Hey, I really left you all standing outside of the building
for a long time there, didn’t I? Whoops…
although, if you’ll notice, that last post was made in March 2020, and I think
we all know that world events seriously interfered with everything around that
time! Well, better late than never, I
suppose.
To start
off with, the Fastpass queue makes things easy for me in this section: there’s
no exterior Fastpass queue! Due to the
layout of the building and the seemingly larger lobby setup, none of the
Fastpass waits outside; it is entirely encased in the lobby.
The
exterior queue, therefore, is entirely for the standby line, and it’s quite
large. In fact, only once did I even
encounter a wait time long enough to go to all the parts of it, and then it was
so long that I had to leave the line
in order to leave the park for the day at the time I needed to depart. So, my experience with documenting the
exterior queue was awkward and fragmentary; hopefully my explanation will still
be sufficient. All photography and diagram drawings are by me; photographs were taken in 2019.
The
overall layout consists of three main parts: the uncovered trellis area, the
Garden of Reflection, and the Garden of India.
The layout is as such:
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| Image not to scale |
As seen in the diagram, upon entering the queue guests turn left into a corridor of
trellises. Unlike other Towers, the
exterior queue does not really have any truly covered parts; the trellises do
not have any plants on them. The
structure itself provided some shade, but certainly no shelter from rain, nor,
I imagine, from any truly intense heat.
This is an odd choice, given that Japan does seem to have extreme
weather from what I’ve read.
The
in-universe New York Preservation Society has hung banners from the trellises,
hyping up the tale of Harrison Hightower and his mysterious fate for those
planning on taking their tour of the abandoned hotel.
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| "What did Harrison Hightower find on his Final Expedition?" |
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| "What Terror awaits in the 'Tower of Terror'?" Another view of the empty standby queue. |
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| Themed banner on rope queue markers |
As you can see from the layout I sketched above, the
initial entrance and final return of the full standby queue ran parallel to the
front of the building, where on one side one could see stained glass windows
and emergency exit doors on the exterior.
However, on the side facing the street… remember the three advertising
boards I mentioned in the previous installment about the exterior? If you thought the back side of them was
packed with text, well, the main side seen from the queue itself absolutely
overloads guests with lore.
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| At night, while returning to enter the lobby. Another banner reads "Where is Harrison Hightower?" The three informational boards are on the right in this picture, while the Tower building is on the left. |
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| Another look at the boards |
Unfortunately, due to my aforementioned issues with getting
a look at the full standby queue at all, the only photos I have of the boards
were during a nighttime trip. While they
are sufficiently lit to see in person, of course photography makes things more
difficult. Furthermore, the line moved
quickly enough and the boards were far enough away that zooming in to get clear
photos of the text was quite the task. I’ll
present my clearest photos of each board here, although not all of the
incredible bombardment of worldbuilding is readable.
The
farthest-right board, when facing away with from the building and towards the
boards, has a header reading “A Tragic End!
An Abiding Mystery! Presented by the New York Preservation Society”.
Unfortunately I don’t have the clearest photos of this
board, to be able to read the full articles.
However, the “theme” of this display is headlines about Harrison
Hightower’s disappearance. Of course,
Hightower is depicted with the likeness of Imagineer Joe Rhode, known to be the
main designer behind this version of Tower of Terror. Interestingly enough, he also designed
Mission Breakout. On one hand that makes
sense, given that both are stories about obsessed, rich collectors, but on the
other hand… how could someone design both one of the most visually beautiful
Towers and the most incredibly ugly
one???
That said,
one of the newspapers from this board also appeared on the fastpass entrance’s
abbreviated lore board, which I photographed clearly, and part of the article
from the top newspaper on this board was
readable. It is dated January 1, 1900.
Harrison
Hightower Disappears at ‘Tower of Terror’
Hotel
Hightower Closed to the Public
New Yorkers are still reeling after the shocking events at
Hotel Hightower last night. What began
as a joyous celebration ended in SADNESS for many Mahattanites.
11:59 pm—All day long people had streamed into the city on
elevated trains and streetcars, to join the general throng in the streets as
they celebrated the impending turn of the century. They were standing on rooftops dancing in the
parks, crowding onto balconies and stopping traffic as they began the exuberant
count-down of the last few seconds of the nineteenth century, eager to welcome
the twentieth century with cheers, toasts, and choruses of ‘Auld Lang Sine.”
The rest
of the article is obscured on the fastpass lore board, and unreadable in my
photographs of this board. However,
visible snippets mention not just damage to the building and the disappearance
of Hightower, but also injuries to bystanders, giving a sense of how
destructive the curse became.
The middle
board has the header “A Glorious Beginning: Hotel Hightower”.
The overall theme of this board seems to be the grand
opening of the hotel. The large
newspaper piece at the top shows that Hotel Hightower’s opening ceremony was
front page news, that the elite of New York were in attendance, and that the
hotel opened on January 24, 1892 after three years of construction. I find the explicit reference to the elite
interesting because it ties so well with the overall tarot card “tower”
themeing that all versions of Tower of Terror, but especially this one, carry
in their storylines. The board also
seems to have construction diagrams and photos.
The diagrams are accompanied by a note reading “The Hotel Hightower is a
unique architectural monument”. The
construction photo of Hightower with two other men is captioned “Harrison
Hightower III—Overseeing construction of Hotel Hightower—1890 With architect
Oskar Kilnovski and site foreman Joe Cobb.”
The entire
text of the opening day article is
fully rendered and readable… if you have a clear enough photo. Or, you know, are there in person and stuck
in line for long enough. Unfortunately,
I’m not so lucky. I did, however, make a valiant attempt to transcribe it below, by
seriously straining my eyes while zooming in to try and read the blurry
text. I really hope my effort is
appreciated!
Furthermore,
other bits and pieces of this article are, once again, also visible on the lore
board outside of the fastpass entrance.
I have attempted to stitch together the pieces into the proper order as
best as possible.
Quite a few errors are apparently present in the original
text; others might result from my desperate attempt to transcribe a whole
article from a blurry photo. Hopefully
this is understandable.
Hotel
Hightower Grand Opening
Hightower’s
Masterpiece Opens at Last
January 24, 1892 New York City, NY—Towering
above Manhattan, the glorious Hotel Hightower has finally opened its doors to
the public after three years of construction.
Harrison Hightower III, the “Dragon of Park Place”, reportedly conceived
this hotel a personification of everything he stands for: Beauty, Power,
Elegance, and Excellence. The hotel and
the man who built it are both prime examples of the [Note: yes, it cuts off
like that]
PARADE DOWN FIFTH AVENUE
The Grand Opening Celebration began with a parade down Park
Avenue. It was an exotic event,
featuring music and costumed peoples from various countries of the world. The parade began with an impressive float
depicting a massive globe of the earth.
The globe was impaled with a glittering sword with Hightower’s emblem on
the hilt. Occasionally the globe opened
to reveal a shining pearl inside, being held by a beautiful lady in a
diaphanous white gown. Close behind
followed a marching band from Colonia India.
After that, a Chinese dragon snaked its way down the street to the
accompaniment of exploding fireworks.
This was followed by belly dancers from Arabia, accompanied by a small
orchestra on a stand, pulled by Arabian horses.
This was followed by a group of Apache Indian ghost dancers and
drummers. These, in turn were followed
by acrobats from Indonesia, chanting Maori warriors from New Zealand, and
elegantly dressed geishas from Japan. It
was quite a strange collection of people, who reportedly had been brought from
the far corners of the world for only one purpose: to march in this parade.
The final grouping of the parade featured Hightower
himself. He was preceded by a large
group of men dressed in their traditional African garb, shivering in the
freezing air. They banged wildly,
banging on drums and doing the most amusing dance. Many of these men appeared oddly frightened, perhaps
overwhelmed by the awesome sights and sounds of Manhattan. Behind this group of villagers followed
Hightower, grandly riding atop a giant African elephant, wearing a glorious
white uniform and pith helmet with a tall feather waving in the wind. Hightower’s elephant was surrounded by an
honor guard of tough looking men, dressed in jungle camo[?], carrying rifles
and flags with Hightower’s double-H emblem.
More than a few women were reported to have fainted[?] at the sight of
Hightower on top of that elephant, his gleaming white beard shining in the sun.
Four brass bands from different boroughs were assembled
around the hotel, all playing the “Hightower March” as he arrived. The sound was nearly deafening. The New York Police had quite a time holding
back the crowds for Hightower’s arrival.
He rode up to a podium and gave a speech that was nearly drowned out by
the cheering throng. “People of New
York, with my own two hands I have created this magnificent edifice, which I
now give to you, that you may share in my greatness.” Hightower cut the ribbon across the threshold
with his cutlass, and stepped inside.
Invited guests started arriving in their private coaches as
soon as the streets were clear. There
were the social elite of the city, including Mayor Chaplin and the city
council. Also on hand was President
Benjamin Harrison, although he reportedly went straight to his room and slept
through the night. Every famous face in
New York could be seen, except for Cornelius Endicott III, the second richest
man in New York, who reportedly was not invited. The guests list was so long that the hotel
was filled to capacity. The staff faced
the monumental task of serving everyone with the efficiency and courtesy that
Hightower demands.
In the evening, a grand ball was held in the Atlantis
ballroom, with music provided by the impresario Joel N. Caesar [?] and his
world famous orchestra. The finest
ladies of society proudly exhibited the latest fashions, and danced the
Hightower Waltz with their elegantly attired husbands. After 11pm, the women retired to bed, leaving
the men to hold a special late night event.
Although reporters were not allowed into the event, we’ve been told that
it was an intimate and sedate affair.
Harrison Hightower reportedly told humorous anecdotes about the
construction of the hotel, and shared stories relating to the acquisition of
various artifacts in the hotel. This
morning some New York newspapers are reporting scandalous rumors of dancing
girls and drunken revelry. Allegations
that the event degenerated into an orgy of drunken lewdness are strongly denied
by Hightower’s staff. We believe that
the rumors are exaggerations and lies, invented by Hightower’s business rivals,
primarily Cornelius Endicott III, to give the hotel a black eye. Hotel Hightower is surely the finest hotel in
America, and perhaps the world. If you
plan to visit, you should know that the rooms have been booked solid for the
next two months, so make your reservations early.
Poor planning was partially responsible for a small riot
that followed. It began as invited
guests began to present their invitations at the door. Thugs and rowdies who had infiltrated the
crowd moved forward, intent on getting into the celebration. A scuffle ensued, and the throng on the
street followed the rowdies and within minutes the crowd pressed through the
door and filled the lobby to capacity.
They gawked at the elegant interiors, knocked over valuable lamps, and
tried to force their way into the main elevator. Harrison Hightower and the New York Police
eventually evicted the crowd from the hotel, but the streets were so blocked
that carriages of invited guests couldn’t get through. It took an hour, but finally the police broke
up the small riot. In the confusion,
some of the parade marchers were forgotten.
Groups of them, still dressed in exotic outfits, were seen wandering in
the cold park all day, apparently lost, confused, and unaware of their next
destination.
Okay, so,
that was a lot. But it also does a lot of establishing
groundwork. Hightower is a
self-important jerk (he acts as if he created the whole hotel all by himself,
rather than just financing it and stealing the artifacts for it) who sees other
cultures and people as decorations for his “collection”, caring little about
them being actually people (note how
he just ditched his parade followers).
He tries to put on a good face to the public, but in private is much
more prone to misbehavior (did anyone expect “an orgy of drunken lewdness” to
appear in Disney canon?). Hightower is
also the richest man in New York, and as a result has a rivalry with the
second-richest guy, Cornelius Endicott III.
Also, note
the mention of the riot. There’s another
article about the riot on the page, which also seemingly has fully rendered
text, but unfortunately was unreadable in my photographs. I suspect that whatever character wrote the
main article in-story, however, is also a rich snob who loves Hightower and
hates the “average” person, given the way they talk about the non-rich and how
they’re so quick to absolve Hightower of any guilt regarding the potential
orgy.
Parts of
the articles are blocked by the opening day feast menu. The selections are, quite frankly, weird and
gross. Seriously, it’s some Fear Factor rejects.
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| The upper half of the board, with the opening article, if anyone else wants to attempt transcribing or reading it. |
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| The lower half of the board. Note the headline about the riot. |
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| The upper half of the menu, with some super bizarre exotic dishes. Ewww. |
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| The lower half of the menu. At least the haggis, stewed tomatoes, and mead are normal, recognizably edible dishes, if not the most appetizing things in the universe. |
Okay, now that we’ve had to envision the luxury of eating
*checks notes* boiled camel’s feet,
let’s move on to the third and final board.
This one’s
header reads “Harrison Hightower: A Towering Figure.” The overall theme is about Harrison Hightower
presenting himself as a pulp-action-hero, explorer-adventurer type. Lots of toxic masculinity, made to look good
by Hightower’s copious monetary funds.
Of particular note, however, is the newspaper page in the upper half
that includes a photo of Harrison Hightower receiving the Shiriki Utundu idol
and taking it from Africa. I assume that
this also has full canon text, but unfortunately none of my photos were close
or sharp enough to even attempt a reconstruction from this board. Thankfully, once again, the fastpass board came
to the rescue in that regard!
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| The lower half of the board |
As previously mentioned, the main article from this board,
about Hightower returning from Africa with Shiriki Utundu, once again appears
in pieces on the fastpass side’s lore board.
Only the headline, publisher’s note, and the last two columns of the
article are on that board, but as it’s completely unreadable in my photographs
of the full article, I transcribed what I could. The newspaper is dated December 19, 1899.
Harrison
Hightower Returning From Africa
Harrison
Hightower III’s Congo River Expedition
Publisher’s note: “We hope you will enjoy this thrilling
account of Harrison Hightower’s recent expedition. We received this story by express delivery
only a few days ago, sent to us directly from Harrison Hightower III himself
from Africa. You can almost feel the
heat of the jungle coming off the page!”
[All text obscured until final two columns]
…was no longer smiling.
He [unreadable]-ly snatched the idol out of Hightower’s hands and placed
it back on its altar. Hightower had been
given no choice but to take the idol by [unreadable; presumably “force”]
On his command, Hightower’s henchmen drew their hidden
weapons, fully prepared to battle their way out of the village. But the tribe simply stood there, staring
[unreadable]-ly and expressionlessly as Hightower took Shiriki Utundu from its
altar. The ragged [unreadable] shards on
the idol cut Hightower’s hand, and although the chief seemed to smile at the
sight of Hightower’s blood, he
[obscured paragraph]
…primitive people, in his experience, did many strange and
inexplicable things. The interpreter
said the idol might be cursed, but in the following days they discovered that
Shiriki Utundu was a harbinger of good luck.
The tribe that had pursued them earlier saw Hightower holding the idol
aloft and immediately tossed their weapons in the river. They took the expedition back to their
village and gave Hightower everything he asked for. The idol had the same effect in every village
the expedition visited subsequently… [rest of article obscured on fastpass
board]
Another
fun fact, mentioned on the fastpass board and likely the lore boards here, is
that after Hightower’s disappearance, only Shiriki Utundu and Hightower’s fez
were found in the elevator.
Whew,
okay, that was a lot of information to cover!
Including a lot of important lore about the discovery of the cursed
idol, Hightower’s inflated ego, and the construction of the hotel. And we’re barely even into the queue! Thankfully, even though there’s a lot of
detail in the gardens overall, most of it is not quite so text-heavy as those boards!
The next
portion of the gardens is the Garden of Reflection. The garden’s name is listed on a plaque in
front of a statue on the wall opposite the trellised area. The exact way one wanders the gardens
presumably depends on exactly how crowded a particular day is, so I won’t
tackle this necessarily how you’d view it in line. Instead, I’ll go more
element-by-element. The layout of the
Garden of Reflection is thus:
Note that some layout pieces are uncertain because, for
some reason, I neither noted their locations in my field notes nor took photos
that clearly indicated their position in the layout. I guessed the context based on other photos
surrounding it in my camera roll.
As you can
likely tell from my crude map, the garden is filled with planters, statues, and
some informational plaques. The most
common type of figure is sphinxes; two flank the entrance to the garden from
the trellis section, and yet another sphinx is graced by the main title plaque
of the garden. In addition to all being
from faraway locales, the statues all seem to depict important or regal
figures, potentially as a reflection of how Hightower sees himself. The intimidating skull statue, however, might
depict a more threatening deity, perhaps foreshadowing of Hightower’s fate at
the hands of such a character. That
skull statue is also two-faced, interestingly enough, much like Hightower
seemed to present a different “face” in public and private. I am unsure if any of these art pieces are
replicas of any specific real art pieces at this time.
The
“informational” plaques about the plants are amusingly disconcerting and/or
ironic. Sure, they start out fairly
normal, with a standard warning to not touch the ornamental plants. However, things get wilder from there. One warns that the plants are poison and that
the reader should be at least 10 feet away—which, given the queue placement and
how close one has to be to read the plaque, the reader is definitely not at a safe distance. Yet another plaque warns that the blooms of
the plant it labels cause madness. Yet
another plaque says the garden has won an award… and is placed in front of a
broken, decrepit statue.
One of the
tree planters in the center of the garden seems to have taken damage from the
curse of Shiriki Utundu. Unlike the
other two tree planters, the ground around it is cracked, and the tree within
is leaning at a precarious angle, supported by a wooden frame. I can’t help but notice that the more
destroyed parts of the garden—where the tree is uprooted, and the statues are
not merely fallen, but broken, are
towards the back of the garden, deeper into the queue, almost as if the
atmosphere is getting gradually more foreboding.
In the
center is an interesting tableau of an oil painting in-progress, with the easel
and oil paints still set up. It depicts
a young woman in a gold gown standing in front of one of the statues in the
garden. It is a wintertime scene, based
on the fact that there is snow on the statue and plants, and the woman seems
dressed for cold weather. The statue in
the painting is the one with its head broken off, at the back wall near the
exit of the garden. In fact, one can
even see the statue from where the easel is, the artist’s view. Was this statue also a victim of the
destruction of the curse? Why was this
painting left here—clearly for a while, if the scene depicted is now in decay? Is the woman in the artwork of any
significance? Given that DisneySea is
packed with more lore than a single human mind can comprehend, my guess would
be that this woman is secretly some major character that probably has a novel’s
worth of backstory, locked away in obscure opening-day promotional material. I, however, could not glean who she was. If you have any clues, let me know.
And, well,
I’ve done a lot of explaining in text here… perhaps a photo tour would give a
better impression of the place?
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| A look in at one side of the Garden of Reflection, showing the connection with the trellis area, the skull statue corner, and one of the entry sphinxes. Photo taken from outside the queue. |
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| A view of the other half of the Garden of Reflection, taken from outside the queue and through the bars of the gate that has the warning sign. |
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| A view from inside the trellis area, showing where the trellis area corners around the side of the building. The back of the skull statue, with its second face, is visible on the left. The entry from the trellis area and into the Garden of Reflection is also visible, approximately just past where the "Tower of Terror" banner hangs. |
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| The back of the skull statue, with its angry face |
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| The part of the trellis area that runs along the side of the building, with the Garden of Reflection on the left. The banners read "Do sinister forces dwell in the 'Tower of Terror'?" and "What strange occurrence closed the Hotel Hightower?" |
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| The entry to the Garden of Reflection, through the colonnade. |
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| The back of the left side entry sphinx, and a side view of the skull statue, showing how it has two faces. Could it be symbolic of how Hightower was two-faced and very destructive? Usually I'd say coincidence, but given how much detail and characterization went into this ride as a whole, it might not be. |
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| The front side of the skull statue, with a more serene face. |
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| Garden of Reflection light fixture, with the first botanical plaque beside it. |
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| The first botanical plaque. It features the mundane message, "Keep to the path. Ornamental plants--do not touch." |
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| The statue of the European queen |
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| The back side of the gate with the warning sign, with a plaque featuring a Greek god's head on the column beneath the double-H logo. |
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| The fallen Egyptian-styled statue, with another botanical plaque. This plaque reads "Syringa foetida: Do not inhale, do not stand within 10 feet of plant." The dark humor, of course, is that in order to read the plaque, one would have to be well within 10 feet. Hmm, perhaps the real story is that we're all hallucinating from toxic plant spores and it's a totally normal hotel? Haha, I jest. |
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| A planter urn and a side view of the sphinx that has the garden's title plaque |
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| Front view of the title plaque sphinx. |
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| Garden of Reflection title plaque. It states, "Garden of Reflection: Come share this tranquil bower where I have oft unshouldered my great burden to pause in quiet reflection--Harrison Hightower." Once again, there's Hightower's massive ego, talking about his "great burden" of being so rich and influential. Also, it's a bit ironic since he doesn't seem the type to actually truly do much self reflection. |
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| A view into the center of the garden, with the art easel scene |
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| A closer look at the art scene. Note the statue from the painting visible, but now broken, in the back. Does anyone know if the woman in this artwork is a significant character? |
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| A closer look at the paints and palette |
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| A look back at the entrance of the garden from towards the center, with a view of the front of one of the entry sphinxes. |
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| A better look at the banner. "Now Exhibition! Harrison Hightower's Private collection: Art & Artifacts from Around the World!" Interesting that the grammar error made it to print. |
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| A look up at the Tower from the center of the Garden of Reflection |
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| A detail I noticed from this angle. At the top of each drop shaft window, there's a sculpted detail of Medusa's head! |
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| Going back to that wall opposite the garden's entry, here's the statue of the Mayan or Aztec king, with another botanical plaque beside it. |
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| Close-up of the botanical plaque beside the Mayan king. It reads, "Do not touch: contact with bloom will induce madness." |
Wait… I proposed the idea that the whole ride is a
hallucinogenic trip as a joke but this is
the second reference to the plants having… questionable effects upon the
guests. Also, given that the main plaque
mentioned Hightower using this garden “for reflection”… is this a recreational
drug garden!? Yes, I know that wouldn’t
be very “Disney” but they did mention
an alleged orgy earlier. But
intentionally used as drugs or not, the garden seems canonically
hallucinogenic. Was Shiriki Utundu just
a normal statue and Hightower on the worst drug trip of his life? Behold: my worst park theory, “it was all a
drug trip.” In case it wasn’t already
clear, no, I do NOT take that theory seriously.
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| The broken remains of a statue, with another botanical plaque. This plaque reads, "President's Award for Best Show Garden--Waterfront Park Horticultural Society, 1898" |
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| The now-headless broken statue that was featured in the painting at the center of the garden. The exit into the Garden of India is visible in the background. |
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| The leaning tree with the cracked concrete and broken planter. |
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| Wooden structure supporting the leaning tree. |
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| A view of the exit into the Garden of India, with the multi-armed statue and a bit of the right side sphinx visible. |
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| The multi-armed goddess. You can also see the top of the drinking fountain at the bottom of the picture. |
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| The Garden of Reflection drinking fountain. |
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| The last botanical plaque in the Garden of Reflection. It reads, "My gardeners toil day and night to lay this precious gift at your feet--an incomparable assemblage of nature's most delicate treasures." I find it interesting that Hightower actually gives credit to someone other than himself for once, here. |
And thus concludes our tour of the Garden of
Reflection! However, we’re still not
done with the outdoor queue. After
passing through the Garden of Reflection, guests find themselves in the Garden
of India. This second garden is smaller
than the Garden of Reflection, but still has quite a few interesting details,
and affords a rather beautiful up-close view of the side of the Tower building
itself! The layout is thus:
The garden is essentially a loop around one central
planter, U-turning around to reenter the trellis area while flush along the
side of the main Tower building. One
wall of the garden is the building wall itself.
Guests
enter through a gap in the stone wall, with pillars that feature scowling
gargoyles and a plaque that specifies the garden’s title under yet another double
H logo: Garden of India. “Here I have
gathered works of enduring beauty and mystery from distant and fabled kingdoms
to fashion a kingdom of my own—Harrison Hightower,” the plaques read. Does anyone else feel like these are almost a
dark reflection of Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom’s iconic “Here you leave
today…” plaques? After all, those parks
were also about wealthy men building their own kingdoms, albeit with supposedly
more benevolent intentions than Hightower seems to have.
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| Entry column with plaque |
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| Close-up of the plaque |
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| The top of both entry columns, with their distinct gargoyles. |
Such is the detail in this queue, that the Garden of India
even has distinct pavement from elsewhere in the waiting areas.
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| The change in the concrete |
Like
the Garden of Reflection before it, the Garden of India also has themed
“botanical plaques” that provide some interesting bits of lore. Also like the Garden of Reflection, the first
plaque starts out things rather mundanely. |
| The first plaque, located in the central planter. |
The
first plaque reads “My gardeners toil to bring this beauty to you—please mind
where you walk.” Okay, normal so far. |
| A look at the left side of the garden, while entering. Note the detailed theming even in the stile of the walls. You can see a bit of the fancy "hotel staff only" door as well. |
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| The right side of the garden, looking across the central planter at the Tower wall, which features the peacock fountain, stairs, and wall art. |
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| The fancy "Hotel Staff Only" exit (?) door. Note the snake detail over the door. |
Snakes
seem to be a running theme in the Garden of India, with the one over this door
being the first of many. Could this be a
symbol of Hightower being a “snake”?
Maybe that’s over-thinking it and it’s just meant to be spooky. It is
interesting, though, that the Hightower storyline is incredibly interconnected
with the Indiana Jones Adventure storyline, where snakes are significant. Numerous crates labeled for Hightower are found around the Indiana Jones area at DisneySea, as well as in the queue for the Indiana Jones Adventure ride. |
| The snake god statue. More snakes! |
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| The planter with the "Fire Blossom" plaque |
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| A close-up of the "Fire Blossom" plaque. It reads: "Fire Blossom, Flagare Americanus--I alone survived the expedition to bring this priceless specimen to my garden--Harrison Hightower." So much braggadocio and callous disregard for human life all in one, there, Hightower. |
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| A look back into the central planter, with the "Night Orchid" plaque. The entrance from the Garden of Reflection is in the background. |
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| Detail of the plaque. It reads, "Night-Blooming Orchid (Epiphyllum Nocturna Hightower)--Gift from a grateful Asian potentate." |
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| The Indian-styled arch in the back corner. |
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| Overall view of the Tower wall |
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| More detail on the Tower wall |
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| Detail of the relief on the wall, depicting a battle in a jungle environment, fought by soldiers riding horses and elephants. |
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| Detail of the peacock fountain. |
Interestingly, the peacock fountain depicts a peacock being surrounded by, or
perhaps attacked by, snakes. So, once
again, the garden has a snake theme.
Also, while I previously mentioned that snakes might represent
Hightower’s devious nature, perhaps here he is the peacock—proud and fancy, and
about to succumb to sinister forces.
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| A look up at the Tower building from the Garden of India. Look at all the detail in those roundels! The brickwork! The windows! |
Right
before guests exit the Garden of India, there’s one last detail along the Tower
wall.
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| A shallow alcove with a bench and a grimacing stone face above it. |
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| Another angle of the alcove that shows more of the stone face |
Guests then proceed back into the trellis area, to trail
back along the side of the Tower building towards the front entrance.
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| The exit back into the trellis area |
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| Reentering the trellis area for the return trip towards the lobby |
On the way back to the front
of the building, guests pass the windows of the lobby, some more shallow
alcoves with benches and wall art, and a pair of emergency exit doors.
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| Here's this picture again, to show a daylight look at the empty trellis area along the front of the building, showing some of the windows, benches, and wall art. |
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| Emergency exit doors |
Finally, at the front of the building, guests reach the entry
foyer, which is flanked by two smaller arched areas on either side of the main
foyer. Each has a fancy chandelier
hanging from the ceiling, in front of either stained glass windows or the glass
doors of the lobby.
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| Ceiling and chandelier of the arched area just before the entry foyer |
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| Going into the entry foyer. Not the greatest photograph, but I wanted to give a sense of spatial orientation, showing how those areas connect. |
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| The entry foyer |
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| Column detail and sign advertising photopass in the entry foyer |
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| A look at the details of the upper arch and chandelier in the entry foyer |
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| Signage indicating the fastpass and standby entrances, as well as a warning about emergency lights. |
Now we can finally enter the lobby! And if you thought the gardens were detailed…
you’re in for a treat!
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| Entering the lobby, at last! |
