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• Hollywood Blvd.
• Sunset Blvd.
• Animation Ctyd.
• New York St.

Waiting Tip:
However tempting it may be to rattle the marbles on the lobby doors, don't! They are very loud and obnoxious, and irritating noises don't go over very well with impatient people who have been standing in line for a long time. Besides, someone will probably cut in front of you if you aren't paying attention.

Trivia:
There is, of course, no real concert. A film of Aerosmith concerts plays on a large screen in the area where you wait to see your frightened face from the picture taken during the launch.
The band's manager, played by actress Illeana Douglas, is obviously from New York. As you leave the studio headed for the alley, she is heard trying to hail a taxi. "I know, I know, this is LA, right?" she explains to a bewildered studio worker.
The song heard in the pre-show area and final queue area is Aerosmith's hit, "Walk this Way".

Ride Specifics:

• Track Length: 3000 feet
• Ride Time: 105 seconds
• Acceleration G-force: 1.4 G's
• Max. G-force: 5 G's
• Speakers per Train: 120
• Train Passenger Limit: 24 riders
• Inversions: 3

The ruined skeleton of a once proud giant overshadows Sunset Boulevard. Neon letters, some burned out, some about to fall; hang on the front of the building, and the original stucco is crumbling away from the hotel revealing plain red brick. Two exposed elevator shafts dominate the street side of the tower. Approaching the building, guests see a stone sign into which is carved "HOLLYWOOD TOWER HOTEL". But then the sign undergoes a transformation. Eerie points of light begin to glimmer, spelling out "The Twilight Zone TOWER OF TERROR". Inside the building is the most exciting free fall ride ever made. The line winds around the old hotel courtyard, surrounded with spanish moss-covered trees. Old directories and a dry, cracked water fountain still remain. Entering the lobby, guests see it appears the same as it would have in the 1930's. Nightly events are still listed on the marquee message board, and the guestbook lies open on a table. The two lobby elevators are roped off; it seems they are out of order. A bellhop instructs you to wait in the cozy library along with several other guests, while your room is being prepared. The door closes, then suddenly the lights go out and there is the crash of thunder. A TV flashes on in the corner, and the classic Twilight Zone opening sequence plays. Rod Serling explains that you are to be the star in the tonight's episode. He then tells you the fateful tale of the hotel's last evening of buisness. Halloween, 1939: A celebrity couple, a little girl and her stern nanny, and a bellhop all board the same elevator you just passed in the lobby. On the trip up, lightning strikes the building and the elevator, it's passengers, and an entire wing of the hotel disappear, never to be seen by human eyes again. Until now. You are to use the maintenance elevator to get to your room, but something is about to go horribly wrong. For tonight, the door to the Twilight zone is opening again, this time for you. The TV fades to static, then clicks off. A wall panel slides back, and you exit to the boiler room. Walking on the catwalk, you see coals once used to heat the building covering the floor. Another bellhop seats you into the elevator, and wishes you a nice ride. Yeah, right...
You arrive at your hotel room floor, and the doors open to reveal a plushly decorated hall with a classy window at the end. Suddenly, the ghosts of those on the vanished elevator flash into view, with bolts of electricity zapping between them. The hotel corridor fades away into an inky black starfield, yet the window remains. It morphs into black and white, then shatters; signaling your entry into the Twilight Zone. The doors close, and you rise to another floor. This time, it is covered with Twilight Zone paraphernalia, like the E=MC2 equation, and the huge blinking eye, in which your elevator's passengers appear. Your elevator proceeds to move forward through all of these famous symbols of the fourth dimension. You approach another elevator shaft; the one struck by lightning over 60 years ago. Rod's voice sends chills down your spine as all goes silent and he informs you, "You have now entered..... The Twilight Zone." Seconds go by, and nothing happens. Without warning, your vehicle plunges almost unstoppably. You feel yourself rising back up again, then find yourself looking over all of MGM through the exposed elevator doors at the top of the building. You drop again, this time nearly to the bottom. A complex series of ascents and descents follows, dropping guests 13 stories a full 3 times, with smaller drops in between. The last rise and fall results in the momentary feeling of weightlessness, before you plummet to the very bottom in front of a screen showing Serling and other images of the Twilight Zone. The elevator spins around and the lights come up; you find you have landed in a janitor's closet. A pleasant voice thanks us for visiting the Hollywood Tower Hotel, and invites us back for another stay. I don't think so.

Trivia:
The drop sequence has changed twice since Tower's original opening in '94. At first, you were only dropped once after looking out over the park. The ride dropped twice when the sequence changed several years later. The current sequence debuted in 1999.
Tower of Terror is normally WDW's tallest attraction, at 199 feet. If it were one foot taller, Florida regulations would force it to put airplane lights on top, which would destroy the perspective. However, the temporary Mickey wand next to Epcot's Spaceship Earth soars to over 200 feet. The airplane light on this blends in with the other blinking lights on the "Epcot" sign.
The elevator dial only numbers 12 floors, but add the "B" for basement, and you've got the magic number, 13. The hotel was also rated 13 stars for quality, as seen in the lobby.

A high arch marks the entrance to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater, where Disney-MGM Studios' spectacular night show is performed every evening. Fantasmic! is set in a stadium style outdoor theater, which is entered via a long path leading away from the park. Hundreds of bleachers surround a lake, in which is set a barely discernible mountain, lit purple. As the show begins, the mountain lights up and two light towers rise up from underground. With much fanfare, the star of the show, Mickey Mouse, appears and dreams he is a hero in the world of Disney princes and princesses. Movies projected onto water screens show Mickey in his Fantasia scene, The Sorceror's Apprentice. As he makes waves with a flick of his wrist, water heaves out of the lake in real life, nearly splashing the audience. A short act from Pocahontas in which the indian princess saves John Smith is acted out, then Belle and the Beast, Ariel and Eric (From The Little Mermaid), and Snow White and Prince Chrarming float across the pond on decorated barges, accompanied by music from their movies. But, as in all Disney films, happiness does not go unchallenged for long. The sinister Disney villains make appearances, and Aladdin's Jafar tries to strike at Mickey as a Cobra, followed by an attack from Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent, who turns into a fire-breathing winged dragon on-stage. The entire surface of water lights on fire, and Mickey has nowhere to turn. But then, realizing this is his imagination, he finally defeats the dragon and all the villains in a barrage of lasers and pyrotechnics. The finale music starts up, and the giant Steamboat Willie chugs by with a black and white Mickey at the helm. It is populated by 26 Disney characters waving colored banners. Just as the boat disappears behind a veil of mist, Mickey appears at the top of the mountain, then zips to the bottom in a split-second. Cheers and applause come from the audience. Ending the show, Mickey responds with his trademark giggle and squeaks, "Some imagination, huh?".

Trivia:
The original Fantasmic! started and is still playing in Disneyland. It is set in Frontierland's Rivers of America.
Both DL and WDW have been having problems with the huge mechanical dragon that appears at the show's climax. You'd think with a show that's been on for over a year at WDW and much longer at DL that this problem could be taken care of...
The mountain is 59 feet high, and is the fourth highest in the Walt Disney World Mountain Range.
The water screens pump fine mist into the air at 40 gallons per second, and could fill the 500,000 gallon Earful Tower in 3 hours, 28 minutes, and 12 seconds.
Steamboat Willie was the name of Mickey Mouse's first cartoon released. In the cartoon, he piloted the ship under the grumpy direction of Pete the Pirate, who was renamed just Pete and was Mickey's nemesis in many of his cartoons.

Based on the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast, this WDW performance puts more of an animated spin on the play, appropriate for the parks. The show is set in the open-air Theatre of the Stars, which is covered by a canopy. Beginning with the lavish, show-stopping "Be Our Guest" musical number starring dancing dishes and silverware, the story rewinds to Belle's unhappy life in a small French town that thinks women have no buisness being intelligent. When her clumsy father is locked in the Beast's castle while seeking shelter from the rain, Belle expresses her desire to change places with him. The Beast allows it, and Belle is doomed to be his prisoner for life. She is befriended by the castle's enchanted objects; Cogsworth, the clock; Lumiere, the candelabra; Mrs. Potts and Chip, a teapot and cracked teacup; and many others. It turns out that the Beast needs to fall in love and have his love returned before his 21st birthday, and he will turn back into his original form, a handsome prince. As he tries his best to become a gentleman, Belle begins to see past his horrid looks to the person within. When Belle's father tells the villagemen about the monster that kidnapped his daughter, a mob is formed to kill the Beast. The mob is led by Gaston, a conceited hunter who wants to force Belle to marry him. Belle's enchanted friends almost save the day, but the Beast is so depressed that Belle has not expressed her love for him that he allows Gaston to attack him. When Belle comes to his defense, he regains his strength and deuls Gaston in a fight to the finish. The Beast wins, but is so wounded that he begins to die on the castle balcony. Belle weeps, then shows her true feelings for him by saying she loves him just before he slips away. But a phenomenon takes place; he floats off the ground and transforms into the prince he always was. The play ends with the moving title song, Beauty and the Beast, and the release of snow white doves.

Trivia:
The theater can hold 1,500 guests per show.
The imaginary characters, instead of being played by actors with stage make-up on, are costumed actors and puppets.