DCA 'Tower of Terror' - Details

[Another Voice]

I’m posting this here to separate this out from the general discussion in the other thread.

It appears that WDI is showing a computer animated film illustrating the ride experience for DCA version’s of ‘Tower of Terror’. Naturally rumors are flying left and right, but this is what I’ve been able to gleam. For the most part, imagine the WDW ride...

While the status of the hotel lobby and the library rooms are still yet to be confirmed, the show starts in the boiler room the same as it does in WDW. You enter the ride vehicle (which is identical to the WDW version) and the doors the close. The vehicle moves back several feet and a second set of doors close (this moves you onto the vertical lift/drop mechanism).

Your “elevator” raises a number of floors and stops. The doors open. You look at a large mirror – a mirror that reflects you and your elevator. There’s a flash of lighting. Looking again in the mirror, you see that all the people are gone. It reflects just an empty ride vehicle. The doors close.

The elevator moves down a couple of floors. The doors open again, and we see the ghosts beckoning to you join them (identical to the WDW effect). The hallway disappears into the star field, but in a change from Florida – the ‘Twilight Zone’ breaking window has been replaced by a pair of elevator doors. The doors open, and we watch that elevator fall from sight.

Moments later, your elevator begins the drop sequence – Down, up to the top, full drop, some bounding, and then another full drop. At the bottom, your ride vehicle moves forward up to a set of doors and you exit.

The entire ride time is rumored to now be 2 minutes 15 seconds.

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

AV, I've seen the posts on the web describing this. I am intrigued by the idea of a video showing a ride before it exists. That's pretty interesting. How often does WDI do this for attractions that they are designing?

On a second note, 2:15 seems very short. Two things that are very memorable to me about the current TTT are the length of the attraction and the whole horizonatal movement aspect. (I know it's premature to comment on the show quality of an attraction, but the length DOES seem very short). SO MANY new attractions seem to assume the attention span of a gnat these days. They up intensity and reduce the length. As a general trend, it's kind of disturbing. The single thing I enjoy most about WDI creations throughout the years is the idea of being transported somewhere else and staying there awhile. Also, I know lots of people who enjoy the current attraction and "endure" the drop to experience the whole show package. I betcha they wouldn't be so quick to jump in line.

It may be a double problem because the attraction is a clone of an existing ride. It's got to be the most popular attraction at WDW, and the new will be endlessly compared to the original. Wouldn't it be smarter to keep the ride aspects the same and simply tweak the effects to provide a slightly different experience?

As a very good customer of Disney, I have to wonder if they have lost their minds. Like the now famous stream of Motorola decisions that have destroyed their company, it smacks of really not understanding their audience. That's not something that I expect of Disney.

And I am guilty of judging prematurely an attraction not yet built. Not fair either, but as I look at the sheer creativity of P. Whirl, I am becoming more critical these days. And that's the fun of these boards.

I will, of course, will ride the thing after it's built. At least once. So if they are looking to get my 45 bucks, they will be successful. Whether I pay twice is another thing.

Stay cool.

 

[HBK]

Also, I know lots of people who enjoy the current attraction and "endure" the drop to experience the whole show package. I betcha they wouldn't be so quick to jump in line.

At least it fits the theme of the park. A second rate ride for a second rate park.

 

[airlarry!]

2:15 sounds much shorter than the WDW version, but maybe my memory is wrong. That leads to two questions...

a. Anybody know the actual ride time at WDW for ToT?

b. Anybody know the top 5 attractions (in terms of numer of riders per day) at WDW & DL? Not in capacity, but in actual numbers? My guesses would be Pirates and Splash but after that, who knows?

 

[Another Voice]

The animated ride-through that WDI produces these days is a high tech version of the old walk-through models the company used to produce. In “the good days” at WDI, they would build a scale model of a ride and mount it eye level. You could walk through the model and “see” the show before it was built. If you catch the Wonderful World of Disney ‘Pirates of the Carribeann at Disneyland’ show on the Disney Channel, you can see Walt Disney himself talking about the process using a model of ‘Pirates’. Before EPCOT Center opened, Imagineering had a whole warehouse set up with all of the models for all of the pavilions – including the never built ‘Heath’ pavilion attraction ‘The Incredible Journey Within’ (still the best title Disney has ever come up with).

Because these models take time and skill to build, WDI is relying on computer animation these days. It’s meant to show what the ride will look like from the guest’s perspective. It does the same job that the models used to provide, but I think it lacks something. Just a personal preference perhaps.

I think the ride time of WDW’s ‘Tower’ is a little over four minutes from when the doors close at load until the doors open at unloads. The difference at DCA is because of the elimination of the “Fifth Dimension” room. In Florida, having separate shafts and other places to put the ride vehicles allow many more vehicles to be moving through the attraction at the same time. Since everything will happen in the same shaft in California, the ride’s capacity is significantly lower than WDW’s even after adding a third one. The only way around it is to cut the show time, which is exactly what they did.

There’s also nothing wrong with judging if a ride or show “is good or not” before it’s produced. In fact, the entire creative process is nothing but deciding if something is good or not before it’s made. You can’t spend $100 million on a ride or a movie only “too see how well it turns out”. The entire point of having scripts and models and videos is to pre-judge the final product. If you don’t like the description and video of ‘Tower Lite’, changes are you aren’t going to like the finial product.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Just to start a fight...uhh...mean friendly discussion...Are you saying that computer animation does not take time and skill? Personally I have built models and done some computer animation and I find model making the faster and easier prospect.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

BTW the ride time for Tower is 2:54 from door close to door open.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Sorry I mistakely gave the time for the previous drop sequence. The Fear Every Drop sequence is 3:20 long.

And also if you eliminate the 5th dumension sequence the attraction is 2:40 long.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Sorry I mistakely gave the time for the previous drop sequence. The Fear Every Drop sequence is 3:20 long.

And also if you eliminate the 5th dimension sequence the attraction is 2:40 long.

 

[Another Voice]

A fight Mr. Show? On these boards? We haven’t even brought up ‘Song of the South’ yet!

There used to be a whole department at WDI that did nothing but create these models. It served as kind of a learning ground for most of the big Imagineers at WED/WDI and so it was always kind of a sacred cow around the place. The staff liked that it taught people about all the aspects of Imagineering, management saw it as a bunch of highly paid guys playing with toys all day. It was just a victim of the class warfare that razed WDI.

The biggest problem with the animated movie, according to a source, is that it doesn’t give you a true fell for the guest experience. Rides are three dimensional sets that completely surround the guests. And the guests look in all different kinds of places. With the models, you got to see the ride from every possible angle that the guest would look at it.

With the animation, you only see the ride from one point of the view – the angle the animator chooses to view a particular scene. There’s no chance to turn your head and look to off to the side, or even behind you. It’s a much less natural feel and even with creating multiple animations there’s a much stronger chance that a dead spot will show up in the ride (a problem, one of many, with ‘SuperStar Limo’). It’s still a new tool at WDI; we’ll see how it evolves.

 

[WDWHound]

AV- I'm curious, do you know why they don't just design a 3D model of the attraction on the computer and then use the mouse to walk through it. That way, they could look all around in real time to find dead spots, rather than depending on an animation which controls the view. For that matter, you could get both animations and realtime walk throughs using this technique if you wanted to.

It can be done easily on a standard PC. The modeling tools are out there are are relatively cheap. Heck, they could even use the Quake engine if they were desperate. This would seem like a best of both worlds solution.

 

[Another Voice]

Actually they do build elaborate 3-D computer models as well. A lot of the general layout of California Adventure was done that way. Within WDI, however, there was a strong tradition for building tangible models. Old ways die hard and there is (or was) a strong sense that something’s lost. The computer models are never as detailed or elaborate as the physical models, and a lot of the actual show design was always done during the model construction (set details, costumes, gags, sometimes even whole scenes). There’s nothing like sparking someone’s creative talent when they’re building something they can touch and feel. That’s also the same reason even the film animators use those small statues of characters when they’re drawing a movie. People think in three dimensions.

 

[All Aboard]

Spinning the thread in yet a slightly different direction.

To me, the horizontal movement portion of the ToT attraction is far and away the least interesting. And, quite honestly it errodes the show somewhat (in my opinion.) What I dislike is that you can clearly see the "tracks" leading from the other initial shafts into the drop shaft. The concept of a forward moving elevator, travelling through space and time is great, don't get me wrong. I just find it to be the least-well-pulled-off segment of the attraction.

Also, the rough transition into the drop shaft makes it seem more like a "ride" than an "experience".

If there was a way to smooth this part of the attraction out, yet maintain that element of travel, it would be a perfect combination. Not sure whether the attraction would be better or worse without the current forward movement (exactly as it is now.)

AV touched on efficiency issues. I think that's a very big deal. ToT moves guests so well because of the current configuration. Not sure where I saw it (may have been from Mr. Show - [AV you are so polite and formal in your references to usernames]) But I believe there can be up to 8 "elevator cars" in operation within ToT at the same time. Sounds like the DCA version can only handle 3.

 

[larworth]

I love the 5th dimension part. Makes this much more of an attraction and less a ride for me. It might help that I really love the Twilight Zone imagery. I think it all helps build suspense. The rough transition hasn't really bothered me (actually, if you have first timers it is fun to see them tense up a little thinking the fall has started). However, I agree that I don't like things that take me from the moment and bring my consciouness back to reality, so "smoother may be better". Boy I wish I could run over there at lunch and experience it fresh.

I think the visual distractions could easily be fixed in a redesign. A change in lighting here and there to obscure the track, a different side on the cars so you couldn't easily peer over to the other section. This is what building it better the next time is all about

 

[raidermatt]

Just a comment on the horizontal movement. When I first rode ToT, I did not realize we were supposed to be traveling through time and space. Maybe I'm just dense, or maybe seeing the track and the jerky ride type movement obscured the intent. Not sure, but to me the effects were cool, but in more of a Haunted Mansion kind of way...

 

[larworth]

From Marcie's Corner. I believe she is Jim Hill's alter ego. Interesting factoid about the 5th dimension room.

DCA’s version of Tower of Terror will not have any corners cut with regards to the show, theming, story or experience. Granted the lateral movement on the 5th Dimension floor will not be included in the DCA version, but a replacement scene will be included for the absence of the 5th Dimension lateral floor. The deletion of the lateral movement and more importantly the 5th Dimension scene is due to the Imagineers input whom worked on the Florida version who felt that the effects were never really accomplished during the movement. Originally, the floor was supposed to be covered in mirrors and the room was supposed to be covered with thousands of fiber-optic lights giving the effect of a star field. When the vehicles passed through the 5th Dimension floor, the star field effect was intended for the guests to feel as if they were floating to the drop shaft. Since the vehicle’s tracking system could not find the wire track buried in the flooring due to the mirrors, the vehicles would not move through the room. The only remedied was to remove the mirrors thus destroying the original effect. Since the star-field effect was not effective in execution in Florida, the designers decided to cut the lateral movement altogether and put the money to better use.

http://www.mouseinfo.com/columns/marcie/02082002/index.php

 

[All Aboard]

Exactly, it's an execution thing. I love the idea, just not how it's pulled off. Floating forward instead of jerking and bumping is much better.

 

[ContempoSMT]

I dont know if i like the idea of TOT being newhere else in the world.. i think the original Tower of Terror can not be duplicated ... i like the idea of one tower of terror not 2

 

[Luv2Roam]

I'm a die hard ToT fan and am looking forward to a ToT in DCA!
ToT, Maliboomer, PotC, HM -- all in one day!
Woo Who!
I'll be on the west coast more often than WDW.

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

Marcie could and should work for Disney. She is the queen of spin, and reading her stuff often reminds me of when my journalist mother was given a "puff" piece for the Chicago Tribune. She had to review the circus, or a family stage show, or such. She just re-worked the official press release into a column that sounded like news. That WAS the assignment, and she did it well. I did like the comment about she being Jim Hill's alter ego.

We will ALL just have to wait for TOT west. I suspect that I will feel about it like I do about POTC in Orlando. Less than it should be, but still fun to ride. (I always get off feeling like there should be more. )

We will still get a multi-million dollar attraction from Disney. They are few and far between these days.