The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, more commonly known as Tower of Terror, is a simulated freefall thrill ride at Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, California. It is based upon the television show The Twilight Zone. The Disney-MGM ride opened in 1994 and the California Adventure version in 2004.

As part of the Happiest Homecoming on Earth celebration, another Tower of Terror attraction will open at Tokyo DisneySea in Japan (2005), and later at Walt Disney Studios in France (2008). The Tokyo DisneySea version of Tower of Terror is not authorized by The Twilight Zone, and has a completely different storyline.

The ride is themed to resemble the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel. The storyline of the ride is that on Halloween 1939, the hotel was struck by lightning, transporting an elevator car full of passengers to the Twilight Zone. The exterior of the ride resembles an old hotel with a blackened scorch mark across the front of the facade. At 199 feet, it is the highest attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort and also at the Disneyland Resort. (According to Walt Disney World staff, the ride is only 199 feet high because federal regulations require a special license to construct buildings 200 feet or higher due to interference with aircraft or aircraft's regulation need a red light beacon fixed to the top.)

Guests entering the ride are ushered into the library, where they view a short clip of Rod Serling describing the events at the hotel, presented in the style of The Twilight Zone television series' opening segment. From there, guests pass through the hotel's basement "boiler room" and into a large elevator equipped with rows of seats.

Florida version

In the Florida version of the ride, the elevator rises for a few seconds before coming to a stop. The doors open to reveal a corridor populated by the ghostly occupants from 1939, who then disappear. The corridor fades to a starlit night sky, and a window breaks (like in the opening segment of each episode). The elevator doors close and the car begins to rise again. At the top, the doors again open and the car mysteriously moves forward out of the shaft, through a surreal collection of objects and sights, once again in the style of the television show's opening sequence.

The car stops in complete darkness, and after a pause, shutters open to reveal a view of the park from a height of 13 stories. In the years since the attraction's initial opening, a randomized pattern of "false starts" has been added where the car drops a short distance before shuddering briefly upwards again. After anywhere between one and five tension-building stutters, the car plummets the full distance to the basement.

Florida attraction facts

• Grand Opening: July 22, 1994
• Height: 199'
• Ride Duration: 5:00
• Height Requirement: 40"

California version

While similar in concept, the version of this attraction in Disney's California Adventure does have some differences. The first difference is that the elevator pushes backwards away from the elevator door while a starfield appears around it. A door closes, placing riders in darkness as the elevator rises.

The first stop of the elevator is in front of large mirror. The voice of the narrator asks riders to wave goodbye. As they do, electricity begins to arc around the mirror and the reflection of the riders is replaced by a ghostly image. The elevator shudders as the door closes and the elevator moves to its next stop, a corridor similar to the one in Florida. Instead of the window at the end of the corridor, there is an elevator door that opens to reveal the 1939 guests dropping into space.

The car the passengers are riding in then drops into darkness before ascending to the top of the shaft for a view over the Disneyland resort before dropping only to rise to the top again for a second drop.

California attraction facts

• Grand Opening: May 5, 2005
• Building Design: Pueblo Deco
• Height: 183' (40' underground)
  • Storyline - 13 stories (11 actual)
• Height Requirement: 40"

Ride system

The ride employs specialized ride technology developed specifically for Disney, particularly the ability to move the elevator cab forward in the Florida version. This element was removed for the version in California, reportedly due to the fact that this was the area in the Florida attraction that causes the most shutdowns as the computers lost track of elevators while they made their horizontal transit. The California version was able to take advantage of a relatively new technology that allowed guests to be transformed into ghosts before their eyes.

Although the ride is designed to feel like a freefall, the elevator is actually accelerated downward faster than the pull of gravity for extra thrills.

In an effort to be true to the spirit of The Twilight Zone, Disney Imagineers reportedly watched every episode of the original television show at least twice. The attraction buildings are littered with references to Twilight Zone episodes, most of the references being found in the library.