Hold On To Your Hat!!!
A review of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
By Frank Davis
When you make a trip to Walt Disney World® Resorts, don't forget to stop at Disney-MGM Studios. The park as a whole is great to educate while it entertains you about the making of movies and animated features. The atmosphere is so well done that as you go through the area you almost feel like you've change era in each step. There are a few rides there that show you the makings behind the scenes of things, and they are great to learn on.
Besides Star Tours© Disney/Lucasfilm, Inc. (on the other side of the park), there are only two rides that now do anything for me there on an entertainment value. After you start down Hollywood Boulevard with the Chinese Theater standing out at the end of the roadway, you take a right onto Sunset Boulevard. You look down the street and looming over the end of the "up" end of Hollywood is the seemingly abandoned Hollywood Tower Hotel. You get closer and closer moving past stores and other places of eatery as you seemed drawn to this building. You past the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater entrance until you reach the end of the street. To your left is an archway with a life size car upside down in the arch way. To your right is the walkway going upward on the hill to the entrance of the Hollywood Tower Hotel. You've reached the end of Sunset and the entrances to the best rides in MGM.
A bit of advice before I take you on the rides. First, DO NOT EAT BEFORE RIDING!!!!! These are wilder than anything else in the whole resorts. Second, check out the waiting time for the standby lines. Third, get a Disney's FASTPASS® Ticket. This is one of the best thing they ever introduced to Disney for a long time. The eating rule is self explanatory. The time and Disney's FASTPASS® Ticket are the best for you. I would go to see which has the longest waiting time and then go to the Disney's FASTPASS® Ticket booth for that ride. Then ride the other one by the time you get done one, your time is almost there for the next one.
First we'll start with the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™. You turn up to the right to follow the cobbled walkway to the iron gate leading up to the Tower. A quick history of the Hollywood Tower Hotel as told to us by brochure. The HTH was center of all activities in Hollywood during the late thirties. If you were anyone and wanted to be seen, you were at the HTH. Movie deals, stars staying and other high scale activities were always held at the hotel. The year was 1939 and it was Halloween night. Five people (two lovers, a child star, her nanny and a bellhop) climbed on to a Main Lobby Elevator to go to the Tip Top Club at the top of the Hotel. They started up like any other ride upward but it stopped there. Suddenly, a lightning bolt hit the Hotel(precisely the elevator shaft these people were riding in) and the entire elevator shaft phased and disappears from our existence. Since this happened, the Hotel fell on hard times. It was closed and it's closing also brought down G-Force Records and the area fell to disrepairs.
Now you are allowed to come back to the Tower Hotel. You can see the missing shafts as you get closer to the building itself as you move toward the Main Lobby. The mists of time float over the vegetation along the walkway. You see the signs pointing to different parts of the Hotel that were legends to the Hollywood of old but you press on past the empty water fountain under the patio area leading to the Main Entrance.
As you enter, you feel the age of time as left this place behind. The Concierge Desk, Main Desk and tables of the Main Lobby are covered in dust from lack of attention. You turn and see the Main Lobby Elevator doors with the Directory List all in jumbles. The bellhops direct your little group to a study just off the Main Lobby. The doors are closed.
You look around and notice the ravage of time seems non existent here except for the dust. Suddenly, the lights go off and a bolt of lightning hits outside the study's window. The television on the book shelf comes to life and the familiar strains of the theme to the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ comes from it as Rod Sterling does the opening monologue. He tells you the story of the Tower Hotel and then tells you have the opportunity to take part in this story. The door at the other end of the study opens as the bellhops lead you to the Service Elevators. You take you seat and a lap bar comes down across your lap.
The doors close in front of you as the elevator starts on it's slow trip upward. Your ride stops and the doors in front of you open. You can see down a long hallway with room doors on either side and a curtained window at the very end. Suddenly, a blue mist appears in the area in front of you in the hallway. It starts to take shape and looks like the missing patrons of the Hotel. They beckon you to come to them. Lightning arcs off their bodies hitting the walls and floor. The whole area around you and above turns to a star field as the strain of the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ theme is heard. The window is the only thing left as it floats in space toward you then suddenly shatters.
The doors close and you continue upward. The doors open again and the car starts to move forward into the blackness. You see blue shadowy figures and shapes all round you themed on the objects in the Zone's opening and the missing people. If you listen closely, you can hear the young starlet's voice singing a children's song. The car goes forward more until lightning hits in front of your car making a doorway appear in the star field. Before you can take account of where you are, you rocket upward fast until you come even with an elevator door that opens out to the park. You can see over all of Disney-MGM Studios until...it drops. But before you can scream, you launched back upward to another door over looking the park. Another drop, another launch before the final flash of light and the big drop. You drop down and down until..... well, I'll leave that for you to find out.
After you leave the basement of the Hotel, there are monitors that have pictures that were taken of you during your drop. Mind the number of your picture if you want to get it for friends to see.
After you survive The The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ and if you still have the stomach, cross the pathway over to the G-Force Record building. You'll see the upside down car riding on the elongated neck of the giant guitar in front of the building. You follow the walkway up to the entrance and go into the lobby of G-Force Records. You'll see the poster of the many stars that the record company has promoted over the years. Following the line you go the hallway lined with gold records that their stars have been awarded. You suddenly can hear the music of "Walk This Way" floating down the hallway toward you. You enter a closed in booth with the recording studio between you and the Master booth where you see Aerosmith mixing another version of that great song. (Reviewer's note: It was pointed out to me by people who know Aerosmith [Joe Perry is from my ex-wife's hometown] that the way the studio is setup here is exactly how they have it setup when they record. They made all the adjustments before the ride was opened so that it was realistic to their unique recording style.)
They look up and wave at you saying Hi as they continue to work. The door behind them leading to the alley opens and you see a stretch limo out there waiting for them as their manager comes in to get them to get going to the concert across town. But being the fan's band that they are, they ask her to make it so we can go to the concert with them. Backstage passes and all to the concert for us. She said ok as they jump into the limo and you see Steve standing in the sunroof waving bye to us.
After a phone call, she gets a super stretch limo to whisk us to the concert. At this you go through a door that leads to the alley behind the studios and you see your limo waiting. You can chicken out at a certain point but once you get in the car, there is no turning back. The shoulder/lap bar comes down over your shoulders and locks you in. The car goes forward and then backs up. Pumped through speakers surrounding you in the headrest, side walls and even under your seat is a "live" broadcast of the concert. You hear the traffic report telling you that it is congested all the way to the concert. Above you is a marquee with sayings flashing around on it and just under it is a traffic light. Suddenly you hear Steve doing a countdown and at two, the tires squeal as you are launched into a flashing tunnel of lights then darkness.
The ride itself is great. It is three thousand four hundred and three feet long, it reaches speeds of 57 MPH (only Test Track is the fastest on Disney Property), two inversions (turned upside down) and one corkscrew (the corkscrew is the only thing you know is coming because there is a sign telling you about it.) and it last three minutes thirty seconds. The songs you hear varies from car to car but the songs you can hear are 9 Lives, Sweet Emotion, Back in the Saddle, Dude Looks Like a Lady, Love in an Elevator, Walk This Way, Young Lust, F.I.N.E., and Love In a Rollercoaster.
I'm a roller coaster lover and I have to admit that is one of the best I've ridden on in a very long time. Space Mountain seems so cramp in comparison to this one. The atmosphere and such is what makes this one of the best rides in MGM.
So if you like to get scared, love the rush of the air through your hair, the thrill of speed and just plain fun take that right onto Sunset and walk this way to the end of the line to two of the best rides that Disney has created (so far!).
