4. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Imagineers love developing backstories for attractions at Walt Disney World, and no attraction is a better testament to that than the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It goes something like this: during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the Hollywood Tower Hotel which sits on Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, was a place where Hollywood’s elite could get away from it all—almost without leaving home. Its beauty, elegance and luxury made it quite the establishment until October 31, 1939, when a freak storm struck the hotel’s structure. Five guests of the hotel who were in an elevator at the hotel vanished, and to this day, they have yet to be accounted for. After that fateful night, the once-glorious hotel closed its doors forever, and you can tell—the dust, dirt and cobwebs that litter the hotel lobby are undeniable. You’ll see the lobby, as it is part of the queue for the attraction. But something creepy happens as you stroll through the queue—you are overcome with the feeling that this wasn’t merely a backstory conjured up by Disney Imagineers.
Luggage belonging to guests checking in to the hotel remains untouched, save for the cobwebs and dust that drape over them. Plants that once beamed with vivid color and life lay dead all around the hotel. A large traveling trunk near the concierge desk is nearly unrecognizable because of all the dust over it, and the Guest Registrar is still opened to the last page signed by the most recent guest to enter the hotel. A table hosts a set of dominoes in play, and the four chairs around the table are still pulled out, as if there were guests just recently sitting in them. As you make your way through the queue, you enter a darkened room that’s closed off from other areas of the hotel. You hear more about that fateful night in 1939—and more about the “tour” you’re about to take. You’re then led to a huge machine room where you wait in line to board your elevator. Again, something’s just not right….and then you begin to hear the screams. What happens next is different for every single person. P.S., you might want to use a FastPass+ for this attraction—if you dare.
