviously this ride never made it off the drawing board, but MickeyFantasmic takes you on an expedition into "Geyser County" in his F-File series nevertheless.

So The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror which officially opened with a small ceremony on December 22, 2007 in the Walt Disney Studios is the third incarnation of a free-fall-ride at the Disneyland Resort Paris. But even the third incarantion only made it off the drawing board with some delay. The attraction was originally designed based on "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" found at the Disney Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World to be included in the opening day attraction line-up of the Walt Disney Studios in 2002. This would have made it the second "Tower of Terror" ride in any Disney park world wide. But soon the ride got moved back to the park's second phase and only the entrance gates were constructed in time for opening day. With the construction of the Tower at WDS indefinitely delayed Disney's California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort Anaheim got interested in adding its very own copy of the Tower of Terror. At this time the blueprints for WDS' Tower of Terror had already been completed. So Imagineering just took the attraction as designed for the WDS with all its unique changes and enhancements and constructed it at DCA were it opened on May 5, 2004. When the Tower finally was approved as addition for the WDS Imagineering could have just reused these blueprints for the park they were originally designed for - but a close look reveals: they did not!

While the changes to the actual ride as designed for the WDS and then realized in DCA were kept when the ride "returned" to Paris, the building's exterior and interior was re-imagineered once more, adding different and in case of the exterior also additional details. The result is a further improved Art-Deco look that corresponds with the Hollywood Boulevard as constructed next to the Tower's grounds. Also many of the areas that were rushed at DCA, such as the plaster broken off the facade has been down in more detail for the Paris' version resulting in a more realistic look on the front and the two side facade. Just look close at the bricks revealed under the fallen off plaster - they are not only painted on! In fact some of them are even slightly askew or are missing due to the impact of the lightning...

The Tower in the WDS is also the first version of the ride which is located such that guests will be able to see its backside from inside the park. This made it a necessity to add some (even so not very extensive) themeing to the building's back as well. The different location of the two Towers also had Imagineering making changes to the layout of the gardens which are more extensive in the WDS than DCA. But besides the clearly improved themeing of the exterior the WDS version also has one huge technical difference most guests won't know about: while the Tower at DCA has been construction around a steel frame the one in the WDS is constructed as solid concrete building.

A final historical sidenote for the notebook: even so the Tower at the WDS was originally supposed to be the second Tower of Terror at a Disney theme park it is now only the fourth. How? Well, between the opening of the attractions at DCA and WDS Tokyo DisneySea opened its version of the attraction on September 4, 2006 - albeit with a different storyline and a different design of the Tower. That version, by the way, also utilizes the changes made to the actual ride section first developed for the WDS. It also made one big change that is not replicated at any other locations of the attraction: instead of the lap belt used everywhere else in the meantime, Tokyo DisneySea equiped its freight elevators with three-point-belts as found in cars, thus restricting the floating effect rather rigid.

But what "major" changes were made to the actual ride for the second generation as designed for the WDS compared to it's world premiere at the Disney Hollywood Studios on July 22, 1994? Most obviously the dark ride segment was cut, and in connection with this, the number of elevator shafts each guests travels through was reduced from two to one. At Walt Disney World the elevators move up the shaft to a first stop at a middle level. When the doors open guests look down a hotel corridor in which the group of guests and the bell boy stand that were introduced in the video earlier in the library. Suddenly they disappear and the whole corridor fades into a star field with the exception of the window in the back. The window then morphs into a more ghostly black-and-white version and shatters (as in the opening segment of each episode of The Twilight Zone tv-series). After this the doors close again and the elevator continues to move up. When the doors open again on a higher level the elevator suddenly leaves the elevator shaft to move horizontally through the 5th dimension featuring otherwordly, eerie scenes based on the opening sequence of the tv show. At the end of this dark ride segement a starfield awaits guests which suddenly transforms to a light-line which opens to reveal the pitch black elevator shaft into which the vehicle moves for the drop-sequence.

Cutting out the 5th-dimension segment of the ride also resulted in guests only travelling up and down one shaft druing their ride. Nevertheless, the ride vehicle still travels horizontally as guests board / unboard not while it is placed in the actual shaft but in front of it. This was necessary to maintain an acceptable capacity, as it allows to ride vehicles to share one drop shaft. While one vehicle is in the load/unload-position, guests experience the ride on-board of the second vehicle. To allow this the shaft also has to be connected to two load/unload-positions - therefore the boiler-room, which houses these stations has been extended onto two levels in the new design, featuring one station per level per shaft. As a side-effect guests no longer exit the elevator in a different location from where they entered it. Each of the three drop shafts is technically an independent ride controlled by a different computer. As a positive side effect if the ride encounters technical problems with one shaft the other two shafts continue independent operation and instead of a total breakdown the ride capacity is only reduced by one third. In addition to this major change to the ride itself, there have been numerous changes in details, the themeing as well as to the effects during the drop-sequence. But the basic storyline as well as basic technology behind the ride still stays unchanged.

So it is note-worthy that The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is NOT just a free-fall-ride. Besides its unique storyline and themeing, the horizontal movement of the ride vehicle (everything but common for drop-rides) it has to be pointed out that the ride vehicle on the Tower is shot up as well as it drops. And when it drops it does not only "fall freely" but it is pulled down with an acceleration larger than "g", meaning faster than it would encounter in a real free fall. The effect is that guests are floating really freely only held down by their belt. This drop-sequence is controlled by computer system. This allows the Imagineers to change the sequence at their will, changing the order and intensity of the drops and shoot-ups. Both Towers in the US-parks of Disney have seen several sequences already culminating in a programming featuring several drop-sequences selected randomly by the computer - only the Tower knows what will happen...

Even so at the time of its opening at the WDS there is only one drop-sequence used this can change easily ... returning to the Tower in the WDS in the future might provide you with an all new experience - so don't feel to safe on your next trip into the Twilight Zone...

Limits for "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror"

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