Tower of Terror

Wally wanders the middle ground between light and shadow

- by Walter Octavius March, February 14, 2011

KUNGALOOSH!

My fellow adventurers, after sitting and talking about the old days at the Adventurers Club, I thought I should visit a place that is from the same time period, but still in use, kind of.

This place is one of those wonderful buildings that the Disney Imagineers fixed up for public use after it had been so long abandoned. The building itself is still sound, and the inside still looks like it did all those many years ago.

But the feeling I get from this place is one of trepidation, an eerie sensation whenever I am near it. Maybe it's just my imagination, maybe it has something to do with the 'Incident', but the mood that one gets from being there is one of foreboding.

If you're not sure what building I'm talking about, then come to Disney's Hollywood Studios and walk with me down Sunset Boulevard. You'll see it. The Hollywood Tower Hotel.

Hollywood Tower Hotel

Do you know the tale of the Hollywood Tower Hotel - or rather, the 'Incident', as some call it? I can share it with you as one of my follower explorers was there when it happened.

It was October 31, 1939. Five people were traveling in the elevator from the lobby to the upper floors.

Just then, the Hotel was struck by lightning. The five passengers and a wing of the glorious hotel disappeared! The Hotel closed immediately, of course, as no one wanted to stay in a place from which they might not return.

Now Disney has reopened the Hotel and I stop by the premises every now and then to check things out, and to see whether I can find anything interesting.

Once an adventurer, you know...

So, if you'd like to accompany me today, please come along, we'll see what we can find.

Wally Checks In...

We shall travel by boat to Disney's Hollywood Studios to get our first glimpse of the Hotel. It is impressive, and does tend to cause feelings of anxiety within our younger travelers. I try not to let them know about my own misgivings...

Once in the park, we walk down Sunset Boulevard, the Tower looming above us, seeming to beckon. We enter the queue and walk around the building to its entrance, where a bellhop directs us inside.

He tells us that our "rooms are not ready" and asks us to wait in the library. I'm happy we've been asked inside as it seems a storm has begun. Lightning strikes. And then something peculiar happens: the television turns itself on and shows us what happened at the Hotel those many years ago.

The narrator (some fellow named Rod Serling) informs us that tonight we shall star in a new episode of something called 'The Twilight Zone'. I don't understand him; this is the first time anything like this has happened to me here. I feel a moment of anxiety.

But I force down my fears and assure myself this is just another adventure, not so different from the one I had in that German castle...

I was staying with a countess whom I had known for several years. As we were retiring for the night, the castle was pervaded by a chill not of this world. We started to follow a strange sound that had begun at the same time as the chill. As we approached a door that my hostess hadn't known existed, lightning flashed and...

Oh, very sorry, back to our visit to the Hollywood Tower Hotel!

Wally Boards the Elevator

The lightning flashes again and a bell hop appears. He directs us toward the elevator down the hall. I soon notice it is a service elevator. It actually has seats, and as we all seat ourselves securely, the elevator carries us down a corridor.

I hear gasps from some of my companions. I look for the source of their concern and glimpse five people standing in a bluish haze outside in the corridor. Then, in an electrical discharge, they vanish.

We hear Mr. Serling's voice telling us that we have entered ... The Twilight Zone.

As we move forward in the dark, my senses are on overload and I lose my bearings. I feel as if I'm going up and down. I'm confused. I see the lights of the outside world, but darkness permeates all my thoughts. I am at a loss to explain what is happening, and then just as fast as we have entered it, we seem to leave The Twilight Zone.

Wally Checks Out

I don't know what to make of this bizarre episode, but I know I will never forget it.

If any of you have ever had this happen, either here in Disney World or elsewhere, please let me know because soon I shall return to the Hollywood Tower to see whether it becomes a Tower of Terror once again.

Until next time, KUNGALOOSH! And keep your eyes open for Adventure!

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