If you've read my last post, you may be wondering what is up. Please, allow me to explain. There is NO SUCH THING as an actual Hollywood Tower Hotel. So, why did I post a review of it??? Why, as an introduction to the actual review today.
The Hollywood Tower Hotel only exists in your imagination, and at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Guests are welcome to book a stay there, but don't expect to be checking out anytime soon.
The Hollywood Tower Hotel at Disney's Hollywood Studio is home to one of the most thrilling and well themed attractions in the industry: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This attraction is an elaborate free-fall ride that sends guests on a hair-raising runaway elevator ride up and down and up and down thirteen scream inducing stories. Don't be surprised if you need to take some time out after your adventure to catch your breath.
The story is the same as the history of the hotel I posted in the previous thread. Hollywood Tower Hotel is a beacon for the Hollywood elite, but on one night a fateful lightning storm would send an entire floor of the hotel along with an elevator carrying some notable guests crashing straight into The Twilight Zone. Now, the hotel has re-opened and you, the new unwitting guests are offered the chance to book a stay there....but your room lies beyond the 5th dimension and you have to take a service elevator to get there. That's right, tonight you will be starring in your very own episode of the Twilight Zone, narrated by Rod Serling himself.
The Hotel itself is quite breathtaking. Right from the scarred and charred exterior (a truly imposing and threatening structure if I ever saw one), you can tell not all is right with The Hollywood Tower. Should you make the wise choice to book a stay at the hotel, you will find yourself first winding through a densely overgrown exterior queue which I refer to as The Gardens. Lush trees and bushes tower over you and surround you, luckily there are signs that will point you in the right direction. As you wind your way closer to the entrance , you will come across a defunct fountain (dried and cracked) and several decrepit and creepy statues. Eventually, you make it through the doorway and straight into the decaying Lobby of The Hollywood Tower Hotel. The centerpiece is a decrepit owl statue surrounded by dead roses and flowers. The whole lobby is covered in cobwebs and the people who used to occupy this area seem to have disappear mid-activity. There is luggage strewn around, a hat and cane, a Mahjong game that is stuck mid-move, a book with a page frozen mid-turn, and other really neat and creepy touches. We can clearly see the Front Desk, but no one is manning it. A bellhop will escort you to The Library (filled with props from The Twilight Zone television series, please feel free to browse around) while you wait for them to finish preparing your room. As you make your way to the Library entrance you will pass by the main elevator doors which appear to have been blown outwards by some strong force inside, they have a sign placed around them saying Out Of Order.
Once inside The Library, a particularly fierce storm seems to have started outside, lighting strikes and plunges the room into darkness and a TV flashes on. The into to The Twilight Zone Plays and Rod Serling appears to inform us what we are about to experience, should we choose to trek on wards. After this the back door of the Library slides open, and a bellhop informs us that our room is now ready and we are to board a maintenance Service elevator which will take us up to our room. We exit the Library and make our way through the dark, atmospheric, and creepy Boiler Room. At the center of the room we meet another bellhop who will direct us to an elevator and assign us a row. Once the elevator doors open, you move into the creepy looking elevator and take your seat. The elevators used to have lap bars, but those were later replaced by seat belts...thus most seats don't have something you can hold onto. This is why I usually aim for the seat closest to the wall...the wall has a small lever that I tend to grasp onto tightly for the duration of the ride. After you are buckled in and your bellhop finishes the safety check and dispenses a few final words of wisdom, the elevator doors slide shut and your're on your own as the elevator ascends into it's very own episode of The Twilight Zone.
This is where my review stops, I don't want to give too much away after all. All I can say is that the ride itself will take you on a very quick tour of the hotel, after which you will enter the 5th dimension for a harrowing series of ups and downs (the elevators reach a top speed of 39 MPH in the span of 1.5 seconds, the biggest drop on the ride is 13 stories and there is a good chance you will experience a fall from this height several times) that seem to never end. Each drop sequence is chosen at random by the Tower itself (Not even the bellhops or ride operators know which drop sequence you will experience, and each time you ride you will wind up with a different series of drops so, like the old tagline used to say, it's never the same fear twice).
Now, a word of encouragement. I, myself, have a decent sized fear of heights and falling, called Acrophobia. I DO NOT like free fall rides, but I have been on a few in my time and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is probably the one I enjoy the most. The combination of the unique storytelling method, elaborate theming, and intense thrills actually lead to me to consider it as more of a unique thrill ride than a free fall ride. That's right, I do not consider The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror a free fall ride. In fact, I actually LOVE this ride, and look forward to going on it whenever I'm in the Studios and I used to be one of the wimpiest guys you'd know. Just the sight of a roller coaster would send me running for the hills, I'm much braver now though. So, if someone like me can not only handle The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, but also thoroughly enjoy it and run back in line numerous times to ride it again...well, I'm sure then that even the most spineless of wimps (of which I used to be one) will find themselves enjoying this unique and fun little ride (That only lasts a total of around 3 minutes, the actual free fall portion only lasts for a good minute).
So next time you're in Disney's Hollywood Studios, feel free to book a stay at The Hollywood Tower Hotel (or at least walk through the queue if you don't think you can handle the ride, although trust me, you can) I guarantee that you won't regret it. Till next time, this is your Ghost Host with the most most saying...Happy Landings. MWAHAHAHAHAHA
Tower of Terror gets a 9.7/ 10 Stars (I wish the ride portion was a bit longer)
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