The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

From The Mickey Wiki: Your Walt Disney World Encyclopedia!
Revision as of 18:26, 6 September 2012 by Mmouse (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is an attraction located in Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Attraction History

The concept of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror actually began in Euro Disney. In the late 1980's, Disney wanted to build a new attraction known as Geyser Mountain. The attraction would end with a jet of water pushing the ride vehicle up and down a drop shaft. Although the attraction was never built, the drop shaft concept was one that stuck in Imagineers mind.

While work on Euro Disney continued, Disney was also planning a massive expansion for at the Disney-MGM Studios. The new area would be known as Sunset Boulevard, and it would feature new restaurants, stores and hopefully a new "E Ticket" attraction. Although initially Disney Imagineers pitched attractions such as Dick Tracy's Crime Stoppers and Toontown Trolley for Sunset Boulevard, none of the projects were green lit. Then, In the fall of 1989, director and producer Mel Brooks met with Disney Imagineering. Disney CEO wanted Mel to produce his films at the Disney MGM Studios, and creating a new attraction with the producer was something that appealed to both Imagineers and Brooks. The original idea that Imagineers came up with was called "Castle Young Frankenstein". The proposed attraction would have featured have featured a village with winding streets, all of which led to a castle. As Imagineers continued to brainstorm however, the attraction was changed to "Mel Brooks' Hollywood Hotel".

The idea of a Hollywood hotel was one that had actually originated right around the time that the studios opened. Disney Imaginer Bob Weiss wanted to create a resort hotel that was based on the art deco Hollywood hotels of the 1930s. Imaginer C. McNair Wilson then suggested that the hotel be the scene of a murder mystery, which guests could solve by investigating clues hidden around the hotel. The hotel cast members, would be able to give guests small hints that would lead them to clues. If guests solved the case, they would be given a certificate for their efforts. The idea of the murder mystery in the hotel, led Imagineers to consider re-theming half of the hotel as the Hollywood Horror Hotel.

Although these ideas proved to be the most influential, Imagineers also came up with other ideas for the Hollywood Hotel. One idea would have featured Vincent Price narrating to guests as they took a "ghost tour". Another suggestion was to create a comedic version of the Haunted Mansion, featuring Mel Brooks and Young Frankenstein. Eventually, however Imagineers proposed working the theme of the Disney-MGM Studios into the attraction. They came up with a story that would feature a murder mystery and a dead director. It would be up to the guests (who were playing extras) to try and figure out who committed the crime.

Although the murder angle of the story was eventually dropped, Imagineers liked the idea of guests trying to solve a mystery within the haunted hotel. Disney decided that to enhance the attraction, it needed some kind of movie tie-in. Imagineers eventually agreed on the idea of theming the attraction after the Twilight Zone. The initial concept of the attraction, called for various cast members, who would dress up like various employees of the hotel. Each employee would seem a little unstable, (such as a bell boy who walked through the line asking if guests wanted to check any luggage). Other enhancements to the queue, including a old man who would "come to life" and interact with guests, and a audio Animatronic elevator repair man were eventually discarded. Disney decided that the cast members would slow down the line too much, and park Operations was hesitant to assign more cast members to the attraction then was absolutely necessary.

After deciding on the basic concept of the attraction, Imagineers began working on the plot. In order to tie in the attraction with the rest of the studios, it was decided that guests would be filming a "lost episode" of the Twilight Zone. Although Rod Sterling, the host of the Twilight Zone had passed away in 1975, Disney Imagineer's still wanted to include him in the attraction. To do this, Mark Silverman recorded an impersonation of Rod, which was synced with the introduction of a 1961 episode titled "It's a Good Life". The background image was then replaced with images of the Tower of Terror, thus giving the attraction an "authentic" Twilight Zone introduction.

As far as the layout of the attraction was concerned, tt was decided that guests would enter the attraction on foot, here; they would discover an abandoned hotel lobby, setting the mystery into motion. Guests would then watch a preshow video, which would tell guests the attraction's back-story. The attraction would then conclude with guests going into the haunted elevator (the drop shaft) and discovering what really happened in the hotel.

One problem that Imagineers had to overcome when designing the attraction was that most drop rides usually involved guests laying on their backs. Disney felt that this may not be the most family friendly option, and they attempted to find a new ride method. Partially based on the ride mechanism that was designed for Geyser Mountain, Disney developed a way to use multiple ride vehicles that would be able to both travel horizontally, and then drop vertically. The addition of multiple shafts also let Imagineers increase the capacity of the attraction.

With both the attraction plot and the ride mechanisms complete, construction on the Tower of Terror began in 1992. Imagineers soon ran into trouble, when it was discovered that the initial site of the Tower of Terror actually sat on sinkhole, which required Disney to move the location of the attraction, albeit slightly. Although initially scheduled for a July 4, 1994 opening, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (as well as the rest of Sunset Boulevard) opened on July 22, 1994.

Since it's opening in 1994, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has seen a significant amount of changes. In May of 1996, a second drop was added to the attraction. Besides the original thirteen-story drop, guests also fell eight stories. During this refurbishment, the first photo that was taken of guests was also removed. The photo was originally taken early on in the attraction, and then used later in the 5th Dimension scene. The idea was that guests would be able to seem themselves in their ride vehicle as they entered the 5th Dimension. Unfortunately, the process was unreliable and in 1996 the effect was removed. Further additions came to the Tower in 1999, when a third drop was added to the attraction. The update was known as The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: Fear Every Drop!

The most recent change to the Tower of Terror came in 2002, when the drop sequences became randomized by a computer. This allowed every ride on the Tower of Terror to be different and unique, meaning that guests could never be sure when they were going to drop.

References

http://www.martinsvids.net/?p=626

http://www.studioscentral.com/early-development-tower-terror

http://www.towerofterror.org/

http://allears.net/tp/mgm/m_tower.htm