The DCA Hollywood Tower Hotel: Alternate Tower Spotlight: The Florida Tower of Terror--The Hotel Exterior, the Tower at Night, and Exterior Queue

Before we step through those iron gates, I'd like to first take a moment to discuss the exterior design of the Florida Tower of Terror.

As previously mentioned, this version of the ride featured gothic architecture as opposed to art deco. Instead of DCA/Paris' bold geometry and rounded domes, Florida featured sharp delicate spikes paired with spirals and arches.

Looming over the crowds, with both drop shaft doors open. June 28, 2017

In general, Florida's seemed to take advantage of forced perspective more than its Californian and Parisian counterparts. While DCA/Paris' design relied mainly on windows for its illusion, the Florida Tower was also covered in columns, balconies, and other architectural elements to further the impression of a massive hotel. Every side of the building was covered in detail. Compare the simpler rear view of the DCA/Paris building with this first glimpse guests can get of Florida's from the park's bus stop.

Looks convincingly real, doesn't it? June 28, 2017

The rear of the Tower was also visible from nearby Epcot. The Imagineers knew that the Tower would be visible over the Moroccan Pavilion at World Showcase from certain angles, so they made sure that the Tower's palette and architecture blended with the pavilion (although Tower's palette was bizarrely bright pink compared to the more neutral colors for Morocco).

Here's two slightly different views to let you spot the Tower easier. I took these from near the Mexico Pavilion (the side closer to Future World). June 20, 2017

Interestingly, this Moroccan influence also tied in with a possible real-life inspiration for the Florida Tower's design: The Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles, California. Prior to 2015, that hotel's interior decor was Moroccan-inspired "exotic" design, and photos of its lobby shared striking similarities to the lobby of WDW's Tower.

The front side of the Tower was, of course, made to look partially destroyed from the Twilight Zone incident, with the elevator shafts ripped open. Florida's design featured only two drop shafts, and they seemed set further into the building. The look was more like the front of the shafts was sheared off, rather than the broken-off-column look of DCA/Paris. The lightning damage on the front was also a more realistic gray char, rather than the supernatural purple of DCA/Paris. This change was likely due to real-life events between 1994 and 2004, specifically 9/11. Given associations between destroyed towers and the word "terror", the later design purposely went for a more obviously supernatural lightning scar.

A loud sound effect similar to rattling and breaking chains played whenever the drop shafts opened--a trait unique to WDW's Tower.

June 28, 2017

Across the front of the building was a large sign reading "The Hollywood Tower Hotel", with "the" and "hotel" done in Snell Roundhand font and "Hollywood Tower" done in Franklin Gothic. Although the fonts were the same as the later versions of the ride, the placement of the words differed. Florida's sign had "Hollywood Tower" written in one line across the entire front of the building, while the later Towers broke it into two lines (with "Tower" below "Hollywood") and had the letters more askew. Florida's sign also overlapped the drop shaft doors, while the later Towers' signs did not. The drop tower was also less dramatically T-shaped than its Californian counterpart.

There was one more significant aspect of the Tower exterior that I noticed, specifically in its presentation. In California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Paris, one could get fairly clear views of the entire building, top to bottom, and could get very close to the building. This was certainly not the case with Disney's Hollywood Studios' version. From basically every angle, the Tower was partially obscured by something--usually thick vegetation, but also sometimes (as in the case with the Epcot photos) other buildings. Even in the exterior queue, one could not get a complete, un-obscured top-to-bottom look at the Tower. The structure also seemed to be set higher up, so that viewers were forced to look upwards whenever they viewed it. This achieved two ends: 1) it made the structure seem distant, intimidating, and mysterious and 2) it helped hide the true size of the building, assisting the forced perspective in making it seem like a real, large hotel.

At night, the Tower lit up blue, much like DCA did in its last year. I've seen photos of Florida's Tower sporting the purple and blue color scheme that it shared with the other Twilight Zone Towers, but as of June/July 2017 it had changed entirely to blue. I am unsure when or why this change occurred; I suspected DCA's change to be for Disneyland's blue-color-schemed 60th Anniversary celebration, but no such event was happening in Florida to explain a similar change.

As the sun was setting, June 28, 2017.

Glowing bright blue at night, June 30, 2017

Entry gates at night, June 30, 2017

At night only, an Easter Egg appeared on the Tower's left side (the right side if you were facing the building). One window was lit, and it contained the silhouette of a man looking out over the gift shop courtyard.

July 2, 2017

Given how little space in the window is occupied by the silhouette, those windows must be rather large! Of course, in reality they weren't, but this was another trick to help "sell" the forced perspective of the exterior. As for who the man was supposed to be... I don't think there's an official answer for that. Perhaps it was Rod Serling.

In addition to being formatted differently than DCA/Paris' sign, Florida's sign was also lit differently. The words "Hollywood Tower" had a green neon border in addition to the white lights in the letters. From what I could tell, the second "O" in "Hollywood" was always out, while the "D" wavered and occasionally did different unique flicker sequences. I didn't see any of the more dynamic flicker sequences (such as the entire sign going out and turning back on) that DCA or Paris had, but of course that isn't definitive proof that Florida lacked such sequences. I know that in its early days, the Florida sign used to shoot sparks, but this was disabled for safety concerns.

In my photos here, you may have noticed that the "t" in "the" was unlit. This wasn't an intentional part of the show; the "t" was supposed to light up and it was genuinely out while I was there. There was some sort of brilliance in designing the sign to look broken--when it actually broke, it blended in as part of the show!

Here is my video of the Tower exterior in action at night, taken July 3, 2017. It features the clanking chains sound effects from the drop shafts (and the ensuing screams of the riders), the sign going through several different flickers, and "We'll Meet Again" playing softly in the background. There is a bit of crowd noise at the end; I filmed this from within the exterior queue.

Speaking of the exterior queue...

Once guests stepped through the gates, they found themselves within the lush, now-overgrown gardens of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

Just like Paris had sparse but cold-hardy plants, and California had plants that properly suited a Californian setting, Florida's Tower had unique landscaping. Florida's gardens were incredibly lush and tropical. The overwhelmingly green, lush vegetation gave the impression of the gardens being unkempt and overgrown without them actually having to be that way; Anaheim's version of the Haunted Mansion similarly uses unique plants to make the gardens appear abandoned/dead when they are in fact perfectly healthy. Florida Tower's gardens were likewise suited to the extremely hot and humid weather in Orlando. The results certainly gave the correct story impression, and were practical for the weather, although they were technically inaccurate to the Southern Californian story setting. Technically, the only Tower to have setting-accurate landscaping was DCA... due to the benefit of actually being in Southern California, of course.

Unlike later versions of the ride, the WDW Tower was constructed before fastpasses existed. As a result, it did not have separate routes for the standby and fastpass guests. Instead, both lines took the same route (standby on the left side of the path, fastpass on the right), unless standby crowd levels were high enough to loop around the central planter island. Even then, the only difference between the queues was that standby would take the overflow loop, while fastpass continued on the main path.

Just inside the gates, June 30, 2017. I was standing on the standby side.

Just inside of the gates on the right was a sundial with another wait time sign. The Twilight Zone logo was faintly inscribed on the dial. As the dial gave the standby wait time, it was somewhat impractical having it on the fastpass side of the queue. Of course, the placement pre-dated the implementation of fastpass.

July 2, 2017

A few steps further down the path on the left was a gated-off section filled with ferns. There were many such sections throughout the gardens part of the queue, where gates and "overgrown" plants would break the monotony of the garden walls. They gave a greater sense of the area's abandonment, and the feel of nature taking over old man-made paths.

July 2, 2017

A step beyond this section, but on the right, was a set of drinking fountains. Once again, this convenience would probably have better served the longer standby line, but of course the designers didn't have fastpass in mind.

July 2, 2017

The entire exterior gardens area was filled with mist. I'm not sure if this was to add spooky atmosphere by making the gardens foggy, or if it was an attempt to cool the exterior queue from the intense summer heat. If it was the latter, it performed poorly; it only seemed to make the queue more humid and thus make the heat feel worse. However, the mist served well as a fog machine; you'll likely notice it in many of my photos.

The Florida Tower also had its own uniquely styled trash cans and chain posts in its exterior queue. Both were made to look like weathered copper that turned green with age.

June 28, 2017

July 2, 2017

The planter walls were generally a light golden brown with a grey concrete top, occasionally made to look broken to expose brickwork underneath.

Seen here alongside the aforementioned mist. July 2, 2017

Just beyond the drinking fountains, the path split. The main route continued right to the vines area, but ahead lay an overflow loop that wound around a large tree. When the attraction was crowded, the standby line would walk ahead to the overflow loop, while the fastpass line continued to the right.

On the standby side, right as the path split, was a directional sign reading:

Pool -->

Tennis Courts -->

<-- Stables

June 28, 2017

Once again, fans of DCA and Paris would likely notice the different style and font of the sign. Furthermore, the inclusion of "Stables" emphasized how much older this version of the hotel was in comparison with the other versions. Having been built in 1917, this version anticipated visitors arriving by horseback!

The sign was very easy to miss when lines were short or you were in the fastpass line. It was angled so that it wasn't very visible unless one was walking out of the overflow loop.

The overflow loop went around a planter island that held a large tree as well as assorted shrubbery. At the front of this planter was a sign that was nearly impossible to miss.

The planter island and second sign, July 2, 2017

This sign read:

<-- Bowling Green

Grand Terrace -->

Natatorium -->

Guests in standby on busy days then looped around this planter island. This afforded them some of the closest views of the front of the Tower.

The tree in the planter island, July 2, 2017

The queue loop around the planter island. Photo was taken at the back part of the loop, farthest from the fastpass route. July 2, 2017

A look at the elaborate detailing on the front of the building, July 2, 2017

The closest view one could get of the front, July 2, 2017

Note how, even at this closest point in the queue, guests couldn't get an unobstructed view of the facade. At this point in the queue, the clanking chains and screaming from the drop shafts were especially noticeable.

In addition to the multitude of plants and abundance of fog, guests could also spot the occasional broken vase among the "overgrown" plant life. Some plants also had signs with their species names in front of them, done in a similar font to the directional signs scattered throughout the garden.

June 28, 2017

As guests exited the overflow loop, on the left was one last directional sign. It read:

Rose Garden -->

<-- Band Pavilion

<-- Arboretum

Next to it was a broken planter vase. Notably, this vase not only matched vases that flanked the exit of the gift shop, but also planters placed higher on the facade on a false patio.

June 28, 2017

The exit of the overflow loop; note the rose garden sign on the right of this picture. Taken July 2, 2017

At this point, both fastpass and standby guests reached the vines and fountain area. This section of the gardens consisted of a broken fountain basin in the center, with two paths covered by vine-laden trellises on either side. Standby used the left path, while fastpass used the right.

Heading to the vines from the overflow loop. Look at that false patio on the facade ahead; the planter vases matched the broken one by the rose garden sign. June 28, 2017

Getting closer. June 28, 2017

June 28, 2017

Broken fountain detail, June 28, 2017

The fastpass side guests simply had views of the broken basin on their left and more greenery on their right.

View from the standby side of the fastpass side, June 28, 2017

Standby guests had an additional scene on their left. In the garden were two greek-style statues of women, facing each other a couple yards apart. In between them was a stone bench.

First peek at the scene as one entered the standby side of the vines. June 28, 2017

The full scene, June 28, 2017

This vines area seems to have been the basis for DCA's queue. There, the entirety of the exterior standby queue was under vines, while the fastpass area got a statue, stone bench, and broken fountain.

Under the vines, with a look at some light fixtures, June 28, 2017

As one exited the vines, one entered a colonnade with elaborately decorated arches.

6/28/17

The view to the left as one entered the colonnade. This area was chained off from guests. Those appeared to be emergency exit doors. 6/28/17

This lion's head chain holder attached the queue chain to the wall in the colonnade. This seemed to be a unique feature, and the fact that such detail was put into such a simple aspect of the attraction speaks to the care put into the design of the Tower. 6/28/17

View to the right as one entered the colonnade. 6/28/17

At this point, guests finally got close to the building. However, the covered design meant that guests still couldn't get a clear view of the place!

As guests continued to the right, they passed a set of arched windows on their left.

These were the actual windows into the lobby. However, they were so heavily frosted over it was nigh-impossible to actually see anything through them. This was likely partially to make the building looked abandoned (as if its windows had gotten dirty from lack of maintenance), and partially to make these real windows blend in with the multitude of false forced-perspective windows visible across the entire facade.

In this photo, you can barely see the real lobby curtain through the window. 7/2/17

Opposite the windows, the colonnade was bordered by more thick vegetation.

7/2/17

Planter detail, 6/28/17

The colonnade wrapped around the building, turning left at the corner.

Just before guests turned the corner, there was a huge plaque reading "1917 AD" on the wall...just in case anyone missed the subtler date plaques on the entry gates.

6/28/17

As guests made their way towards the lobby entrance, they could look out over the gift shop courtyard to their right. The primary arch in front of the lobby entrance had extra tall, delicate-looking twisted columns. Ahead, past the lobby, was an inaccessible seating area with a stone bench and some plants. This bench matched those that guests could actually use in the gift shop courtyard.

The view as guests turned the corner toward the lobby entrance. June 28, 2017

Though this photo doesn't show it very well, this view looked out over the gift shop courtyard. June 28, 2017

The seating area beyond the door. July 3, 2017

An elaborate chandelier hung from the entryway ceiling, with matching lamps on either side of the door. On either side of the lobby door were empty cutouts like those used to display statues.