The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

penfold12 · August 05, 2006, 02:16:17 PM

Yeah thats right. If I remember correctly, the Tower was originaly goning to be a "weenie" for the park, at the end of a long street similat to Sunset Blv in MGM. If this is the case, it was never designed to be situated in the centre of the park, but on the outskirts, as all the other three towers are, with the back facing the outside of the parks.

Anthony · August 05, 2006, 03:45:49 PM

Quote from: "Jon"but im not possitive but someone told me that that design TOT was designed for paris but, while they were building the studios they ran out of money or something so it was put back, and in the mean time they used the same design in DCA, so they really have the paris tower, just built before the 1 in paris.

Yep, that's true. It was designed for the WDS during its construction and was due to open in 2004 I think, but since the resort went through *another* financial restructuring it never happened. They built the "Toilets of Terror" though, because I think the park needed more. DCA then hit trouble and, since the Paris ToT plans were just lying around, they made good use of them.

Quote from: "penfold12"Yeah thats right. If I remember correctly, the Tower was originaly goning to be a "weenie" for the park, at the end of a long street similat to Sunset Blv in MGM. If this is the case, it was never designed to be situated in the centre of the park, but on the outskits, as all the other three towers are, with the back facing the outside of the parks.

Believe it or not, the Tower has always been planned for that spot in the middle of the park, right from day 1. That's why La Terrasse with the "HTH" engraving has been there from the start. There's a map somewhere from 2002 showing ToT on that spot as well. I guess the Imagineers thought that, since the rest of the studios would have to be built as cheaply as possible, if they put the big, iconic E-Ticket with amazing themeing in the middle of park then everyone is distracted by it, and it improves the whole of the park. I'm not sure why they didn't make the back of the tower more exciting, I think they just didn't want to crowd it with detail that would detract from the front of the Tower (see Tokyo's version). With this design, all the emphasis is on the massive purple/black lightning strike at the front. With Tokyo's version, your eyes aren't attracted to that place as much, since the rest of it is so crowded with detail. The back of the Tower might not be an Imagineering masterpiece, but in my opinion in this case: less is more.

As Peter Bell revealed in his newest MiceAge article, the rumours of the Tower being situated at the back of the park come from a "blue sky" plan drawn up by Imagineer Peter McGraph in 2003, to show what he believed the park would need in order to become a full day park. The plan also featured Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast and The Legend Of The Lion King, so it's clear that it was never really used... so far at least.

penfold12 · August 05, 2006, 04:11:59 PM

Yeah, thats right! I knew I had read it somewhere!!! To be honest, all I hope is that the surrounding area is as themed as much as MGM. The gardens there really add to the build up and theming.

I take it the shop and photo location are opening with the ride? I remember going to MGM the year it opened and the exit to the ride was not through the store etc. That was all opened at a later stage.

Anthony · August 05, 2006, 04:33:45 PM

Yes, the photo area and shop will both be there at opening!

It will be interesting to see what they do with the area around the Tower. There's hardly any space there at all, but hopefully they'll use it well and put lots of overgrown greenery and palm trees. It should be better intergrated into the park than DCA's anyway, since from photos and videos theirs definitely looks like it was slapped on the edge of the park at the last minute (which I guess it was... lol).

I hope they use the patches of grass that used to be in the spot between La Terrasse and the Armadillo for some nice big garden areas.

It will also be interesting to see what happens with the Toilets of Terror, since I don't think they have them at DCA. At the moment the building doesn't fit with the ToT style, it looks too new and the roof doesn't look right... hopefully it'll all be integrated together somehow for 2007/08.

Fantillusion · August 05, 2006, 09:02:20 PM

I dont know why they opended those toilets as there was other ones across the parade route. I think ?

Anthony · August 05, 2006, 09:19:22 PM

The Rendez-Vous des Stars toilets are pretty small, so are the Toilets of Terror really. The nearest ones were Studio 1 or Art of Disney, so that's a not a lot of toilet-capacity for a Disney theme park. :wink: lol

Fantillusion · August 05, 2006, 09:53:35 PM

I can see more toilets coming when toon studio opens!

Dlrpfan · August 06, 2006, 02:29:20 PM

lol yea and i will be in them!

Anthony · August 06, 2006, 03:36:54 PM

Quote from: "Dlrpfan"lol yea and i will be in them!

Rather than being on Crush's Coaster? :-s

I think this topic is going off-topic now... And please make sure there's actually a point to every post you make.

Fantillusion · August 06, 2006, 05:40:37 PM

If they has to be a point to every post you tell then pretty much all of my posts are duds!

Daniel · August 07, 2006, 10:15:05 AM

I think Baloo means that you should try and make some posts that don't have only a few words, as that is classed as spam.

DisneyBud · August 09, 2006, 01:58:04 AM

Well well well! After doing some research to the background of tower of terror (story etc) I can now say that i cannot wait until this ride opens!!! Having recently been converted into a thrill-seek ride addict from my first trip to DLRP only a few weeks ago, I am eagerly anticipating this ride.

P.S My first post woohoo

/ I am now in love with Disney and hope to go again at Xmas, and hopefully get a job there next year working in the Parade dpt, but thats another story!

Bye for now!

penfold12 · August 09, 2006, 07:53:35 PM

Any news on how the painting of the building is gonig on? We had a few pics with a small section of the back painted. Any more anywhere? Is it all the paler colour?

Anthony · August 09, 2006, 09:40:26 PM

You can't beat DCP for the newest photos: http://disneycentralplaza.aceboard.fr/p ... #id1547892 :wink:

From the photos and posts of people there, it seems they're putting texture onto the tower as well as the paint/primer. I suppose when you think about it, painting right onto bare concrete wouldn't give a very authentic 70-year-old-hotel look, so they need to rough it up a bit. Maybe another piece of evidence (if we need it) this isn't the final colour? :?

penfold12 · August 09, 2006, 10:16:54 PM

without wanting to sound negative, I hope it isnt the final colour. It looks ok againts the blue sky, but imagine it against the grey winter skys, it may look washed out?