DCA Guide Spotlight: Tower of Terror

Each week we’ll spotlight a popular attraction from our extensive Theme Park Guides. Every attraction in every Southern California theme park is reviewed in-depth, complete with Attraction Type, General Description, Will’s Review, Touring Tips andFamily Info.This week we’re dipping into our Disney’s California Adventure Guide (the most comprehensive Disney guide in web or print), and spotlighting Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, the iconic thrill ride of Hollywood Pictures Backlot!

Disney’s California Adventure Guide Spotlight: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror:

Attraction Type: Combination dark ride/drop tower.

Location: To the south of Hyperion Theatre.

General Description: You are invited to tour the mysterious Hollywood Tower Hotel, where something strange and possibly paranormal happened long ago …

Will’s Review: Housed within a fictional interpretation of the real-life Hollywood Tower Hotel, this mammoth structure looms over most of Anaheim – not to mention the park itself (at 183 feet, it is the tallest building in Anaheim). Once home-away-from-home for the Hollywood elite of Tinseltown’s Golden Age, this hotel is widely known to have a haunted past. Visible from the exterior of the building are burn marks from when a stray bolt of lightning hit the tower on the stormy night of October 31^st, 1939 – an act that mysteriously transported the five occupants of the hotel’s elevator into The Twilight Zone.

Luckily, it is your turn to step into the once-glamorous Hollywood Tower Hotel to try to find out what truly happened to the unlucky occupants of the hotel’s elevator. Your adventure begins in the lush, overgrown gardens of the hotel’s exterior grounds before arriving in the ornate and richly-themed hotel lobby. Period decorations, newspapers, books, and plenty of cobwebs are interspersed with a great deal of references to the original “Twilight Zone” television series hosted by Rod Serling; guests familiar with the series will have a great time in line spotting these references. After the lobby, guests are ushered into the hotel’s library in smaller groups (much like The Haunted Mansion foyer), where a library window shows that a massive lightning storm has kicked up outside. The black and white television in the corner suddenly turns on, showing a “Twilight Zone” episode hosted by Rod Serling; the only difference is that instead of introducing the scenes to come, Rod introduces your real-life adventure that is about to begin. Since the hotel’s main guest elevator has been out of commission since 1939, you are directed to the service elevator. After walking through the eerie broiler room and strapping into narrow metal chairs in the service elevator, your adventure into The Twilight Zone begins.

As the doors close, the elevators push back from the main loading area and into a star field accompanied by an ominous warning from Rod Serling before being whisked up into the shaft to the first of two scenes. The effects here are great and rather mystifying – to the point that you don’t want to spoil the fun by reading them here. What happens next, however, is no secret. A terrifying 13-story, faster-than-gravity plunge into the dark, followed by a series of shorter and longer drops – some of which include the walls of the elevator opening to reveal the entire Disneyland Resort laid down in front of you – thirteen stories below!

The attraction itself is one of the more elaborately-themed in Disney’s California Adventure, built in 2004 to help combat the claim that this park was light on immersive ride experiences. This attraction is likely to remain one of the more popular in the park, at least until the 2012 opening of Radiator Springs Racers and The Little Mermaid: Aerial’s Adventure. The thrills offered at Tower of Terror rival that of California Screamin’, and are certainly more intense than any offering in Disneyland Park. While this version of the Tower is heavy on the special effects, it does depart from the Florida original in two ways: there is no random-drop sequence on this version (not that it’s necessarily needed, however), and there is no “Fifth Dimension Room” where the elevators leave the shaft and travel through the star field. While this is lacking, the special effects in the two show scenes is a definitive improvement on the special effects in Florida, leaving both versions of the attraction to have a unique offering of their own.

Touring Tips: If you’re attending during non-peak times, visit this attraction early in the morning or late at night (it will provide a much-needed adrenaline boost that is a great substitute for a cup of coffee!). During the peak season, grab a FastPass for this attraction then make your way to the popular offerings in Paradise Pier and The Golden State, coming back during your designated FastPass window. It is recommended to try to ride this attraction at least twice. Most first-time riders are so focused on the upcoming drop in pitch blackness that they pay little attention to the show elements or special effects. Ride first for the thrill, and then come back to see the attraction from a more cohesive point of view.

Warning: This attraction has been known to aggravate heart, back, and neck conditions of some guests. In addition, expectant mothers are urged not to ride.

Family Info: There is very little done anywhere in this attraction to add a “fun” element – the place is creepy and ominous, from the lobby to the actual Cast Members who seldom break from their creepy 1930’s bellhop character. As a result, many children are intimidated before they even get to the library; if not, the broiler room and elevator will more than likely due to the trick. There is a good amount of show scene time before the drop – and this helps to set an eerie tone – but any back-peddling at this point is useless, as you’re already on the ride. Have a talk with your kids before riding; and if they were the least bit intimidated by anything at Disneyland, know ahead of time that this probably isn’t the ride for them. As it currently stands, Anaheim’s offerings don’t get any more intense than this. Please note that guests must be at least 40” tall to ride.

Variations: The original, more elaborate version of this attraction can only be found at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando; the second-generation Anaheim version is identical in storyline and scale to the version at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris. The version at American Waterfront in Tokyo DisneySea is known simply as Tower of Terror, and departs from the other three in having no storyline connection with The Twilight Zone.