The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (173 page)

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
(FP)
 
Must be 42” or 102 cm tall to ride.

[
FastView:
 
Terrifically terrifying thrills and chills—the
Twilight Zone
refracted through a
Disney
lense.  Not for the faint-hearted.
]

On October 26 in 1997, just in time for Halloween,
Disney
aired a new film called
Tower of Terror
on
The Wonderful World of Disney
.  Starring
Steve Guttenberg
,
Kirsten Dunst
, and
Melora Hardin
, it was a supernatural dramedy about a glamorous Hollywood hotel that was struck by lightning on Halloween in 1939.  Five guests riding in the hotel elevator, including a popular child star, vanished without a trace.

The mysterious disappearances ruined the hotel; it fell into gloomy
, haunted decay for decades until the sister of the missing child star, now an elderly woman, convinced a disgraced reporter (
Guttenberg
) and his niece (
Dunst
) to delve into the puzzle with the help of a mysterious woman (
Hardin
) and finally solve the mystery, reviving the hotel.

The film is strongest in its flashbacks to 1939; the period music, costumes
, and sets are excellent.  The bulk of the film, set in the late 1990’s, is diverting enough. 
Dunst
and
Hardin
are outstanding and clearly meant to go on to even bigger and better things.

Disney
produced
Tower of Terror
to entertain its viewers, and not incidentally to stir up excitement about its
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
attraction at
Walt Disney World
.  Portions of the movie were actually filmed at the well-crafted, finely detailed attraction, although most segments were filmed at the studio.

The original
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
at
Walt Disney World
opened in its
Disney Hollywood Studios Park
on July 22, 1994.  At 199 feet tall, the gargantuan attraction loomed over the landscape, unmistakably announcing that
Disney
could build thrill rides with the best of them, and with a level of detail and immersion that other amusement park’s attractions couldn’t begin to match.

By the 1990’s t
hrill rides and coasters were becoming bigger and bigger draws at amusement parks, and
Disney
knew it couldn’t afford to ignore the trend.  If Guests wanted beefier, scarier experiences,
Disney
would be happy to accommodate them, but at a level of craftsmanship and with a depth of story that only
Disney
could–and would–provide.

Unlike
standard drop rides that simply lift passengers high in the air and then drop them, the attraction the
Imagineers
developed would be an elaborate experience with a back story and plot, a rich setting and innovative ride vehicles.

Imagineers
devised the story of the 1930’s
Hollywood Tower Hotel
, the lightning strike, and the disappearing guests that subsequently haunted the hotel in a disembodied state.  Where did the guests go?  Into the world of the
Twilight Zone
, that haunting black-and-white TV program that served up a weekly smorgasbord of the weird and unnerving from 1959 to 1964!

Imagineers
studied
all
156 original
Twilight Zone
episodes, picking out visuals, effects, music, and clips of host
Rod Serling
that could be adapted to the
Tower of Terror
attraction.  Once the script crystallized, actual clips of
Serling
were incorporated into the
Tower of Terror
’s video elements, his dialogue dubbed by
Mark Silverman
, a contemporary actor able to mimic
Serling
’s distinctive, oft-imitated tones.

The tower
hotel, charred by lightning, was designed to look like a Hollywood hotel built in 1919, and includes windows, balconies, decorative elements, an overgrown garden, and an extensive lobby decorated with authentic 1930’s period furniture and fixtures, artfully cloaked with dust and cobwebs.  There’s a library filled with antiques (and a haunted TV set), and an elaborate, creepy boiler room that would give Freddy Krueger the shivers.  It all looks so realistic that
Disney
was able to use the location for some scenes in its
Tower of Terror
film shoot.

But
there are no guest rooms above the ground floor, no guest corridors–it’s not actually a hotel, but a shell for the high-tech, innovative ride system that drives the biggest haunted house
Disney
has yet attempted.

WDW
’s tower literally has no space for accommodations.  It hides eight ride vehicles, four lifts, and two drop shafts designed to yank Guests downward at faster-than-gravity speeds, not to mention huge motors, maintenance and Cast areas, control rooms and computers.  From day one a computer system regulated the vehicle movements, choreographing the entire complicated dance as vehicles were lifted vertically, drawn down horizontal show corridors, repeatedly (and safely) raised and released from great heights in the drop shafts, and then shuttled to the unloading zone.

Along the way Guests were treated to haunting illusions that included video, sound effects
, and classic “Pepper’s Ghost” projections, their vehicles guided by cutting-edge wireless technology and manipulated by newer-than-new computer programming.  Over time, the ride system became so sophisticated that the computer randomly shuffled drops and show elements at its own discretion; even Guests who braved the tower regularly could never predict when the elevator would plunge and exactly what effects they’d see and hear.

WDW
’s
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
was a resounding success.  Guests loved the thrill of plunging down the elevator shafts amid the spooky storyline and special effects.  From its first day,
The Tower of Terror
, like the best
Disney
dark rides, succeeded in submerging Guests in an interesting time and place outside of their normal experience, enchanting and thrilling them.  The attraction was enough of a triumph for
Disney
to invest in the
Tower of Terror
TV movie, both celebrating the tower’s success, and sparking broader interest in the attraction.

When
DCA
began construction in
Anaheim
in 1998, it seems like it would’ve been a no-brainer for
Imagineers
to include a west coast version of the
Tower of Terror
in the
Hollywood Pictures Backlot
, but for some reason they didn’t.  Whether it was a budgetary issue (
DCA
was famously built on the cheap, at least by
Disney
standards) or some other reason, no
Tower of Terror
was included. 
Hollywood Pictures Backlot
(now Hollywood Land) opened in 2001 without a
Hollywood Tower Hotel
–without, in fact, any
E-ticket
headliner.

The absence of an
E-ticket
thriller in the backlot was finally rectified in 2004.  After a
soft opening
in late April, when lucky Cast Members,
AP
s, and Guests were allowed to test ride the new attraction, on May 5
DCA
’s
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
opened its gorgeously grim doors.

Designed in
a “Pueblo Deco” style, which blends Mission with Art Deco influences, the
DCA
tower is a composite modeled after real Hollywood landmarks built in the 1920’s; possible influences include the Hollywood Tower at 6200 Franklin Avenue, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, and the Chateau Marmont at 8221 Sunset Boulevard.

According to
Disney’s California Adventure Detective
by
Kendra Trahan
, L.A.’s iconic City Hall was definitely an inspiration for the tower’s style.
DCA
’s domed
Tower of Terror
was ostensibly built in the late 1920’s, so it’s younger than
WDW
’s tower and its unique exterior looks more like an authentic Hollywood structure than the Florida tower does.

Although
DCA
’s
Hollywood
district finally got its
Tower of Terror
, there were space and budget restrictions in play that
WDW
hadn’t had to contend with. 
DCA
’s tower was built for $70 to $80 million, about half of what the Florida version cost.  It rises only 183 feet in the air, and can only accommodate three, not four lifts, and six, not eight ride vehicles.

Never daunted and ever inventive, the
Imagineers
took the budget and design limitations as a challenge and ultimately designed a system even more efficient than the Florida version.  The
DCA
lift shafts also serve as the drop shafts, and each is self-contained; if one breaks down, the others can still operate, reducing attraction downtime.  So despite being smaller, the
DCA
tower is consequently leaner and better organized than the
Orlando
tower, and it was the
Anaheim
ride system that was duplicated in
Disney
’s
Paris
and
Tokyo DisneySea
parks.

In addition to streamlining the ride system,
in
Anaheim
the
Imagineers
improved upon the original attraction by weaving even more
Twilight Zone
gags and props into the
DCA
tower.  Seemingly innocuous objects like the number 22 on a door, a stopwatch, a trumpet, and a pair of glasses are actually references to classic
Twilight Zone
episodes and catnip to
Twilight Zone
fans.

A more obvious nod to the
TV program is the infamous demon-head fortune telling machine that bedeviled William Shatner’s character–you’ll find it in the
Library
.  (For a comprehensive list of these props, see Appendix B in
Kendra Trahan
’s excellent and comprehensive book
Disney’s California Adventure Detective
.)

Given all of the ingenuity that went into it
s design, it’s no surprise that
DCA
’s
Tower of Terror
opened to a largely positive response in May 2004.  It has remained one of the park’s most popular attractions.  The 2010
Zagat Disneyland Resort Insider’s Guide
reports that it’s the third most popular
DCA
attraction, after
Soarin’ Over California
and
California Screamin’
, and it’s considered the most thrilling of the
DCA
experiences. 
DCA
’s
Hollywood
district got its
E-ticket
thriller, and the park got a new icon.

I don’t use the term “icon” lightly.  The
DCA
Tower of Terror
is a powerful visual landmark that looms over the park day and night.  It’s not just the tallest building at the
Disneyland Resort
; it’s the tallest building in
Anaheim
.  It draws your eye from almost anywhere in
DCA Park
, and from the huge plaza between
DCA
and
Disneyland
.  It’s even visible to cars and pedestrians on
Harbor Boulevard
, outside the
berm
.  Amtrak travelers know they’re approaching the
Anaheim
train station when they see the
Tower of Terror
looming in the distance.

Walt
had a term for signature attractions that commanded Guest attention.  He called them
wienies
, as in a frankfurter on a stick that would tempt one forward.  The
Hub
design at
Disneyland
allowed for the deployment of
wienies
at key points to intrigue Guests and draw them deeper into the park.