Walt Disney World’s Tower of Terror — The Fright of Your Life!
Are you ready to enter the Twilight Zone? Maybe you’ve braved a nightmare at 20,000 feet. You might even feel prepared for the monsters due on Maple Street. But this isn’t just television anymore.
It started off as a lovely vacation to Disney World, but suddenly you’ve found yourself trapped in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror! Family, friends, and strangers are huddled with you in the confines of an eerie, abandoned elevator. Can you work together to escape, or will you become permanent lodgers at this abandoned hotel?
If you’re ready to risk being trapped on October 31st forever, then follow me into the Fifth Dimension. . .
Journey Into The Twilight Zone
Disney MGM Studios – now Disney’s Hollywood Studios – was searching for a way to attract more guests and add more thrills to their section of Walt Disney World. Imagineers began brainstorming, and as soon as pop-culture phenomenon The Twilight Zone was brought to the table. . .well, let’s just say there was no turning back. *insert sinister laugh track here*
As they prepared to design and construct the Tower of Terror attraction, Disney Imagineers screened episode after episode of The Twilight Zone. In fact, they watched every episode of the series at least twice!1 (Was this really for work or just an extended watch party?? Sneaky Imagineers, LOL!)
Notes were taken about props, guest stars, music, and of course, quinessential host, Rod Serling. But what really stood out to the Imagineers was the “Fifth Dimension.”
“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. . .This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”2
-The Narrator of The Twilight Zone
For years folks had enjoyed watching the Fifth Dimension, but now it was time to take them there.
Instead of recreating one specific episode for the Tower of Terror attraction, the Imagineers came up with a “lost” episode of The Twilight Zone – starring YOU!
I hope you don’t get stage fright. . .
The Tragic Tale Behind the Tower of Terror
The year is 1939. The day? Well, Halloween of course. The place – The Hollywood Tower Hotel.
Five people entered the elevator that stormy night, ready to go to their rooms and relax with a bit of room service. However, with a strike of lightning, they ascended – or descended – into The Twilight Zone. As a result of their untimely disappearance, the hotel was shuttered, nicknamed the “Tower of Terror,” and abandoned.
Do you dare fill the vacancy?
This spooky backstory is told during a pre-show hosted by none other than Rod Serling himself. Well, kind of. It’s Rod Sterling on screen (the footage is from the episode “It’s a Good Life”), but his voice, with it’s ride-specific script, actually belongs to an incredibly talented voice actor named Mark Silverman.3 But if you didn’t know, you’d definitely think it was Serling speaking! The resemblance is almost. . .uncanny.
There are other cameos to be on the look out for during your queue and pre-show experience, too. Scattered among the (truly) antique furniture are references to classic episodes of The Twilight Zone in the form of a fortune-telling machine, cracked reading glasses, and even a cookbook mysteriously entitled “To Serve Man.”4
Of course, there are also a few Disney references, too! A hidden nod to Mickey can be spotted in the library room, where the dusty sheet music is for a song called “What! No Mickey Mouse?”5 And in the pre-show clip, the little girl who enters the elevator is carrying a Mickey Mouse plush doll.
With as spooky as this ride gets, I wouldn’t blame you for bringing along an emotional support-plushie, too! It’s not like I need to bring one, though. . .
*is totally harboring an Orange Bird plushie*
Surviving the Tower of Terror
So, what exactly does experiencing The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror entail?
Well, there’s a good reason it’s one of the tallest structures in Disney World. (At 199 feet tall, it’s just 12 inches short of needing airplane beacons!6) It gives you a lot more room to free-fall!
When you enter the dingy elevator shaft, you’ll ascend for a moment before the doors are thrust open to reveal the five fated passengers – each one glowing eerily. Then the lights go out, the iconic Twilight Zone music begins to play, and stars wink around you in the engulfing darkness. You are in the Fifth Dimension – no, beyond the Fifth Dimension!
Serling/Silverman informs you in a too-peaceful radio-announcer voice: “You’re about to discover what lies beyond the darkest corner of your imagination. . .in the Tower of Terror!”
Eclipsed in darkness once again, you fall. But it’s more than just falling – you’re actually being pulled down faster than gravity could take you – hurtling down 13 stories at 30 miles per hour!7
You jerk to a stop.
Is it over?
Oh, no. You drop again. And again. Maybe again. There’s no telling exactly what the sequence will be like – the number and length of the drops are all entirely random, controlled by the Tower of Terror computer system.
(Do you have goosebumps yet??)
At the end of the ride, the elevator doors will slide open again, revealing not the Twilight Zone, but just good old Disney’s Hollywood Studios. . .if you’re lucky.
Celebrating its 25th birthday in 2019, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is undoubtedly a Disney World classic. It’s fun to ride anytime, but it’s spooky vibes are especially perfect for Halloween. We highly recommend giving it a go on this spook-tacular night!
Have you survived the Tower of Terror? Do you have the Twilight Zone theme song stuck in your head now? Drop into the comments below!
Stay spooky, my friends!
Cover Image
Photo: Rain0975 via Flickr
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