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The Tower of Terror's story begins back in 1989 at Disney's MGM-Studios
better known today as Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The park was brand new,
just a few attractions and only one ride but lot's of potential.
not too long after it opened Disney began to toy with the idea of adding a few more attractions and even eventual expansion
expansion over the course of the next few months some new attractions did pop
up in the parks giving it a better sense of variety as well as adding some more
in-park options for its guests. Now that those attractions were completed Disney
was looking into how they could expand MGM studios and eventually they settled
on making a new land. Much like the other sections of the parks are based off real
locations in California the newest addition would be a recreation of Sunset Boulevard.
the themed land would up with a bunch of different shops and
restaurants and at the end; a brand-new attraction. The only issue was that Imagineers
weren't exactly sure what that attraction would be luckily enough Disney's
newest CEO, Michael Eisner, already had a pretty good idea.
He knew that he wanted a horror attraction somewhere within the park
this is really part of a more grand scheme of his to get older crowds
interested in the parks again it's also why attractions like "Star Tours" and "The
Indiana Jones Stunt Show" were created in the first place. Plus if ever was a
Disney park to put a horror attraction in MGM Studios was the one. Not only was
it already meant to appeal to an older audience but also celebrated classic
movies and there were more than a few in the horror genre they could choose from
once it was decided that the new attraction would indeed be a ride and
not a show ideas began to be pitched out as to what movie the ride should be
based on there were a number of different IP's that were all considered
most of which were shot down almost immediately but there was a ride that
did get pretty far in the development stage. That ride being "Hotel Mel"
A horror-based dark ride narrated by Mel Brooks.
Now, you might be asking yourself "why Mel Brooks" and maybe some of you movie laymen out there might be asking yourself
Who is Mel Brooks? Well, Brooks directing quite a few
successful comedies throughout the late 60's and 70's, one of us was popular films
was the 1974 classic "Young Frankenstein". Originally a ride based on this film was
one of the first concepts pitched out for the new expansion area and was what
Imagineers thought they would end up making. But, not too long after Brooks
officially signed on to help them develop it they realized it wouldn't
have worked due to spacing limitations
This is what kind of led them to realizing that the Sunset Boulevard expansion
would instead be a better choice. So now instead of basing the ride off "Young
Frankenstein" it'd now be a completely different attraction, but one that was
still hosted by Mel Brooks since he was already working with the Imagineers.
The dark ride concept would have taken riders through an abandoned hotel in it's
early stages it was described as a more comedic version of the Haunted Mansion
but not too long after they began to develop it Imagineers hit a bump.
In short, they just couldn't forget a way to make the attraction story to work. They weren't sure if the ride should put riders into a specific movie like they would have been on Star Tours
or if should give them kind of a "behind the scenes" look at the moviemaking process like on the backlot tour.
Because of this, the dark ride concept was ultimately thrown out the only element that was really
retained was the abandoned Hotel aspect. Imaginers figured that facade would've
worked well in the park no matter what the attraction inside of it was. A few
ideas were tossed around and eventually they'd landed on the idea for an
elevator-themed drop ride. This idea mainly stuck because it allowed them to
keep the old Hotel facade while simultaneously bringing a new type of
thrill attraction to the Disney parks. Now, drop rides in and of themselves were
not a new concept, the first one ended up eight years prior at Six Flags Magic
Mountain and since then, clones of the same ride had popped up another theme
parks around the country. Originally Disney planned to model their drop ride
after the original, only changing the theming surrounding the attraction and
not further developing the ride system but, once again due to spacing
limitations the Imagineers decided to develop a completely new ride system in
the process Disney created the AGV's, short for "autonomous guided vehicles" which
could now move without the need of a track, instead only having to follow a
magnetic strip embedded in the ground. Once the new ride system was finally
finished construction was ready to begin on the tower but, Imagineers still felt
that the attraction needed a movie tie-in. After all, just about every other attraction
in MGM-Studios at the time had one. Not too long after that Disney
acquired the rights to NBC's "The Twilight Zone", if you're unfamiliar with
the series let me be the first to tell you that it's great, hosted by Rod Serling
the show was equal parts horror, mystery, and fantasy. All with a general
eeriness that made it very interesting. The show itself only ran from 1959 to 1964 but,
its status as an iconic piece of American television had only grown in the last 25 years
making it the perfect fit for a theme park dedicated to
celebrating classic movies. Imagineers now focused on creating a storyline for
the attraction and put some of the finishing touches on a few of its
smaller theming details. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror began its construction
in 1992 and wrapped up about two years later in July
of 1994. Later that month, the all-new Sunset Boulevard open and with it:
The Tower of Terror. At a final cost of about one hundred and fifty million dollars, the
tower was Disney's most expensive attraction to date, only rivaled today by
"Radiator Springs Racers" and "Test Track". Almost immediately the new attraction
was a hit. It's story, atmosphere, and thrill element all combined to make what
was, at the time, considered to be the very best that Imagineers could offer. Even
though it's reaching 25 years of operation it's still considered to be
one of the best attractions that Disney has ever created. However that's not to
say the tower hasn't seen any changes, while it's remained untouched in terms of its
theming the ride system has had a few different variations. When it first
opened, the tower only dropped once. Top to bottom, one big drop. The next
change came two years after that in May of 1996 when the elevator was modified to
now drop twice per ride. In March of 1999 they added a few new features like
more rumbling, faster acceleration, and a heightened sense of weightlessness
when falling but, the actual drop still only happen twice. The last change came
in early 2003 when the randomized drop sequence was added
now riders could get anywhere from five to eight different drops in the tower
per ride. This is also the same ride system still in operation today.
Now, while the Florida towers story might end there for now, the next part of our
story takes us back over to Anaheim. Towards the end of 90's Imagineers were
wrapping up on their newest project, a brand new park across the street from
Disneyland by the name of "Disney's California Adventure", needless to say
people in California are very excited for a new Disney park. There had been
rumors of one coming to that property for years now with a few different planned
projects that all ultimately ended up canceled. Disney was well-aware that the new
park would be amassing tons of visitors. Not only that but it also had the
possibility of being so popular that it would steal guests from Disneyland.
To combat this, Disney began to develop a new ride for Frontierland at the original park
that would open a year two after the DCA did to thin out the massive crowds that
the DCA was expecting to have. Using the towers technology they would bring back
a scrapped concept called "Geyser Mountain". In essence, it would be just like the
tower but with all new theming. Instead of taking guests from the basement of an
abandoned hotel up to the top via an elevator, it would instead take them from
the bottom of a mine up to the peak of a mountain. Try to imagine the theming of
"Big Thunder Mountain Railroad" coupled with the Tower of Terror's ride system.
that was basically the idea. However when Disney's California Adventure did open
in 2001 it was not what Disney executives were expecting whatsoever.
In short, the park was horrific, and so were it's attendance numbers. In its first year
the park only saw five million visitors. Less than half of what Disneyland saw that same year.
Even worse, of those who actually
did visit the park more than 80% reported they were unsatisfied with
their visit. It became very apparent that it wasn't Disneyland that needed to help
a new attraction would bring and that the California Adventure did instead. With Disney
being short on not only time but also money they opted not to develop a
new attraction for the park and instead just bring over the already very popular
Tower of Terror, and that's what they did. Some small changes were made in terms of
the ride system out of necessity but, we'll get to that in a minute.
The California's Tower of Terror started construction around 2001 and wrapped up
in 2003, the attraction officially opened on May 5th of 2004. Alright, now that we've
got both towers open and operating let's take a look at some of the differences
between the two. The first and most noticeable change between them is in the architecture.
The Florida version pulls most of its design elements from the
same neo-Mediterranean style that was very popular in the early 1920's, around
the same time the hotel would've been built within the attraction's storyline.
Another key reason the original tower needed to be design like this was due to
MGM-Studios' proximity to Epcot. You see, when you're standing in Epcot's Mexico
pavilion if you look across the seven seas Lagoon and Morocco you can actually see
the back side of the Tower of Terror. However most guests would never even
notice this due to the fact that two architectural styles blend together so well.
The DCA tower would also be somewhat different in that, it wasn't designed
after an old Hollywood style hotel but instead, a more Los Angeles style hotel.
the design use on the DCA version was Pueblo deco, style a lot more buildings
were made in towards the end of the 1920's. Both designs on both towers were
ultimately made to help them fit in better with their respective parks the
queues are somewhat different as well, the Florida version has you go through a
winding, overgrown walkway up to the entrance of the hotel before entering
the lobby. On more crowded days the extended queue see some use but normally
the lobby is where the line begins. The lobby for both Towers is near identical
and so is the rest of the hotel's interior. The only exception would be in
the boiler room. While it is visually the same the
Florida version is only one story whereas its California counterpart has
two. The main reason for this change is because of the new ride system so let's
talk about the differences there. In the Florida version you strap in and the doors
close, you then go up, move around the 5th dimension scene, and into the drop shaft
after that you drop a few times and unload. In the California version, you
strap in, the doors close, and the elevator moves backwards into the drop shaft
it then goes up, drops a few times and you unload. The unloading process
between the two is different as well, in the Florida version the boarding and
exiting happened in two different locations while in California, you enter
and exit in the same place. Another difference is that instead of the fifth
dimension scene the DCA tower has the wave goodbye scene where riders can see
themselves in a mirror before they go further up the tower.
Lastly, the DCA version doesn't have the same randomized drop sequence that the
studio's version has so, every single ride-through is exactly the same. All these
changes happened either due to spacing limitations or capacity but the general
story and atmosphere of the attraction remain untouched during the transfer
from the east coast over to the west coast. After it opened the DCA Tower of
Terror amassed it's own following of Disney fans much like the original Tower of
Terror did, the new attraction quickly became a staple of the park. In the
following years the ride operated with no major changes whatsoever but let's fast
forward to 2014, because Marvel was about to release a
movie that'll have an impact on not only the film industry, but also the Disney theme parks as well.
Marvel released "Guardians of the Galaxy" on August 1st of 2014.
The film was an instant hit with audiences and grossed over 700 million
dollars worldwide, making it the highest grossing superhero film of 2014 and one of
the biggest movies for that whole year. It was no surprise that almost
immediately a sequel was announced but, one thing that did come as a surprise
was that a ride based on the franchise would be coming to Disney's California Adventure.
Even more surprising is that it would be replacing that parks Tower of Terror.
Disney officially announced "Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout"
on August 23rd of 2016 and gave us an idea of what to expect in
terms of the ride mechanics as well as the new story.
Joe Rohde: "This all leads to the same kind of like, insanely fun
rocketing up and down ride experience that we have today
but the framing, and the setting, and the pacing, and the timing, all
completely altered to feed this really very funny, very exciting, very irreverent story."
Almost immediately following the announcement severe backlash began to
hit from Tower of Terror fans, taking to almost every form of social media
to voice their disapproval. Some even going so far as to start petitions or boycott
the park. Needless to say, this decision made a lot of people unhappy. The towers
final day of operation was on January 2nd of 2017 and was closed the next day.
two weeks later, the Hollywood Tower Hotel sign was taken down and relocated.
After that the building began to be redeemed, over the course of a next
four months the exterior facade began to change from the Hollywood tower into the
collector's fortress. While the exterior was on full display throughout the
reconstruction, the interior was still pretty much a mystery as the most
information we had seen were just a few pieces of concept art. On April 25th
however, some media groups got an exclusive look inside the nearly
completed attraction. A few queue photos emerged as well as more info on the music that the
attraction would use. Songs like free ride, give up the funk, born to be wild and
burning love, would all be utilized in the rides new randomize drop sequence.
Joe Rohde: "Music plays a big role in Guardians of the Galaxy, as it does here, so as the
chaos unfolds, as we zoom up and down, we're doing this to the tune of of
course, great rock and roll."
But other than that information, the general public
still knew very little about the actual attraction. In the days leading up to its
grand opening, more media and press groups got early access to the ride.
This time being able to take photos and videos, giving us their first actual look at the
queue and ride. And now that we have that information, we can finally look at what
all was changed. First off, the most noteworthy change would be the towers
facade which is almost completely been redone. It still retains its original
form but just looks very different. The next change is in the new queue and
we'll start with what used to be the hotel's lobby, just about every piece of
furniture and decor that the lobby had has since been removed to open up the room
completely and give it more space for the new queue. The old furniture has all
been replaced with the collector's display cases. Towards the back of the
room the fireplace and the Hollywood Tower Hotel logo have both been removed
in their place is now a screen that plays one of the queue videos which gives a
little backstory as to who the collector is, what this building is for, and why
you're here. Plus, it even has all the original actors reprising their roles
like Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bautista, and Benicio del Toro. It's even got a Stan Lee cameo.
Stan Lee: "Hey, do you guys validate?"
Once you've made it through all that, you're ushered into what was previously
the library. Now retrofitted to be the collector's office. Much like the lobby
all of the bookshelves and theming elements that were in here have all been replaced.
The library used to serve as the preshow room, giving the backstory of the
Hollywood Tower Hotel and giving us some context as to why it's abandoned. The new
office holds a similar purpose, as it too plays a preshow. From the library, you
head into it used to be the boiler room. Not too much has actually changed in here
besides the lighting and some small visual changes to give it a more sci-fi
kind of feel. From there you load into the elevator, or as it's called now, the
gantry lift and begin your ride. The biggest change that the ride system saw
was the integration of the randomized drop sequence, not only is the drop
portion randomized but the ride storyline can change as well. Once you're
strapped in and the doors closed you still move backwards like you would in
the Tower of Terror but instead of a Rod Serling narration in pitch-black
darkness you instead see an outline of rocket above your lift, next we're taken
up to blow the generator, from there we rise and fall of seeing different
screens of the guardians fighting their way out of the fortress. All scenes are
randomized and can vary from ride to ride. From what I can tell the wave
goodbye scene as well as the hallway scene we're both made into spaces for
the new screens to go. Now, I'm not 100% sure about that one, though.
I do have a sneaking suspicion that generator scene is actually a real set.
If it is, it's likely what was previously the hallway scene, if I'm wrong I'll be
sure to make a note of it either in the description or in a pinned comment so,
keep an eye out. Besides all those changes the ride is the same as it used
to be. There are a few smaller changes like the gift shop which has since been
loaded with Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise and completely themed but
besides all that, the attraction is the same.
The loss of DCA's Tower of Terror is definitely a big one.
not only for fans of the attraction but also for
those who respect what that attraction did for the one struggling Disney park.
There's definitely a case to be made that it was the tower that started to turn
that park around and finally bring some guests over to it, and to see Disney have
no real regard or respect for that fact did not sit right with some people.
Ultimately I do understand why they think a more family-friendly ride would
be more appealing to the average guest but, regardless what Mission Breakout has
to offer I don't think it'll be able to bring with The Tower of Terror brought in
terms of thrill, suspense, and atmosphere. And while some may argue that
the DCA tower is a less-interesting clone of the original,
I still maintain that it was one of the best attractions that the Disney California Adventure has ever seen.
Alright and finally, right about there...
...That's a palm tree
( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)