The daytime outer color palette of the Florida Tower is overwhelmingly pink, tan, and brown. This generally extends through the outer queue (barring the green plants, obviously), and continues into the lobby.
The lobby is overwhelmingly brown and red, to the point that it almost looks like a sepia filter in real life. Notably, this is when, story-wise, the hotel is only rumored to be cursed or haunted; we're poking around an abandoned property with no confirmed ghosts yet. The "real" world is thus presented in warm neutral tones. What non-plant features are notably NOT warm neutral tones in this area? The "Hollywood Tower Hotel" sign by the entrance gate, which periodically switches to say "Tower of Terror", and a sundial with the Twilight Zone logo emblazoned on it.
In other words, the two hints at the forthcoming supernatural elements are the ones that stand out from the color palette.
The first hint of the supernatural in the experience comes in the library, in the form of the pre-show. Although the presentation of the television's sudden video playback has varied throughout the years, as of 2017 the presentation implied that the TV could have turned itself on due to a brief power surge from the storm in addition to any supernatural explanation. The cool silver black-and-white contrasts with the warm browns and reds of the library, but isn't exactly in the opposite realm of blue tones. The supernatural is sneaking in, but isn't fully established.
The boiler room, with its brick walls, returns to the overwhelming red/"real world" color palette.
We seem to be safe for now... but then comes the elevator ride.
The first stop is the hallway scene, where the supernatural finally gets confirmed in the form of bright glowing blue ghosts, with equally blue cursed lightning flowing between them. The warm tan real-world hallway melts away to reveal cool black-and-white supernatural space.
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| Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360 |
The next hallway, the 5th Dimension Scene, finally brings the "supernatural" palette to the forefront. Now that we're in the actual Twilight Zone, everything is shades of bright blue, or else icy black and white. There's not a trace of the warm, comforting real world left.
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| Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360 |
This jarring, unnaturally blue palette continues through the drop sequence, with lightning arcing and the blue ghosts taunting the guests through their free-fall journey. The only time the supernatural-blue palette isn't present is when the doors open to show the view from the top of the drop shaft. Guests get to see the real world for a second, but from an uncomfortable height and with the distinct feeling of being helplessly trapped.
The finale video, almost a repeat of the pre-show's opening in reverse, is once again in black and white, and once again transitions us between the bright blue supernatural world to the neutral pink/red real world. The car pulls back into a storage room, and the guests exit the elevator into more neutrally toned halls reminiscent of the boiler room. However, the walls are now a bit greyer, with concrete in addition to the brick. The palette is just a little bit colder, a little bit harder to shake away from the supernatural.
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| The elevator pulling back into unload. The palette is warmer, but note how the walls are still a cooler grey. As the car pulls back into the real world, it also pulls back into warmer color tones. Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360 |
The fully red palette returns with the exit gift shop, as we transition back completely into the "real" world.
DCA and Paris had to tell their same Twilight Zone story in a much more limited space, with a much faster pace. Despite the change in storytelling spacing and timing, the color palette symbolism remained very much in place, albeit adjusted to fit the new pace.
The warm tan buildings are notably topped by turquoise domes, and scarred by bright purple burn marks. Those purple burn marks not only serve to make the buildings more acceptably unrealistic in a design that debuted post-9/11, but also to immediately establish the presence of the supernatural.
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| Paris Tower; photo by Pyrokenesis |
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| DCA Tower |
This "warm reality with sneaking cold supernatural" theme continues into the lobbies, which now include more variety of color (especially blue and green) than their original Floridian counterpart.
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| Paris; photo by Pyrokenesis |
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| DCA |
At DCA, at least, the presentation of the pre-show was also more obviously supernatural; the storm causes a power outage rather than a surge, thus making the television definitely haunted.
The boiler rooms continue the haunted feel of the pre-show's presentation, being cold grey industrial rooms with distinct glowing blue lighting. The place is established as definitely "wrong" and supernatural in the wake of the pre-show.
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| Paris; photo by Pyrokenesis |
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| DCA |
At first the elevator, with its normal neutral tones, seems a potential lift to the salvation of the real world, only to immediately turn into the black and white space as we're pulled back into the Twilight Zone. The first stop initially shows us the comfort of a normal tan elevator stop with a mirror, only for a lightning strike to turn everything, including our own reflections, into a bright glowing turquoise.
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| DCA Tower; screenshot from this video by SharpProductions |
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| DCA Tower; screenshot from this video by SharpProductions |
The second stop once again teases the guests with a neutral tan hallway, only to confront them with electric blue ghosts that send the elevator plummeting.
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| DCA Tower; screenshot from this video by SharpProductions |
What in Florida is a slow, sneaky, atmospheric trap of falling into the supernatural (a slow pink/red to blue fade) becomes a breakneck cat-and-mouse game at DCA and Paris, with the guests thinking they've found safety only to have the Twilight Zone come snapping at their heels (as neutral tan colors are jarringly interrupted by glowing blues and purples).
While I have not ridden Tokyo's not-officially-Twilight-Zone version yet, something of this color-based storytelling seems to have survived, albeit with yet another alteration. Rather than being red/blue, the dichotomy is red/green. As part of the nighttime effects, the red brick exterior gets illuminated by the lightning arcing from the cursed idol's green eyes-- the same green eyes which also curse the guests in the mirror and even receive special notice in the ride's narration!
(Note: the following Tokyo photos are screenshots from this video by Attractions Magazine)
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| Exterior |
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| The Pre-Show |
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| Hallway Scene |
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| Mirror Scene |
Of course, the Tower gets even spookier at night. And what's the lighting scheme? Either bright blue, or bright blue-purple, even in Tokyo! Florida's sign even adds the extra touch of having that cool-green border around the letters of "Hollywood Tower", while Tokyo has the green glow from the idol in the top window.
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| DCA |
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| Paris |
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| Florida |
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| Tokyo; photo from Theme Park Review |
It's clear that much care went into designing the details of the Tower of Terror attractions. Even though guests may not even notice it on the first few rides, the shifts in color fulfill a major role in telling the story and building the atmosphere. This kind of attention to detail is essential to a complete themed attraction experience.
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