Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

About Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Decrepit Southern California hotels occupy a special place in my heart.

My first home, an apartment really, stood in the shadow of the Ambassador Hotel in L.A. Fantasies of mingling with stars outside the Cocoanut Grove had lured my parents from Kentucky to the corner of Wilshire and Alexandria a year before my birth. Only when they arrived did they learn that "Hollywood" -- the industry, not the town -- had long ago decamped for more fashionable environs west. And that the Ambassador's best days lay behind it.

It wasn't a lightning bolt that doomed the Ambassador. A changed neighborhood, shifting fashion and the infamy of Sirhan Sirhan's bullet took care of that. Travelers checked in elsewhere. My parents moved us to Canoga Park. But I'm always reminded of the Ambassador when I enter the lobby of Disney's faux Hollywood Tower Hotel.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror's conceit offers that a bolt of lightning knocked the 13th floor of Hollywood's favorite gathering place into the fifth dimension. And that the tale of that supernatural event is told in a "lost episode" of Rod Serling's television series.

That Hollywood Tower Hotel looms over California Adventure's Sunset Boulevard, as its predecessor does at Disney-MGM Studios in Walt Disney World. But while the Florida version bears a passing resemblance to the real Hollywood Tower (after a visit to BALCO), California Adventure's hotel evokes Pasadena's Castle Green, with a kick of art deco flavor.

This tower's crammed into too small a space, with no room for Disney World's gardens that there provide a haunting prelude to the show within. Here, you're expected to get a ride reservation in advance through Disney's Fastpass system, as there's little room for a standby line. So it's straight into the lobby and on with the show.

Last year, I finally got the chance to return to the Ambassador, for a performance art/dance program. We followed the troupe throughout the hotel, from the pool through the arcade and coffee shop, upstairs into the Cocoanut Grove and the lobby. There, in a moment of reverse karma, I remembered the Florida Tower of Terror, and noted how cheap and artificial the real decay of the Ambassador's lobby looked compared with the lush "disrepair" of Disney's fake shuttered hotel.

That same thought returned as I entered the nearly identical lobby at California Adventure. Cobwebs, cracked plaster, rusted pipes, oxidated copper -- let Six Flags and Knott's bring you the real decay. Nobody does fake busted like Disney.

From the lobby, bellhops beckon you into the library, crammed with authentic Twilight Zone TV props and a short video featuring the Tower's back story, narrated by a cleverly edited Serling himself. You are to enter the tower through a service elevator, and to experience for yourself the journey into the Fifth Dimension where the hotel's previous guests were lost. So it is through the back door into the boiler room, where the elevators await.

Here you will find another difference from the Florida original. The loading deck is split on two floors, and the elevators here travel in a single shaft. Florida's Tower of Terror takes riders up one shaft, where the elevator pauses for a few show scenes. Then the elevator follows a vanished family through the fifth dimension and into a second, drop shaft, where a blast of lightning sends riders into one of a randomly chosen sequence of drops and launches.

In California Adventure's version, your first movement is back, not up. Sticklers might complain that breaking out of the vertical shaft right away cheapens the elevator theme. Whatever. How many elevators come with benches and seat belts? (Though Toronto's CN Tower ought to consider investing....) We know what's gonna happen here. Let's get on with the ride.

Which this Tower of Terror does. And well. Too well, in fact. The shaft melts into a star field as the elevator shoots upward to lobby level, where riders can gaze at themselves in a mirror, only to watch their images dissolve into apparitions. Go ahead, wave your arms and watch the ghost "you" wave back. Then it's swiftly up another level, where you meet up with that vanished family, beckoning you down the hall.

In Florida, your elevator would leave the shaft and follow. Here, you remain, watching them board an elevator which drops into space. As yours does immediately after. The drop surprised me, as it led immediately into this Tower of Terror's drop sequence.

The fifth dimension scene in Florida, just a slow creep through barren room, does not add anything to the narrative of the ride. But it works well to provide a few extra moments of anxiety before the inevitable drops. Here, those drops strike quickly, like a group of hungry teens raiding your fridge. And they are gone, just as fast.

When did the lightning hit? I missed the lightning effects that enliven Florida's drop shaft. Perhaps Orlando, with its frequent thunderstorms, gets lightning for every Tower of Terror visitor. But in the L.A. basin, where thunderstorms are as rare as a waiter without a headshot or a script, the Tower of Terror gets one strike to knock it into the fifth dimension, and that's it.

Disney consistently minimizes the scares in its thrill rides. By putting the drops and launches in a darkened shaft, one loses the visual cues that tell you how fast you're dropping, and how quickly the ground comes near. That's fine, so long as the Mouse provides a story and an environment to engage your spirit as the drops engage your stomach.

Ten years ago, when Tower of Terror debuted in Florida, I was captivated by the opportunity to step into a Twilight Zone episode. I wanted to follow that vanishing family, to discover who they were and what awaited them at the end of their journey. (Just as I later eagerly followed those dancers through so many hallways of the shuttered Ambassador Hotel.)

Now there's a new Tower of Terror, and I'm still waiting for those answers. Rather than develop the ride's story in a nod to Serling's rich narratives, Disney's just given us a tighter edit. In today's DVD era, I want to see more extras on a second release. Not fewer.

Couple the shorter ride with the slimmer thrills, and this Tower of Terror left me indifferent about riding again. Yes, it's an entertaining ride. And in the words of one especially disdainful TV campaign, "if you haven't seen it, it's new to you!" Even Disney World veterans should welcome the chance to take at least one ride on this version. But those committed theme park fans deserve even better from Disney.

Yes, Tower of Terror marks Disney's welcome recognition of what California Adventure should have been all along: a visit to the California of dreams and legend, and not to facsimiles of stuff we can see elsewhere today. But to say that Disney's no longer letting the chuckleheads call the shots at DCA is to damn the company with too-faint praise. Disney once sought the spectacular. Now, no serious theme park fan looks for that in Disney. The company could have used a tighter Tower of Terror as the foundation to expand the story and develop the adventure. But it didn't. It just gave us a stripped down rerelease instead. -- Last edited by Robert Niles

[Update this description]

Photos from Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

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Readers' Opinions

Excellent Drop ride. But, the WDW version is much better. This version is much shorter and misses the dark ride part that is so great at WDW. - Will Chilcote

It isn't really that scary. Again, Hollywood Studios version only a LITTLE better. Twilight Zone and thrill fans HAVE to do this. - M.S. Cool

Fun and thrilling. Love it - Kathryn Bonner

This version of Tower of Terror is FAR over-rated. I have 12 years of thrills and chills experienced on the DisneyWorld edition of this ride, and as mentioned by several others here, I was disappointed that a Sequel-ride delivered LESS, instead of more thrills. The heat-mirror ghosting is a cool effect, one that might be something to add to Orlando's ride. In the boiler-room line up was intrigued by the lines that were at floor level and those you had to climb STAIRS for...my imagination ran wild guessing that some of the shafts might be more intense. But all that disappeared with the ride itself. The drops were mild at best, and the "random" lifts and falls were far less intense than those in Orlando. But I think the loss of the top-floor ride through the "Twilight" zone before the ultimate drop and the final warning words of the shows star was really the kicker that put this version in second place and I'm saddened to say, not worth a second ride. - William LeMasurier

outstanding ride one of the best rides here the feeling of dropping is amazing - Michael Brunson

One of the best rides ever and the best at DCA. Though everybody compares it to the disney world version which has better theming(especially in the queue), and the elavator leaves the shaft, unlike this west coast version, the California version is still a fun ride. The theming and attention to detail found inside the hotel is amazing it could qualify as a walk through attraction. The in ride effects are nice and the drops are breathtaking especially the last one in which riders get a really nice view of the Disneyland resort for a second or two before falling. Waiting times for this great ride are moderate. They are never as long as Soarin and even on really busy periods like spring break waits rarely exceed 50 minutes. Most of the time wait times are about 20-40 minutes. I recommend riding at night so you can feel more involved in the ride's storyline. Whatever you do, don't miss this awesome attraction. - Manny Barron

Not overrated, sorry had to change my vote from a recent experience.It has great suspense and its not a letdown its fast and unrelenting. Awesome theming and so much air time you will think you're in space. - Nicholas Kalscheuer

Love this ride! It's super fun and the theming is awesome. This is my favorite drop ride ever (mostly because i cant see how far im dropping because it's too dark...) and i love the pics at the end, everyone looked so scared! It was priceless. - Chloe !

This ride was too much for a 4 year old even though he was tall enough. He usually loves scary rides and adored Space Mountain, etc. He didn't cry when he came off this, but it was close. - Roxanne Hanna

A very enjoyable ride. The lines tend to get long so I definitely recommend fastpass for this one. but definitely a good thrill for any thrill-seekers out there. Be careful to remember to pick up your stomach on the way out ^_^ - Alexz Krysstensin

Just walking through the queue is enough to make this one of my favorites rides in existence. - Jacob Sundstrom

This is an amazing drop ride. The theming and scenery is fantastic. the drops are intense, and often. - Patrick Gorham

A really good version of TOT, although not as good as the Florida one. This version does have a terrific visual effect which is not in Florida. I won't spoil it for you, you'll just have to see it. - Sylvain Comeau

One of the best attractions from Disney! Phenomenal theme, great storyline, and they "distract" you so the wait in the queue isn't that bad! May not be the highest or fastest "free fall" ride, but super fun! My only wish was that the space constraints prevented the great "travel through" the Twilight Zone from the Disney World version. Or was it budget constraints? Hmmm... - Brandon Mendoza

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