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| Picture of the attraction courtesy of fellow contributor Jessica |
There’s one in every family. One loves it, the other hates it. One begs, “Please, please. Can we? It’s my favorite!” And no amount of begging, pleading, exhorting will ever sway the other’s stalwart resolution. Not love, nor ready money will ever get them to ride the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
I’ll give you three guesses which group I fall into and the first two don’t count!
I love the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It’s located in Hollywood Pictures Backlot (which will be officially renamed Hollywood Land on June 15) next to “a bug’s land” and the Hyperion Theater with Aladdin- A Musical Spectacular. It’s my favorite attraction in Disney’s California Adventure! I entered the ride for the first time with pretty low expectations. I’d seen the Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst Wonderful World of Disney movie–an elevator gets zapped by lightning and it’s occupants are cursed. Nothing too scary. Therefore, I thought the ride would be pretty tame. I thought that maybe all those people you can hear screaming from the ride are just doing it because they like screaming. My mother swears that screaming makes the ride more fun. Maybe all those guests felt the same way. Then I went on the ride.
Hubsters did go after some pleading. Keep in mind, this is the first time he went on it. It was also one of the last times. He’ll only go on it if I pull out the big guns like, “It’s my birthday!” or “It’s Christmas!” or something of the like. If he’s in a really good mood.
We entered the lobby and the Cast Members greeted us somberly reminding me strongly of Haunted Mansion Cast Members. After the greeting you can enjoy the ambiance of the derelict hotel. After a Cast Member sorts you into smaller groups, you are led into a smaller side room and watch an intro for the Twilight Zone. Then you’re ushered into your elevator. Everything’s copacetic. Suddenly the elevator doesn’t behave like any normal elevator should. This elevator thinks it’s Willy Wonka’s glass elevator and you are suddenly lurched backwards, zipping into the empty elevator shaft and another dimension—The Twilight Zone. It’s all fun after that and I’ll admit, I screamed myself silly and loved every minute!
Tower of Terror is an elevator and it does go up and down. However, it is very unpredictable and the most stoic guests soon have a big smile on their face. I love seeing the glimpses of Disneyland California Adventure as they pass by the open elevator shaft doors. This is a ride you’ll want to ride twice–during day and at night.
Your stomach might do loop-de-loops and if you’re like me, it’s the best part! Well, the best part next to having Hubsters give a squeal (he says, “manly shout”) and grab for my hand like it’s the only thing that will save him. After we walked off, I didn’t even hear Hubsters say, “I’m Never. Doing. That. Again.” Because I was too busy saying, “LET’S DO THAT AGAIN!”
If you’re in for more thrills, be sure to check back later this week as we give you an exclusive sneak peek at the new thrills inside Cars Land and Buena Vista Street!
If you’re in for more thrills, be sure to check back later this week as we give you an exclusive sneak peek at the new thrills inside Cars Land and Buena Vista Street!
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Excellent article, Rebecca! I’m pretty much in the same camp as your husband, though I’m a little more inclined or willing to ride.
I’ve got an interesting fact (several, actually, but one in particular) that you may be interested in for Tower of Terror.
Have you ever noticed that in spite of how loud it is in the Boiler Room, you can have a conversation without shouting? When the attraction was being created, they wanted authentic sounds in the boiler room, but there was also a safety issue. Cast Members had to be able to be heard by each other & guests in case of an emergency. To accomplish both of these, some enterprising individual came up with the idea to modify the recording of the boiler sounds.
Specifically, they stripped out the frequency range for the human voice. Because of where that falls in the range of what we can hear it isn’t noticeable to most people, but because those frequencies aren’t in the ambient sounds, there’s nothing to “step on” the voices.
And so, even in a loud boiler room in the basement of a creepy hotel, you can have a conversation with no problem.