When I visited Orlando on this past October, I made sure to ride the Tower of Terror that is located in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I freaking love me some haunted rides.

Orlando

Orlando’s Tower of Terror was the first one to be built. It is themed after the Twilight Zone TV show. The story is that 5 people stepped into the hotel’s elevator and were never seen again. You get to ride a car that seats about 20 people. You snake through a few different scenes while it feels as if you are floating in blackness. Eventually your “elevator” drops everyone in a random drop pattern that lifts you out of your seat. Here is a video of what you see after you board the car. It’s BEST EVAR:

The exterior actually has an architectural flaw. Since the elevators are supposed to have disappeared, why is that sign sitting there over where the elevators should be?

This small thing was fixed for the Anaheim, Tokyo, and Parisian versions.

Anaheim

Anaheim is smaller but it is also taller than the Orlando version due to space constraints. The sign was changed to be above the elevator shafts. More info can be found here.

Tokyo

Tokyo Disney Sea was built in 2001. Their ToT opened in 2006.

TDS has the third and most amazing incarnation of the ToT. The Orlando and Anaheim versions have a basic story behind the ride. The Japanese version went NUTS with it and gave it a huge immersive and detailed storyline totally unlike the others.

This one is about a guy who brought back an African cursed idol and disappeared, but the story is so complex that it’s INSANE. I really would love to ride this one.

Check out this AWESOME interactive tour of the ToT that they made.

Here is a commercial:

Here is a ride through:

This ride is in Japanese only.

Paris

Disneyland Resort in Paris houses the fourth version of this ride which opened in late 2007/early 2008. It is called La Tour de la Terreur РUn Saut dans la Quatri̬me Dimension. (The Tower of Terror РA jump into the fourth dimension). It is very similar to the Anaheim version. They were supposed to open at the same time, but the Paris one ended up being delayed because of the financial problems that the Paris branch was having at the time.

This ride has both English and French audio. More info can be found here.

So there you have it. I am just the nutbag to want to ride every one of these rides within the next 15 years. AMUZEMENT PARKS ARE SERIAZ BIZNAZZ!!!! ARRR!!!!