20 Things you may not know about Disney's 'The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror'

[Stu]

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Walt Disney World is a favourite with many guests. Its unique theming and ride experience makes it one of the top attractions at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Here are 20 things you may or may not not know about Disney's iconic attraction.

1. The original concept was for the tower of terror to be an actual working hotel with the ride experience being part of it, but this proved to be too impracticable.

Another idea for the tower of terror that never materialised was 'Mel Brooks Hotel of Horrors'. The 'Mel Hotel' as it was affectionately called by the imagineers was probably the 2nd or 3rd concept.

The story goes that Michael Eisner wanted Mel Brooks to produce his films and as Mel was a big Disney fan, Eisner used the 'Tower of Terror' project to entice Mel in to working with him.

The original idea of a real hotel with attraction apparently originated from Bob Weiss who wanted to build 1930's art deco hotel at the front of the Disney MGM Studios. This idea along with others from the imagineers led to a hotel with an attraction combined.

To help entice Mel the concept evolved at that time and was for the tower to be called "Castle Young Frankenstein" which would have featured a village with streets leading to the castle. The queue was to start in the village and wind it's way over a draw bridge in to the castle.

Apparently Mel left the project just as Imagineers settled on the elevator concept that finally turned in to what we see today.

2. The tower of terror is made from over 1500 tons of steel along with over 145,000 cubic feet of concrete and the roof area is tiled with 27,000 tiles.

3. The tower of terror stands at a height of 199 feet, the building was designed for this specific height to avoid having to put a red flashing light on top. At 200 feet the Federal Aviation Authority requires a red flashing light.

4. The small girl who appears in some scenes on the Tower of Terror holds a vintage Mickey Mouse doll from the 1930s

5. When the elevator plummets down the lift shaft you aren't actually free falling, you are actually being pulled downwards by two enormous motors at a speed greater than if you were actually free falling.

6. Whilst queueing outside you may hear some 1930's era songs such as We'll Meet Again (by Vera Lynn) drifting out over the garden walls outside the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

7. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was actually struck by lightning during construction.

8. The Build cost was $140 milllion

9. By the concierge desk in the lobby there is an award showing 13 diamonds, in reality hotel diamond rewards only goes up to 5 diamonds.

10. Room 259 in the Tower of Terror is the motor room. It is room 259 because it is 259ft above water level.

11. The luggage in the lobby is a complete set made from genuine alligator skin.

12. There is a dummy room near the top of the hotel. At night you can see a light in the window where there looks like there is a room. It's really just a light but no real room.

13. There are several different drop profiles, the computer only selects the one you get when the ride vehicle clicks into place in the drop shaft. The computer is programmed to give an equal number of each profile, each hour.

14. The exterior of the Tower of Terror was coloured to match the buildings in the Morocco pavilion at Epcot because Tower of Terror is visible from EPCOT's World Showcase, directly in-line with the Morocco pavilion.

At the location of the tower imagineers used a weather baloon teathered to the ground anf floating at the height the tower would be. They then toured the areas of wdw property to check where the balloon could be seen from. The balloon could be clearly seen from Epcot over Morocco. The colour and style of the top of the tower was chosen to blend in with the morrocan skyline in Epcot.

15 The winding cables are scheduled to be replaced every 9 months.

16 Walt Disney Imagineers watched 156 episodes of "The Twilight Zone" to get inspiration when designing to attraction.

17 The storyline for the attraction is set as Halloween night, 31 October 1939.

18 The architecture of the tower was inspired by multiple Southern California landmarks, such as the Biltmore Hotel and the Mission Inn.

19 The attraction offers a 13-story drop

20 The Library room features a hidden nod to Mickey Mouse, there is a trumpet with some sheet music which is for the song "What! No Mickey Mouse?".

[lawe]

Some great information there and for me a great ride that I even managed to my sons on!
Certainly did not know about Mel Brooks involvement, would love to of seen that

[memphis69]

Best ride ever.

[June8th]

My favourite ride.
When we first went on the ride the children were so small they lifted off the seats ( pre lap belts time) together with the rucksack!

[Libby29]

Lost my voice for 3 days after being “dared” to go on it 😂
Next to me were 3 girls that had been on it 9 times that day & were taking photos. I had my eyes shut the whole time. 😩

[Floridarules]

Love that there are different profiles and I thought this was the case but wasn’t 100%.
Love this ride, there is nothing like it 😊♥️

[jewels1207]

I've always been too scared to ride it! Still too scared

[Mandij39]

Worst ride ever for me, only been on it once and cried like a baby screaming to get off. I hate the free falling feeling, and will never ride it again EVER!