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Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Rating: 4 Stars

"And this elevator travels directly to... the Twilight Zone." Simply put, this is a short thrill ride, with a whole plot to it. You will be shot up 13 stories, and then dropped. Then there's a surprise... but I won't ruin that for you.

This ride is one of my two most favorite rides in the MGM Studios. I love the drops and the story. You're senses are always on edge because you never know when that drop is going to hit. I love it.




The elevators travel approximately 32 ft/sec. upward, and 29 ft/sec. downward. So you actually go up faster than you go down.

The clip in the pre-show with Rod Serling is actually taken from an episode of the Twilight Zone entitled "It's a Good Life" in which the announcment is actually "this as you may recognize is a MAP OF THE UNITED STATES"

The inspection sticker in the elevator has the number 10259, or October 2, 1959 which was the date of the first broadcast of The Twilight Zone

While the tower is 199' tall, the elevators only go up to 155', falls 130', leaving 25' for breaking

To help with realism, Disney invited Majong players in to play a game, and walk away mid stream to make the game being played in the lobby more realistic looking

During construction, the building was actually struck by lightning

To accurately depict the mood and feel of the show, imagineers watched each and every episode twice

The elevators not only move verticall, but also horizontally, which is handled by wire-guidance similar to the "tracks" in the Great Movie Ride or Ellen's Energy Adventure

At 199', the Tower of Terror is the tallest attraction in Walt Disney World. At 200', the attraction would be required to have a red beakon on top, and would destroy the theming, so Imagineers stopped at 199'.

Many items in the queue are actual props from episodes of the Twilight Zone series.

The elevators are actually pushed down exceeding the speed of gravity, which will actually give you several moments of floating out of your seat.

The elevators are themed to 1917 caged service elevators.

When the ride opened, there was only 1 big drop. Then they upped that to 2, then 4. Now the drop sequences are randomized by a custom T4 computer program, so you will probably never have the same ride experience each time you ride. The Tower is now in control.

Opened July 22, 1994.