Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Terror Opens...


Fourteen years ago today "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" opens up on Sunset Boulevard in Walt Disney World's Disney-MGM Studios. Themed in the old Spanish Revival style(which is the same style DCA's new front entrance will be, btw), it offers a thrilling experience of a haunted hotel where you are trapped in an elevator that becomes stuck between dimensions. Never ridden it before?

Drop in sometime...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite is the one that opened up in Tokyo DisneySea a couple years ago. It's sooo detailed. Plus, I was never a fan of the Twilight Zone and didn't really think a haunted hotel needed to be part of some other television show.

Spokker said...

The TDS version has a beautiful exterior, a lavish queue, and a great pre-show. The ride itself is more or less like DCA's version in terms of functionality. They even reused one whole scene verbatim.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but the whole drop sequence felt tamer than the DCA version. My girlfriend said the same thing. It also had over the shoulder seat belts.

It's difficult to rate the different versions of ToT. The MGM version is generally regarded to be the best, but I read that its 5th dimension scene can cause breakdowns.

DCA's version is a solid ride overall, but the exterior leaves much to be desired.

And TDS' version is well, top heavy.

Anonymous said...

I haven't been on DCAs version, but if the drop sequence is tamer at the Florida version, perhaps I don't want to! I know the next time I hit the the ToT at Disney World, I'm going to take some Dramamine. The drop left me a little nauseous, though, on the whole, I enjoyed the ride tremendously.

It's on my list to do again when I go down the Florida next April. May not get to it--I'm afraid even my oldest daughter still won't do it with me. But maybe. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

No he was saying the one at disney sea is tamer. The one at WDW and DCA are the same intensity I believe

Anonymous said...

^^ I think DHS and DCA's versions are generally the same intensity, since they share the most intense drop sequence, but DHS's has 3 other drop profiles that are part of a randomizer program that DCA has yet to get.

DCA's (and thus WDSP's) exterior has really grown on me, it has some amazing art deco elements. I'll agree though that it looks a good deal less menacing than DHS and TDS's. The bright violet lightning burns are a bit much as well. I think they were toned down/aged more for WDSP, which was much better.

Harshit said...

It's a great blog really i liked it...

Anonymous said...

"Tower of Terror" is, bar none, the best ride Disney has come up with in recent years. Still beats Everest IMO. The lavish decor, the storyline, the effects, good ol' Rod Serling...love that ride to death (heh heh). I'm not much of a thrill ride person, but I love ToT so much I learned to love the drop. Wish Disney would come up with another winner like ToT. It's overdue...

Justin said...

The last time I was on ToT at DCA it had a scripted rise/fall sequence while the ride at Florida was random. Does anyone know if they've implemented a random drop sequence at DCA?