The Hollywood Tower Hotel

"You are the passengers on a most uncommon elevator about to ascend into your very own episode of...The Twilight Zone. One stormy night long ago, five people stepped through the door of an elevator and into a nightmare. That door is opening once again, and this time it's opening for you." Those are the errie words that you hear once seated in the service elevator. Yet there's so much more to this creppy disney tale.

How it works

First of all it is not a drop. It forces you down. So once you leave the 5th dimension the elevator pulls on to a platform and locks into place. The platform is hanging by cables in a pully system, which is attach to the motors that is above the drop shaft. The motors are supported by a column of beams that is seperated from the actual building, do to the weight. The motor then pulls the cables to force you up and down. At the bottom of the drop shaft is the buffer zone. It is a pit that out of control elevators land and slow down with springs and buffers. Above the buffer zone is a projector and screen that projects a broken window and then the wormhole. The elevator backs out of the shaft and into unload. 

Lost Effects:

  Over the years some of the special effects that were designed into the original Tower of Terror have stopped working for one reason or another. There would actually be sparks that would shoot from the Tower. The sparking would shoot down from one of the letters in HOLLYWOOD TOWER every once in a while at night. It was a nice touch!! There was also a telephone that would ring in the lobby and the bellhop in front of the library would answer it and have a "conversation" with one of the hotel guests. They were all very humorous and mostly pre-scripted. It was a great way to entertain the guests for the 3 minutes or so they had to wait in the lobby before going into the library.

Secrets:

-The entrance to the ride is on the first floor and the exit is in the basement

-The motors that are used in The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror are three times more powerful than those that were used in the World Trade Center

-The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was struck by lightning during construction

-The luggage in the lobby is a complete set made from genuine alligator skin

-There is a dummy room near the top of the hotel. At night you can see a light in the window where there looks like there is a room. It's really just a light but no real room

"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 next time you check into 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 of...The Twilight Zone"