Originally Posted By SoarinCM i rode tower of terror 10 times yesterday and let me tell you it gets better each time. i give DCA's tower a 9, it would get a perfect 10 if it had more of an exterior queue but the ride is the best i've been on since indy. if i was to compare it to WDW tower i'd perfer DCA's version. Because the whole ride expierence is much better, the interior queue just puts WDW's to shame the Drop profile is just amazing, and the mirror scene is soooooo cool,at the end of the ride iwas telling myself who needs the 5th dimension scene!, so overall of DCA's tower of terror is a must ride attraction to do at the Disneyland Resort, i give to thumbs up to the imagineers who brought us a new and "revised" version of Tower of Terror!!! and to everybody who hasn't been on Tower of Terror (DCA) you wont be let down!!!
Originally Posted By dresswhites I think the whole experinece looks very exciting and well done. I don't I seen videos and pictures of Mummy and it seems kind of blah. Certainly doesn't look as good as the all hype.
Originally Posted By Kimmy Kay My Tower Review DCA's TOWER is AMAZING. First some personal notes: I had the privalage of being in the first elevator and last elevator of the day (just a fun thing to be a part of). I rode the ride 16 times. Also, since we (my party and I) were the first elevator, we went through the gift shop first and I bought my bellhop cap and was told by the CM that I was the first to purchase one...wooo hooo...Go me!!! hahaha. Now on to the important stuff.... The ride itself was really great and very cohesive to the story. No long pathway queue, but the boiler room MORE than makes up for it. I really liked how it "eased" you into the Twilight Zone. Most episodes of the show started as everything looking quite normal. Sometimes a few things were out of whack, but nothing really noticable. This is what makes DCA's Tower of Terror a bit more cohesive to what entering the Twilight Zone is all about. You walk up to what seems to be a normal looking hotel. It has obviously had a terrible force of nature (or was it?) event happen to it, but nothing looks obviously "spooky". The fog in Florida, the spooky path...it is too much of a set-up and is great for a Haunted Mansion type ride, but really it isn't what the spirit of The Twilight Zone is all about. Too many people want to make this into a "Haunted Hotel" ride rather than a Twilight Zone ride. Because of this, DCA is much more true to the twilight zone theme. It IS The TWILIGHT ZONE Tower of Terror, after all. So, if you think of yourselves as the star in a Twilight Zone episode (which is what the attraction tells you), then... up you walk thinking this is an old Hotel that has been condemned. But there is music emitting from it. Hmmmm odd. That draws you in. You want to get a closer look. Upon entering the courtyard (queue). There are things of obvious neglect, but still nothing that strikes you as "spooky".....yet. You then enter the lobby. WOW, people left here in a hurry. If this building was condemned, then shouldn't it have been emptied out? It begins to feel eerie at this point. Maybe you should turn back, but something is drawing you in. The basic curiosity of human nature. You enter the Library. SPOILER---SPOILER----SPOILER---SPOILER----SPOILER---SPOILER---- Okay, I am gonna get into details here...if you don't wanna know , don't read any further! The libraries were really cool. If you are a Twilight Zone fan you will see little props that hint to certain episodes in there..just like the review here at LP said. They are subtle, which makes it even cooler. Also, I don't remember the outside rain falling with lightning that strikes exactly at the same as it does on the T.V., in Florida. Can someone help me here? I just may not be remembering it, but it is a great effect and happens at DCA. The Screen plays the preshow and tells you what has happened in the hotel...but there is no turning back now. YOU are IN the TWILIGHT ZONE. The door opens and suddenly you are in a boiler room that is not of this dimension. It once was, but it is now in the Twilight Zone. Creepy and spooky now enter into the picture (just like 1/2 way through an episode of TTZ). OH WOW! The light effects and the details all throughout this room are awesome. We loaded upstairs and downstairs throughout the day and you get different little things to look at and notice in each of those queues. Upstairs there is a storage area behind a gate with clocks in need of repair and objects here and there. It looks like the stuff not used in the hotel anymore. Then, from one of the twilight zone episodes, there is the chalk outline from "little girl lost"...but you didn't have to see the episode to be freaked out. Basically the story is the little girl is lost in the wall and she entered through the chalk outline. Well when you listen real close, you can hear her....it is really creepy. She wants out and is confused. You have to stand and listen though, because it isn't overdone and isn't very loud. Just very cool and creepy. Also, the pipes (sound system) groan and you can hear voices every once in awhile coming through them. There is also a very large heating/furnace tank that has 3 doors....the bottom door is open and when you look at it ...it looks as if it is a face with a glowing mouth. There is a ladder that comes from one of the doors (eyes)...and it makes it look just like a face and the ladder gives the impression that it is a tear coming from the one eye. It is very cool. In the downstairs queue, there is a desk that has an old radio on it....and if you listen carefully, within the static, there are voices of distress. Also creepy. All in all, I LOVED this room. Like I said, I went on the ride 16 times and each time I saw something different in the boiler room that was an attention to detail. Haha, I am still seeing things different in the boiler room...my hubby pointed out something to me today just by looking at some of the pictures I took. On all of the clocks in the hotel it is 8:05 (the time the lightening struck), but on the Time Card Clock in the boiler room it is 8:06 or 7 ish. My hubby chuckled at the Imagineers attention to the detail here. I asked him why...and he said because it was/is common to set a Time Card clock ahead a little. Keeps your employees on time. My DH is convinced that this attention to detail was not an accident and it just one thing that sets Disney apart. I also think that it is more realistic that all the clocks in the hotel wouldn't have been synchronized on the exact time at the time of the lightening...so it makes it more realistic. So on you go, knowing you are in the Twilight Zone, but thinking perhaps the only way out is to move forward, despite your fear. It is onto the service elevator being manned by a Bellhop that doesn't seem to know what dimension they are in. It is as if they think they are still just doing their jobs. They know the main elevators are not working but have no idea what has happened so they do their jobs and load you into the elevator telling you your room will be ready soon. You think...hmmm...I guess I am getting a room here. OR are you? The starfield and backward motion of the elevator are great and since you KNOW you are in the Twilight Zone at this point...it fits in just fine. The elevator goes up to the floor with the magic mirror. The new mirror effect is great! It makes you really feel like you are a part of the story. The first time I rode, I thought the electricfied outline of us was just a generic outline. Then we all realized that it was US...because if we moved, the ghostly images of us moved and did just what we did. It was completely interactive!!! Of course on all subsequent rides, we had a blast with this new interactive "toy". This show scene let us say goodbye to our former selves and then, at this point, you are at the mercy of The Twilight Zone. Next, it was on to the hallway scene. The ghostly images of the five HTH victims appear here and you realize that you are all trapped together. Their image shrinks into the image of an elevator and another starfield appears. The image of the elevator drops and then so does your elevator. The elevator shook alot and this made a great build up to the drops. There is one point in the drop sequence, after you have already been to the top for the first time and the doors are open, that you go up to the top (or close to it), but the doors DON'T open. You just go from bottom to top and down again fast....during this part....the airtime is unbelievable. I mean you are out of your seat for a really long time. It is totally cool. Then you go down and up one floor, stop, up another floor, stop, up another floor, stop...drop....then go all the way to the top again and the doors open again there, The elevator shakes and then lifts a little higher, shakes again, then you drop one floor where the doors are open....then drop all the way down. If you time it , I guess it is shorter than WDW, but you would never know while riding it. Really fun stuff. I mean it was great and unique. Then bam...it spits you out with a crash and you exit back into what is now a normal looking service area and you exit the ride. You have survived The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror! END OF SPOILERS Since everyone insists on comparing...this is how I am gonna choose to look at it. I LOVE both WDW's and DCA's Towers, I always will, but for different reasons. There are things to love about both of them. Picking a favorite is like asking a mother to pick a favorite child. Everyone one wants to compare and people really sold DCA's version short. I mean they really assumed that it couldn't be as good. Nothing could be further from the truth...in my eyes anyway. Alot of the people riding yesterday felt it blew WDW's out of the water. I think it had better cohesiveness to the story and to the spirit of what the Twilight Zone is supposed to be (The Twilight Zone spirit is normality that is slightly askew and then the creepy, scary factor sets in). DCA's version achieves this much better, even down to the fact that because of the building's large jutting front, you have a harder time hearing the screams and seeing the doors open when you are in the queue. However, I don't know it if "blows it out of the water". They are both great. You gotta come and ride and see for yourself. One thing that DCA's version doesn't have the luxury of that WDW's version did, when it opened, is the element of no expectations. I mean when you rode WDW's version, you had no idea what to expect so naturally your memory of it is that it was completely awesome. Those who have had a ride on the WDW version will go into DCA's version with a more critical eye. I tried not to, but it is difficult. With that said, I ended up LOVING DCA's version. So I think that really says something about it...IMHO.
Originally Posted By lemisfan I went on it!!!!! Six times!!!!! I have to say that i was pretty amazed!!! the themeing of the hotel and the entire que area is very well themed. the lobby is very detailed with ghostly looking baggage that never made it the the guest room. then you enter the library, which has all sorts of anitue looking lamps, books, chairs, with a window that has thunder and lightening that goes along the vidoe that they show you. the video just shows you about the people from the 1930s that disappeared and saying its your turn to go into the twilight zone! then you enter the boiler room, there are two stories, and can either enter one of three elevators on the top or on the bottom floor, to me the bottome floor is a little longer with the ride since you drop an extra story. You get into the elevator that looks very haunting and the room your in turns into stars while going backwards and seeing the elevator door and then everything goes pitch black. First they raise you a level and you see a cool mirror and that mirror turns yourself into a ghostly figure and your reflection disappears, then you go up another story or two and see a hotel hall with a small elevator door and the end and the ghosts of other guests wave at you and disappear and the hall turns into a starry universe with the hotel elevator still there but you see it drop. then you drop a few stories, the you go all the way up then half way down and almost all the way back up and down then all the way up again for the final fall down. as you enter the starry room with your elevator room that turns into a regualar looking boiler room again and you are done. I think the timing it just done right. not too long yet not short. I thought it was going to have a very heavy feeling like the tower and disney world but when you fall, its kind of like a really cool floating sensation. I suggest everyone go on it when it officailly opens in may!
Originally Posted By dresswhites great review KimmyKay! it seems very positve about this ride. It is nice to see.
Originally Posted By Kimmy Kay Thanks Dresswhites...I guess my review should be over in the other thread about reviews...haha...I just realized that. Maybe an Administator can move it, if they feel they should.
Originally Posted By Jeremiah I made it on 3 times last night and it is GREAT!!!!!!! I could go on for days on why I think the WDW version is "better" then DCA's, but why bother? It is a great attraction. END OF STORY!!!! This is a MUST DO and will give people a reason to find out what DCA really has to offer.
Originally Posted By Kimmy Kay Jeremiah, haha...as you can see I did go on for days in my review....so I would love to see why you think there are so many things at WDW's that are better that would have you writing for days. It isn't that I agree or disagree with you. In my post you can see I love both attractions. I am just curious why you think that WDW's has SO many more things that are better. Please elaborate.
Originally Posted By Kimmy Kay Well...there has only been one day...I mean not counting the WDI party and the press days. The lines yesterday were nothing. I mean most of the day it was just a walk on...that is how I was able to ride it 16 times (and I took 2 1/2 hours off to meet some friends for dinner, then went back). The people I was riding it with rode it about 20-25 times because they continued riding while I was gone. So they didn't seem to have a line problem at all. The lines got longer in the early evening, but still the longest we waited was when we were the very last in line for the last elevator of the night and that was 30 minutes.
Originally Posted By BenSucks You people are so petty. Here Disney "finally" gives you a great attraction to enjoy and you find every minor little detail to bash it. So what if the Hyperion is right next door. Would you rather put the damn ride 2 miles down the road. Disneyworld has miles and miles of land Disneyland doesn't. Deal with it.
Originally Posted By lemisfan Oh, the view from the ride is great! you can see all of disneyland and some of soaring! for those of you that wondered what the view is.
Originally Posted By pheneix I just finished watching a video of this ride. Considering that this is the only I'm gonna be able to experience this ride until I get rich, this is my somewhat informed look at the ride: 1.) New mirror effect kicks ass. I like the 5th Demension better (the fact that it is in Florida and therefore better by default not withstanding) because it has more going on, but the effect and overall execution just rules. Job well done. 2.) The voiceover in the ride doesn't sound like Rod Sterling at all. This is one of those glaring errors that can not be excused under any circumstances. Which leads me to- 3.) Ayee, they're really gonna regret that narrow stairwell in unload. I personally think it's cool that they came up with that concept, but this ride wasn't built for me. It was built for Joe Blow from Pasadena who just gulped down two chili dogs from a vendor cart and has a 50% chance of finding out that he gets motion sickness when he crawls on this thing. Think of how he and dozens of others who already come off of Tower of Terror kind of wobbly and dazed. Now imagine those people having to face that stairwell right after riding. If I had motion sickness and saw that I'd probably keel over and puke. 4.) Surrounding grounds still suck. I mean, you come right out of the gift shop and ka-boom, big blue stairwell and scaffolding from a cheap looking auditorium. There's no excuse, simply none. 5.) Maybe I'm just biased, but if I were to grade DCA's Tower of Terror I'd have to give it a 90 vs a 100 for the ride in Florida, and that is with the extra 10 points given to it for being able to accomplish so much under the current regime running Disney. There is simply so much more that is accomplished in Florida that simply wasn't in DCA. Things like the Rod Sterling audio (which was a pain for WDI to accurately produce in Florida) and the exterior grounds are just accomplished so much better in Florida, end of story. That being said, a grade of 90 by my standards is just earth shattering for a Disney attraction these days. Considering that I have spectacularly failed every Disney attraction built since Alien Encounter (sole exception is Buzz Lightyear, which just squeaks by with a 70 because it is interactive and wildly addictive on E-Ride nights), this is a triumphant accomplishment for Imagineering. Too bad the guys that put it together will probably get laid off next month.
Originally Posted By Beaumandy Congrats to all of you who have had a chance to ride TOT! I am bringing my family from Oregon on May 9th and am pumped!! Here's my question.... Do the fast pass people miss anything going into the ride? On Indy you miss so much of the que because of fast pass, just wondering if Tower has the same problem. Thanks!
Originally Posted By arstogas >>>You people are so petty. Here Disney "finally" gives you a great attraction to enjoy and you find every minor little detail to bash it.<<< Aww, such a sweet admonition, and so appropros and credible, from someone whose screenname ends with "Sucks".
Originally Posted By arstogas Oh, I too saw the video Pheneix is talking about (it's available at remainseated.com and disneyforever.com). It's pretty much what I expected, sans the immersive cave room that was going to lock up with the elevator cab. But we knew a long time ago that had been changed. It does look like a great attraction, and on that video, if you count the time from the time the video starts in the library, through a very brisk, short walk through the boiler room, the ride itself - that's a good seven minutes. There's a wealth of atmosphere in those preshow elements and I don't just count the elevator as the only component of the attraction. Of course, if I had to stand in that boiler room for thirty minutes, I wouldn't be terribly appreciative of the extra "attraction time"...
Originally Posted By pheneix >>>sans the immersive cave room that was going to lock up with the elevator cab<<< Oh my, oh my... I might need give my grade a five point demerit now that I know about that. Hey Arsto, e-mail me at pheneix@yahoo.com some time. I've got something that you might be interested in seeing.
