Alternate Tower Spotlight: The Florida Tower of Terror--Exit and Gift Shop

Having made it through your fateful journey down the cursed elevators, Cast Members instructed guests out of the ride vehicles.  There were two unload doors--one for each drop shaft, approximately facing each other.  The area was grey and industrial with concrete walls, like the boiler room, but without that warm red brick--just a that little bit much colder, and, in the color symbolism of the ride, more supernatural.  Directly between the two drop shaft unloads, free standing in its own grey column, was a real elevator--the other end of that "chicken elevator" that was cleverly hidden in the loading area.

The exit area, looking back toward the "chicken elevator" exit and the two drop shaft unloads.  June 28, 2017

Walking past the chicken elevator, guests entered a large empty space, void of almost anything aside from some concrete ledges along the walls that served as convenient benches.  Approximately halfway down the left wall of this section (that is, left as you were going toward the photo viewing area), a section of the concrete wall finish had been "scraped away" to "reveal" the exposed brick underneath.  The revealed area had the recognizable "spooky wall" chalk markings around it, and the bricks themselves had some suspicious gaps, as if they were supposed to be concealing a speaker or some other special effect that was supposed to emanate from this spot.

Looking towards the photo viewing screens, while standing approximately in front of the "spooky wall".  June 28, 2017

The "spooky wall", June 28, 2017

I highly suspect that this at one point was Florida's "spooky wall" Easter egg, and that there is a speaker behind those suspicious brick gaps.  Guests sitting on the ledge bench in front would probably get a surprise from hearing the ghostly girl behind them!  That said, as of 2017, this wall did absolutely nothing special.  Furthermore, unlike California's "spooky wall", I couldn't find anyone even mentioning the Easter egg with regards to Florida.  I suspect that, if indeed this wall functioned the same way as DCA's, it hadn't done so for a very long time.  Technically, markings alone still made this unusual wall patch a shout-out to the episode "Little Girl Lost".

The large sitting area had its own special exit music, unique from the music later heard at the DCA and Paris exits.  I have yet to find a clear recording of it, but it sounded very ominous, pulsing, and intense, almost in a manner reminiscent of the Jaws theme.  It had a much more aggressive tone than the atmospherically spooky Twilight Zone-based DCA exit theme.  It was, however, hard to hear over the crowd noise of all the exiting guests.  I was unable to make a live recording of it.

At the end of the large room, opposite the elevator exits, was the photo viewing area.  Two television screens--one for each drop shaft--displayed guests' pictures above a junk-filled office/storage area.  On the front desk of this office/storage area were two sensors where guests could wave their magic bands to claim their elevator's photo.  To the right of this was a cork board covered in announcements, and on the left, hanging from the bars enclosing the storage area, was a chalkboard reading "Picture if you will..." in Twilight Zone font.

June 28, 2017

June 28, 2017

To my extreme surprise, I could not find any specific Easter eggs in the photo viewing area.  The place was utterly packed with tons of random junk, the exact sort of visual noise one would expect a Twilight Zone reference to be hiding in, and yet, nothing!  I also haven't read of anyone else finding anything special hidden here either, so I tentatively have to conclude that, for once, the junk really was just junk.  The only specifically relevant detail I found was that, if you leaned in a bit and looked at the back part of the office that extended to the right, the clock over the desk read 8:05, consistent with all other clocks in the attraction.

Cork board next to photo viewing area, June 28, 2017

The view if you lean in to the photo viewing area and look right, June 28, 2017

To continue towards the exit, guests turned left from the photo area, going through a short hallway.  The door going into this short hallway was a large sliding door in the industrial style of the "storage area" of the exit, while the doors going out were elaborately wood carved in the "public-facing" style of the doors found around the lobby and other such areas of the hotel.

The inner door, June 28, 2017

The short hallway and outer doors, July 2, 2017

Guests then found themselves in the Lower Lobby and the hotel's conference center, which in real life served as the photo purchase area.

Looking back at the doors to the exit area, June 28, 2017

Directly ahead of guests in the lower lobby was a long counter, almost like a second check-in desk, with a lovely mural of the hotel on the wall behind it.  This was where guests could view and purchase their ride souvenir photos.

The right side of the lower lobby counter, seen directly outside of the hallway doors.  June 28, 2017

Left side of the lower lobby counter, with the mural behind it.  June 28, 2017

A closer look at the lower lobby mural, June 28, 2017

Opposite the photo purchase counter was a vaguely Greek fountain.

An overall look down the lower lobby; photo purchase counter is at right.  June 28, 2017

The fountain, June 30, 2017

Moving past the photo purchase/lower lobby desk was the hotel's conference area.  A square area on the left was sectioned off for employees only and had an employees only door within it; it possibly represented a luggage check story-wise.  The doors were labeled "Beverly Room", however, which would suggest a conference room.  Against one of the walls of this square was a machine where you could make personalized Tower of Terror themed dog tags.

The "luggage check", with the side of the dog tag machine on the left, July 2, 2017

Doors to the Beverly Room, July 3, 2017

Directly next to the sectioned off area was another set of employees only double doors, labeled "Fountain Room", presumably a conference room.  Next to these doors was a change machine and a quarter coin press machine.

Fountain Room, July 30, 2017

Opposite the Fountain Room, on an angled wall, was the Sunset Room.  Judging by its grand painted name, I'd assume that this was supposed to be the nicest ballroom in the hotel.  Furthermore, it was having an event at the time of the lightning disaster; it had a menu posted next to the doors.  The menu in question was absolutely brimming with Easter Eggs.

The Sunset Room, July 2, 2017

The Sunset Room Menu, June 30, 2017

In case you couldn't read/don't want to zoom in on the photo, the menu read:

The Sunset Room

Dinner * October 31, 1939

Hors D'oeuvre

Grape Fruit Maraschino

Sweet Gherkins a la Moutarde

Bismark Herrings

Soups

Clear Turtle with Sherry

Potage Ecossaise

Cold Consomme

Fish

Grilled Bluefish

Dover Sole

Whitefish Matheson

Entrees

Mignon of Beef

Rack of Lamb Johnson

Tournedos Nicoise

Grill

Mutton Chops

Spring Chicken

Calf's Liver and Bacon

Deviled Quail on Toast

Vegetables

Fresh Green Peas

Cauliflower au Gratin

New Carrots

Salads

Autumn Salad

Belgian Endive

Polonaise Beaumont

Dessert

Peach Shortcake

Apple Pie and Cream

Gateau Chocolate au Rodman

Tea and Coffee, Liqueurs, Cigars, Cigarettes

You may have noticed quite a few names hidden among those fancy foods.  Those are the names of prominent showrunners of The Twilight Zone, the most obvious being Rodman/Rod Serling.

Past the Sunset Room, guests found themselves at the decorative gates of Tower Hotel Gifts.

Gates to the entrance of Tower Hotel Gifts, July 2, 2017

Honestly, there's not much to say about the gift shop.  It was, well, a gift shop.  Of note, however, were two decorative posters on the wall, and the fact that "Talking Tina" from the episode "Living Doll" was on a shelf above the cash registers.  All photos taken in late June-early July 2017.

Display of Tower of Terror merchandise immediately inside the entrance from the ride.

Decorative item on the back of the previous display.

Wallpaper behind the shelves of the gift shop, with a unique HTH logo variant.

Cash register with "Talking Tina" behind it.

Overall view of the shop, standing in front of the register counter.  That purple shield above the shelves in the background has a banner reading "Tower Hotel Gifts".

View of a different shelf with another "Tower Hotel Gifts" shield, and a partial view of one of the posters.

The poster from the previous photo.

Decorations above a soda display.

Another view of the cash register.  Note the way the cashier is dressed; gift shop workers had their own unique uniforms and did not dress as bellhops.  I also witnessed a guy try to buy the round "Hollywood Tower Hotel" plaque from the top of the shelf in the background; employees had to explain to him that it wasn't for sale.

The second unique poster; this would be one of the first things guests saw if they walked into the gift shop from the outside, rather than from the ride.

Oddly, a lot of merchandise seemed to be leftovers from the DCA version.

This shirt was also sold at the DCA location.  Note that the shirt says "Hollywoodland", which was the land where DCA's tower was located, rather than "Sunset Boulevard" for Florida.

This shirt just straight up had the DCA Tower on it, despite the facade being totally different from Florida's.

Two sets of double doors let guests exit the gift shop into the exit courtyard.  Flanking the shop exit were three display windows, two to the left of the doors and one to the right (if one was facing the exit doors from the courtyard direction).  These were decorated for Halloween, indicating the season of the Hotel's unfortunate demise.  All photos taken late June-early July 2017.

Sign above the exterior doors

The first window on the left.

Detail of the sign in the first window on the left.

Second window on the left.

Detail of the sign in the second window.

The right side window.  No special signs in this one!

The exterior gift shop door was directly below the door where guests entered the lobby going into the ride, just one floor below.  You exited the ride one floor lower than you entered.

Overall view looking back towards the gift shop exit.  Note the lobby entrance above.

The exit courtyard didn't contain much; it was an open space with some benches, drinking fountains under a trellis, a snack/coffee stand, and a penny press machine.

Looking out at the courtyard and coffee stand after exiting the gift shop.

Looking toward the courtyard exit.  Note the penny press machine and the drinking fountains to the left of the machine.

Exiting the courtyard took guests back past the queue entrance and out onto Sunset Boulevard, thus concluding their tour of the Tower of Terror.

Two Towers, Two Episodes, Two Valid Adaptations of The Twilight Zone

(Alternately: Correcting Common Misconceptions about IP Application or Lack Thereof)

Based on the title, one might assume this post is about Florida Tower and DCA/Paris Tower.  Those are the two models of the ride based around The Twilight Zone after all.  This post is not about those Towers.

This is about Florida and Tokyo.

Now, there’s one frustrating accusation I’ve seen thrown towards the various Twilight Zone Towers: basically, that they do a crappy job of fitting with the IP, and that the supposed “lost episode” idea that the ride portrays would not fit with the actual show at all.  Meanwhile, I’ve seen Tokyo’s original-story version of the ride lauded as the “best” Tower, with a story designed just for the ride from the start with no IP concessions, and a morality tale that ironically fits in more with the Twilight Zone IP.

This doesn’t pop up overly often, and I’ve mentioned this issue in passing in other posts, but I figured it’s long past time I finally give this its own article.

Note that I’ll generally have Florida in mind as my example of a Twilight Zone Tower, given that it is the first and most elaborate iteration of that idea. 

I’ll also state again that I loved the story side of Tokyo’s Tower of Terror, just not the actual ride portion.  So don’t worry, this isn’t me hating on Tokyo, just correcting a frustrating assertion I’ve seen in the Tokyo vs. Twilight Zone debate.

That being said, let’s break this down by issue:

1. Does the Twilight Zone Tower not even fit with the series’ stories at all?

Absolutely yes!  I wouldn't be writing this if I agreed it didn't!

Of course, this requires some elaboration.  The Twilight Zone is famous not just as a science fiction anthology, but also as a series containing many morality tales.  Given that the Twilight Zone Tower is meant to represent another episode, this has left some fans scratching their heads and asking, “Where’s the moral?  What did the Five People in an Elevator and/or the guests do to invoke the wrath of a supernatural storm?”

In my post about experiential storytelling, I posited this interpretation:

"The Twilight Zone, in the eponymous show, is often (although not always) a realm of karmic punishment.  In the book Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Twilight Zone by Mark Dawidziak, the author notes that people who take dares fare especially poorly in the Zone.  What was the marketing campaign heavily centered around?  "I took the dare!"  The pre-show video even states "We invite you if you dare to step aboard."  It's possible that, by taking the dare to enter the building and/or ride the elevator, our characters were getting their punishment for taking dares.  Likewise, our characters seemingly are poking around an abandoned and potentially dangerous tragic disaster site for no good reason, and thus being stupid and/or disrespectful--two other things that generally aren't rewarded in the Twilight Zone.

Of course, "this is happening because our characters were stupid jerks" is far from a satisfying explanation, and it stems from a knowledge of the ride's source material that the average rider may not have (and should not be required to have), so I won't posit my guess here as "canon".  Instead it's merely the best explanation I can offer.  Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye sadly does use "the curse happens because your characters were stupid jerks" as its official story, so it wouldn't be completely out of character for Disney to use this plot device, however."

As you can see, I noted that this interpretation requires looking much deeper into the ride, marketing materials, and original show than the average rider might be expected to have.  It also places the guests in an “evil” role, which seems…somewhat rude, automatically assigning the “wrong” intentions to the guests no matter what.  However, even without a fan doing a deep dive into the lore (or having to be told they’re a jerk for riding the attraction), there is an easy explanation for how the Tower’s story absolutely fits into the show canon.

Not every Twilight Zone story is a morality tale.

Seriously, although there are quite a few episodes with morals and karmic justice, there are also quite a few where weird or tragic crap just… happens.  There is even a major example of this in one of the most famous episodes, “Time Enough at Last.”

For those of you who have not yet seen the episode, “Time Enough at Last” is about a man, Henry Bemis, who loves to read, but is prevented from doing so by his unpleasant boss and wife.  Then nuclear disaster hits the world, leaving Bemis the last person alive, but finally with time to read—only for his glasses to break, dooming him to walk the earth with horribly blurry vision and unable to do the one activity he might consider to make such a lonely existence worthwhile.

There’s no real moral to be had there (aside from perhaps the exceedingly mundane “always have spare glasses.”).  There’s certainly no karmic justice either; Bemis doesn’t seem to be a bad enough guy to deserve lifelong psychological torment, and the rest of the world just got nuked into oblivion.  Even Dawidziak’s book—a book dedicated to finding the morals of famous episodes—failed to find a message behind “Time Enough at Last”, besides, perhaps, “bad things sometimes happen to good people, and that can’t be avoided.”

Henry Bemis’ broken glasses are featured as Easter Eggs in the Twilight Zone Towers, and Imagineers viewed every episode of the original series when designing the ride.  It was no secret to the designers that faithfully adapting the licensed property did not necessitate going for a moral-based plot.

Interestingly enough, the series does have its share of ominous elevators (see the episode “22”, which got an Easter egg in DCA, for some especially familiar scenes), but none of them ever drop… until this “lost episode”.  The designers are almost making it a Chekov’s Gun.

So, for those concerned that the Twilight Zone Tower is an “unfaithful adaptation” for plot reasons, it is certainly not.  None of the Elevator Five needed to have done anything wrong to get cursed by that fateful lightning bolt, nor did the presumably hundreds of other people in the Hollywood Tower Hotel to get cursed by the lightning storm either.  The riders need not necessarily have any “good” reason to get subsequently cursed either.  The Zone isn’t always about karmic justice; sometimes, unfortunately, shit happens.

2. Is Tokyo’s storyline a flawless Twilight Zone-esque experience with a tighter plot than the Twilight Zone Tower?

Very much yes to the Twilight Zone comparison... but it requires some leaps of logic regarding why the guests get cursed.

The basic summary is this: Harrison Hightower was a super rich, super egotistical ass who built a hotel in New York, the Hotel Hightower, basically as a monument to himself.  He spent his life traveling around the world to steal artifacts from other cultures and displayed his spoils in the Hightower.  He was such a jerk that he stole more than even the vast hotel could display; piles of treasure built up in the basement.  Then, one fateful day, he obtained the idol Shiriki Utundu, which cursed him, sending him plummeting to his doom down the elevator shaft, his pride preceding his literal fall.  His ghost is sentenced to keep reliving his horrible final moments.

The New York Historical Society couldn’t let such a magnificent hotel just be demolished, though, and started giving tours of the place.  Of course, things go rather wrong with the tour once guests take the elevator to see the upper floors…

Now, the morality story angle is PAINFULLY clear.  There’s also a really clear reason why Harrison is cursed and still haunting the place; it’s his karmic punishment.  The monument he built to his ego is now his prison.  It’s obvious why people who think that The Twilight Zone automatically equals “morality tale” would gravitate towards this storyline.

But…why are the guests cursed to also plummet in the elevator on their tour?  Does the Historical Society know the guests are in danger?

An answer to the first question might be “Shiriki Utundu is warning the guests not to follow in Harrison’s footsteps”, but that’s a guess.  A more cynical guess might be that the idol also thinks the guests are somehow like Hightower and thus deserve his same fate—or that Shiriki Utundu is just a jerk who likes cursing people.  As for the second question… all I have is more questions.  Are the tour guides super oblivious?  Are they indifferent to the idea that their tours are potentially dangerous?  Have they become somehow influenced by the curse, becoming agents of the malevolent force in the building the same way the Twilight Zone bellhops are?

Of course, the actual “curse” drops are so gentle it’s almost difficult to consider them as representing “danger”, so, just as a sarcastic guess here, maybe it was an intentional part of the tour all along?  Historians, especially those working around “haunted” historic sites, can have some dark senses of humor.

If a translation I found of the pre-show is correct, Tokyo might actually use the “don’t take the dare!”/”we’re cursed because we’re stupid” version of why the guests are cursed as actual canon.  In the pre-show, Hightower warns us to not fall victim to Shiriki Utundu’s curse like him, and to run away while we still can.  Of course, we continue our historical tour anyway, and subsequently end up cursed.  Even on a different continent and with a different storyline, we still took the dare.

Tokyo’s story answers a bit more about what’s going on (namely, why the initial ghost is haunting the elevator), but clearly there’s some head-scratchers left.

3.  So… should the Towers have swapped stories or something?

I’ve read praise for Tokyo’s Tower based on the fact that it’s one of the few new attractions to not prominently feature an IP.  However, like any good Twilight Zone story, there’s a twist.

There’s no need to swap stories… because the two hotels have been in the same continuity all along.

In Shanghai Disneyland, there’s a newspaper on a bulletin board that contains headlines both about a disaster at the Hollywood Tower Hotel and about the League of Adventurers finding the Temple of the Crystal Skull.  Obviously, the Hollywood Tower is the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  The Temple of the Crystal Skull is the setting for Tokyo DisneySea’s Indiana Jones ride, which is in the Lost River Delta.  Lots of Hightower’s artifacts are clearly marked as having come from Lost River Delta.  The Lost River Delta and the HTH, and therefore the Hotel Hightower and the Twilight Zone version, all are in the same continuity.  It’s all the same story.

Here's the newspaper as proof.  Photo by Laffite'sLanding

Tokyo’s is still technically in the Twilight Zone, it just never says it.  It never needs to say it, both because good storytelling never needs a specific IP, and because the connections are there anyways for those who care to look.  Come on, isn’t it easy to envision Rod Serling giving some sharp commentary about Hightower while gesturing toward the idol in Hightower’s office?

Funny enough, having two “lost episodes” with the same gimmick would even fit with the actual Twilight Zone show continuity.  It had TWO episodes about ventriloquist dummies, and even used the same puppet for both!

On another note, the ultimate conclusion of all these connections means that building a 13-story hotel in the Disney Parks canon is just a really bad idea.

Drop Your Expectations: A Review of Tokyo DisneySea’s Tower of Disappointment

The second I arrived at DisneySea, I went straight for the Tower of Terror.  Not only was it the only incarnation of my favorite ride that I hadn’t ridden yet, but it had quite the hype built up for it.  I’d heard endless praise for its original story and beautiful design, and even heard a few essays (both written and video-based) on how this was the “best Tower” and the shining example of the ride.

I knew not to go in expecting the “best ride ever” because, quite frankly, no attraction can ever live up to hype of that level.  I knew it used the same ride system as DCA and Paris so I went in expecting something of at least that level of fun.  As I explored the exterior and went through the queue and pre-show, everything seemed to be going according to expectation.  A dense story fans can really sink into?  Beautifully detailed sets?  Fun Easter eggs connecting to other properties?  All check!

But then I rode the ride.

And holy crap, was that a MASSIVE letdown.  And not in the way a drop tower is SUPPOSED to make you plummet.

There’s no gentle way to put this, but Tokyo’s drop set is EMBARASSINGLY tame.  I’ve had many regular rides on actual elevators that were more eventful.  The elevator at my hotel gave me just as much airtime.  It’s gentle enough to be a child’s ride.  All of that epic suspense and meaty story build up to a whole lot of NOTHING.  If the drops are supposed to represent Harrison Hightower’s punishment, I assume his punishment is being bored to death while being gently lifted and lowered in an elevator.

At first I wondered if the more restrictive restraints on Tokyo’s version dampened the experience, but I did a test that proved otherwise.  I wear a lanyard to the parks to keep my tickets and fastpasses handy, and I know that on any other Tower I have to remove the lanyard if I don’t want it flying up into my face during the ride.  On Tokyo’s, I left the lanyard on and not restricted by the seatbelt—and it barely lifted off my chest.  Tokyo’s is without a doubt a slower, gentler drop sequence.

Tokyo seems to forget the “thrill ride” half of a highly themed thrill ride experience.  The observable and experiential stories both build up and intertwine to promise an intense finale for guests, and it utterly fails to deliver.  I wrote down notes on my initial impression upon exiting the ride for the first time, and honestly, I felt almost pranked.  All this praise from the fan community, and all this intense story buildup in the attraction itself, for a ride that apparently forgets its ride portion.  Which is, you know, a rather important part of the equation.  Did some of those essayists even ride this?

I know an easy counterargument to this is “But Haunted Mansion provides chills and thrills while going at a walking pace!”  However, there are a few reasons Haunted Mansion doesn’t disappoint.  Mansion doesn’t advertise its ride system upon first look at the exterior.  Once we’re inside, we’re promised a haunted tour, and we get a haunted tour, in beautiful theatrical detail.  Tower, in all its versions, advertises its ride system right on its front; we see the drop shafts from the open doors.  This sets up certain expectations.  Upon entering the ride, we’re promised something of a tour through a haunted hotel, AND promised to re-live the terrifying elevator-dropping circumstances that led to the haunting.

Tokyo’s Tower of Terror only delivers on the “haunted hotel tour” portion of the expectations it sets, and it does that rather well.  Indeed, if the whole thing were set up as a Haunted Mansion or Mystic Manor type attraction, with focus on the show scene and story elements rather than trying to shoehorn in a thrill ride, I probably wouldn’t feel disappointed at all, and would be endlessly praising it instead.

I also should note that someone else in my party initially mistook the Hotel Hightower for being Harrison’s mansion rather than a hotel (…despite the obvious hotel elements… and the sign on the front of the building…), which I can’t help but feel underscores how the story might actually suit a Mansion type ride better.

I also initially wondered if maybe the ride was toned down because, obviously, Tokyo DisneySea was built for Japanese audiences, and maybe intense thrill rides aren’t so popular there.  But then I rode Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, and Thunder Dolphin (the coaster at the nearby Tokyo Dome City park), which were all every bit as intense (and popular) as anything else I’ve ever been on.  Clearly the Tokyo area has a healthy appreciation for thrill rides.

I realized that my disappointment felt awfully familiar.  It was entirely parallel, yet almost opposite, to my feelings towards Mission Breakout.  Mission Breakout has extremely intense and thrilling elevator motions, sometimes to the point of being nauseating, but utterly fails to deliver any kind of satisfying story or beautiful design.  The Hotel Hightower and the Collector’s Fortress are dark reflections of each other: the beautiful and the ugly, the well-written and the thrown-together, the too tame and the too intense.

Both are equally missing a vital part of what makes a highly themed thrill attraction feel complete: the thrill in Tokyo, and the theme in Breakout.

And, I can’t help but notice, but both of these Towers are generally credited to Joe Rhode.  Maybe the moral of the story is to just not let Joe Rhode design your Tower?

This also applies in-universe.

Now, to make it entirely clear, I don’t hate the DisneySea Tower.  It’s such a beautiful building, with such artistry put into the story, small details, and creating suspense, that I can’t help but like it.  It’s an art piece, every bit as much as Florida Tower, the Haunted Mansions, and the Indiana Jones rides are.  However, failing to provide an appropriate payoff for all that wonderful setup is an especially glaring weakness.  If it had a drop sequence at least equivalent to DCA, I’d probably rank it as my second favorite Tower after Florida, but, unfortunately, as it stands it’s easily the weakest version not named “Mission Breakout”.

Masterpost: Alternate Tower Spotlight--Paris Tower of Terror

Want to know more about the DCA Tower's not-quite-twin in Paris?  Well, here's a good start!  This Alternate Tower Spotlight gives a half-walkthrough, half-compare/contrast look at the Paris Tower, featuring photography by Pyrokenesis, videos, ride narration transcripts, and more!

Photo by Pyrokenesis

Part 1: History, Hotel Grounds, and Building Exterior
Part 2: Exterior Queue and Lobby Show Scenes
Part 3: Lobby, Waiting Areas, Library, and Pre-Show
Part 4: Boiler Room, Ride, Exit, and Gift Shop

BONUS:  Hallway Scene Source Video and DCA/Paris Development

(Also yes, wow, this masterpost was way overdue)

Alternate Tower Spotlight: The Florida Tower of Terror--The Ride!

About time I finally got to this, isn't it?

---

Inside the elevator, ready for launch, June 28, 2017

"You are the passengers on a most uncommon elevator, about to ascend into your very own episode of... The Twilight Zone," echoed Rod Serling's narration as the elevator began to ascend.  Unlike DCA and Paris' later approach, Florida's ride made a point of beginning the ride by behaving like a normal elevator.  Rod Serling, as in the pre-show, was voiced by Mark Silverman.  At this point, sharp-eyed guests might notice the elevator permit on the lower left side of the lift carriage's wall, signed, as always, by a certain Mr. Cadawaller.

The permit, July 3, 2017

Just as that opening sentence ended, the ride car doors opened to reveal a tan hotel hallway.  At the end of the hallway was a wall with an arch-shaped window, with two small framed artworks (whether photos or paintings, it was impossible to tell from the distance) on either side of it.  Two potted plants framed an archway that had an elaborate swirled design stenciled around the top.  Hidden in the center of the swirled design was a camera.

Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360

Lightning flashed and illuminated the hallway, and also served as a flash for the hidden camera.  The five neon blue ghosts of the unfortunate passengers appeared in a Pepper's ghost effect, the little girl singing an eerie version of "It's raining, it's pouring."  Lightning arced between their arms, before they seemed to absorb into the walls of the hallway with another flash, electricity crackling back toward the rear window.

Screenshots from this video by SoCalAttractions360

Another lightning crash illuminated just the rear window as the hallway melted away into a black starfield. Eventually, only the window was left, floating and tilting in the great void, surrounded by stars. 

Screenshots from this video by SoCalAttractions360

I feel the need to note here that this effect was apparently done with projection on a scrim rather than DCA and Paris' later use of a screen.  This allowed Florida's starfield to have much greater depth, and to have the window feel like it was truly floating in the void due to having "stars" behind it as well as surrounding and in front.  The difference is difficult to pick out in photos or video, but in person it is very clear that the original Tower included this extra detail.

As it floated, the arched hotel window transformed into the black and white window from the pre-show, before loudly shattering.  No narration occurred to attempt to explain this event, simply leaving riders in suspense. 

The window shattering.  Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360

The elevator doors closed and the car continued its slow ascent.

At this point, it was fun to pick out what other riders in the car had ridden DCA or Paris before.  Anyone familiar with those Towers obviously braced for a drop after the hallway scene; I even caught myself bracing for it at one point.

The narration continued, "One stormy night long ago, five people stepped through the door of an elevator and into a nightmare."  Here the elevator doors opened to reveal a dark, vaguely industrial hallway slightly reminiscent of the boiler room, but with mirrored-looking walls.

Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360

"That door is opening once again, and this time, it's opening for you."

At this point, the elevator dropped all pretense of being normal, and began moving forward.  As the car left the elevator shaft, the hallway likewise transformed.  No longer a normal industrial hallway (possibly some kind of maintenance level?), a lighting change revealed the bright, jumbled, electric blue dreamscape of the 5th dimension, previously hidden behind 2-way mirrors.  This included unnaturally angled architecture, ghostly figures of the Elevator Five, and imagery from the Twilight Zone opening sequence, such as the E=mc^2, the ticking clock, and the shattering window.  The mysterious portal within the hotel had finally opened.  In the earlier years of operation, this eeriness was enhanced even more by having a fog machine, but by 2017 that had been long discontinued due to its apparent interference with the ride's operation.

Ticking clock and weird architecture.  Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360

The eye, a ghostly bellhop figure, weird architecture, and the E=MC^2.  Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360

As the ride vehicle passed by the giant floating eyeball from the opening sequence, the eye blinked to show the guests a photo of themselves from earlier, taken from that hidden camera in the hallway scene.  I've seen some sources claim that this effect hasn't worked for many years, with the eyeball showing a stock photo of an elevator instead.  As of 2017, one drop shaft's eye effect was definitely working; I believe it was the elevator that loaded from the left area of the boiler room.  The other loading area's elevators showed a stock elevator photo.

The end of the 5th dimension hallway appeared to be yet another starfield.  As the car approached it, guests could see one set of boiler room elevator doors, complete with dial, situated sideways on the wall.  This set piece was not emphasized in any way, and could easily be mistaken for just industrial gauges if one wasn't paying attention.

The eyeball showing the elevator photo, the sideways boiler room doors, and the starfield.  Note that the video that I've taken most of these screenshots from seems to have been filmed from the right shaft, while this screenshot is from a video filmed on the left, hence why the eyeball is suddenly on the other side of the car.  Screenshot from this video by SoCalAttractions360

I've read some claims that the 5th dimension scene is supposed to represent an "upward view" of the elevator shaft based on this detail, but I feel confident in asserting that this is false.  The sideways door just adds to the surreal nature of the scene.  All of the imagery in the 5th Dimension scene is a callback to things previously presented in the ride--the pre-show imagery, the ghosts, and the boiler room elevator doors.  Furthermore, the doors and dial are those seen on the outside of the elevator as guests load, not those that we see on the inside in the shaft.

As the elevator entered the starfield, the stars consolidated in a central point in front of the elevator.  If one boarded from the right side of the boiler room, the stars briefly formed the shape of a Mickey Mouse head silhouette, making it a Hidden Mickey.  With a sharp, vaguely electric noise, the central light turned into two parallel lines that split apart as the doors opened.

The starfield consolidating

Splitting parallel lines.  Screenshots from this video by SoCalAttractions360

Guests could feel the humid Florida air as their car locked into the drop shaft carriage.  In Florida's design, the show scenes were entirely in one (relatively) normal elevator shaft, while the drops took place in a second specialized shaft, connected via the 5th Dimension scene.

The car situated itself for the drop sequence in complete darkness, as the narration echoed out:

"You are about to discover what lies beyond the 5th dimension... beyond the deepest, darkest corner of the imagination... in the Tower of Terror."

With that epic title drop (heh), the elevator alternately plummeted or skyrocketed guests into the epic drop sequence.  Unlike DCA and Paris' set routines, Florida had multiple sequences that were randomized.  Each had different drops as well as effects and scenes within the drop shafts.  Notably, some routines began by shooting guests upwards to begin the sequence!

Marvin's Vids gives a good rundown of the elevator motions for each different sequence at 58:08 in this video: https://vimeo.com/10428903

Regarding the different effects and scenes, I've yet to see a comprehensive list of them.  I'm not even sure what all of them potentially are; even with riding Florida Tower dozens (or possibly more than dozens...) of times for this project, I didn't get all of the ride sequences I know exist.  Still, the ones that I'm aware of are:

-Doors opening at the top, once with a ride photo and once near the end for the final drop.  This happens for every drop sequence, and the view from the top is obviously one of the big draws for the attraction.

The top of the drop shaft/camera stop.  Note how the sign overlaps the door opening, unlike in other designs.  Screenshots from my own video, filmed July 2, 2017

-Mannequin scene.  A freaky space that might represent some kind of storage area, and had an open-seeming sheet metal rear wall.  Its main feature was a ghostly looking mannequin of indeterminate gender, draped in flowy cloth.  Generally, if the elevator paused at this scene, wind would blow the cloth around as a strobe light flashed, to disconcerting effect.

This seems to be the most difficult scene to film even with lowlight cameras.  Filmed versions really don't do it justice; this video from LMG vids gave the clearest view I could find

-Lightning crackling along the shaft as the car traveled upwards or downwards.

Drop shaft lightning, from this video by SharpProductions

-Shattering window.  The car would briefly pause at the bottom screen, to see the pre-show window shatter before rocketing upwards again.

A glimpse of the shattering window from this video by SharpProductions

-Elevator Five.  The same as the shattering window, but instead featuring another vision of the ghosts with electricity crackling between them.

Drop shaft ghosts, screenshot from my own video filmed July 2, 2017

If anyone else knows of any other drop shaft effects, please let me know (preferably with proof)!

Another notable aspect of the Florida Tower's ride sequence was how much of it took place in total darkness.  Aside from the effects stops or crackling lightning, all the action took place in a featureless void.  This made the experience all the more disorienting, especially with the occasional weightlessness from the drops!  It also demonstrated an entirely different approach between Florida and later incarnations of the ride.  Florida's dark disorientation gave the distinct horror of being hurled through an unknown dimension, while DCA/Paris' occasionally-lit shafts with visible doors instead provided the more grounded horror of being dropped by a possessed, but still definitively recognizable, elevator.

Update: After years of wondering, here's a thorough explanation of the drop sequences here!

After one last big plummet down the full length of the drop shaft, guests found themselves at the bottom screen, faced with a giant version of the Twilight Zone spiral from the show's opening sequence as the show's theme song played.  In a reverse of the pre-show opening, the objects such as the door, window, and eyeball receded back into the spiral, as the car likewise pulled backwards away from the screen.  Finally, Rod Serling appeared again, just before the screen "turned off" with a zap of static like the pre-show TV.  At this, a set of elevator doors closed, lights slowly turned on, and guests found their elevators in a storage area.

Ending Spiral

Pre-show objects floating back into the spiral

Rod Serling making one last appearance

Ending static

Note: Ending screenshots from my video filmed July 2, 2017.

In this storage area was a wide variety of props, including Easter Eggs from the show.  These included a ventriloquist dummy, referencing either "The Dummy" or "Caesar and Me" (yes, The Twilight Zone  had two ventriloquist episodes), in one side's exit, and the slot machine from "The Fever" in the other side's exit.  A radio resembling the one from "Static" also seemed to be among the junk in the room.

Ending area with the ventriloquist dummy (seen at right), from this video by LMG Vids

(if anyone has a clear photo or screenshot showing the slot machine, please let me know!)

"A warm welcome back to those of you who made it, and a friendly word of warning, something you won't find in any guidebook," the narration continued as the car continued to pull back, and then rotate toward the unload door.

Rotating to unload, from this video by LMG Vids

"The next time you check in to a deserted hotel on the dark side of Hollywood, make sure you know just what kind of vacancy you're filling, or you may find yourself a permanent resident... the Twilight Zone."

With those words and one last dramatic music cue, the ride car pulled up to unload.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please gather your belongings and watch your step as you exit through the elevator doors.  We trust your stay at the Hollywood Tower Hotel has been a pleasant one.  And please, do come back and see us again!  Thank you," the ghostly announcer recited as the doors opened and the seatbelts unlocked to allow guests to unload.

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For those wishing for a video experience of the ride sequence, I recommend the videos I used for screenshots.  I filmed one of my own ridethroughs in 2017, but since I did not have a lowlight camera at the time only certain parts of the video actually turned out well, which I used as screenshots here.