TOT Question

[Robo]

I don't think you can get off after you go through the boiler room-thats where the really great stuff begins including the ghosts & window etc. then the drops.

No, the BOILER ROOM is the "inside" QUEUE.

Its the dark celler-like area with all of the pipes and furnace equipment (sometimes called "boilers") between the library where Rod Serling "welcomes" you and the elevator loading positions.

Once you reach the CM "bellhop" who asks how many are in your party... THAT's the point when you can request the "SAFE" way out.

Some impolite people call it the CHICKEN ELEVATOR, but I wouldn't be so crude.

 

[sambahat]

If you haven't been on this ride, do yourself a favor and ride it. I had never been a fan of free-fall drops - they scare the daylights out of me to be quite honest.

But this ride is just plain fun. The effects while on the ride are amazing. Some of the best in all the parks. The rest of my comments are spoilers (highlight to read):


You will be in an elevator with quite a few other people. It's a very stable vehicle. Not like a wobbly cage you might get at Six Flags.
The elevator goes up and stops at different floors where you view a different scene. Very cool. It is slow at this point.
Get this: the elevator actually stops going up and down and starts moving along a track like in a dark ride. All along, with the music and feel of a Twilight Zone episode. My absolute favorite part is where the entire insides (including the elevator fade into a star field... like the opening scenes of a Twilight Zone episode. This effect absolutely amazes me. Even the walls inside the elevator fade into the star field... very cool.


Then the fun begins. You will go up and down very fast. Believe it or not, I thought it was mor intense going up! On a free-fall thrill ride you normally go up slowly. Not this one. You go up fast. Then down... then up... then down... You don't know how many times you go up or go down and the length of the drop varies.
If this intimidates you, please, please don't let it. You are inside most of the time; there are a couple of times when the doors open up to the outside. Most of the time, however, you are in the dark. There are things to hold onto which makes it better. If the thought of seeing the outside scares you, just close your eyes when the doors start to open.

If you are lucky enough to go during a time when the crowds are light, go twice: once to get up the nerve and get it over and done, and another to enjoy all the details. Here's the trick: do the second trip immediately after the first one. Your adrenaline will be pumping and you won't be jumping to try it again.

 

[scubamouse]

My DS wanted to go in line and we were pretty sure he wouldn't ride. He joined us until DD and I got on and then we met he and DH afterward.

If there's not a line, it's worth checking out

 

[corinascot]

The cast members working that ride have quite the personalities...be careful that they don't make a big production and embarrass you for taking the 'chicken exit'


So true! I rode TOT once. I was seriously thinking of the chicken exit, but the cast members made it almost impossible to do. In the end I gave in to the pressure. I'm glad I did the ride once, but I'll never do it again. TOT, RnR coaster, Mission Space and the tea cups are the only rides I won't do. But you have to try TOT at least once. It is quite an experience...and I didn't have any motion sickness problems. I don't think I'd wait in line for just the preshow, but if you decide to do that and take the chicken exit, be prepared for some serious pressure from the CMs.

 

[julieannbabe]

Since almost all of question has been answered, I thought I'd add a helpful tip.

If you go on the ride (please do!) it's very easy to not experience the free-falling sensation. Put your seatbelt on extra tight, and during the drops, make your stomach push out and your feet flat in front of you. It really helps. And trust me, the queue line is only HALF of the experience.

Hope that helps!

wow - so that works?

because i hate that feeling in my stomach when it drops.

so will pulling the seatbeat tight help stop that feeling?

 

[Robo]

wow - so that works?

because i hate that feeling in my stomach when it drops.

so will pulling the seatbeat tight help stop that feeling?

Sure!

And, if you pull it REALLY tight, it stops ALL feeling!

 

[metsfan11]

Nope, that IS Rod Serling HIMSELF on the screen.

The ToT ride producers scoured the old Tzone show opens to find one that's footage "worked" with what they were trying to do.

They then "rotoscoped" Mr. Serling ("cut around him" in the film, frame-by-frame) so his moving image could be placed (via special effects) into a shot of the elevator loading area.

However, the VOICE is completely replaced by the number-one Serling voice impressionist.
He has been chosen by the late Rod Serling's WIFE as the man who most-closely SOUNDED like Rod.

The voice actor "lip-synced" to the old Serling footage so Rod's mouth is in perfect sync with the new voice.

The film cuts away from Rod right as he says, "...maintenance service elevator." Because in the original Tzone show open, he was NOT introducing a segment about elevators... so from that exact moment on, the lip-sync would not be right.

BTW, in an episode of the TV series "Medium" earlier this season, the producers shot a show (partly) in 3D.
As this show's opening segment, they chose to use a Rod Serling intro from an old Tzone episode.
(The producer must have just ridden ToT at Disney's California Adventure. )

They hired the SAME voice-actor who we hear at ToT to re-create Rod's voice speaking the new custom script written to go with the 3D "Medium" show.
This time however, they used "computer animation" to RE-FORM the image of Rod's MOUTH to FIT the new script.

It worked pretty well.

wow


the imagineers did such a great job

it looks JUST like he's talking


(i love the new smileys! )

 

[2giddy4wdw]

I can honestly say from my point of view: I get so nervous everytime I ride this ride, I mean to the point that my hands are all sweaty and my heart is beating a mile a minute. But I keep coming back. Our last trip in Nov 05, I actually got to ride it at night. It was awesome. There's something about the adrenaline rush that I love. A little trick I learned this time was just as the cart is moved into the elevator shaft and you know it's time for the drop, cough. A big cough, there is something with the pressure on the nerve in your back that is like a nerve block. I know sounds really weird...but it works. It takes the fright of falling away. DD's best friend was with us and she feels the same way as I do about the ride and she tried it too and it worked for her. Another trick I heard about was laughing while on the ride. But that really didn't work for me.

Also about the way the ride drops...It can also go up first and then drop you. DD and SIL had that happen in 2004 and when we went back in 2005 that's what happened on one of our rides. Freaks you right out since you think that you are going to drop and it shoots you up first.

If you have never been on it, try it once. What's the worse that can happen...you never ride it again. But then again you just might like the adrenaline rush and go back for more.

 

[TheBellhop]

wow - so that works?

because i hate that feeling in my stomach when it drops.

so will pulling the seatbeat tight help stop that feeling?

it wonh't completely stop it, you'll still feel it a little bit, kind of like going over a little bump in the road. But it does significantly reduce the freefall feeling.

 

[3princesses4us]

Thanks Bellhop for the seatbelt advice! I think I'll actually try it this next time with your plan. My children were so disappointed in me that I chickened out last time. Forget that I rode ever other ride at Disney, I'm not cool until I conquer the elevator I guess...

 

[hogwartsdropout]

I love the feeling of coming off my seat a little, feels like I'm flying

 

[Mickeysooner]

Oh my gosh, both me and my DD both know about the chicken exit!!! DD is probably the biggest fan of the ride ever, yet she hates the drops and will not ride. So we take the chicken exit almost every single time, and that's about 1843473 times a trip. Luckily for her though, she knows most of the bell hop cast members so they usually won't harass her for not riding.

 

[auntyjenn]

The great thing about the TOT drops are that they aren't jerky. So, you go up and down a few times, but the CHANGE is gradual, so it's just a nice, fun ride (the rockin rollercoaster was much harder on a body).

Does anyone know if the equipment in the boiler room is real equipment ripped from an old building or is it just made to look like real equipment in an old building (my dad I have icecream riding on this).

I want to go back!!!

 

[Mickeysooner]

I'm pretty sure I've heard my daughter say that the equipment was real, from the 1930's. But I could be wrong.

 

[Collette]

I hope after reading these posts that you decide to not only walk through, but to ride. Every time I get in that elevator and buckle up, I'm saying "what was I thinking!!??!". But I love it and keep going back for more. It truly is a fun ride. And if you get an elevator with an enthusiastic crowd, it is the best.

Our first trip six years ago, I backed out three times. The third time I walked through with my teens and took the chicken elevator. When we were in the preshow room, the bellhop CM overheard me talking to my kids about how worried I was about finding and being able to ride the chicken elevator. Next thing I knew he was somber faced right in front of me and said in a slow, monotone voice, "The only way out is to ride..." I kept worrying that he was right!!

No one gave me a bad time about it. In the elevator I was remarking how discouraged I was with myself for "chickening out". The CM kindly said that I didn't chicken out. I just chose a different way down.

Collette

 

[TheBellhop]

The great thing about the TOT drops are that they aren't jerky. So, you go up and down a few times, but the CHANGE is gradual, so it's just a nice, fun ride (the rockin rollercoaster was much harder on a body).

Does anyone know if the equipment in the boiler room is real equipment ripped from an old building or is it just made to look like real equipment in an old building (my dad I have icecream riding on this).

I want to go back!!!

No, it's actually a new boiler made to like like it was old. There is a hidden mickey painted on one of them to look like a water spot.

 

[auntyjenn]

Please don't take offense, but could you tell me how you happen to know that in case my dad doesn't believe me? (Thanks for replying by the way)

 

[Sinderelli]

I went on TOT when I was 22 and I was fine. However, right after that I developed vertigo (perforated my eardrum, haven't been the same since) and I get sick if I even turn my head too fast! I would love to go on TOT again, but am too scared to risk a whole day of being sick. Does anyone know if the patch for motion sickness will help? BTW, I do not go on ANY of the rides that spin...I went on Splash Mountain in Sept. and got dizzy on the part that drops in the dark. Luckily, that only lasted for about 15 minutes.

 

[TheBellhop]

Please don't take offense, but could you tell me how you happen to know that in case my dad doesn't believe me? (Thanks for replying by the way)

No problem.

Go to hiddenmickeys.org/WDW/Studios/Secrets/TowerTerror.html

And go to fact #65. It will tell you about the boiler.

 

[qtwns]

You guys are awesome!! Thanks for the info and tips for riding. I want to ride it now! Now I have to convince DS or DH to ride it with me. Can't wait!!