The Tower of Terror at Disney World is, without a doubt, one of the most iconic rides at the resort.
The neon lights.
The creepy lobby.
Its placement, down at the end of Sunset Blvd.
All of these elements come together to create an atmosphere that makes it extremely memorable
and transports you to 1930s Hollywood.
Like many attractions at the Disney parks, it’s a building that draws much of its inspiration
and design from actual historical structures, and so today we’re going to look at the
real Towers of Terror behind the Tower of Terror.
Now according to Disney, the Tower of Terror in Orlando Florida is largely inspired by
two historic hotels in California.
The first is the Mission Inn in downtown Riverside, just about 50 miles outside of Los Angeles.
The Mission Inn actually began as a small boarding house called the Glenwood Cottages in 1876.
It was built by one Christopher Miller, who had moved to California to be an engineer
at a tin mine.
Just a few years later he sold the business to his 21-year-old son, Frank, for $5,000.
Frank had much grander plans than his father.
In 1902, after nearly a decade of planning, he replaced the original building with the
Glenwood Mission Inn, a destination resort that cost him a quarter of a million dollars to build.
It was designed by Arthur Benton, and was named after the Mission-style architecture
that the building sported.
Mission Revival architecture mimicked the building style that was utilized just a century
earlier by Spain, who had established a series of religious missions in what would become California.
That revival would last throughout the 1930s, and it’s popularity in Southern California
at the time is what would tie it so closely to the aesthetics of golden-era Hollywood.
The Glenwood Mission Inn would continue to grow, and by the 1930s Glenwood would be dropped
from the name, making it simply the Mission Inn.
Wanting it to be a true destination resort, Frank Miller would spend decades filling it
with valuable artwork, furniture, and relics, kind of like the pre-show rooms of
the Tower of Terror.
The Mission Inn is still in operation today.
The other hotel mentioned by Disney is The Biltmore of Los Angeles.
Now, if the Mission Inn shares some design aspects and gently reminds you of the Tower
of Terror, the Biltmore is going to just slap you in the face with the similarities.
Ready?
Here you go.
I mean, that’spretty much the Tower of Terror lobby right there.
Opened to the public in 1923 at a cost of $8.5 million, it was touted as the largest
hotel west of Chicago.
It was designed by the New York architectural firm of Schultze and Weaver, and the hotel
sports 1,400 rooms and a restaurant big enough for 1,500 patrons.
The Biltmore, specifically, also serves as a bit of a narrative inspiration too.
According to the story of the attraction, the top of the Hollywood Tower Hotel features
the Tip Top Club.
On the ride itself, it only exists as a reference on the building directory in the lobby, but in the made-for-tv
movie adaptation, we get to see it realized.
The Biltmore of Los Angeles features its own club called the Biltmore Bowl.
It was a very popular nightclub in the 1930s and 40s that saw countless Hollywood stars
pass through its doors, including Walt Disney himself.
It even played host to a few of the early Academy Award ceremonies back in the day.
It’s also served as a popular filming location for movies like Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop.
Today the resort goes by The Millennium Biltmore Hotel and a trip to the Rendezvous Court will
allow you to visit a bigger and less dusty version of the Tower of Terror’s lobby.
Disney has also listed some other California landmarks as loose inspiration for the attraction,
including Elysian and Griffith Parks for the landscaping, and the Chateau Marmont.
It's particularly famous in LA for all of the crazy stories from over the years
that involved a lot of famous celebrities.
And in the Tower of Terror, as Rod Serling puts it, the Hollywood Tower
is a beacon for the show business elite.
It’s not surprising that a ride set in a hotel in 1930’s Hollywood would resemble
hotels from 1930’s Hollywood.
These attractions are able to transport us to another time and place because often,
they’re drawing from another time and place.
It’s really a testament to the talent and creativity of all the Imagineers who worked on one of
the most iconic rides at Walt Disney World.