Walkthrough Part 5: The Boiler Room--Part 1, the Boiler Room Hallway and Lower Queue

Having completed viewing the pre-show, it is now time for our walkthrough to continue into the next part of the queue: the boiler room.

Both libraries exited out into the same small hallway.  The lines exiting the libraries were separated from one another by some metal fencing; the Queen's library would go to the upper queue, while the King's would go to the lower queue.  Note that there were no stairs or anything between the library exits and the boiler room hallway, despite the oddity of those two things being connected in such a manner.

The flooring of the hallway was concrete with some metal plates running lengthwise along the floor, contrasting the hardwood floors of the library and the fancy tiles of the lobby.  The walls were also rough gray concrete, the industrial style contrasting the luxurious-but-now-ruined look of the previous environments.  The concrete flooring and walls continued throughout the boiler room.

Neither the classic tunes of the lobby or the rain sounds of the library provided the BGM of the boiler room.  Instead, the background "music" of the boiler room consisted of deep mechanical hums that faded in and out, rattling chain noises, and maybe some faint orchestrated notes here and there.  The lights in the room dimmed and flickered in a way that matched the sounds.

Thus far I have been unable to find a source recording of the boiler room BGM.  The best sample I have is this live recording from December 2016, courtesy of Commander Corn of Micechat.

EDIT: Here is the boiler room BGM, courtesy SuperHotLarry on Youtube:

Oddly, despite supposedly being source, this track does not sound accurate to how I recall it sounding in situ.  I distinctly recall the boiler room having a deep, rumbling bass hum which this track seems to lack.  Of course, this could be due to the differences between a home audio setup vs. whatever advanced speaker system Disney likely used in the attraction. /EDIT

The boiler room hallway itself was rather small.  Exiting from either of the libraries, there was a set of emergency exit doors at the end of the hallway to the right.  From farthest right to farthest left, the wall opposite the library exits featured a row of electrical boxes, a cork message board, an old-style wall phone, a sign, a "days without accident" listing, a time-card punch device, and a set of gauges.

The back of the King's Library exit slider, as seen looking back on it from the boiler room hallway.  Note the emergency exit on the left (which would be to your right as you exited the library).  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

Electrical boxes on the right side of the wall.  This view is approximately opposite the previous photo.  By Mrbellcaptain

Cork message board.  Although this seems ripe for Easter eggs, I've never heard anyone mention any appearing here.  Sadly, this is the best photo I have of it, and it's not quite clear enough to read any of the entries to look for hidden content.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

EDIT: Nope, as it turns out, that bulletin board was full of Easter Eggs!  See "Secrets from the Van Eaton Gallery" for a full explanation! /EDIT

Sign, "Days without Accident" sign, and card puncher.  Photo by the-magic-sets-us-all-aglow

The sign read:

Boiler Room

Laundry

Maintenance

Basement Level

Exit

All with arrows pointing left.  I'm not sure of the font used for this sign.  Despite the implication that the hallway led to the basement, there was no change in elevation at all in the boiler room (aside from climbing up the stairs if one was going to the upper queue).

The "Days without accident" sign indicated 13 days without accident, continuing the "13" theme of the Tower.

Detail of the "Days without accident" sign, by the-magic-sets-us-all-aglow

The time card machine was stopped with a time of 8:05, matching the other clocks in the Tower.

Gauges next to the time card puncher.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

The boiler room hallway ended with a glowing boiler featuring a sign reading "Man in boiler" on it, with another emergency exit door to the right.  This boiler appeared to be operating, with the dirty and scratched glass glowing as if red-hot.  I found this to be one of the creepier set elements in the Tower, due to the juxtaposition of the clearly operating machinery with the indication that some unfortunate person was inside it.

Sadly, I do not have a close-up photo of the sign itself.

EDIT: While not a closeup of the sign in particular, here is a photo that clearly shows the sign in place:

Photo by deror_avi at Wikimedia Commons

/EDIT

"Man in boiler" boiler.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

The second set of emergency exit doors.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

Pipes in between the boiler and the emergency exit doors.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

Here the queues diverged.  Both turned left, but the Queen's library queue went up a flight of stairs to the upper queue, while the King's Library queue continued left in the lower queue, passing directly in front of the "man in boiler" boiler.

In the LMG vid on my recommended videos page (the second video listed), one can see a quick sweep of the boiler room hallway from 2:54 to 3:07.

For this entry, we'll follow the lower queue.  Here's another out-of-scale diagram:

Readers should note that the boiler room was a very detailed and atmospheric area that doesn't necessarily lend itself to text easily.  Hopefully the photos provided give a decent feel for it.

As guests walked past the "man in boiler" machinery, they got their first glimpse of the loading area and one of the maintenance elevators.

The farthest right elevator of the lower loading area.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

Simple, pipe-like fencing delineated the queue and kept with the industrial theming.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

The row of valves, pipes, and gauges.  You can see the lower queue's generator behind it; I'll discuss the generators in my entry on the loading area.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain.

Detail on some of the valves.  Some actually turned; guests waiting in line would often play with them.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

Lighting and ceiling of the lower queue.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

Peeking up at the upper queue.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

The ceiling had a very industrial feel, being made of metal grating that concealed primarily blue and purple (but with a few orange highlights) atmospheric show lights.  For the lower queue, the ceiling was in some cases the floor of the upper queue.

As guests made their way past the row of pipes on their right, the stairway to the upper queue ascended on their left.  Partially under the stairs, and extending out from under them, was a small work area, staged as if a chair was under repair.  Tools and paints were strewn about, and one paint can was even knocked over, paint dried in a puddle on the floor where it spilled from the can.

December 2016 photo by Commander Corn of Micechat

December 2016 photo by Wandering Optimist/Optimist Zero

Approximately across from the work area under the stairs, wrapped by the turn of the queue, was a pipe dripping water.

Photo by Mrbellcaptain.  Note that you can see part of the upper queue above the dripping pipe in this photo.

Presumably this was supposed to represent rain water draining in from a gutter somewhere, but the amount of dripping water never really matched the raging thunderstorm presented by the ride's narrative.  At most, a trickle of water here and there dripped from the pipe into the basin below.

Various dials on the wall that marked one edge of the turn in the line (see diagram), along with a safety warnings sign.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

As guests rounded the corner with the dripping pipe on their right, on their left stood one of the most recognizable features of the boiler room: the face-shaped boiler.  It was a giant set piece that stood as tall as the upper queue, and, well, looked like a creepy face.

The boiler with some pipes and an industrial vent.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

Photo by Mrbellcaptain

The open "mouth" even flickered like a fire was burning in the boiler.

Video by Mrbellcaptain.

In front of the face-shaped boiler was a gate in the fencing labeled "emergency exit".  This led to a path under the boiler; the actual exit door was in the wall to the left behind the boiler (see diagram).

Emergency Exit gate.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

Emergency Exit path under the boiler.  Photo by Mrbellcaptain

The face-shaped boiler represented the long-running horror trope of using "hidden faces" to make objects seem creepy.  Many excellent examples of this trope can be found in the Tower's older sibling, the Haunted Mansion (see Long Forgotten's "Walls and Stares" for a great examination of "hidden faces" with regards to the Mansion).

Personally, I didn't really like the face-shaped boiler.  Despite being part of a horror tradition, its design seemed a little too obvious and cartoonish for the otherwise realistically-styled Tower (it personally reminded me of some of the cartoon machinery in Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin).  However, I also know several people who thought this was the best thing in the boiler room, so it's very much a matter of individual taste.

Just past the face-shaped boiler was the last boiler room set element in the lower queue before one went into the loading area: the mechanic's desk.

The mechanic's desk was a work desk strewn with tools, old magazines, a newspaper, two photo frames, and an antique radio.

December 2016 photo by Commander Corn of micechat

Photo with flash, December 2016 by Commander Corn of Micechat

Detail of the newspaper prop, December 2016 by Commander Corn of Micechat

That newspaper prop appeared to be a copy of the same prop newspaper used in the lobby.

The most interesting part of the mechanic's desk was that antique radio, which would randomly play static and creepy voices, as seen in this video:

Also, here is a live audio recording of the radio, by Commander Corn of Micechat.

EDIT: Thanks to SuperHotLarry on Youtube, you can now hear the source audio for the boiler room radio:

/EDIT

You might have noticed that the photo on the desk in the video is of a different woman than in the 2016 photo of the desk.  At an unknown date, the photo of the short haired woman was switched out for the photo of the long haired woman.  I have no idea why this change occurred, and have no timeline for the change aside from that video being dated 2013 and the photo dated 2016.

The radio was a reference to the Twilight Zone episode "Static," where an old radio tuned in to programs from the past, according to one of Disney's official website listings for the Tower.  However, the Tower's radio seemed to be broadcasting the voice of the same little girl heard at the "spooky wall" in the upper queue, which was a reference to the episode "Little Girl Lost".

Apparently, those old magazines sticking out of the desk were issues of Popular Mechanics, which according to TowerSecrets referenced the episode "I Sing the Body Electric."

At this point, guests reached the end of the lower queue.  A cast member bellhop asked the number of people in their party, and then directed them to part of the loading area.

One can see a quick trip through the lower queue from 3:07 to 3:25 in the LMG Vid on my recommended videos page (although the video cuts to the ride a bit early, before clearly showing the mechanic's desk or the loading area).

Before our walkthrough proceeds to the loading area, however, we'll take a look at the upper queue.