Although I adore the whimsical adventures on attractions like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, there is one ride which Towers above the rest.
Screaming my head off and my body falling only to be yanked back to the top of the haunted service elevator left my 8-year-old self’s first experience with an excitement that knows no equal. No matter how badly my head was spinning, I wanted nothing more than to go on that ride time and time again for eternity.
After that seminal experience that required me to put on some rather creative footwear that technically put me above the magical 48” ride requirement, I have been enamored with the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios. Even with all the stomach-dropping free falls, I have checked into the hotel during every trip since I was in Kindergarden.
From the chilling voice of “Twilight Zone”’s Rod Serling accompanied with the creepy visuals of broken windows and endless voids, the ride became a staple of my childhood and fills my teenage heart with nostalgia at the thought of the narrator uttering, “You are about to discover what lies beyond the fifth dimension, beyond the deepest, darkest corner of the imagination . . . in the Tower of Terror” right before our impending fall.
From the decaying garden of the queue to the cobweb-covered lobby, to the chilling air as I enter the ride that leaves a thrilling chill down my spine to the cobweb-covered lobby, my mind is transported to the fateful night in 138, and I imagine the old concierge checking in the guests one final time.
By some miracle, I have also experienced something that only a few, select ride enthusiasts even know about. was granted the privilege of becoming a permanent guest in both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Upon arriving at the park, Chip and Dale dressed in bellhop hats greeted me, and a themed cast member asked me if I would like to open the ride. My family and I got to sign the guest book and take the first ride of the day with the ride all to ourselves.
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Prior to the remodeling, the Hollywood Tower of Terror in California integrated the canonical backstory of the haunted ride into the attraction itself. The ghosts of the doomed guests could be seen manifesting in the hall right before the first free fall.
Sadly, California’s DisneyLand replaced the ride’s theme following its purchase of Marvel. Now called Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout which opened in June 2021, the ride is essentially the same, structurally speaking, but it lacks the gothic beauty and haunt of the original theme.
I miss the surreal feelings of California’s ride setup where it truly felt like you were one of the damned guests of the Hollywood Hotel. The new renovations ruined the ride and turned it into a 3-D noisefest that over-stimulates the riders to the point the free-fall is the least nauseating aspect of the ride. Luckily, my beloved ride is still operating at Hollywood Studios daring me to enter the maintenance service elevator one more time.
