We invite you, if you dare, to step aboard because, in tonight’s episode, you are the star, and this elevator travels directly to … the Twilight Zone.
Rod Serling
On July 22, 1994, Disney’s newest and most mysterious attraction to date opened to thrill and terrify guests at Disney MGM Studios, now Hollywood Studios. It’s tall. The tallest at the time, and now only surpassed by Expedition Everest. The ride experience at Walt Disney World transported guests back into an age of glamour and sophistication… before transporting them somewhere else entirely. Inspired by TV sci-fi favorite The Twilight Zone and themed to fit with the vintage Hollywood aesthetic of the park, the new attraction quickly became one of Disney’s most beloved.
The Tower of Terror is an experience unlike any other. Yes, there are other rides out there that give guests that thrilling, stomach-dropping, free-fall experience, but none of them do it with the same panache as Disney. So please, come along for a journey through the history of this fan-favorite ride, but be careful … or you may find yourself a permanent resident … of the Twilight Zone.
E-Ticket Excitement
Today, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is booming. With attractions ranging from the Rockin’ Roller Coaster to Rise of the Resistance and whole areas of the park devoted to Star Wars and Toy Story, Hollywood Studios offers guests the opportunity to feel like they are in the movies. But by the mid-1980s, Disney’s MGM Studios was just getting started, and the Tower of Terror was scarcely a dream. Then-CEO Michael Eisner knew he needed to create a brand new E-ticket-level* attraction, but would that be?
*Quick Disney history sidenote: Once upon a time, Disney tickets worked a little differently. Guests would purchase books of tickets labeled A – E, and each letter ticket offered the guest admission to a specific list of attractions, with the most expensive, most sophisticated, and most popular attractions listed on E-tickets. For example, an A ticket could get you into a show with a relatively high capacity and low wait time like the Country Bear Jamboree, but you’d need an E-ticket for something like Pirates of the Caribbean… or the Tower of Terror. Now, by the mid-80s, ticket booklets had been phased out of use, but the term remained. E-ticket attractions were the best, most exciting attractions the parks had to offer, and that’s what Disney Imagineers set out to create when they designed the Tower of Terror.
While Imagineers continued their work at MGM Studios in Florida, a different project was in the works over at Disneyland Paris. Imagineers were considering building a free-fall type ride in Frontierland there, which would have been called “Geyser Mountain,” but when the cost proved too high, Disneyland Paris abandoned the project, and the Imagineers working on MGM Studios grabbed onto the free-fall concept. But what should the theme be?
Creating the Concept
Disney debated concepts ranging from a ride based on Stephen King’s novels, a real working hotel, and an awards show honoring classic movie monsters like Godzilla, but ultimately, the hit science-fiction TV show The Twilight Zone seemed just right.
The new attraction quickly developed its challenges, however.
For one, of course, Disney wanted to have Rod Serling, the iconic host of the show, also host the ride. By that time, however, Rod Serling had already passed away, so Disney had to employ several creative ideas to create the footage they needed for the right. Disney’s clever video wizards managed to repurpose footage from an episode of The Twilight Zone, and they even called in Carol Serling, Rod’s widow, to help find the right voice actor to provide as Rod-like a voice as they could. Eventually, they found Mark Silverman, and the video narration for the attraction was soon completed.
Soaring to New Heights
Next came the problem of height. Naturally, a free-fall ride requires a pretty tall building, but that presented a couple of issues.
For one, legally, any building 200 ft. tall or taller must have flashing lights at the top. It’s a regulation intended for the safety of air travel, and a necessary one, but true to form, the Imagineers didn’t want such lights disrupting the old-Hollywood ambiance. So, they decided to make the building exactly 199 ft. tall — just one foot shy of the legal limit.
Still, a 199-ft-tall building at MGM would be visible from EPCOT, less than two miles away. How could they create a skyline that would match the vintage Hollywood look and feel of MGM Studios without disrupting the view from EPCOT? Once again, the Imagineers got creative, and they chose a design that could embody the best of both worlds. The Hollywood Tower Hotel — the setting of the Tower of Terror, meant to be a once-beautiful hotel abandoned due to mysterious and supernatural circumstances, was modeled after real-life historic landmark hotels such as the Mission Inn, which incorporates elements of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture. The architectural style, with its stucco siding and numerous curves and arches, would blend right in with the view in the Morocco section of EPCOT’s World Showcase.
Finally, as with all Disney attractions, the new ride needed both a lot of engineering and a lot of magic. To match the story of an old hotel with a supernatural elevator with the power to transport riders into the Twilight Zone, Imagineers needed to construct an elevator car that could move up and down but also laterally, as the cars would need to move through the elevator shaft before arriving at the point of falling. Disney consulted with Otis Elevator Company for the vertical system and Eaton-Kenway for the lateral system, but in the end, they engineered an experience so good it’s almost supernatural.
And the Rest is Hollywood (Tower Hotel) History
Of course, the Tower of Terror has undergone numerous updates and renovations over the years. Its drop system has changed from having one dramatic drop at the finish to a randomized pattern of drops across its 13 floors. It’s also undergone multiple iterations — there’s even one in Tokyo Disneyland! But since its auspicious opening that hot day in 1994, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has been thrilling and delighting Disney guests, and it will continue for many years to come.
Do you enjoy this famous free-fall experience?