20. Broken glasses
Image: CBS
As you walk through the lobby, look out for a pair of glasses with the lenses broken. This is a reference to Time Enough at Last, an episode of The Twilight Zone. The glasses belong to Henry Bemis, played by Burgess Meredith, who loves books, yet is surrounded by those who would prevent him from reading them. When a nuclear war devastates the earth, he suddenly has all the time in the world to read them...but his glasses fall off and shatter, leaving him virtually blind.
19. Travelling light
In the lobby, notice the luggage (made from genuine alligator skin) and the sofas (replicas of 1930s furniture, created by the original manufacturers).
18. Genuine antiques
Many of the items in the lobby of the hotel are genuine antiques, including several bronze statues carved by French artist Moreau.
17. The Mahjong set
In the lobby, look out for a Mahjong set. The pieces are placed in an accurate manner as if the game was abandoned.
16. Just enough dust
Disney's cleaning staff have to be careful not to keep the Tower of Terror spotless. Imagineers have specified exactly how dusty and cobweb-covered the different areas and items in the Hollywood Tower Hotel should be - but, of course, modern litter does need to be removed.
15. Repurposed footage
The footage in the pre-show video for the Tower of Terror, featuring Twilight Zone host Rod Serling, was taken from the episode It's a Good Life. The opening lines from the TV show are spoken by Serling himself. However, an impersonator named Mark Silverman narrates the remainder of the video. He was handpicked by Disney's Imagineers and Serling's widow, Carol. The Imagineers spent many hours lining up the lip sync with the footage of Serling, and degrading the digitally recorded dialogue to match the 1960s analogue sound quality of the original show.
14. A treasured possession
Look closely at the little girl who appears in several scenes on the Tower of Terror. She's holding a 1930s-era Mickey Mouse doll.
13. A tribute to Mickey
Image: Disney
In the Echo Library (one of the pre-show areas for the Tower of Terror), sheet music can be seen that is a copy of an actual 1930s tune dubbed No Mickey Mouse? What kind of party is this?.
12. A library book
Image: CBS
In the library, look out for a book labelled To Serve Man. This is taken from the Twilight Zoneepisode of the same name.
11. A different theme
Image: Warner Bros
At one stage, Disney considered basing the ride's theme on the works of horror author Stephen King (Universal Orlando also once developed a plan for a ride based on King's works). The Twilight Zone was seen as offering a broader range of elements that could be incorporated into a ride.
Comments
In January I met a family who had ridden the ride earlier that day. Apparently dad didn't secure his bookbag, so when the ride dropped his bookbag hovered.
Same thing happened to my husband and I. I had my bad on the floor and I was just holding on to the string. When the drop came I just saw my bag hovering. It was pretty awesome since it was my first time on the ride lol
What I've never understood is pretty fundamental. Would there have ever been a TV in a hotel in 1939? TVs were not in general use until the late 40s at the earliest....
Thanks for this article! I love reading things like this that clue you in on some of the "hidden" details and the history behind it all. I am going to check out the rest of your site!
The glasses are located in the library not the lobby as stated. Also the boiler item is not an official hidden Mickey. The only official one is on the wall at the split in the queue, as a strain.