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| June 28, 2017 |
Near the end of the hallway, on a concrete column, a sign read:
Boiler Room -->
<-- Laundry
<-- Maintenance
Basement Level
<-- Exit
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| June 28, 2017 |
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| June 28, 2017 |
Indeed, looking back down the hall, there was an emergency exit in the direction indicated by the sign.
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| June 28, 2017 |
After walking through the open set of heavy-looking doors, guests found themselves in the boiler room proper. Initially, one of the large boilers blocked their view into the main room.
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| June 28, 2017 |
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| The path to enter the boiler room, June 28, 2017 |
The boiler room in Florida looked completely different from its Parisian or Californian counterparts. It differed in layout, decoration, color palette, and even background soundscape.
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| A very approximate, not to scale sketch of the layout of the Florida boiler room. Unlike Paris and DCA, it had only one floor. |
Unlike the blue-colored vaguely industrial aesthetic adopted by later Towers, the Florida boiler room's look was dominated by a distinctly brown-red palette (thanks to the brick) and also decorated with carts of fake coal. The design of the machinery likewise looked older than the DCA/Paris machinery, underlining the fact that this Hollywood Tower was built around a decade earlier (in story) than the others and thus still contained the remnants of the steam age.
The trash cans in the Florida boiler room were unique as well. They were small, brown, pill-shaped canisters attached to the metal railing of the queue.
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| A screenshot from Attractions360's video, showing some steam machinery. Note that their camera made the room look much brighter than it appeared in person. |
The trash cans in the Florida boiler room were unique as well. They were small, brown, pill-shaped canisters attached to the metal railing of the queue.
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| Another screenshot from Attractions360's video, showing the main path and one of the trash cans. |
Florida Tower had the same vague mechanical humming sound as BGM that DCA/Paris used, but unlike those Towers that wasn't the only layer to the atmospheric soundscape. Hissing sounds emanated from the machinery, once again making it absolutely clear that they were old steam boilers rather than just any industrial machinery. There used to be fog machines to simulate the steam itself, but this effect had been long discontinued.
Florida also had thunder crash sound effects of varying intensity layered over its BGM. While this continued to add spooky atmosphere and keep the threat of the storm fresh in guests minds, it also raised questions over how guests could hear thunder in the boiler room. The lack of storm noises in the DCA/Paris boiler rooms emphasized that the guests were now deep in the buildings' basements and thus unable to hear the thunder. This emphasis was especially important since the guests never actually walked down stairs and thus the story element of going to a lower level had to be conveyed through other means. Therefore, Florida's sound effects implied either 1)their boiler room was not in the basement or 2) the storm was THAT intense to still be heard even deep below the building. Depending on how one interprets that sign in the boiler room hallway, indicating "<-- Maintenance Basement Level", point #1 could actually be correct, as the sign might indicate that one must go the indicated direction to get to the basement.
Towards the middle of the boiler room the guest path forked, with one choice leading forward and the other toward the right. It was up to guests to choose whether to take the forward or right paths, and if one choice got too full it could back up and block guests' ability to take the other route. It is likely for this reason that the later Towers simply separated the loading lines from the libraries onward, rather than Florida's "choose your own adventure" route.
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| The fork in the road, June 28, 2017 |
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| Looking back towards the libraries from about the same spot as the previous photo. June 28,2017 |
There were only four elevator loading sections at Florida's Tower, rather than the 6 from later versions. The forward path went to the left two loading zones, and the right path went to the right side loading zones. The forward path took guests past the mechanic's desk, which had the "It's easy enough to be pleasant" poem. However, there was no spooky radio with ghostly voices; there was no spooky wall in this boiler room either. While Florida's boiler room was arguably the most realistic rendition of a boiler room (coal visibly present, steam sounds, practical-looking machinery that never delved into the cartoony "horror" of DCA/Paris' face boiler), it also had the least to see in terms of Easter Eggs.
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| The mechanic's desk, June 28,2017. Though now on a white card rather than a dark-colored plate, the poem still read, "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." |
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| The radio on the all next to the mechanic's desk. Unlike its DCA/Paris counterpart, it was completely silent and thus arguably not "spooky". July 2, 2017 |
The right side path had guests weaving slightly back towards the boiler room entrance on the way to the right side loading areas. Unlike the left side path with its mechanic's desk, there wasn't really one distinct decorative feature that one could only view from this side.
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| View from near the end of the right path, right before going into the right loading area. Note the cart of coal that confirms these are steam boilers. June 28, 2017 |
In between the two sets of elevators was one more "maintenance service elevator", generally dressed to look the same as the others. However, it had a sign in front of it, stating "ELEVATOR SERVICE TO LOWER LOBBY". The sign under its dial also notably read "express elevator" instead of "service elevator". This was in fact the "chicken exit"/staff usage elevator, and was an actual functioning modern elevator meant to take guests or staff to the exit area of the ride. The design not only blended in well so as not to break theming, but also probably offered one little scare for those unwilling to go for the big scares on the ride, as it would appear to the unobservant that they were being led to a loading area rather than an exit! The sign conveniently provided a name for the exit/gift shop area as well.
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| The middle "chicken exit" elevator, as seen from the right side fork queue. Arguably, this clearer view of the chicken elevator was the right side path's "special view", with the left side getting the mechanic's desk. July 3, 2017 |
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| Safety warnings plaque from the boiler room. One of these signs was posted on a brick column just before the loading area; I'm not sure if this photo is from the right or left fork. July 3, 2017 |
The loading areas each had a generator between the two elevators. While at DCA and Paris the generators sparked randomly, at Florida they were timed to give the illusion of actually powering the elevators. They whirred to life, sparking and making loud noises, whenever one of the elevators arrived at or departed from the load station.
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| Overall view of one elevator's loading station, June 28, 2017 |
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| Loading area generator, July 2, 2017 |
Likewise, the dials above the elevators moved from 0 to "13" (past 12) as cars launched and then returned. Unlike DCA/Paris, the needle never paused at any intermediate floor, presumably because of the different load/unload setup of Florida.
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| Elevator with the dial at 12. July 3, 2017 |
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| Operator's control box in the loading area, July 3, 2017 |
Guests stood on brass number plates like those at other Towers, except these were connected in a line by a metal strip for unknown reasons.
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| Numbers on the floor, June 28, 2017 |
Furthermore, as indicated by the seating chart, the seat numbering was different on the Florida Tower. The front row was rows 1 and 2, rather than rows 1 and 6 like DCA/Paris.
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| Seating chart, June 28,2017 |
While waiting for the elevator, the recorded safety spiels played. These are the same as those played at DCA, and can be heard here (live recording from DCA). I find it strange that DCA used these same spiels, but had a different safety spiel before the library.
Once the elevator dial returned to basement level, the doors opened and the loading cycle began. Guests stepped right onto the elevator--no awkward dark hallways like at DCA! This obviously made the elevator seem much more realistic. The bellhops directed each row of guests to their seats, starting with the back row.
The elevator car looked the same as at DCA and Paris, but with one big exception: There was no graphic on the back wall! Whereas the later Towers had "Maximum Load: 3 Tons, do not stack above this line" painted on the back wall of the vehicle, Florida Tower merely had "Maximum Load: 3 Tons" subtly painted in relatively small stenciled font near the top of the back wall. It was very easy to miss and more like something you'd realistically see painted in a maintenance lift.
The safety check procedure also went the same as at other Towers; the bellhop cast member went row by row, starting in the back, making sure everyone's seat belts were fastened and making them tug on the yellow strap to ensure it was secure. Once everyone was buckled up and the front gate was closed, they probably were supposed to deliver a themed spiel about ride safety before launching the ride.
I say probably, because during my entire Florida trip not a SINGLE loading bellhop even attempted any sort of themed spiel.
The most they did before launching the ride was a vague "Keep your hands and feet in the ride, and no flash photography please" basic line, usually done in a bored tone. Thankfully, someone who was familiar with Florida's ride procedures gave me this example spiel:
"Welcome to the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Since we have so many celebrities staying with us, we request that there please be no photography or videotaping while on board. For your own safety, please remain seated, keeping your hands and arms inside the elevator. Please keep a tight grip on all hats, cameras, and other personal belongings that you have... grown fond of. Please, do enjoy your stay."
I feel the need to note that, as of 2017, photography and recording were NO LONGER BANNED on Florida Tower, provided no flash/video lighting was used. Or, at least, that is how everyone acted. None of the bellhops mentioned "no photography" in their sparse spiels, only "no flash photography". Nobody made any announcements or otherwise objected when I or anyone else very obviously took photos or videos (without flash or lighting of course) either.
Thus, with the ding of a bell and possibly the obviously bored sigh of a bellhop, your trip on the original Tower of Terror began!
