The REAL Mission Breakout/Monsters After Dark Queue Soundtrack

 

I knew that Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout/Monsters After Dark had a custom music and audio loop that played within its outdoor queue (that allegedly contained Tower of Terror music), but could find almost no evidence or mention of it online. So, I went and recorded it myself.

To make up for the audio quality, I've paired it with "visual notes" that transcribe what characters are saying, and display the title/album/artist of the song where available.

Enjoy a wild combination of relaxing ambient music, bizarre sound effects, synthesizer remixes of orchestral scores, lore references, and even some defunct attraction Easter Eggs along the way!

Timestamps/track list is as follows:

0:00 Title Card

0:02 Headphone warning/disclaimer

0:09 “…catalog number 1,939.  In addition to the Guardians of the Galaxy, the collection includes many unique creatures, such as Howard the Duck.”

0:21 Unknown Ambient Space Music #1

1:35 Jazz Band Interruption

1:46 Recording cut #1

1:50 Unknown Ambient Space Music #2 (note: could be a continuation of #1, as I’m not sure how long the Jazz Band interrupted the recording)

3:00 “Welcome to Tanaleer Tivan’s Exhibition!  Featuring over a billion unique specimens, including flora, fauna, and artifacts.  This is one of many of his collections from across the galaxy.  This next one is quite rare.”

3:22 Random Alien Sounds #1

3:31 “Our [???] is the only living specimen in captivity.  You can find the [???] on our creatures level.”

3:41 A version of 1. Allegro by JS Bach.  Probably Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major—1. Allegro by Wendy Carlos, from her Switched on Bach album

4:10 “Wasn’t that wonderful?  This next piece is catalog number 1401.”

4:17 Bounkam Solo (Upper Volta) from the Nonesuch Explorer Series

4:25 “That was the distinctive sound of the [??? ???].  You can see one on the rare artifacts level.”

4:32 Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Music

4:57 “The Collector found this in his vault.  It hasn’t been played in many years.”

5:04 Random Alien Sounds #2

5:11 “That was the sound of an orloni.  Although they are diminutive, a pack of these can easily knock over an adult humanoid.”

5:20 Queen of the Night Aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute

6:50 “You are continuing to enjoy more of The Collector’s rare and exotic recordings, many of which haven’t been heard in millennia.”

6:59 Unknown Ambient Space Music #3

9:52 Cast Member Intercom Announcement #1

10:08 Unknown Ambient Space Music #3 continues

11:43 “The Tivan Collection welcomes you!”

11:47 Sidi (Indonesia) by Pariangan Men’s Group, from the Smithsonian Folkways World Music Collection

12:43 “The instruments you just heard can be found in our collection, on the antiques level.”

12:49 Abraham Lincoln’s The Gettysburg Address

13:07 “Wasn’t that fascinating?  We’re still trying to decipher what number four-score is.  Next up is catalog number 477. Enjoy!”

13:20 Solar Winds by Chuck Jonkey, from his Deep Space album.

15:25 “This next one is catalog 362.”

15:30 Now is the Time by the Sherman Brothers, from the WDW Carousel of Progress

15:44 “That piece was really quite unusual!  Even The Collector isn’t sure what that is!”

15:52 Unknown Ambient Space Music #5

16:20 “You are listening to just a small sample of The Collector’s rare and exotic audio library.  He has spent over centuries amassing this amazing collection of sounds.  Enjoy!”

16:34 Unknown Ambient Space Music #6

16:51, 17:20, and 17:59 Jazz Band Interruptions, with Space Music 6 still underneath

20:29 Cast Member Intercom Announcement #2

20:45 “The Collector has obtained many rare and hard to find items, from Mustphelheim to Jotunheim.”

20:54 Random Alien Sounds #3

21:01 “That was the rare sound of the Frost Beast of Jotunheim.  We have one in our collection!  Here is catalog number 52,717.”

21:13 Deep Latex Jungle by Chuck Jonkey, from his Balloon Music album

23:42 “Wasn’t that unusual?”

23:44 Chinese Moonlight by Chuck Jonkey, from his Gong album

24:32 Recording cut #2

24:36 Chinese Moonlight by Chuck Jonkey continues

25:40 “The Collector acquired the instruments used on this recording.  They can be found on the antiques level.”

25:47 Prelude and Fugue #2 in C Minor (from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier) by Wendy Carlos, from her Switched on Bach album

27:06 “Tanaleer Tivan, The Collector of All Things, introduces his rare and exotic recorded sounds from throughout the galaxy.  You are enjoying a sample of his extraordinary audio collection.”

27:22 Gondwana by Marinjami… and possibly another track after it?  The running time for this segment seems to be longer than that of the actual song, which definitely matches the first part of this section.

32:04 Yet another Jazz Band Interruption

32:17 “Now playing catalog number 72.”

32:21 Recording cut #3

32:22 Gong Agung by Chuck Jonkey, from the Gong album

34:23 “Wasn’t that soothing?  Here is something quite unusual.”

34:29 Uranus the Magician by Isao Tomita, from The Tomita Planets album

35:53 Recording cut #4

35:55 Uranus the Magician resumes

37:27 “I’ll bet you’ve never heard anything quite like that!”

37:32 Random Alien Sounds #4

37:41 “Can you name that animal?  You can find it on our creature level.”

37:45 Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast clip

38:07 “It seems your planet was visited by hostile forces years ago, as this recording proves.”

38:17 “We hope you’re enjoying these rare collected sounds from throughout the galaxy.”

38:26 Unknown Ambient Space Music #8

41:39 Recording cut #5

41:46 Turquoise Skies by Chuck Jonkey, from the Wind Chime Music album

42:45 “This next piece is a personal favorite of The Collector’s.”

42:47 Meke Wesi Spear Dance by David Fanshawe, from the Spirit of Polynesia collection

43:21 “And that was catalog number 111,828.”

43:30 Random Alien Sounds #5

43:38 “The animal you just heard can be observed on our galactic creatures level.”

43:44 Triassic Twilight by Chuck Jonkey, from his Dinosaur Drums album

45:49 “The Tivan Collection welcomes you!  In addition to the Guardians of the Galaxy, the collection includes many unique creatures, such as a canine Soviet cosmonaut.”

46:04 Unknown Ambient Space Music #9

50:57 “The Collector has pulled this from the vault.  This piece comes from an extremely rare disc made of gold, that The Collector retrieved from an abandoned spacecraft.”

51:09 El Cascabel by Lorrenzo Barcelata, from the Voyager spacecraft’s golden record

51:39 “Feel free to dance to this next extraordinary number.  You won’t be able to help yourself!”

51:46 Timewhys by Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, from the album Zero Time

52:50 “After hearing that, I’m sure you understand why it is in our collection!  This next piece will leave you speechless.”

52:59 Random Alien Sounds #6

53:11 “That was catalog number 1,317.”

53:16 Solar Winds by Chuck Jonkey, again

55:24 Random Alien Sounds #7 (space whales)

55:37 “That was catalog number 273.  Nobody has seen [indiscernible] but The Collector has two that he hopes to mate.”

55:48 Unknown Ambient Space Music #10

57:05 Monsters After Dark exterior effects noises start to be audible

58:00 Thanks for watching!

 

DCA Tower... lives?

 Well, maybe "lives" is the wrong term, but it's apparently not as completely destroyed as I thought.  Well, allegedly.  Sadly this post involves a lot of "trust me, bro," but there was still enough information that I thought deserved to get a post here.

Over the past year on visits to Disneyland, I've had the luck to be able to talk to a few cast members about California Adventure's Tower of Terror, and it's yielded some surprising claims from them.

In September 2023, I talked to a cast member working at Monsters After Dark, who I noticed had a tattoo of California's HTH logo on his wrist.  It turned out he had worked at DCA Tower, and stated that he was one of the few remaining ex-bellhops still working on Breakout/Monsters by that point.  The combination of the re-theme and Covid-19 pandemic closure meant that most of the employees had moved on to other jobs.  He was the one who confirmed to me that Monsters After Dark uses a modified version of DCA Tower's original drop profile, which is apparently shared with the "Born to be Wild" track on default Mission Breakout. (Side note: what a difference custom music makes!  "Born to be Wild" seems to have one of the most ill fitting music/drop profile combinations, while Monsters has the custom music and drops work together to great effect)

He also made the interesting claim that at least one of the hallway scenes from Tower of Terror is still present in the ride, simply hidden behind the screen for GOTG: Mission Breakout.  He said it was in poor condition, but that it was still there.  I was surprised at this, since I figured that the projectors etc. needed for the Guardians re-theme would've taken up enough room to merit gutting the whole scene, but I guess it's nice to think at least part of my favorite ride still exists in the building.  And that's not the only part--according to him, some of the cables hanging by the Yeti animatronic in the queue are actual elevator cables from the Tower era.

I thought that was the last I'd hear of DCA Tower's remnants, until August of this year.  At the park entrance security screening, a security guard noticed my Twilight Zone tattoo and Hollywood Tower themed "Disneybound" outfit and went, "Hey, you know the sign's still here, right?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"The big sign. 'Hollywood Tower.' Yeah it's still just sitting there in the back in a cast member area."

WHAT.

That was a shock!  I'd thought that for SURE that sign was LONG gone, especially since that was the first thing removed after the Breakout conversion announcement.  And even more so, since it could presumably have been sent to Paris as convenient spare parts for their sign (I don't think Orlando could use it, as their sign uses a different configuration).

Nope!  Disney has been far lazier than I thought in actually scrapping Tower of Terror.  It seems especially odd in space-strapped Anaheim; the Florida property has the space to just abandon whole attractions (Wonders of Life Pavilion) and even a whole water park (River Country), but you'd think Anaheim would hesitate to keep a GIANT sign around for a ride they don't plan to ever bring back.

Of course, it's entirely possible that the CMs are just spinning stories.  I've seen no physical or photographic evidence of these claims, and doubt that I ever will unless someone definitely breaks some rules.  Still, it's nice to imagine that maybe, just maybe, DCA Tower isn't completely dead after all.

Boundary Break: An outside-the-queue, up-close look at the Walt Disney World Tower Lobby

We all know the Tower of Terror lobby is absolutely PACKED with detail, especially for a scene you only see for a few minutes at most.  But did you know that there is extensive themeing and lore even in places that guests cannot see from the queue?

Well, last June I was lucky enough to be allowed past those velvet queue ropes--escorted by a bellhop tour guide of course (and how that happened is a story all it's own...).  I finally stepped into it to see these details in full and now, I'll share them with you.

(Forgive the quality of some of the photos--it's a low light situation, I was working with an old Android phone camera, and I was shaking a bit with excitement because wow I'm actually allowed in the lobby!)

The Mahjong Table Scene

According to Bella, my bellhop tour guide, the Imagineers insisted that this table be mahjong instead of a card game for a reason.  The Hollywood Tower is supposed to be an incredibly rich luxury hotel, while cards were "a poor man's game."  I cannot help but note that California Adventure's Tower did have a card game here instead of mahjong.  Given how DCA, including its Tower of Terror, was beset by budget cuts (to the point of having an incomplete facade), I wonder if that was an intentional dig at the situation.

 

 

The game itself was set up by having one Imagineer run around to each position, playing against himself, and leaving "when the game got interesting," in order to give the impression of the players suddenly being taken.  Bella was a new trainee (or at least new/in training for doing tours), so she didn't yet have all the information memorized, but she thought that the Imagineer responsible for this was "the guy who designed Expedition Everest" aka Joe Rhode.

The tea cart next to the mahjong game has a newspaper dated to when the Hollywood Tower was struck by lightning: Halloween 1939.

 

The newspaper is on the lower level of the cart

The cups on this cart, and elsewhere throughout the lobby, are accurately tea-stained despite this not being visible to guests in the normal queue.  All of the dishes, drinkware, and napkins have accurate food/drink stains and lipstick marks that are all but invisible to those not actually standing in the show scene.

 

Throughout the lobby, the cobwebs are made out of hot glue, and real dust is allowed to stick to it for additional free atmosphere.

Statue on the Table

Moving past the mahjong table, there's the table in front of the window with a bronze statue on it.  This is "Cougar Attack" by Antoine Barye, and it is an original.  Apparently, for bronze cast statues like this, the first ten cast from the mold are considered "originals" and this is one of those ten.  In fact, all of the bronze lobby statues here are originals.

 

The table the statue sits on is also antique.  Nearly all of the furniture in this lobby is genuine 1930s-1940s vintage furniture, and was sourced from places like thrift stores and estate sales.

The Dinner Table Scene

In the Florida Tower's queue setup, this scene is basically unable to be viewed from the normal line (DCA and Paris let you get a little closer to their equivalent scene).  However, despite its hidden nature it is no less densely detailed.

 

 The food stains and lipstick marks are especially noticeable in this scene.

 

The champagne bottle is apparently also genuinely from the 1930s-1940s, and per my tour guide was sourced from the estate sale of a real Hollywood bigwig.  I can't recall if he was a producer or an agent, and my tour guide couldn't recall the bigwig's name.  However, she said that he was famous for having a new star be in three major movies premiering the same day, which was some sort of record.  Perhaps a reader can help determine which Old Hollywood figure might have contributed this bottle?

 

Emergency Exit Area

 

Another original bronze statue is here, but it does not have a title plaque attached.

This chair with hand-shaped armrests is a real vintage piece from an estate sale.

 

Main Scene (Fireplace and Couches) 

 

 

Remember when I said "nearly all of the furniture is genuine antiques"?  Well, the only non-vintage pieces are here: the two couches.  They are, however, replicas of a real vintage design that Disney commissioned for this scene.  These are the only pieces of furniture that people are allowed to sit on, as they're "new."  The ride (as of this writing) just passed its 30th anniversary, and was 29 wen I was there in 2023, but I guess that doesn't quite count as "too historical to sit on" yet.

 

I like how you can almost see a face in the design--very Haunted Mansion

 (Yes, I absolutely took the opportunity to sit on one of the couches.)

The lampshades with the fringe are another interesting blend of genuine and replica.  The designers wanted a specific vintage design, but could not source any actual existing copies.  Therefore, they made their own replicas, but out of authentic vintage fabric sourced from flapper dresses.  Apparently this involved some sort of special fabric treatment, since lampshade fabric has to be different than clothing fabric, but I didn't quite catch what my tour guide said about the treatment involved.

 

All of the luggage is also authentic to the 30s/40s, including one near the check in desk made of real alligator skin.

This doesn't show the alligator luggage, but it is a unique view to get!

  This entire main scene was set with the idea of giving the sense of certain specific "characters" being there at the time.  As in, the designers thought of people and their backstories and what they might have been doing at the moment the lightning struck.

On the left couch (when facing the fireplace) there was a rich French lady sitting on the side nearer the queue.  Her lipstick is on the tea cup by the seat, and there is a French book on the table next to it.  Her boyfriend was sitting at the other end of the couch, with his tuxedo jacket draped over the arm by the fireplace.  My tour guide didn't mention the seat gap between them.  A date-accurate newspaper is on the couch arm next to the French Lady's seat.

The French Lady's seat

 

The Boyfriend's seat, with his jacket draped over the arm

Newspaper at the French Lady's seat

A better look at the newspaper

 

Her book.  It appears to be a French-to-English dictionary

Her lipstick-stained cup

It seems she finished most of her tea, seeing how low the stain is on this cup.

The couch opposite the French couple also has a table next to it, but I didn't catch any special stories about these items.

 

 According to Bella, the Talking Tina doll was never on the couches here like she was in DCA Tower.  In Florida, she's apparently always been above the gift shop cash register, as she is today.

The Check-In Desk 

Bella confirmed what I'd long suspected: the time of 8:05 on all the clocks WAS chosen so that the numbers would add up to 13.

 

I believe that THIS is the alligator luggage, by the check-in desk.

 There are, of course, signatures on the guest book, but my tour guide did not elaborate on any significance to them.  There was also another "handwritten" note on Hollywood Tower stationery here, but I couldn't read it and she said she didn't know if it had any hidden details or not.

Guest book

A closer look at the guest book

 

Unreadable note on hotel stationery

 

NOTE: according to @chunkecheeks on Tumblr, that note says "Miss Nan Adams, Reservation for Oct 31, Arrival delayed, hold room."  This is a reference to the Twilight Zone episode "The Hitch Hiker."  It would be impossible to read from the normal queue.

You've heard of the back side of water, but here's the back side of the owl statue!

The Concierge Desk

This scene was set to appear as if a man was just inquiring at the desk as he was taken.  He'd placed his hat down on the desk.  There are cigarette remnants in the ashtray.

 

 

Lamp detail.  I've seen some claims that this is a hidden Mickey, but I don't quite see it.  My tour guide did not mention it as a hidden secret.

Per my tour guide, that 13 Diamond award is "real," as in actually given to Disney (by AAA?) for the Hollywood Tower Hotel and not just made up by Disney themselves for the theme.

 

A set of broken glasses is on the concierge desk.  I'm not quite sure if it's THE broken glasses from "Time Enough at Last," as they look a bit different.  The official broken glasses are currently nowhere to be found elsewhere in the Tower, however.

 

There is a note here, on Hollywood Tower stationery, that constitutes a travel manifest for a Mr. and Mrs. Ransome.  This is a very hidden/obscure Easter Egg for Twilight Zone episode S4E7 "Passage on the Lady Anne."  It even mentions their destination from the episode, Southampton! 

 

It reads:

Travel itinerary for Mr. + Mrs. Ransome

Los Angeles--New York Nov. 1, 1939

Global Air Flt. 33

New York--Southampton Nov. 5, 1939

S.S. Lady Anne

Return to Los Angeles

A closer look at the concierge chair

What is this cabinet supposed to be for?  Travel brochures, maybe?

Statues and flags

The famous Tip Top Club poster

The poster stand

The rug and floor tiles

Another original statue. It is titled "Eagle", but I can't quite read the artist's name on the plaque in this photo.  It starts with an M.

The Library Carpet!

At this point, we'd covered the whole lobby.  Bella asked if I'd like to ride the ride again--of course I said yes!  She turned me over to the bellhop running the right-side library.

There, the right library's bellhop, Victor, was kind enough to point out yet another obscure Easter Egg to me!  There is a hidden Mickey in the carpet.  Three berries in the plant pattern in the corner of the carpet form a classic Mickey head shape.  I wonder if this was intentional, or if it was just a coincidence with the carpet pattern.  Either way, I wonder how many people have managed to ever spot this on their own.  On the floor?  In the dark???  Really, Disney!?

Helpfully he brought out a flashlight and pointed it out with his shoe.

Into the 5th Dimension 

Throughout all this, it was technically after-hours for the general public.  Hollywood Studios was open later for some kind of event (which I didn't have a ticket for, so I got some extra time for free!), and as a result there were very, very few other people in the queue.  I was one of only five people on my elevator, and everyone got to pick their favorite seat.  The bellhop who loaded us in (I wish I'd caught her name as well) had fun pointing this out, getting into character and pressing her hands on the glass when the doors closed to give a ghostly silhouette.  Needless to say, everyone in the elevator had a total blast!

That was my last ride of the trip.  I had to fly out the next day.  For a variety of reasons, I don't think I'll be back to Disney World for a long time.  I couldn't have imagined a more special experience to end with.

To Sahar, Mike, Sophia (Sophie?), Bella, Victor, and the other wonderful Disney cast members who made this possible and answered my questions: thank you so much.  You brought the real Disney magic.

...And Beyond the 5th Dimension 

Reviewing these photos, and writing this post, I have to admit it somewhat pains me to think about the lost details of DCA Tower.  I started this blog to try and archive it, but never saw more than what the average everyday guest could see.  Did DCA's lobby also have every cup and plate accurately stained?  Did it have its own special characters that got zapped away?  Were the couches there real or replicas that you could sit on?  Were there other hidden notes and references, now forever lost?

Florida's very hidden stationery notes in the lobby apparently went undocumented by fans for over two decades.  What details from California's will never be seen by the public?

And I really wish I could ask an Imagineer if the card game really was a dig at DCA being "budget."   Paris has a card game too, even after being fully renovated to no longer be a "budget" Tower.  At this point, though, it's possible the original designers were simply no longer present to explain the joke.