The DCA Hollywood Tower Hotel: January 1, 2004 Tournament of Roses Parade

To promote their latest addition to their Anaheim location, Disney centered the presentation of their 2004 Tournament of Roses parade float on the Tower of Terror, which would be opening that May. The theme of the parade that year was “Music, Music, Music”. Of course, the Tower of Terror is not an especially music-themed attraction, but Disney skirted the theme requirement by titling the float the pun-tastic “A Sudden Drop in Pitch.” As of 2016, “A Sudden Drop in Pitch” was the tallest float in the history of the parade.[1] The official Disney Parks Blog listed the height of the float at 110 feet.[2]

The float not only depicted the Tower, but also other notable California Adventure landmarks. Sprawled out in front of the massive structure were miniaturized representations of the California Screamin’ roller coaster, the Golden Gate bridge entrance gate, and the Sun Wheel ferris wheel. Live performers on the float included Mickey and Minnie mouse, “park guests”, a bellhop in the cold-weather variant of the cast member uniform, and a group of people in an elevator dangling out of the lightning-struck tower. The elevator performers all wore ridiculous spiked wigs, which were perhaps meant to suggest the fast-falling action of the ride, or maybe the “hair-raising” experience.

After the parade, the float was displayed at Disney’s California Adventure from January 2^nd to the 20^th, 2004.[3] I have some nice photos of its time at DCA somewhere… but they’re unfortunately on film. I should probably get those digitized sometime.

To see a video clip detailing the construction of “A Sudden Drop in Pitch” and the float in-action in the parade, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn-SwOjTWmE [4]