Alternate Tower Spotlight: The Paris Tower of Terror, Part 4--The Boiler Room, Ride, Exit, and Gift Shop

The boiler room had the same layout and background soundtrack as the California Adventure version, but once again the details made it unique.

The libraries emptied into the boiler room hallway, in which gauges, a time card puncher, a directional sign, and a "days without accident" sign adorned the walls.  An emergency exit door was at the end of the hall to the right as guests left the libraries.

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

The "13 days without accident" and directional sign appeared to be the same as DCA's, while the other devices were different designs for Paris.  As with the Californian Tower, the left side/Queen's library exited to the upper boiler room, while the right side library exited to the lower boiler room.  Paris went so far as giving the two separate doorways to enter into the boiler room proper.

Separate doorways for the separate queues at Paris, April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Unlike at DCA, there was not a "man in boiler" sign on the machinery near the exit of this hallway.  The lower boiler room did, however, have the same row of random pipes and gauges running along this part of the lower queue as DCA.

Here's a photo of the pack side of them, taken on the way to one of the waiting areas.  You can see the stairs to the upper queue in the background.  April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Based on photos, it looks like Paris' boiler room did not have the dripping pipe.  Instead, it had this unique piece of machinery:

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Here's a view of it from the upper queue:

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

At the end of the room was, of course, the face boiler, with the emergency exit behind it.

Pictured here with the mechanic's desk.  April 2017, Pyrokenesis

On the mechanic's desk sat an old radio, playing out static and creepy voices.  The track for this was the same audio as DCA.  I believe the newspaper prop on the desk was also the same.  Based on the photos, I can't quite tell if it had the Popular Mechanics issues in the desk drawer, or if there was a woman's portrait on the desk.

The back of the mechanic's desk, April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Here's an overall view back at the lower queue from the end of it, with the face boiler and mechanic's desk being behind the photographer:

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

More machinery in the lower queue, probably at the base of the face-shaped boiler.  April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Like DCA, a decorative spiral staircase connected the upper and lower waiting areas, and separated the left and middle waiting areas from each other.

View from the lower queue, on the way to one of the waiting areas.  April 2017, Pyrokenesis

In the gap between the middle and right waiting areas was the lower generator.  I don't appear to have a photo of it; however, its safety inspection chalkboard was definitely in the Paris boiler room--just not in the same location as DCA.  It appears in this photo with a wall of gauges, which was taken somewhere in the lower boiler room queue:

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

There were additional details along the sides in at least one of the waiting areas at the Paris Tower.  For example, in what appears to the the far left lower-level waiting area was this podium with a pencil sharpener and an issue of "Wheel" magazine.

Extra details, April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Detail showing the podium with the magazine.  April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Regarding the upper queue, the most obvious difference was the staging of the storage area at the top of the stairs.  Most noticeable was the poem plaque being inside the storage area rather than attached to the surrounding fence material.  The text said:

It's easy enough to be pleasant

when life hums along like a song

But the man worth while

is the man who can smile

When everything goes dead wrong.

This was an excerpt from "Worth While" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.  Despite not having any apparent Twilight Zone connection, this verse appeared in all three Twilight Zone Towers of Terror.

Poem plaque in the storage area.  The plaque was still in English even for the Paris version.  April 2017, Pyrokenesis

The large wooden object on the right side of the area was also a file cabinet/work desk combination in this version, as opposed to DCA's spare lobby key cabinet.

Paris' storage area also seemed to be a slight bit messier, with a variety of objects on the work desk.

All photos April 2017 by Pyrokenesis

Interestingly, despite all the detail here, I have not yet heard anything about additional Twilight Zone references being included in this area.  Whether they did not exist or whether nobody has yet to report them is unclear.

At the curve of the upper queue was the "spooky wall," where unsuspecting guests heard the cries of a ghostly little girl through the concrete, in reference to "Little Girl Lost" from The Twilight Zone.  The Paris version used the same English audio as the California Adventure version.  Here is the source audio, from Dlp Sounds on YouTube:

Looking back over the upper queue from approximately the spooky wall area, one could see this view:

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Here's a similar photo from DCA if you wish to compare:

May 2016

As different as the lighting looks in those two photos, I don't think I can accurately say that Paris' version had different lighting.  Rather, I believe that the difference was due to different cameras and settings; the lighting was probably the same in both versions.

As at DCA, the upper loading area had the same layout as the lower loading area, with the exception of the generator being surrounded by a chain-link fence cage rather than being between more solid walls.

The generator and right side loading area as seen from the upper queue, April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Once guests reached the loading areas, the waiting and loading procedures were the same as at the Californian ride, with the major exception of course being the language of the spiel.

While waiting for the guests to arrive, guests heard a spooky voice announce:

"A nos précieux invités... Pour votre sécurité, une fois à bord, veuillez attacher votre ceinture et rester assis.
Veillez à conserver en permanence vos mains, vos bras, vos pieds et vos jambes à l'interieur de l'ascenseur. Apportez également une attention toute particulière à vos enfants. Merci."

(Transcript from here )

The spiel then repeated in English:

"To our valued guests... for your safety once on board, please remain seated with your seat belts fastened, keeping your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the elevator at all times, and do take care to supervise your children.  Thank you."

Here is the audio of it, posted by Dlp Sounds on Youtube:

Once guests boarded the elevator and completed the safety checks, the bellhop cast member gave the following spiel:

"Mesdames et Messieurs, la direction de l'hôtel vous recommande fortement de vous accrocher à vos chapeaux, à vos lunettes, ainsi qu'à tout autre objet que vous souhaiteriez conserver dans cette Dimension.

Les photos et les vidéos sont strictement interdits.

Pour votre sécurité, nous vous rappelons de garder vos bras, vos mains vos pieds et vos jambes... et si possible votre petit déjeuner à l'interieur de l'ascenceur, et ce jusqu'à l'arrivée... probable dans votre chambre.

Nous vous souhaitons un agréable séjour au Hollywood Tower Hotel.

Si vous avez besoin de quoi que ce soit... c'est trop tard ! Toutefois, n'hésitez pas à hurler!"

(Transcript from here )

This was the same spiel that DCA cast members delivered in English; the only change to the script appeared to be the language.

Thus, with a ding of the elevator's bell, guests found themselves on their way to La Quatriéme Dimension. 

Unfortunately, I have not yet found quality video of the Paris Tower of Terror in action.  I find this rather unusual, given that all other versions of the ride had a multitude of high-quality recordings available.

Thankfully, the most significant difference in the Parisian ride experience was the language of the narration.  The drop profile and show scenes were the same as DCA's, with the exception of the exterior view being of Disneyland Paris instead of Disneyland Anaheim.  Some small details, such as the placement of prop shoes in the hallway scene, were likely different, but the experience was mostly identical.

Thankfully, the complete source audio of the French soundtrack is available on YouTube, thanks to Dlp Sounds:

In case that video link doesn't work, here is the transcript from DLRP Synopsis (text done in blue in case you wish to scroll past):

(Départ)

Vous êtes les passagers d'un des ascenseurs les plus stupéfiants qui soit... Et vous allez faire le plus étrange voyage de votre vie.
Votre destination : inconnue. Mais une chose est sûre : une réservation a été faite en votre nom, pour une durée prolongée.

(Scène du miroir)

Dites adieu au monde réel...
...car vous venez de pénétrer dans la Quatrième Dimension.

(Scène du couloir)

Les tristes événements qui s'abattirent sur ce haut lieu d'Hollywood, sont sur le point de se reproduire.
Par une nuit d'orage il y a fort longtemps, cinq personnes passèrent les portes d'un ascenseur pour vivre un cauchemar...
L'orage est maintenant de retour et les portes s'entrouvrent à nouveau. Mais cette fois ci, elles s'ouvrent pour vous.

(Spiel de sortie)

La prochaine fois que vous réserverez dans un hôtel abandonné dans la partie sombre d'Hollywood, prenez bien soin de préciser combien de temps vous comptez rester... ou vous risquez de devenir des résidents permanents... de la Quatrième Dimension !

As the elevator pulled back into the load/unload station, the same spooky announcer that had given the pre-loading spiel stated:

"Mesdames et Messieurs, veuillez récupérer vos effets personels et sortir prudement de l'ascenseur.
Nous espérons que votre séjour au Hollywood Tower Hotel aura été agréable.  Et surtout : n'hésitez pas à revenir nous voir.  Merci."

(transcript from here )

Note that you can hear this spiel at the end of the "onboard soundtrack" source audio linked above.

Although I do not have photos of them, the exit corridors of the Paris Tower were the same as those at DCA.  However, Pyrokenesis noted that they could not find the hidden corpse from the episode "Dead Man's Shoes" under the stairwell.  Either Paris lacked this hard-to-spot Twilight Zone reference, or it was placed in an even more difficult to find location.  I assume the message boards in the exit corridors likely had slightly different posters on them as well.

After the exit corridors, guests arrived at the photo viewing area.

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

The viewing area had the same setup as DCA, with one immediately noticeable difference: the rear display case wasn't empty!

Rather than simply being a window covered by a red curtain, the Willoughby Travel window had an actual display of travel advertisements!

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

The poster in the center said:

See America

The United States Travel Bureau

and was done in the style of a vintage National Parks poster.  It was surrounded by a display of luggage.  In general, this was a much more fitting presentation than DCA; the travel agency window actually had a travel advertisement.  Then again, given how Willoughby Travel referenced the Twilight Zone episode "A Stop At Willoughby," one might not want to take any vacations they advertised!

The viewing area also had the same Anthony Fremont poster in the same location as DCA.

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Anthony Fremont was a character from the episode "It's a Good Life."  In that episode, he hated singing, so fittingly he conducted an orchestra at the Tower.

The display cases under the viewing screens were filled to the brim with Twilight Zone references.

The farthest right display window featured the electric razor from "A Thing About Machines" and the telephone from "Long Distance Call."

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

There were two text cards, in English, in this display.  One read "Perfect for the children's room and those late night calls from grandma."  The second, which appeared only at the Paris version, read, "Comes with an extra long cord.  It can follow you anywhere."  Both of these inscriptions, done in Banhof Regular font, referenced the plot of their respective episodes.

For those wishing to compare, here is what the California version of this display looked like:

Note the different statue and additional logo.  May 2016

The central window had "Modern Wonders" written across the top, and was the largest of the windows.  It had the typewriter from "A Thing About Machines" and an assortment of antique radios.

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

The typewriter's paper read, "Get out of here Finchley!  Get out of here Finchley!  Get out of here Finchley!"  The card next to the device read, "Practically writes by itself."  These, of course, replicated what happened with the typewriter in "A Thing About Machines."

A card next to one of the radios said, "Static-free reception.  You'll be surprised at what you hear."  This referenced the episode "Static," which featured an old radio that could tune in to programs from the past.  However, the radio in that episode did not match any of the models shown in the display case.  The static-spewing haunted radio from the boiler room may also have referenced this episode.

Once again, here's the DCA version of the display for comparison:

May 2016

Finally, the left side display case held antique cameras.  One particular camera replicated the one from the episode "A Most Unusual Camera."  It was displayed alongside a card stating, appropriately enough, "A most unusual camera."

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

Here's the DCA version:

Not really much of a difference here; just the addition of an HTH logo at DCA.  May 2016

Finally, guests arrived at the gift shop.  The layout and decoration of the shop was the same as DCA.

I don't have any other photos of the shop, but I do have this wonderfully clear photo of the four pictures that were presumably near the photo purchase counter:

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

These four photos showed the characters from the pre-show video hanging around the lobby and elevator.  Interestingly, small details in these photos only match up with the Floridian version of the lobby, and thus set them out-of-place at DCA and Paris.  Notably, the couch setup in the upper left photo and the twisted column in the lower right photo only exist in the Florida Tower's design.  DCA and Paris had individual chairs in place of that couch, and had straight columns rather than twisted ones.

After perusing the gift shop, guests left through the Tower Hotel Gifts doorway.

April 2017, Pyrokenesis

From there, they returned to the Tower grounds, and continued their day at Walt Disney Studios Paris.

***

Thus concludes our tour of the Disneyland Paris Tower of Terror!

Obviously, it's still missing some photos and video.  If anyone has Paris Tower photos/videos they wish to share, please don't hesitate to leave a comment!