Should I ride the tower of terror?

[youngaussienurse]

Is this ride really scary? I am not into rollercoasters etc (I was too chicken to do splash mountain or space mountain even though I wanted too). I have heard the effects on the tower of terror are great but is it actually really scary to ride? TIA

 

[blondeheroine]

You only live once. Ride it once. If you hate it, you never have to go again, but you can at least say you tried it. If you love it, well - there's always fastpass.

 

[dwheatl]

It depends what scares you. The ride is like an elevator, in the dark for a major part of it. You drop pretty quickly, then bounce up and down so fast that sometimes it's difficult to tell if you are going up or down. I love the feeling, but it's not for everybody. At one point, you are up pretty high, and you look out over MGM, so people who are afraid of heights might be frightened by it too. I say give it a try using a fast pass or when there is a short line. You may be like me and end up loving it.

 

[dogsmom]

I'm not a big roller coaster person. My DD14 shamed me into going on this ride with her. I kept my eyes closed the whole time. It wasn't too bad if you don't mind dropping motions. I think I would go on it again. And keep my eyes closed again!!

 

[Vallie]

me and my little sister both rode this last time we went to disney
i was 15 and she was 9 and from what i remember it was SOOO much fun and im not one to like rides like there where you drop straight down!

the only thing that scared me when i went on it was there was only lap bars across your lap! i think they have changed that now!

 

[Brocktoon]

Another vote to do it! (along with Splash, Space Mountain, Mission Space, Rockin' Rollercoaster etc ...)

How many chances will you ever get to hit these rides? Carpe Diem and all that good stuff. Unless you really think there will be serious medical issues with hitting any of these rides, try it at least once. As BHeroine mentioned, even if you don't like it, you still will have accomplished a great mental/personal victory.

 

[lovethattink]

I've been on Tot many times. It has never gotten my stomach until this last time. Each ride sequence is different. The ride sequence I had the last time, had a bunch of small drops, but the ascentions were mostly from the bottom to the way top. My stomach was in knots. It was the first time ever that the tower was so exciting for me. My SIL came off shaking.

 

[kd2226]

I recently rode TOT and I'm glad I did, but I won't do it again. I hate big drops. My family all felt it was scarier than Space Mountain, Splash Mountain or Thunder Mountain... maybe start with one of them and work your way up to it?

 

[GadgetRick]

It has been one of my favorite attractions since they opened it. I miss the lap bars, you could actually come off your seat with those.

It's a blast. Give it a shot!

 

[mtemm]

I would try splash first, personally. It far less scary with a far tamer drop. And its soooo much fun. I did do TOT once, and while it was fun, I'm not a drop fan so haven't done it since. I may do it again someday, but so far haven't.

 

[disnut8]

Here's my advice to you. You don't have to do the actual drops. Go through the queue line and experience the preshow (that's a show in itself). After that, you will go through the boiler room which is pretty creepy, in my opinion. If you are still unsure, you can always bail. I can't ride this anymore but I love doing everything up until that point. I just tell the Cast Member there is one to ride and one to leave. It's no big deal at all. You'll be directed over to the Express Elevator and taken to an area right before the picture place is. That's the exit to the ride itself. You can meet the rest of your party after they are done dropping. It's about a 10-15 minute wait if even that long.

So you can do most of the experience but not the actual drops. That's the best part of Twilight Zone for me anyway. Of course, if you decide to do the drops, go ahead and do it.

 

[SPAM]

i personally love it, so i would say ride it. I don't think its scary but that my opinion.

 

[kaytieeldr]

You only live once. Ride it once. If you hate it, you never have to go again, but you can at least say you tried it. If you love it, well - there's always fastpass.

I absolutely agree with this point of view! I rode Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure once, by myself (entirely by myself; my friends stopped for breakfast, and it was a drizzly midwinter morning so NOBODY had made their way over to that side of the park yet). I will never ride it again, but I did experience it ONE time...

 

[crashbb]

I just rode this on Sunday and loved it. One thing that would have helped me, is knowing when the drops were going to come. I was tensed for the drops from pretty much the start of the ride, until the boy sitting next to me said that we were safe "until the window opens". That made things much better.

The drops/rises are very quick (I think we did four or five - it was hard to count) and lots of fun (and I normally hate drop rides).

 

[Brocktoon]

I was tensed for the drops from pretty much the start of the ride, until the boy sitting next to me said that we were safe "until the window opens". That made things much better

It depends on what it meant by 'the window'. The ToT won't start dropping/rising until the mirrored doors (with the light shining through) opens up. But, some people thought the actual doors that open on the MGM park view open before the 1st drop. You can actually launch upwards first (and maybe even drop 1st) without the park view doors. That can catch some ususpecting people by surprise the first time that happens

 

[loubelou]

I hate the feeling of falling and falling from a great height is one of my greatest fears. However, I did ride TOT back in 2001 to appease my DH. I'm glad I rode it, but I will not ride it again. It's just not for me. The falling feeling freaks me out just a little too much.

I must say that I do think that this ride has one of the best "set-ups" of any ride at WDW. That is one of the reasons I'm glad I did it once. My youngest son is now going to be my DH's riding partner for this ride. This is my DH's favorite ride at WDW and he enjoys having someone to share it with.

 

[epfootballcutie04]

ok up until about oh, this summer, lol... i was TERRIFIED of big rides and i was so embarassed because im 20, and all of my friends are ride dare devils. so... i went to my local theme park and rode a ride the is ALL outiside and bigger than tower of terror by about 50 feet.... it's a ride that brings you all the way up (250 ft) dangles you there for about 11 seconds and drops the daylights out of you... alllllllllll the way down.

my point of this story was to try everything once! Because i did that, i a. got over my fear of heights, b. gained more ride confidence, and c. had the time of my life in disney world in october because i wasnt the one holding everyones bags when they were all on the rides having a great time!

tower of terror was a little different than my local theme park ride (if you're curious go to www.valleyfair.com and search the 'power tower')

i say it was different because tower of terror is all indoors and you're only wearing a seatbelt. no shoulder harness or lap bar. (at least not for me anyway). i loved tower or terror, but the way the seats were made it an awkward feeling of sitting... like i couldnt sit how i wanted to to prepare myself for the drop. but i still loved it.

i never went on roller coasters either, but i went on rockin roller coaster AND everest in disney world.... and of course, i bought ALL the pictures from the big rides to prove to my friends i did them!!!!

ill end this now, but i think everyone should try something at least once... unless of course you have certain issues that it would be safer for you not to try it at all.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

 

[HappyLawyer]

yes, ride it, i think there are 5 or 6 different versions of the ride, we rode it 4 times, and it seemed to do different things, so i asked and yes, it varies

 

[OMickeyURSoFine]

I'm with the "you should try it at least once" camp. It's one of my favorite rides; I've been on it many, many times and everytime we're in line the anticipation is so great I can hardly stand it! But like others have said, the preshow is good, so at the very least see that and then you can always bail before you get in the ride vehicle Just my 2 cents!

 

[aide4]

You have to try it once!!