What do you get when you combine a show known for its dark imagery and plots and a theme park that's not afraid to frighten parkgoers? Well, not for naught that it's called The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror...
The Twilight Zone Version
- The terror begins before you even set foot in the Hollywood Tower Hotel. As you approach and get your full view of the building, steel shutter doors open up for the elevators that are currently being dropped. You can hear the screams of guests on the ride until you walk into the lobby but you can't see them, adding to the uneasy nature of the place.
- The "elevator" is actually on a belt (rather than rigged with a counterweight like a traditional elevator), and it can (and will) push you down faster than the acceleration due to gravity. In Florida, it's randomized every time, so the number and length of drops is different even on back-to-back trips, so you never will get the same ride experience twice. The only thing about the drop sequence is that you will be guaranteed at least one "false drop" and one drop through the entire ride structure.
- Most of the shaft takes place in total darkness, with the only lights visible at times being things like ghostly visions of the elevator passengers. The only exception is when the doors open at the top, just so you can see how far off the ground you are (and so that you can have your picture taken). Florida's version adds an extra bit of surrealism in that your view of the park is obscured by the Hollywood Tower Hotel sign when the doors open, meaning the sign is where a corridor should be.
- The Tower of Terror itself is a very creepy ride, but it was intended to be one (not for small kids). Still, one of the scariest parts is when you're merely walking up to the "hotel". You're completely surrounded by lush, overgrown forestry and the walk is at least a minute or two. Doesn't sound too scary right? Well, imagine you're walking up there—by yourself as old music from the 1930s is playing around you. God... that isolation really gets to you and almost makes you feel likes something's going to jump out at you any second. Not only that, but the entrance walkway up to the hotel is tilted around 2 to 4 degrees, an effect done by the Imagineers to enhance the sense of unease.
- There are many easter eggs and Twilight Zone references, which are very fun for the die-hard fans, but can also be unsettling depending on if you do or don't know the context.
- As the ride comes to an end, there is a creepy ventriloquist dummy
◊ that you can only see if you are in the back row, all the way on the left (or right depending on which shaft you're in), then look to the left (or right) as the elevator reaches the unloading door. The dummy just sits there, but he could startle you. The dummy in question is said to be "Caesar" from the episode "Caesar and Me". - Another easter egg that's fun for Twilight Zone fans but can seriously freak out the uninitiated is in the gift shop, where there's a display of typewriters as decorations. One of them has paper in it with "GET OUT OF HERE FINCHLEY" typed over and over. Very unnerving if you haven't seen "A Thing About Machines".
- One that gets even creepier with context: the telephone previously seen in the Anaheim lobby, with a card saying, "Perfect for the children's room and those late night calls from Grandma". Sounds perfectly innocuous...unless you're an original series fan, in which case you may recognize it as a reference to "Long Distance Call", where a boy's dead grandmother calls him on a toy telephone, urging him to commit suicide so they can be together again.
- As the ride comes to an end, there is a creepy ventriloquist dummy
- It's gone now, but there used to be an ominous message. The bulletin board in the queue is missing a few letters. Originally, if you walked up to the board and looked at where the letters fell◊, they would spell out "evil tower u r doomed." The letters were removed at some point after the 9/11 attacks. The effect used to be great though, because you probably would've found it on accident.
- At the Florida attraction, if you look at the bottom of the bulletin board, it now has the message "take the stairs," a final warning for you to leave while you can.
- If you chicken out before getting onto the Tower of Terror, don't expect to get off without a little fear! If you decide to not go on the ride a cast member will lead you to another elevator with an entrance identical to the ride itself, making you think that there was a misunderstanding and that you were brought to the ride. However, the scary doors open to reveal a brightly lit elevator to the exit. It's a nice prank, though, since the cast member always says that he or she will take you to "the elevator" rather than "to the exit"!
- In the boiler room of the California version, you might've found a random plaque of a quote from Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem, "The Man Worth While" reading: It's easy enough to be pleasant when life hums along like a song; But the man worth while is the man who can smile when everything goes dead wrong. The fact that the quote is there for no real reason other than to vaguely foreshadow the horror riders are about to experience is sort of unsettling. However, it also kind of doubles as a bit of a Funny Moment in its own way.
- Just the thought that the only thing keeping you in the ride vehicle while it's falling is a nylon seat belt (or a lapbar) and the strength of your own two hands.
- The very fact that this ride is set in the dark and very un-Disney like world of The Twilight Zone, where Anyone Can Die or suffer horrible fates, and you're in an episode!
- With most amusement park rides, whether at Disney Parks or elsewhere, you at least get to see the people before you get off the ride, so you know everyone made it safely (most of the time). With this one, there is no way of seeing everyone before you get off the ride. So as far as you know, they really did disappear forever on the ride. And that's what's going to happen to you.
- Imagine the scenario that trapped the ghosts in the elevator in the first place. You're on vacation (or doing your job in the case of the bellhop or the nanny), just expecting to take a normal elevator ride to your room and relax. Then there's a lightning strike, shocking you and your companions into an unknown time and space and sending your elevator car crashing to the basement below. Then you're trapped in said unknown time and space...and slowly come to the realization that there's no chance of escaping or finding rest for all of eternity and the only thing you can do is beckon others to join you. And I Must Scream indeed!
- Even the cast members help add to the fright. The more energetic ones will put particular emphasis on explaining that the elevator will soon drop in to take you to your doom, er, your rooms. As the elevator doors close, they often say "If you need anything, just scream" or simply wave goodbye in a creepy manner.
- Not helped by the fact that it's one of two rides (the other being The Haunted Mansion) where cast members aren't made to constantly smile, and are in fact encouraged to act as grim and creepy as possible. It can be incredibly jarring when you've already gone on a few rides and have been met with chipper, happy cast members until this point.
- In Florida, your car moves through the Fifth Dimension, a nightmarish hellscape involving various symbols from the opening sequence, including, the door, the clock, opening eye and window before turning into a star field. Then the stars fade into the center of the center and part as the elevator shaft doors open, revealing nothing but absolute blackness. And then you hear Rod Serling's voice deliver one last ominous message, before you start the drop sequence:"You are about to discover what lies beyond the 5th Dimension, beyond the deepest, darkest corner of the imagination—in the Tower of Terror."
- In Paris, they revamped the attraction as "A New Dimension of Chills", the little girl is now the host of the attraction, warning the riders not to go into the elevator shaft, then chastising them when they do. While she does try to rescue them, with help from the other guests, it's too late. In the end she then once again chastises the guests before skipping off and disappearing while ominously humming the theme song to the Twilight Zone.
Tokyo DisneySea version
The Tokyo version is no slouch either.
- While lacking the Twilight Zone brand, it's no less scary. In this rendition, you're making your way through a hotel formerly owned by a greedy explorer that's been re-opened by a historical society. Like the original, the place has its fair share of disrepair with cobwebs and cracks everywhere. But more disturbing is how there are paintings on the walls of the owner, Harrison Hightower III, which give you a real good idea of how egotistic he is and likewise a tad creepy, especially seeing as he always has his back to some of the dangers around him. As you make your way through the lobby, you pass by a few elevators and one in particular is notably damaged. The doors bent and wires dangling from where the elevator snapped, setting the foreboding mood nicely.
- Eventually, you hit the pre-show where a society member plays the last phonogram recording of Harrison when he was alive with a mural window featuring him and an African idol, dubbed Shiriki Utundu, sitting nearby. The recording is that of a press conference Harrison held while showing off the idol. One of the reporters asks about a supposed curse affiliated with it, but Harrison and some of the other reporters laugh it off. Suddenly, the mural changes to show the faithful night that Harrison took it up to his quarters with him, now speaking directly to the guests, claiming that the curse is indeed real as he tries to warn the guests to leave while they can. The mural changes again to show Harrison entering the elevator holding Shiriki and riding it up to the top before a flash of green light turns out all the lights in the hotel, sending the elevator plummeting down the shaft. The real life Shiriki Utundu comes to life, looks over the guests and gives a malicious grin before the room blacks out and it suddenly vanishes, giving you the sense that it's the one telling the story and looking forward to having fun with its new victims.
- Some extra material explains the backstory in more detail. For one, the curse affiliated with it was accidental, a African tribesman made the idol to keep a rival one away but ended up imbuing it with a malicious taint that worked too well. When he realized what was happening, he tried to get rid of it, only for Shiriki to teleport him into a jungle where he barely survived the night making it back to his people. After which they did their best to appease the idol... till Harrison came along. Harrison tried to buy the Shiriki from the tribe but they refused. So he ultimately resorted to stealing it. However the tribe oddly never tried to stop him, just stood there as he left with the idol like they were letting him. When the other tribes saw Harrison with it, they were suddenly very accommodating and even gave his expedition gifts. Eventually, Harrison showed Shiriki off at his hotel with a party and retired for the night. His assistant tried to warn him not to disrespect the idol, but Harrison wouldn't listen and even put out his cigar on it before taking the elevator to his penthouse. The events as described above happened, but when the elevator was searched, Harrison's body was nowhere to be found. All that was left was the adventurer's fez and Shiriki on the floor.
- Leaving Hightower's office, you pass through the boiler room where Harrison's ill-gotten gains are stored. If you pay close attention you can actually see green eyes poking out from some of the structures, showing the idol is watching you. On the ride itself, you see an image of Harrison taunting Shiriki only for it to zap him into a nearby elevator and drop him down the shaft. It then turns its attention to the guests. Just the way the room turns dark amongst the glowing stars as it does gives a great sense of terror.
- After the scene in Hightower's suite, the elevator goes to the next floor and stops on a room with a mirror showing the guests on the ride (similar to the California version). Hightower tells the guests to "wave goodbye" before the mirror turns the guests into ghostly images and then morphs into Shiriki, which flies at them and starts the drop sequence proper, Shiriki cackling all the way.
- At the end, Harrison proclaims the guests are saved but warns them not to get addicted to terror, imploring them never to return. It seems he's realized his folly since his death, but he can never make up for it, doomed to dwell in his hotel and replay his last moments with the idol over and over. At best, all he can do now is try to keep others from suffering the same fate. A rather chilling thought and nice companion piece to the ghostly guests of the American version. Oh yeah, and you see the Shiriki's glowing eyes one more time above the doorway before the ride coasts to the door and lets you off. A subtle reminder that it's still in control of the hotel.
- By the by, one of the promos for the ride had Shiriki overlooking Mickey riding it laughing all the while as Minnie, Donald, and Goofy look on worried.
- Some of the photos of Harrison are likewise a bit disturbing. In all of them, he has a scowl on his face and one where he's surrounded by all manner of rather creepy-looking artifacts and another showing him with other members of an adventurers society where he's holding the Shiriki idol. What's more, he collected his treasures just because he could, hoarding them all in his mansion rather than donating them to a museum. The major personification of greed. Small wonder he eventually wound up with one that ended up dooming him.
