The History of The Twilight Zone: Tower Of Terror | Expedition Hollywood Studios

welcome back to expedition Hollywood studios to a Hollywood that never was and always will be today we'll be looking at the iconic right sitting at the end of Sunset Boulevard the Hollywood Tower Hotel or as we all know it the Tower of Terror tonight's story alert while a journalist somewhat unique in calls for a different kind of an abduction [Music] with the building sitting at 199 feet tall this innovative drop ride will become a landmark for the studios park [Music] [Music] [Music] in the late 1980s pounds were being put in place for future expansion ideas of the Euro Disney development which included plans for a freefall type ride which would be part coaster and part freefall it will be placed in the Frontierland section of the park with the name geyser mountain a second plan to bring a freefall ride was later plan based on the journey to the center of the earth both were scrapped during the planning phase for Paris but the right idea would live on and was picked up by the MGM Studios in Florida as part of a major expansion to its part bigger if you will one of America's favorite talk show hosts a man loved by millions though sometimes brought over acting trapped on a voyage in another dimension another car next stop the twilight zone I don't like this [Music] [Music] several ideas for a major etec attraction had been thought of including a Dick Tracy crime stopper ride which would go on to become the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland California the Imagineers wanted a drop shaft ride but were unsure of what phim the ride would take some of the early concepts included a ride based around Stephen King's novels a Vincent Price ghost tour or a real murder mystery whodunit star ride but the concept which was actually nearly greenlit was a mailbox attraction the American filmmaker met with Disney Imagineers and Mike Weisner who wanted to bring Brooks over to Disney to produce his films at the MGM Studios park well I've heard every different kind of pitch possible and the more outrageous in the more outlandish of course the more I'm attracted to it then about two days later reality sets in and we go back and say that can we really do that Eisner who knew Brooks and his son were a fan of the Disney parks attempted to woo him by telling him that being involved in a park attraction would be seen by thousands of people every single day for at least ten to twenty years the idea for the ride will be something scary and funny and it will be based on the movie Young Frankenstein and called Castle Young Frankenstein later in the planning it became mal Brooks's Hollywood horror hotel after multiple different ideas that Mouse started to lose interest as Disney would not be building one of these original ideas so he left to make the movie life stinks eventually the Imagineers take inspiration from the Rod Serling and follow G series The Twilight Zone you unlock this door with the key of imagination beyond it is another dimension a dimension of sight the iconic TV show began in 1959 and ran for five seasons each episode presented a standalone story in which the characters found themselves in unusual or disturbing situations an experience described as entering the twilight zone there is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man it is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity imagine a is once it's a the writers into the fifth I mentioned that Serling would describe as unlocking in each episode with a project moving ahead Disney licensed the rights to the twilight zone from CBS so they can use the TV show which they still do to this day the Hollywood Tower Hotel an open way back in 1917 and closed 22 short years later why well room service wasn't very good and the sheets were a little no wait I'm sorry that I think it had something to do with the mysterious disappearance of five people on October 31st Halloween the design team settled on a 1930s era Hollywood hotel for the set in we were Twilight Zone feat a new right system would need to be created to give me imagine is the exact right they wanted which was a high-capacity drop ride with a fast drop personal invitation from Rod Serling himself what more can you ask for Otis Elevator Company he were consulted on the vertical ride system some of their other works involve elevators such as the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building Eaton Kenway created the right vehicles that could drive itself forward horizontally these were become known as the automated guided vehicles a similar ride technology to what is used in the great movie ride and was originally designed for the universe of energy these vehicles run on batteries that would recharge each time the vehicle would depart the drop-off station and we're essentially fancy remote-control cars if the cars would leave the designated Y route the ride would stop and would need to be manually put back onto the right track with a remote control the vehicle is actually equipped with a sensor plate underneath here that rides very close to the to the floor surface and it picks up computer signals from the wire to guide the vehicle our guidance system to guide the vehicle along this path that tells it speed direction you know it reverses forward it actually even turns to the side so there's a lot of signals that can be transmitted between the two that actually tell the vehicle how to move and positioning ten vehicles were creative in total with eight being used at one time originally the right cars were equipped with lap bars and not seatbelts which were only closed as tight as the biggest person in the road given some riders a lot of airtime this was eventually changed the seatbelts that we have now in the early 2000 do apologize for you having the ride runs on a loop system with two identical right systems built within the tower four shafts at the back of the building would house the dart right element of the attraction with the corridor which would merge into two shafts when entering the twilight zone followed by a single drop shower for either side of the ride the ride would unload in the basement level and reverse backwards into one of the four shafts were loaded imagine is one tada more intense weightless affector in the drop sequence and for this gravity would not be enough to give the decide sensation when the ride vehicle enters the elevator cab and is locked into place it's basically your ride vehicle inside another right vehicle cables attached to the bottom and top pulled the elevator up and down at a speed faster than that of a gravity drop providing the weightlessness feeling the giant motors are located at the top of the drop shaft and take up most of the space above the Hollywood Tower Hotel sign they weigh over 132 thousand pounds each and generate 15 times the speed of a regular elevator the drop reaches top speeds of 39 miles per hour and drops riders the equivalent of 13 floors the elevator chain ropes are a place yearly and inspected often they can usually be replaced overnight this is you may recognize as a maintenance service elevator still an operation waiting for you we invite you if you dare to step aboard because in tonight's episode you are the star and this elevator travels directly to the Twilight challenge Disney felt that rod serling needed to be part of the attraction even though he passed away two decades before they decided to hold auditions to cast his voice in the attraction with the help of servants wife Carol you were the passengers in a most uncommon elevator they were able to cast Mart Silverman as the voice and used old footage of Sir Lynn from the Twilight Zone episode a good life tonight's story on the twilight zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction this as you may recognize as a map of the United States the short pre-show footage was directed by Joe Dante who is also known for directing the hit movie gremlins the riders would enter the hotel lobby frozen in time on Halloween 1939 and the pre-show rooms would explain what was happening and how the writers will be entering the twilight zone for a maintenance service elevator guests would then bought the elevator in the boiler room and move up to the first show scene of a hotel corridor followed by moving forward into the twilight zone and then the drop shaft the ride finishes with a final word from rod serling the next time you'll check into a deserted hotel in that dark side of Hollywood make sure you know just what kind of vacancy you're filling or you may find yourself a permanent resident of the Twilight John ground working construction began in 1992 though a small sinkhole caused the construction site to move slightly the work took two and a half years to complete with a ride initially set to open July 4th 1994 however it was delayed by a couple of weeks and open on July 22nd along with a Sunset Boulevard free fare as the building was being completed imagine this happen to visit the attraction when some concrete was be important in the maintenance stock backstage at the front of the tower the site covered in trees nearest to rock a roller coaster the imaginary oak they should place their hands in the concrete like they do in Hollywood as a signature they did and the ham print still remain there backstage to this day though one of our goals was to make this ride a scary ride we wanted to stay true to the spirit of the twilight zone and in keeping with that we wanted also to have a sense of wonder a sense of mystery to it as opposed to just horror the Towers exterior and interior design took inspiration from Southern California landmarks such as the Biltmore Hotel in the Mission Inn the exterior is modeled after a Spanish colonial style and is built to fit in with the Morocco Pavilion in Epcot the interior of the hotel lobby is littered with references to the Twilight Zone as well as in the pre-show rooms the right exit features the nod to the vortex episode on a wall to the left before the right photos the antiques used in the lobby a real antiques Porter - Californian auction as the props originally intended to be used were destroyed by a Californian earthquake before the ride opened some of the antiques have been valued as priceless including a 16th century chair and honored desk the newest Disney character l evader helped welcome guests to the resort's newest attraction the 13 story Twilight Zone Tower of Terror The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror opened to rave reviews and often scared young guests are opening the cast costumes were one of the only Disney World costumes to have the name tag featured on the right hand side of the chest and not the left rumors have constantly circulated that the building had space him for an actual hotel room similar to the secret suite inside the castle at the Magic Kingdom however this is not actually the case the ride takes up most of the building with space for a cast bright room toilet and a fiend training room the only space available inside the cast training room features a chandelier that was originally located in the right shop and as one of the few real windows that looks out over the awning above the lobby anybody work in this place I'm an important person what kind of establishment are you running here I can't believe this to try and run the ride as efficiently as possible and get as many guests through the bow hop load in the vehicle has a small green light to the side of the doors as well as on the outside on the panel they are unable to dispatch the ride until the light turns solid green before this it means the previous vehicle has not cleared half way through the fifth dimension see the safety system stops the ride dispatch in early and a blinking green light means the ride is behind the ideal dispatch time new this year a fall down 13 frightening floors on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror when the ride opened until 1996 the ride featured one big draw enter the all-new Twilight Zone Tower of Terror rising to the occasion of our 25th birthday it's now twice the fright it was before thanks to a hair-raising new double drop from 1996 until 1999 and had two drops not to upset you but we've added a little something to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror from 1999 until 2004 it had three drops his name Jim stereos from 2004 for its 10th anniversary randomize drops were introduced not even the staff know which drop sequence will be activated until the right car enters the left and drops or rises over the following year some of the effects are added or upgraded in the corridor scene and when enter in the drop shafts itself we word or lightning and characters lost in the twilight zone being seen for a summer in 2010 a new drop profile was introduced for summer night tastic switch replaced all of the randomized profiles this only lasted the summer and the randomize drops were reintroduced by August of that year wow I see my ex-boyfriend finally got a job but if you want to see something really scary go to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at the disney-mgm studios it's really scary you know I think the Tower of Terror might have been a little too scary for someone as old as Caroline I'm seeing spots other changes rumored to happen to the ride over the years we're to have a bar at the exit of the ride just before the gift shop and a restaurant inside the sunset we located just after the photo purchase point space seemed to be an issue though for these ideas and much of the right building remains unchanged after the closure of the California version of the Tower of Terror and reef even into guardians of the galaxy rumors in the past year fans worried that the same fate may before the Orlando version with a new CBS version of The Twilight Zone come in could Disney be thinking about a refill possibly but with a new guardians right happening at Epcot hmm the reef eeeem is more likely just to remove the references to The Twilight Zone the right could just be the Tower of Tarot of a new pre-show and the removal of the references to the show as it's unlikely Disney would use a non Disney IP again at the pass with only a few left awaiting a new feed our concepts our movies are not for children and they're not just for adults they're for everybody and even though this is a monumental thrill ride it is one that you feel totally safe and that you have a more than just a thrill experience you have the intellectual experience of going into the twilight zone it's hard to picture the Florida version without the Twilight Zone but whatever happens to the original Tower of Terror hey at least we still have the movie right [Music] thank you so much for watching this episode of expedition Hollywood studios have you ridden the Tower of Terror at Hollywood studios and what do you want to see happen with the reefing of this attraction let us know in the comments below follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates on upcoming expeditions and a special thank you to our patrons for support in the channel we will see you next time hey I'm in a TV I'm stuck in a TV I've gone into the twilight zone I should have listened to Rod Serling all these years he was always saying you're passing into another dimension cool isn't [Music]

Channel: Expedition Theme Park

Views: 189,767

Keywords: Expedition theme park, expedition hollywood studios, twilight zone, tower of terror, mgm studios, hollywood studios, sunset boulevard, rod sterling, best disney ride, mission breakout, theme park history, tower of terror hollywood studios, tower of terror ride history, twilight zone ride, twilight zone 2019, guardians of the galaxy mission breakout, mgm, hollywood, jordan peele, twilight, zone, tower, of, terror, disney rides, history, walt disney world

Id: eyOvr7JZIs8

Length: 16min 57sec (1017 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 16 2019