Touring the Tower of Terror and other Ghoulish Delights! Sept 13 TR | FINALx2 4/17!!!
- Thread starter danimaroo
- Start date
Miss Potts
Mouseketeer
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- Mar 2, 2013
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Great updates!
OK.. I'm glad Katt said it too.. but I too seriously thought the ice cream was a slab of butter! I was initially very grossed out! Hahahaha!
I'm so jealous you got the American Dream... I specifically went to get one on my last trip because one of your last TR's... BUTTTT they don't have it available during F&W whomp whomp whomp
Seriously - you'd think they'd have better washer and dryers... who wants to spend so much vacation time doing laundry! You are very considerate not to hog both washers!
Your Epcot photos at night are fantastic!
But I can't wait for the next update... I LOVE TOT!!!
OK.. I'm glad Katt said it too.. but I too seriously thought the ice cream was a slab of butter! I was initially very grossed out! Hahahaha!
I'm so jealous you got the American Dream... I specifically went to get one on my last trip because one of your last TR's... BUTTTT they don't have it available during F&W whomp whomp whomp
Seriously - you'd think they'd have better washer and dryers... who wants to spend so much vacation time doing laundry! You are very considerate not to hog both washers!
Your Epcot photos at night are fantastic!
But I can't wait for the next update... I LOVE TOT!!!
danimaroo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
- Messages
- 1,643
I feel like your TRs are my crack. Lol! I read the last two before bed the other night and had the craziest Disney dream ever. Which was totally Awesome because it was like a free mini vacation to WDW. WOOOOOO!
I am so excited to write a TR after our adventure in September. The last time we went, I overlooked the Haunted Mansion (*shame*) because it was my first time and I was really under prepared for the absolutely ginormous size of the world. This time I have done mucho research and feel like I'm ready for a disney battle...Haha! Totally gonna try Raglan Road also. Cannot wait!
Wooooo for your next update....just saying
Haha, that's such a nice compliment actually!! And kind of hilarious that you had a crazy Disney trip!
Writing TRs are a ton of fun... also a ton of work, but fun! BUT I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DID NOT GO ON THE HAUNTED MANSION. I GUESS we'll let it slide since Disney World IS huge and overwhelming, but still! You must go on it. Numerous times. And yes to Raglan Road!! I'm glad you are going into it with lots of research done, hahaha.
So much delicious EPCOT food!
Cannot wait to see your ToT tour!!
Indeed! I can't waaaait to post about it. I know I've been making people wait for what seems like forever! Haha.
"Morocoo is one of the most underrated (if not THE most underrated) countries in Epcot" Sing it sister!!!! I started to really appreciate it back in April on my solo trip.
I hear ya. Sometimes I feel so self conscious taking pictures in some places.
Haha, that's one thing about Disney birds... they have NO FEAR!
on the "Non Stop Eating". That made me laugh because it's so true. Trip Reports tend to hit the highlights and there's potential hours between some sentences, but it looks like it's all one thing after the other. We ate, we rode "X", We ate. I see that all the time and when you pointed that out, it just really struck me funny.
Yeah, it looks like you had a fabulous spot for Illuminations!
You're the second one recently commenting on the slowness of the Dryers (And not even the same resort) so clearly there's an issue. I hate waiting around like that.
And also... I WANNA TOUR THE TOWER NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
It's the truth! We're big fans of Morocco, and Matt even owns the World Showcase t-shirt for Morocco.
Yeah, I just stopped because the people were getting very upset, haha. Not worth some old people raging out on me over it.
Disney birds really have no fear whatsoever.
THANK YOU! It's just funny because it seems like you are reporting on every second of your trip when that's not always the case! So it just seemed like nonstop eats. I mean, don't get me wrong, we love all that Disney has to offer food-wise, but we do take breaks.
We had a great spot, it just wasn't EXACTLY where I'd hoped we would be. There's always next time though!
The dryers are the wooooorst. So slow and they never dry your clothes properly. Unless of course you're okay with re-upping the dryer like 10 times over a period of 8 hours. NO THANKS.
I KNOW I CAN'T EVEN WAIT. I promise it will be soon!!
Thank you! The funnel cake is fantastic, especially with the vanilla ice cream to cut the chocolateness a little bit.
Oh my gosh, they're the worst! And I can't believe someone did that, that's rude. That happened to me once in college and I was NOT happy. But yeah, I mean, free is free, but it's just such a pain. The one thing I missed about staying in a one-bedroom: in-room dryers!
Haha yeah, for sure!!
World Showcase has some amazing little secret areas that I think a lot of people don't look at!
Haha, I totally thought it looked like a slab of butter. So gross... but the ice cream was super good!! If I were to eat it without ice cream, I'd ask for them to not put the chocolate sauce on top.
Ohhh, so are you guys going to be there during F&W? I thought you were just missing it! That will definitely be nice! We'll probably only go one afternoon, otherwise avoiding Epcot like that plague before we leave during the weekend, haha.
Yeah, we were just laughing like a ridiculous amount. I don't really care if people find it funny, just because I do, hahaha. I mean, I hope people do, but oh well if they don't!
It's SUPER GOOD... well, if you like coconut and custard. But the bread isn't THAT sweet, either. It's just delicious. And yes, we were definitely overlap in dates, as we will be there the 10th-21st! So if you see us, PLEASE SAY HI! I'm not gonna lie though, I laughed SO HARD at you calling me famous on here.
Oh my gosh! I mean, thank you, but I swear, I'm just some goob who loves Disney and writing about it, hahaha. But please say hi if you spot us!!I'm glad my TR is helpful!! I did know that about Morocco, thanks to Matt being the Disney history buff. He's obsessed with that stuff. He also told me about how Israel was going to have a pavilion, and was in Disney when they advertised it as "coming soon", but then it fell through. I love hearing about all that stuff though!
Great update!
Thank you!
Thank you! It totally looks like a slab of butter and I'm not sure WHY they put it on there like that! I was totally expecting soft serve, hahahaha.
That is so sad! The American Dream is the best! I think you can get a version of it at Sleepy Hollow, but it may not have the ice cream, which kind of defeats the purpose.
I know, it's one of my not-so-favorite parts of vacation. BUT we always do it late at night and get stupid silly from being so tired, so I guess in a way, it's kind of fun, haha. And yeah, I just think it's kind of rude to take up both washers or dryers. There are only 2 of each, and a lot of people staying at the resort!
Thank you so much! I can't wait to get to the next update. It was the coolest thing ever.
danimaroo
DIS Veteran
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- Sep 21, 2011
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Haha, this is true! Though I'm sure a CM would have yelled at me... and I can't imagine chocolate is great for ducks. Then again, they've probably eaten everything you could imagine, so maybe not.
Oh my gosh, it was just silly. I'm sure they've fixed it by now, but maybe not. It definitely made us laugh!
DanniDeer
adventure is out there!
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2012
- Messages
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The American Dream is the third greatest beverage I've ever had at Epcot. It has some pretty stiff competition with the violet lemonade from F&G last year, and a habanero margarita at F&W. BUT I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH.
I completely understand your dryer frustrations, except that's our every day life. The dryers for our apartment suck butts. I could take a picture of our dressers right now and you'd see clothes all over them from laundry yesterday, scout's honor.
Also, I am going to keep using your TR to remind you how close our PNW adventure is becoming. Which will be 17 days in a few minutes. DYING.
I completely understand your dryer frustrations, except that's our every day life. The dryers for our apartment suck butts. I could take a picture of our dressers right now and you'd see clothes all over them from laundry yesterday, scout's honor.
Also, I am going to keep using your TR to remind you how close our PNW adventure is becoming. Which will be 17 days in a few minutes. DYING.
emmysmommy
DIS Veteran
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- Messages
- 5,070
Uhhh yeah, I've often wondered when they will be updating the American Dream video and remove Lance Armstrong. 
It just seems odd that they could have done that several years ago when his medals/wins were stripped from him. I will shamelessly admit that I do love that song. But you don't have to fear that I will be walking around singing it. 
I've wanted to try one of those funnel cakes but have not had the opportunity. Maybe next time. I'll take your advice and split it so that it doesn't end up replacing about 2 meals.
Wow, those dryers are weak. Sounds like sometime early the next morning the clothes may have been dry. Plan B sounds like it will get the job done!
I'm looking forward to your ToT tour!
It just seems odd that they could have done that several years ago when his medals/wins were stripped from him. I will shamelessly admit that I do love that song. But you don't have to fear that I will be walking around singing it. I've wanted to try one of those funnel cakes but have not had the opportunity. Maybe next time. I'll take your advice and split it so that it doesn't end up replacing about 2 meals.
Wow, those dryers are weak. Sounds like sometime early the next morning the clothes may have been dry. Plan B sounds like it will get the job done!
I'm looking forward to your ToT tour!
flyergrad09
Future Monorail Driver
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2011
- Messages
- 354
Awww, your Spaceship Earth selfie is so cute!
I really appreciate the amount of food in this update! Epcot food is amazing!
Doing laundry on vacation is no fun to begin with, but when the dryers don't work correctly that makes it so much worse!
I really appreciate the amount of food in this update! Epcot food is amazing!
Doing laundry on vacation is no fun to begin with, but when the dryers don't work correctly that makes it so much worse!
Malroy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2012
- Messages
- 138
your nighttime pictures of spaceship earth are SO beautiful! and I finally sat down and watched your video - I made fiance watch it with me We loved it!!! and have both been very disney-sick lately. I absolutely love your videos. They show just how much fun you and Matt have goofing around
Oh, and I CANNOT WAIT to try some school bread - that is totally at the top of my to-eat list for our next trip. Thanks mostly to you hahahaha.
We loved it!!! and have both been very disney-sick lately. I absolutely love your videos. They show just how much fun you and Matt have goofing around Oh, and I CANNOT WAIT to try some school bread - that is totally at the top of my to-eat list for our next trip. Thanks mostly to you hahahaha.
danimaroo
DIS Veteran
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- Sep 21, 2011
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- 1,643
I've always wanted to try the Violet Lemonade. It just sounds amazing and LOOKS amazing, too.
That's a mega bummer over your dryers. Fortunately the ones we have at home are actually good. Well, for the most part anyway. I do not like dryers that don't work, which is why I hate doing laundry in Disney. But I guess I shouldn't complain too much, being that it's free.
16 DAYS NOW. So insane!
Uhhh yeah, I've often wondered when they will be updating the American Dream video and remove Lance Armstrong.
I've wanted to try one of those funnel cakes but have not had the opportunity. Maybe next time. I'll take your advice and split it so that it doesn't end up replacing about 2 meals.
Wow, those dryers are weak. Sounds like sometime early the next morning the clothes may have been dry. Plan B sounds like it will get the job done!
I'm looking forward to your ToT tour!
Haha right? But I just especially thought after they officially found him guilty that they'd get rid of it... Nope! Get with it Disney! And trust me, I can see why people would like that song.. It's CATCHY as all get out.
They're VERY good but definitely split it. I couldn't believe how heavy my plate was, hahaha.
They are kind of the worst... but again, I shouldn't complain since they're free. I just miss getting a one-bedroom Villa and having the washer/dryer IN the unit. That was so nice.
I can't wait to post it, I'm thinking about posting it here pretty shortly!
Daw thanks! And yeah, no problem, there was a ton of food in that update, hahaha.
Ugh agreed, it's the darn DVC dryers. They just take forever! Though I kind of wonder if it's JUST at Beach Club Villas or all DVC resorts.
your nighttime pictures of spaceship earth are SO beautiful! and I finally sat down and watched your video - I made fiance watch it with me
Oh, and I CANNOT WAIT to try some school bread - that is totally at the top of my to-eat list for our next trip. Thanks mostly to you hahahaha.
YAY! So glad you watched it and loved it! That makes me happy. And yeah, that's kind of what I like to go for in our videos. So many people don't understand how love for the parks, so those videos I feel like show why.
I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! I know some people who haven't, but I just think it's amazing and delicious in its own right.
danimaroo
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Chapter 46: Limited Time Magic Tower of Terror Tour: Part 1
Day Nine: September 19th, 2013
Today was a special day, the day many of you have been waiting for and/or possibly the sole reason you've been reading this trip report...
Today...
I was touring the freakin' TOWER OF TERROR.
So you would think that when the alarm went off, I totally shot out of bed and got myself ready and both of us on a Friendship boat stat.
How about no.
Instead at 7:30, I was crying on the inside at the thought of having to physically remove myself from the comfiness of my bed. I was clearly hitting the "It's day 9, I'm too tired, I want to sleep" stage of our trip, but NO. We had to get up, I had a tour to go on!
We got ourselves going and out the door by 8:20, made our way to the boat launch, aaaaand JUST missed a boat to Hollywood Studios. So we sat in the shade to avoid the already-too-hot sun and waited for the next boat to arrive.
There were some other people waiting around, as well, and we all knew who was where in the "line"... that is, until some turds walked up and literally cut EVERYONE waiting for the boat. I mean, they saw all of us clearly waiting for the boat, so it wasn't like they didn't know they were cutting.
...
I don't understand why people think they are so much more special than everyone else that they can just cut lines. It drives me up the WALL when people do this, and it happens numerous times every trip. You are not better than the rest of us, so go to the back of the line.
The people near us made a really big deal of out it, and were making snarky comments about the people who cut us all. But their comments were to a ridiculous point, where I'm like, okay, is it really worth making a scene right now? I don't think so.
Thankfully a boat showed up shortly thereafter and everyone made it on the boat without getting into some huge fight.
I DIDN'T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE TURD-CUTTERS BECAUSE WHO DOES WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO TOUR THE TOWER OF TERROR?!
Yeah, that's what I thought. I was a little excited, in case you couldn't tell.
We arrived at Hollywood Studios and I wasn't sure exactly where I was supposed to go. I finally noticed a group of dressed-up CMs, and another CM holding a Limited Time Magic sign pointing us in that direction. Matt walked over with me as I checked in, and I mentioned to the CM how Matt had won a chance to go on the tour, too, but got a different day assigned to him. The Cast Member then offered to let Matt just do the tour with me because she didn't think everyone who won would be able to show up.
The thing with this whole Limited Time Magic contest is that it was literally VERY Limited Time Magic. As in, they only had the contest entry window open for like.. 12 hours via the Disney Parks Blog. AND if you won, you were assigned a day, there was no way you could switch, and if you couldn't make it on that day at that time, then too bad. So I think those two factors made it pretty hard for people to actually make the tour, unless you were lucky like me to have someone (holla at my girl Theresa AKA arbolita) tell you about the contest AND be on vacation during the specific days they were running the tours.
Now, I know some of you will think he's crazy, but Matt declined doing the tour. I think because we were in the final days of our trip, he just kind of wanted to be able to spend some time doing other stuff in Hollywood Studios. He LIKES the Tower of Terror in terms of the queue, and everything about the ride up until the drops. But the drops? He does not like them one bit... now if this tour has been of the Haunted Mansion, this would have been a completely different story, haha.
So at that point, the CM gave me my one-day park ticket that was included in the "prize", and I was told we HAD to use that specific ticket that day. I got the all-too adorable Donald Duck on my ticket
I was also given a headset to wear so we could listen to the Disney Ambassadors talk, as well.
I said goodbye to Matt and told him we'd meet up later, then made my way around the corner where I was told to wait until the tour began.
This is a photo of the little kiosk they had set up.
There were a few other people who had won the contest, too, hanging out around me.
The tour began at 9:30, when we were finally let inside of the park. We walked over towards Antiques and Curios, then went around a corner...
Where we met the 2013-2014 Walt Disney World Ambassadors, Rich and Tye!
Now, you want to talk about people who just embody the spirit of Walt... It's definitely the Disney Ambassadors. In case you weren't aware (and this was all told to us by Rich and Tye), the Disney Ambassador program started in 1965. Disney Ambassadors represent all 8 Disney parks around the world. They are kind of seen as the "official host" to Resorts guests. They are chosen to, in a sense, represent Walt around the parks. They work closely with CMs/recognize CMs who go above and beyond, do a TON of volunteering and set events up, among maaaany other things. They embody the spirit of Walt and so this was actually REALLY neat to meet both of them and get to hear about what they do.
After introducing themselves to us, they started talking about the history of Hollywood Studios.
So I'm about to relay as much information as we heard from Rich and Tye that I remember/had taken note of. Some of this stuff many of you may already know, some of it, maybe not. I know for me, some of this was definitely educational and fun to learn about.
As most of you know, Hollywood Studios was originally an actual working studio, where many TV shows were made. Ernest Saves Christmas was filmed there, as well, haha.
Walt had really wanted as they put it, a "Mickey park", which obviously became Disneyland. But he also really wanted a park that doubled as a working studio, which then later became MGM Studios. This is the reason CMs can just walk through the park and not have to worry about tunnels; because it was a working studio, it wouldn't be weird to see CMs in all sorts of costumes throughout the park.
After this, the Ambassadors took us down Hollywood Boulevard.
We stopped by the director statue near the Sorcerer's Hat to learn more information about the park, including the Chinese Theatre and Sorcerer's Hat.
Rich and Tye talked to us about the Chinese Theatre and how there used to be a "Star of the Day" in the park, which was when celebrities would get to put their handprint out in front of the Chinese Theatre. There was also a Motorcade that went down the boulevard with the "star of the day", and it was a big deal in the park. I found this to be pretty awesome, I mean, I KIND of knew about it, but how neat would it have been to see the Star of the Day stroll by in a motorcade?
We also learned how about the Chinese Theatre is an exact replica of the original Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, and that Walt Disney Imagineering actually used the original 1927 blueprints when building the replica in Hollywood Studios. Interestingly enough, when renovations were being done on the original Chinese Theatre, they then asked WDI if they could use the blueprints that Disney had created based on the originals!
They also discussed the Sorcerer's Hat, and how it was built to celebrate the 100 Years of Magic. One fun fact about the Sorcerer Mickey Hat is that it's 122 feet tall, and that Mickey would have to be 350 feet tall to wear it. The Mickey ears each weigh 5,000 pounds.
The Ambassadors then took us over towards Sunset Boulevard, as it was time to get to the best part of this tour... the Tower of Terror!
We learned more fun facts along the way regarding Sunset Boulevard... but I was honestly just so excited for the Tower of Terror portion that the info was a bit lost on me. I do remember them saying that Sunset Boulevard was created in 1994, and that there was a Goosebumps attraction back then... which of course I read up about, and it was supposed to be terrible. I mean, I was a hardcore Goosebumps fan back in the day, so it piqued my interest to hear about that since I had no idea.
Anyway, we finally we got to the front of the Tower of Terror, and I was getting so freakin' excited about this part. I mean, don't get me wrong, learning about Hollywood Studios history was really interesting. If anything, it just made me wish that it was still a working studio! But the Tower of Terror tour was what we'd all been waiting for. As we approached the entrance area, we met our Bellhop who would be giving us our official tour... Justin!
Justin was AWESOME. He was full of tons of information and knowledge about the Tower of Terror. I think he's pretty well-known to a lot of people, though I didn't know of him prior to the tour. He introduced himself to us and then started talking about the exterior of the attraction.
Most people know this, but the Tower of Terror is the SECOND tallest attraction in Disney World at 199 feet... with Expedition Everest as the tallest at 199.6 feet.
Soon enough, we were being led inside!
On our way in, there was a Bellhop who was standing by the stand-by entrance and he made a HILARIOUS face at all of us... which I HAD to capture, hahahaha. It was so good and in-character!
We were brought in past led past all of the stand-by and Fast Pass lines...
AND THEN WE WERE LED INTO THE LOBBY!
I'm not gonna lie, I felt like a total VIP walking past the line while all of the people who were waiting jealously watched the rest of us get a tour INSIDE of the lobby. And I took video as we were led into the lobby, which you might remember from our trip video.
We all gathered around the couches, where Justin, Rich and Tye stood near the fireplace and Justin began telling us the "story" behind the Tower of Terror, which we all know...
Continued in next post
Day Nine: September 19th, 2013
Today was a special day, the day many of you have been waiting for and/or possibly the sole reason you've been reading this trip report...
Today...
I was touring the freakin' TOWER OF TERROR.
So you would think that when the alarm went off, I totally shot out of bed and got myself ready and both of us on a Friendship boat stat.
How about no.
Instead at 7:30, I was crying on the inside at the thought of having to physically remove myself from the comfiness of my bed. I was clearly hitting the "It's day 9, I'm too tired, I want to sleep" stage of our trip, but NO. We had to get up, I had a tour to go on!
We got ourselves going and out the door by 8:20, made our way to the boat launch, aaaaand JUST missed a boat to Hollywood Studios. So we sat in the shade to avoid the already-too-hot sun and waited for the next boat to arrive.
There were some other people waiting around, as well, and we all knew who was where in the "line"... that is, until some turds walked up and literally cut EVERYONE waiting for the boat. I mean, they saw all of us clearly waiting for the boat, so it wasn't like they didn't know they were cutting.
...
I don't understand why people think they are so much more special than everyone else that they can just cut lines. It drives me up the WALL when people do this, and it happens numerous times every trip. You are not better than the rest of us, so go to the back of the line.
The people near us made a really big deal of out it, and were making snarky comments about the people who cut us all. But their comments were to a ridiculous point, where I'm like, okay, is it really worth making a scene right now? I don't think so.
Thankfully a boat showed up shortly thereafter and everyone made it on the boat without getting into some huge fight.
I DIDN'T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE TURD-CUTTERS BECAUSE WHO DOES WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO TOUR THE TOWER OF TERROR?!
Yeah, that's what I thought. I was a little excited, in case you couldn't tell.
We arrived at Hollywood Studios and I wasn't sure exactly where I was supposed to go. I finally noticed a group of dressed-up CMs, and another CM holding a Limited Time Magic sign pointing us in that direction. Matt walked over with me as I checked in, and I mentioned to the CM how Matt had won a chance to go on the tour, too, but got a different day assigned to him. The Cast Member then offered to let Matt just do the tour with me because she didn't think everyone who won would be able to show up.
The thing with this whole Limited Time Magic contest is that it was literally VERY Limited Time Magic. As in, they only had the contest entry window open for like.. 12 hours via the Disney Parks Blog. AND if you won, you were assigned a day, there was no way you could switch, and if you couldn't make it on that day at that time, then too bad. So I think those two factors made it pretty hard for people to actually make the tour, unless you were lucky like me to have someone (holla at my girl Theresa AKA arbolita) tell you about the contest AND be on vacation during the specific days they were running the tours.
Now, I know some of you will think he's crazy, but Matt declined doing the tour. I think because we were in the final days of our trip, he just kind of wanted to be able to spend some time doing other stuff in Hollywood Studios. He LIKES the Tower of Terror in terms of the queue, and everything about the ride up until the drops. But the drops? He does not like them one bit... now if this tour has been of the Haunted Mansion, this would have been a completely different story, haha.
So at that point, the CM gave me my one-day park ticket that was included in the "prize", and I was told we HAD to use that specific ticket that day. I got the all-too adorable Donald Duck on my ticket
I was also given a headset to wear so we could listen to the Disney Ambassadors talk, as well.
I said goodbye to Matt and told him we'd meet up later, then made my way around the corner where I was told to wait until the tour began.
This is a photo of the little kiosk they had set up.
There were a few other people who had won the contest, too, hanging out around me.
The tour began at 9:30, when we were finally let inside of the park. We walked over towards Antiques and Curios, then went around a corner...
Where we met the 2013-2014 Walt Disney World Ambassadors, Rich and Tye!
Now, you want to talk about people who just embody the spirit of Walt... It's definitely the Disney Ambassadors. In case you weren't aware (and this was all told to us by Rich and Tye), the Disney Ambassador program started in 1965. Disney Ambassadors represent all 8 Disney parks around the world. They are kind of seen as the "official host" to Resorts guests. They are chosen to, in a sense, represent Walt around the parks. They work closely with CMs/recognize CMs who go above and beyond, do a TON of volunteering and set events up, among maaaany other things. They embody the spirit of Walt and so this was actually REALLY neat to meet both of them and get to hear about what they do.
After introducing themselves to us, they started talking about the history of Hollywood Studios.
So I'm about to relay as much information as we heard from Rich and Tye that I remember/had taken note of. Some of this stuff many of you may already know, some of it, maybe not. I know for me, some of this was definitely educational and fun to learn about.
As most of you know, Hollywood Studios was originally an actual working studio, where many TV shows were made. Ernest Saves Christmas was filmed there, as well, haha.
Walt had really wanted as they put it, a "Mickey park", which obviously became Disneyland. But he also really wanted a park that doubled as a working studio, which then later became MGM Studios. This is the reason CMs can just walk through the park and not have to worry about tunnels; because it was a working studio, it wouldn't be weird to see CMs in all sorts of costumes throughout the park.
After this, the Ambassadors took us down Hollywood Boulevard.
We stopped by the director statue near the Sorcerer's Hat to learn more information about the park, including the Chinese Theatre and Sorcerer's Hat.
Rich and Tye talked to us about the Chinese Theatre and how there used to be a "Star of the Day" in the park, which was when celebrities would get to put their handprint out in front of the Chinese Theatre. There was also a Motorcade that went down the boulevard with the "star of the day", and it was a big deal in the park. I found this to be pretty awesome, I mean, I KIND of knew about it, but how neat would it have been to see the Star of the Day stroll by in a motorcade?
We also learned how about the Chinese Theatre is an exact replica of the original Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, and that Walt Disney Imagineering actually used the original 1927 blueprints when building the replica in Hollywood Studios. Interestingly enough, when renovations were being done on the original Chinese Theatre, they then asked WDI if they could use the blueprints that Disney had created based on the originals!
They also discussed the Sorcerer's Hat, and how it was built to celebrate the 100 Years of Magic. One fun fact about the Sorcerer Mickey Hat is that it's 122 feet tall, and that Mickey would have to be 350 feet tall to wear it. The Mickey ears each weigh 5,000 pounds.
The Ambassadors then took us over towards Sunset Boulevard, as it was time to get to the best part of this tour... the Tower of Terror!
We learned more fun facts along the way regarding Sunset Boulevard... but I was honestly just so excited for the Tower of Terror portion that the info was a bit lost on me. I do remember them saying that Sunset Boulevard was created in 1994, and that there was a Goosebumps attraction back then... which of course I read up about, and it was supposed to be terrible. I mean, I was a hardcore Goosebumps fan back in the day, so it piqued my interest to hear about that since I had no idea.
Anyway, we finally we got to the front of the Tower of Terror, and I was getting so freakin' excited about this part. I mean, don't get me wrong, learning about Hollywood Studios history was really interesting. If anything, it just made me wish that it was still a working studio! But the Tower of Terror tour was what we'd all been waiting for. As we approached the entrance area, we met our Bellhop who would be giving us our official tour... Justin!
Justin was AWESOME. He was full of tons of information and knowledge about the Tower of Terror. I think he's pretty well-known to a lot of people, though I didn't know of him prior to the tour. He introduced himself to us and then started talking about the exterior of the attraction.
Most people know this, but the Tower of Terror is the SECOND tallest attraction in Disney World at 199 feet... with Expedition Everest as the tallest at 199.6 feet.
Soon enough, we were being led inside!
On our way in, there was a Bellhop who was standing by the stand-by entrance and he made a HILARIOUS face at all of us... which I HAD to capture, hahahaha. It was so good and in-character!
We were brought in past led past all of the stand-by and Fast Pass lines...
AND THEN WE WERE LED INTO THE LOBBY!
I'm not gonna lie, I felt like a total VIP walking past the line while all of the people who were waiting jealously watched the rest of us get a tour INSIDE of the lobby. And I took video as we were led into the lobby, which you might remember from our trip video.
We all gathered around the couches, where Justin, Rich and Tye stood near the fireplace and Justin began telling us the "story" behind the Tower of Terror, which we all know...
Continued in next post
danimaroo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
- Messages
- 1,643
Chapter 47: Limited Time Magic Tower of Terror Tour: Part 2
Day Nine: September 19th, 2013
Justin then went into teling us about the furniture in the lobby and how Disney Imagineer Ken Gomes, who works on design for WD attractions, brought all of the furniture in from different places. He found the couches in a magazine that were 20 years old, to ensure they REALLY looked old and decrepit.
He also wanted to find chairs that would fit in with the lobby well, and ordered a set, not knowing that the chairs would be from the 17th century. These are the chairs:
Another fun fact about them: there are only THREE sets of these Portuguese renaissance chairs in existence today. The three places where you can find them are:
New York's Metropolitan Museum,
Victoria and Albert Museum in London.... and
The Tower of Terror in Walt Disney World.
You could just see how much detail was put into EVERYTHING in this lobby, and so much of it a typical guest can't even see or won't notice!
Like, take this tea cup for example... there is lipstick on the edge of the cup:
We also learned about there being a WDW guest who was a HUGE fan of the Tower of Terror. He frequented the park and the attraction so much, he and his family eventually befriended many of the CMs who worked there through his years of attending. When the man passed away, to honor his love for the Tower of Terror and friendship amongst the CMs there, Disney put a photo of him in one of the lobby mail slots.
All of the luggage that is seen in the lobby is made from real alligator skin, and is the actual luggage that you see in the pre-show for the Tower of Terror (for all of the people who disappear on the elevator).
There were TONS and tons of spider webs throughout the lobby that I was carefully dodging as we moved throughout (which is kind of difficult to do, haha). Justin pointed out that the spider webs are actually just made from hot glue guns. Once a month, CMs will go through and make sure there are plenty of webs around, making sure the Tower of Terror continues to look creepy. This tactic is also used in the Haunted Mansion, which I thought was awesome. Such a brilliant and easy way to make cob webs!
I was secretly glad this was the case because I'm pretty sure I walked into one or two while we got our tour.
After telling us all of these amazingly cool facts, we were then allowed to walk around the lobby and take ALL sorts of photos! I was SO excited because there was just way too much I wanted to look at, the details were UNREAL. Like, hello, free reign to just roam around the lobby?!
OKAY SURE.
Like look at this tea set...
And in the corner is an unfinished game of Mahjong, which I thought was super neat. In Disneyland, it's an unfinished game of cards instead.
It was also really cool to check out the big Owl statue up close... There are SO MANY hot glue cobwebs all over it, though!
In addition to Justin, Tye, and Rich, there were other CMs who were also with us during the tour. One woman offered to take my photo, which of COURSE I was excited about because, hello. how often do I get a photo of me just casually hanging out in the lobby of the Tower of Terror?
As I was still looking around, I noticed another table towards the window...
Tye was standing nearby, and he and I started chatting and he brought up how cool all of the little details were, and I told him it was AMAZING. Like, I was beyond impressed with the amount of detail they put into this. He then pointed out at the table we were standing at, how it was neat that you could tell which side the woman and man sat on.
The woman's side had a very neatly placed napkin and lipstick on her glass, while the man's side was all messy, with the napkin just kind of thrown aside.
Disney is just so DARN GOOD at those details, and this is stuff that no one can see on a daily basis! Amazing. You'd think they'd just kind of take a shortcut around it since no one would be really looking or near the stuff, but nope, not Disney.
I actually thanked him for taking the time out to do the tour and just told him how amazing this was and how it was something I'd never forget.
Another CM took a photo for me, which was nice...
Then they really wanted to get a photo of everyone in the tour together, which took a bit since there were so many of us who wanted to also have the photo to remember the tour by.
It was time to move on to the library for more fun facts, and to watch the pre-show, but I couldn't help but take a photo of this jacket just sitting on the couch...
So we made our way into the library, and Justin started telling us about all of the little artifacts in the library.
Some of which are actually FROM Twilight Zone episodes! Like in that photo above, if you look closely, you can see a little red box with a head on it. There was an episode called "Nick of Time" where William Shatner plays a character who, along with his friend, break down and end up at some diner. There is a little fortune telling box that they can put a penny into and it would kind of act like the Magic 8 Ball. Anyway, that is the actual "Seer Box" from the episode.
And then there is this little alien guy here:
He was in the episode called "The Invaders".
I knew there was stuff from actual episodes of the Twilight Zone, but I just think it's neat that it's tucked away in the library and most people don't even notice it.
At this point we were led to our own private elevator to go on the Tower of Terror. A few people opted out, but the rest of us were ready for some fun drops!
Of course, the Tower decided to fake us out and pretend it was over, then shoot right back up for a few more drops. I was TERRIFIED.
But I survived, AND, more importantly, I finally spotted the terrifying dummy from that one Twilight Zone episode "The Dummy." OH MY HEAVENS, when you spot that thing, you just want to scream. There it is, just staring at you as your elevator moves forward to let you off.. YEAH NO. Nope. It's what nightmares are made of.
If you're like me and your curious to see it, look over your left shoulder when the ride is over and you may catch a glimpse of him.
Anyway, after we got off, some people were looking at our attraction photo, and I asked to get a photo with Rich, Tye, and Justin.
They were truly awesome tour guides. I thanked them again, along with the other CMs who were with us along the way, and headed out as our tour had come to an end.
This was easily one of the coolest things I have EVER been able to take part in in Disney World. To get to meet the Disney Ambassadors, take a behind the scenes tour of the Tower of Terror with THE best bellhop? It was an amazing experience, so say the least. It's something I feel extremely fortunate to have been chosen to do, and I still feel like I owe a MILLION thank yous to my friend Theresa for letting me know about the contest in the first place. Now THAT is what I'd call some amazing Limited Time Magic!
Continued in next post
Day Nine: September 19th, 2013
Justin then went into teling us about the furniture in the lobby and how Disney Imagineer Ken Gomes, who works on design for WD attractions, brought all of the furniture in from different places. He found the couches in a magazine that were 20 years old, to ensure they REALLY looked old and decrepit.
He also wanted to find chairs that would fit in with the lobby well, and ordered a set, not knowing that the chairs would be from the 17th century. These are the chairs:
Another fun fact about them: there are only THREE sets of these Portuguese renaissance chairs in existence today. The three places where you can find them are:
New York's Metropolitan Museum,
Victoria and Albert Museum in London.... and
The Tower of Terror in Walt Disney World.
You could just see how much detail was put into EVERYTHING in this lobby, and so much of it a typical guest can't even see or won't notice!
Like, take this tea cup for example... there is lipstick on the edge of the cup:
We also learned about there being a WDW guest who was a HUGE fan of the Tower of Terror. He frequented the park and the attraction so much, he and his family eventually befriended many of the CMs who worked there through his years of attending. When the man passed away, to honor his love for the Tower of Terror and friendship amongst the CMs there, Disney put a photo of him in one of the lobby mail slots.
All of the luggage that is seen in the lobby is made from real alligator skin, and is the actual luggage that you see in the pre-show for the Tower of Terror (for all of the people who disappear on the elevator).
There were TONS and tons of spider webs throughout the lobby that I was carefully dodging as we moved throughout (which is kind of difficult to do, haha). Justin pointed out that the spider webs are actually just made from hot glue guns. Once a month, CMs will go through and make sure there are plenty of webs around, making sure the Tower of Terror continues to look creepy. This tactic is also used in the Haunted Mansion, which I thought was awesome. Such a brilliant and easy way to make cob webs!
I was secretly glad this was the case because I'm pretty sure I walked into one or two while we got our tour.
After telling us all of these amazingly cool facts, we were then allowed to walk around the lobby and take ALL sorts of photos! I was SO excited because there was just way too much I wanted to look at, the details were UNREAL. Like, hello, free reign to just roam around the lobby?!
OKAY SURE.
Like look at this tea set...
And in the corner is an unfinished game of Mahjong, which I thought was super neat. In Disneyland, it's an unfinished game of cards instead.
It was also really cool to check out the big Owl statue up close... There are SO MANY hot glue cobwebs all over it, though!
In addition to Justin, Tye, and Rich, there were other CMs who were also with us during the tour. One woman offered to take my photo, which of COURSE I was excited about because, hello. how often do I get a photo of me just casually hanging out in the lobby of the Tower of Terror?
As I was still looking around, I noticed another table towards the window...
Tye was standing nearby, and he and I started chatting and he brought up how cool all of the little details were, and I told him it was AMAZING. Like, I was beyond impressed with the amount of detail they put into this. He then pointed out at the table we were standing at, how it was neat that you could tell which side the woman and man sat on.
The woman's side had a very neatly placed napkin and lipstick on her glass, while the man's side was all messy, with the napkin just kind of thrown aside.
Disney is just so DARN GOOD at those details, and this is stuff that no one can see on a daily basis! Amazing. You'd think they'd just kind of take a shortcut around it since no one would be really looking or near the stuff, but nope, not Disney.
I actually thanked him for taking the time out to do the tour and just told him how amazing this was and how it was something I'd never forget.
Another CM took a photo for me, which was nice...
Then they really wanted to get a photo of everyone in the tour together, which took a bit since there were so many of us who wanted to also have the photo to remember the tour by.
It was time to move on to the library for more fun facts, and to watch the pre-show, but I couldn't help but take a photo of this jacket just sitting on the couch...
So we made our way into the library, and Justin started telling us about all of the little artifacts in the library.
Some of which are actually FROM Twilight Zone episodes! Like in that photo above, if you look closely, you can see a little red box with a head on it. There was an episode called "Nick of Time" where William Shatner plays a character who, along with his friend, break down and end up at some diner. There is a little fortune telling box that they can put a penny into and it would kind of act like the Magic 8 Ball. Anyway, that is the actual "Seer Box" from the episode.
And then there is this little alien guy here:
He was in the episode called "The Invaders".
I knew there was stuff from actual episodes of the Twilight Zone, but I just think it's neat that it's tucked away in the library and most people don't even notice it.
At this point we were led to our own private elevator to go on the Tower of Terror. A few people opted out, but the rest of us were ready for some fun drops!
Of course, the Tower decided to fake us out and pretend it was over, then shoot right back up for a few more drops. I was TERRIFIED.
But I survived, AND, more importantly, I finally spotted the terrifying dummy from that one Twilight Zone episode "The Dummy." OH MY HEAVENS, when you spot that thing, you just want to scream. There it is, just staring at you as your elevator moves forward to let you off.. YEAH NO. Nope. It's what nightmares are made of.
If you're like me and your curious to see it, look over your left shoulder when the ride is over and you may catch a glimpse of him.
Anyway, after we got off, some people were looking at our attraction photo, and I asked to get a photo with Rich, Tye, and Justin.
They were truly awesome tour guides. I thanked them again, along with the other CMs who were with us along the way, and headed out as our tour had come to an end.
This was easily one of the coolest things I have EVER been able to take part in in Disney World. To get to meet the Disney Ambassadors, take a behind the scenes tour of the Tower of Terror with THE best bellhop? It was an amazing experience, so say the least. It's something I feel extremely fortunate to have been chosen to do, and I still feel like I owe a MILLION thank yous to my friend Theresa for letting me know about the contest in the first place. Now THAT is what I'd call some amazing Limited Time Magic!
Continued in next post
PryncessChrysty
Merrily on our way to nowhere in particular
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2004
- Messages
- 3,353
OK, so I was (mostly) joking on Instagram about the whole stalking you on your next DL trip, but this isn't going to help my case.
I haven't ventured over here to the TR board in a while, but I was thinking of starting a PTR for our upcoming anniversary trip. I stopped by to look around and get some inspiration, and what was the FIRST report to catch my eye? You guessed it!!
I'm so excited to have found you here! Can't wait to catch up on your TR and follow along.
Also, you may be thinking that I just kind of popped up out of the blue and who the heck is this that keeps bugging me? Well, after seeing your posts on IG for a bit, I started to notice that we like a lot of the same things (Hello, schoolbread!!!
Also, vinylmations, Adventure Time, Wall-E, etc.), and seem to travel similarly (it's just me and the hubs being goofballs). Then after I watched your videos the other night, I was like yep - we're totally kindred spirits. hahaha Soooo, there you have it. 
I haven't ventured over here to the TR board in a while, but I was thinking of starting a PTR for our upcoming anniversary trip. I stopped by to look around and get some inspiration, and what was the FIRST report to catch my eye? You guessed it!!
I'm so excited to have found you here! Can't wait to catch up on your TR and follow along. Also, you may be thinking that I just kind of popped up out of the blue and who the heck is this that keeps bugging me? Well, after seeing your posts on IG for a bit, I started to notice that we like a lot of the same things (Hello, schoolbread!!!
Also, vinylmations, Adventure Time, Wall-E, etc.), and seem to travel similarly (it's just me and the hubs being goofballs). Then after I watched your videos the other night, I was like yep - we're totally kindred spirits. hahaha Soooo, there you have it. 
katt789
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2010
- Messages
- 6,882
Oh my gosh what a WONDERFUL and amazing experience that tour looks like!! I would LOVE to get the chance to wander through that lobby just taking in all the details and checking it all out, it looks amazing!! And JUSTIN?!?! UGH! My absolute favourite cm over there, by FAR!
What an incredible experience, thank you for sharing!!
What an incredible experience, thank you for sharing!!
rachel09985
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
- Messages
- 3,534
Crazy that those spiderwebs are made out of hot glue! Who would have thought!? I wonder if they have to dust in there or do they just leave the dust?
arbolita
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,735
Dude, YOU ARE SO WELCOME. Seriously, if I wasn't in town to be able to go on this tour,I'm so glad that someone I know had the opportunity - ESPECIALLY someone who I knew wold take a ton of notes and pictures so I could feel like I was there in spirit.
Miss Potts
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2013
- Messages
- 267
Seriously!! WHAT AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!!
I'm so happy you were able to take part in that Limited Time Magic promo!
That was so nice that they were going to let Matt join in on the tour! I'm surprised he didn't partake but I'm sure he was off doing something fun!
All the little details are honestly what I love most about Disney... they don't care that 99.9% of the time NO ONE will see some of that stuff, but they do it anyways!!
I'm so happy you were able to take part in that Limited Time Magic promo!
That was so nice that they were going to let Matt join in on the tour! I'm surprised he didn't partake but I'm sure he was off doing something fun!
All the little details are honestly what I love most about Disney... they don't care that 99.9% of the time NO ONE will see some of that stuff, but they do it anyways!!
DharmaLou
Once a Princess, Always a Princess
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2011
- Messages
- 2,536
What an amazing experience! Even without food pics, I loved it! I loved seeing inside since I'm a huge wimp and would never go on ToT.
I remember when it used to be a working studio, in fact that's the only time I've ever been to MGM Studios. The backlot tour was a lot of fun!
I remember when it used to be a working studio, in fact that's the only time I've ever been to MGM Studios. The backlot tour was a lot of fun!
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