 Tower
of Terror is quite possibly DisneySea's most exciting attraction.
It's classified as a thrill ride, but what makes this attraction so
fantastic is a brilliant buildup to the heart-stopping climax.
The buildup to this attraction starts before you even get in line. The
Tower of Terror is truly towering and impossible to ignore; it's nearly as tall as DisneySea's iconic Mount Prometheus, and can be seen
from just about anywhere in the Park. Like the rest of DisneySea, its
design and attention to detail is exquisite, and one can spend a great
deal of time just standing outside admiring the architecture. It is even
more impressive at night, when beautiful theme and special-effects
lighting can be fully appreciated.
Tower of Terror has a background story, bits and pieces of which can be
found by reading the mock newspapers posted around the attraction and
which is
further explained on the attraction itself (albeit in Japanese). The
story goes something like this: Harrison Hightower III was a wealthy and
notorious explorer and collector. On New Year's Eve 1899, he was to hold
a press conference in his luxurious Hotel Hightower to announce his
acquisition of a strange statue named Shiriki Utundu, recovered on an
expedition to a remote region of Africa. Something went terribly wrong
however: As Mr. Hightower was taking his statue to the hotel's penthouse apartment,
the elevator inexplicably came crashing down to the ground! The statue was the only
thing found in the elevator; Mr. Hightower mysteriously disappeared
without a trace. (It was after this "accident" that people began calling
the hotel the "Tower of Terror.") The hotel remained closed for over 100
years, but was recently opened by the New York City Preservation Society
to allow people to tour the hotel and view Mr. Hightower's collection of
treasures.
Your "tour" of the hotel starts in the lobby. Here you can view some of
the lavish decor, and also see the now-destroyed elevator that Mr. Hightower was
riding in on that fateful night he disappeared. As you reach the end of
the lobby, you form into a group and a cast member explains a little
about Harrison Hightower III and his statue. You're then taken into Mr. Hightower's private office, where the story about the mysterious statue
is further revealed in dramatic fashion. I won't spoil the surprise, but
I will say the special effects here are amazing, and further build up
anticipation of the ride itself.
The queue winds through a warehouse holding additional treasures and
artifacts, and you finally reach your destination: the service elevator
that will take you up to the penthouse. Unlike any other service
elevator I've been in, this one is equipped with about 20 seats, each
seat having its own automobile-style three-point seatbelt. After you're
belted in, your ride to the top begins. On the way however you
encounter the statue Shiriki and experience firsthand its terrifying
power. After the statue casts its spell, elevator doors open and
you get a bird's-eye view of DisneySea from high up in the tower. The
view doesn't last long however, as the elevator suddenly drops in a
freefall! Of course you stop short of crashing to the ground, and eventually wind up safe and sound back at the ground floor.
Although the "freefall" element may put some people off, the stops and
starts of the freefall are very smooth and in and of itself not
particularly scary. As mentioned earlier, it's the superb, multi-layered
buildup to the freefall that makes it so dramatic. Although the "thrill
ride" portion of the attraction lasts only a few moments, the attraction
as a whole is truly exhilarating and—unless you just don't like thrill
rides—something that should not be missed. |
