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[DisneyDev]

Thanks for the updates on this.  I would be so disappointed to lose the Tower of Terror as it holds a very special place in my heart, although not for the reasons you might think, as I've actually never been on it!

We went as a family of four last February, to celebrate my wife and I getting married.  We had a DIY wedding with a Mickey and Minnie theme.  She and I couldn't face the idea of going away without the kids so we decided to have a combined honeymoon/family holiday.  I am Disney-daft and it's taken hold of the boys too.  We don't have a lot of money to throw around so we wanted to keep costs down by going for two nights and staying in Santa Fe (myself and my youngest, 4 y/o at the time, love the Cars movies).  I had only ever been once before, when it opened in 1992 so it was very special for me to take my own kids there.

When we were there, my youngest developed this weird fixation with the ToT.  He didn't want to go near it, but wanted to look at it whenever he could, it sounds bizarre but he's quite a character!  He went on and on about it all trip.  When we got home, we thought it would pass but here we are almost 12 months later and he talks about the ToT every ... single ... day ... and that's no exaggeration!

It has kind of become our thing, we have Daddy/son ToT time where we cuddle up and watch videos on it and look at photos on Google, Twitter and Instagram of the Towers in various parks (although we have narrowed it down to Paris and Disneyworld as he cried when DCA changed to GotG and he was freaked out by the monkey in the Tokyo version).

In addition, I made him a complete bellhop costume, painted his bedroom door like service elevator door, made a floor dial for above it, got him a room key and HTH fob, an HTH reception bell, a model of the ToT and a 'do not disturb' door handle sign.  As you might imagine, he is totally in his element!  Every night before he goes to bed, he says "your room is ready" in a ghostly voice.  If we go anywhere with an elevator, even one floor, he insists we go in it so he can be a bellhop and tells people in the elevator to "say goodbye to the real world"!!  He even got a Christmas card last month with his picture on it in his bellhop costume.  At Halloween, he went as a bellhop.  Whenever he hears the words "tower", "terror", "elevator", "thirteen", "floors", "fifth", "dimension", "twilight" or "zone" he gets really excited.  At school, he pretends to be Rod Serling and gets the other kids to join in games to do with elevators.  Ok, now that I have typed all this and looked back, I can safely say my son is obsessed 

Suffice to say, I haven't told him about the proposed change, given how upset he was when the one in DCA changed.  When this happened, he made me promise to take him back again and that Disney would not change 'his' Tower.  As far as he knows, I am saving up to take him back again soon as I promised that the next time we go, we would go to the ToT.  He doesn't want to go on it, he just wants to visit it and meet a real bellhop.  Unfortunately, I am not going to be in a position to take him back before these changes take place.

I am dreading telling him about this 

Maybe he could become obsessed with BTM .... maybe, just maybe ....

[DisneyManiac]

Removing the Twilight Zone theming then? That's interesting. As far as I can tell, ToT isn't down for a refurbishment anytime soon, so it looks like the Twilight Zone will loom over the hotel for a while to come.

But if the Twilight Zone will disappear, then I assume the only stuff that needs to be rewritten is the pre-show and the elevator ride voice over. Oh and of course the name, probably just being shortened to the Tower of Terror. As long as the theming, the music (apart from the Twilight Zone music), the hotel's look and the ride itself is kept the same then that's fine by me.

Oh and by the by, DCA had a Halloween overlay for Breakout, Monsters After Dark. Story goes that the generator in the Tivan Collection went out on Halloween Night (lightning struck the generator room at the top of the tower?) and the building has gone into lockdown following all of the exhibits being released from there cages. At night, the tower has a ominous dark blue glow and a red light can be seen spinning where the generator room is (which is exactly where the Tip Top Club was before...).

So it looks like the Tower of Terror will always be struck by lightning causing issues, no matter the theming.

[Rocketeer]

Further to claire2281's post - another source is also stating that Guardians has been shelved (thankfully).

After months of speculation about the fate of Disneyland Paris Resorts' Tower of Terror, sources state that the expected re-theming of the ride to Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! has been shelved, in favor of a more subtle renovation and re-theming, including a rumored removal of any connection to the Twilight Zone franchise.

The ride is expected to see scaffolding erected May 21st, 2018, with a themed tarp covering the exterior while work takes place, and it is estimated for work to continue through March 2019. Although the attraction will not fully close, details about the new storyline that the attraction will carry are unclear, with rumors that The Walt Disney Company's license on The Twilight Zone intellectual property is coming to an end, and the company may be choosing not to renew it. As a result, the two remaining Twilight Zone themed Tower of Terror attractions in Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World may see storylines changes similar to that of the Hotel Hightower theme at DisneySea in Tokyo.

https://wdwnt.com/2018/02/tower-of-terror-renovation-mission-breakout/

[loladelorean]

Thanks for sharing Rocketeer!!

[Rocketeer]

Hey no problem.

Am I the only one surpruised at how long the attraction will be under refurb? That's 10 months..

At least it'll stay operational though.

[claire2281]

I think the shell of the building needs a lot of work - it doesn't affect the ride operation but from what I've seen people saying the facade is in a right state.

It'll be interesting to see how this affects the use of the ToT as a projection show back drop - there were mutterings that Goofy's Incredible Christmas wouldn't return this year and this surprised a lot of people as it was deemed a huge success. Maybe it won't be possible to project onto it whilst the works are taking place - depends what they cover it with I presume and how close it matches the normal outline of the building.

[Oswald]

I am glad the GotG-makeover is not coming to the WDS. Even though the new pre-show and actual ride looks quite cool, changing the Tower would have ruined the little bit of old-Hollywood-era atmosphere that currently exists at the Studios in Paris.

Now that the Twilight Zone references are going and the Hollywood Tower Hotel staying, I wonder if they still will replace it with some other TV-show or movie theme or just keep it as a haunted Hollywood hotel. The only other themes I could spontaneously think of would be the X-Files or Doctor Strange.

X-Files could become an option with the Fox-acquisition. It is still a popular show about unsolved mysteries with a creepy theme song.

Doctor Strange would fit well with the whole dimensions-theme and if Marvel moves into the Back Lot. Instead of Rod Serling Doctor Strange could appear as the narrator on the TV screen and warn us about what happened in the Hotel. Maybe he could then even save us at the end of the ride and bring us back into the right dimension.

Otherwise I don't think many people in Europe actually know the Twilight Zone TV series anyway and the ride still worked well for them. So maybe no reference to any TV show or movie will be absolutely fine.

What do you think?

Have a nice weekend!

[Jules Verne]

Though i am/will be gutted at loosing the Twilight Zone story i feel like it's been a save by not having a GotG overlay.
The story is great the way it is and it would of needlessly clashed with the look of the area.

[Thaliel]

Thank goodness!
The hotel theme is just perfect. I suppose the new look will not differ much to the old one. If any of ypu play magic kingdoms on their mobile device, its TOT looks very similar to the paris tower, so that would be lovely

[DisneyManiac]

So without the Twilight Zone...

The Hollywood Tower Hotel's mysterious circumstance for being struck by lightning many years ago would need readjusting. Maybe Florida's would adopt the film's storyline with Sally Shine and well, the film was going to have a reboot, so I guess that would be Paris's version of events...

[loladelorean]

I've been to Tokyo and in my opinion the Hightower Hotel storyline works well, without much change to the layout or experience of the ride. I'm assuming this is a purely fictional story created by Disney (correct me if I'm wrong) so adopting it in Paris could be an option, rather than getting into another expensive franchise.
The gist of the story in Tokyo is that the hotel was owned by an eccentric explorer who gathered mystical artefacts on his travels, there are a lot of cool animatronics and bits of decor as a result. The lift breakdown is explained by a curse being put on the hotel by one of the artefacts. That's what I remember anyway!
No evidence for this, just a theory