[dannysbelle]

We are going in March and want to know how the revamped ToT is. I was a big fan before, but it still freaks me out.

So...freaky? Scary? Way surprising? Fill me in on the new drops and special sequences please!

Db

[cosmo]

we went just last week and i really didn't notice anything to massively different. The drop sequence is different, a few more drops. My wife says that the drops were noticeably faster, but i really didn't notice. There are a few more though. Also on some of the drops that go all the way down, they flash images and stuff in front of you. There are more pseudo-drops (like 1/2 drops).

Its one of my favourite rides and my wife's VERY favourite and we were very happy with the changes...very subtle though they may be.

[David]

What lurks inside Tower's pink walls?

By Robert Johnson | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted November 4, 2002

The latest upgrade of the fear level at Disney World's Twilight Tower of Terror is aimed at re-creating the ride with surprises that will encourage guests to line up repeatedly.

"We hope it will be another reason to return to Disney World," spokesman Craig Dezern said.

Called "Tower4," the new version of the ride will be unveiled for visiting international travel journalists on Tuesday night. The new ride will be ready for guests in January.

On the outside, nothing about the attraction will change. It will still be appear to be a once-grand hotel built in the revival style popular in Southern California in the early 20th century.

The ride opened in 1994 as a gut-grabbing plummet of more than 100 feet. That drop is nearly twice as long as the plunge at Splash Mountain.

But the original thrills haven't been enough for Disney World management over the years. The ride has had three versions. In the original sequence, riders were taken up to the top floor slowly in an elevator and dropped -- actually the elevator car is pushed down by a motor and doesn't fall -- to the lobby level.

In 1996 the Tower got a new sequence: Riders were "dropped" three times. The third version was installed in 1998, when the ride was changed to feature seven minor and major drops and add a few seconds in the drop chamber.

Before the new 1998 version, riders were given one scary look out the elevator through an open window to see how high above MGM Studios they really were, and how far down they would momentarily go. But the third version in 1998 gave them glimpses out the window before several drops to reinforce the fear.

"Tower4" will have "a number of new drop sequences and you won't ever know which one you're going to experience," Dezern said. There will also be some new special effects, but he wouldn't reveal them. He also would not elaborate on the new ride sequences, even how many there are, but he said that a Disney staff mathematician had planned the new versions.

"The idea is that the tower is taking control. And the ride you will get is entirely random," Dezern said.

The new effects rumored are an effect that seems like the tower is burning down to the ground, and the possible disapearing guests effect from DCA. The rumors say that this will be like the one in the movie. Remeber when they were running towards the elevator shaft, then it opened and flames came out? Well, think of that, only your in the elevator, there's smoke around you, you feel heat, and you hear crackling around you.