We Had Reservations for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

The Twilight Zone may be old and out of date, but the Tower of Terror ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios is still one of the best and most fun attractions in all the parks. We thought we'd share our experience as we rode this amazing ride on our recent trip to Florida.

For those who don't know, the Hollywood Tower Hotel and the Tower of Terror attraction is inspired by Rod Serling's anthology television series, The Twilight Zone, and takes place in the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel in Hollywood, California. At 199 feet (60.7 m), it is the second tallest attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort, with only Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom being taller by 0.5 feet (0.2 m).

Once in the building, guests make their way to the dilapidated Hollywood Tower Hotel through the front gate to enter the queue through overgrown gardens and then enter the hotel lobby. Once in the lobby, guests are ushered to the hotel library, which houses the hotel's collection of books and antiques. With a crash of thunder and lightning, the power in the library goes out, except for a television set that crackles into life and plays the opening sequence from the fourth and fifth seasons of The Twilight Zone, hosted by Rod Serling. The episode depicts the events of a stormy night in Hollywood 1939, where a lightning bolt strikes the tower and causes five people—an actor, a singer, a child star, her nanny, and a hotel bellhop—to vanish from the elevator, along with an entire wing of the building. Serling then tells guests that they'll be stepping in a maintenance service elevator to become the stars of an episode of The Twilight Zone. The television then turns off and then guests are directed through to the boiler room to board the elevator.

After guests are loaded into the elevator, the doors close, the lights dim and the elevator starts to ascend. Serling's voice greets passengers to "a most uncommon elevator about to ascend into your very own episode of The Twilight Zone". The elevator stops and doors open to reveal a dimly-lit hotel corridor, with a single window at the end. The ghosts of the five missing passengers appear, beckoning the guests to join them before disappearing in a burst of electricity. The corridor fades to darkness and transforms into a field of stars, with the window intact until it floats forward and morphs into the window from the Season 5 opening sequence, and breaks.

The elevator doors close and the car continues its ascent, once more, opening its doors open to a maintenance room. The elevator car exits from the lift shaft horizontally into the room, which slowly fades into darkness as it turns into The Fifth Dimension, an element frequently referred by Serling in The Twilight Zone. Now, in total darkness, the car reaches a field of stars which splits open and the elevator enters a pitch-black vertical shaft. As Serling's narration ends the elevator begins the drop sequence at a top speed of 39 miles per hour (63 km/h). At least once during the drop sequence, wide elevator doors in front of the riders open to reveal a view of the park, where the on-ride camera captures the in-ride photograph and video. One of four randomized profiles of drops and lifts are selected by a computer, where the ride vehicle drops or rises various lengths at different intervals. Some effects include projected images of the breaking window, wind effects, lightning flashes, and ominous blue-lit figures of the five ghostly original riders.

Once the elevator finishes its sequence, the car backs up into the hotel basement. A short clip plays, showing elements from the Season 5 opening sequence, along with the 1939 elevator passengers and Serling falling into the "vortex" seen in the Season 3 opening sequence. Serling welcomes back the guests and sends them off after their "visit" to the hotel, as he would normally close an episode of The Twilight Zone. The car rotates and parks itself at the exit doors that lead to the unload area.

This is always one of our favorite attractions, and we ride it every time we can. The last 2 times we've been to Hollywood Studios, at least 1 elevator was down for repair. This time, however, all 4 were running, which lead to much shorter queues and wait times. We love the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and we WILL be back, without reservations.

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