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A 16-year-old British girl is in critical condition after riding the "Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror" ride at Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World.
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"On the ride, guests are seated aboard a freight elevator that glides through hotel passageways.
The elevator enters a pitch-black shaft and launches guests skyward unexpectedly. The vehicle then drops 13 stories."
Is that an acurate description? Things jumble up in my mind but I thought you went up in the elevator, stopped to see the "vanished guest" in a hallway (not travel down it), then countinued up (not launched up) to "Twilight land" with the cool images (perhaps the "hallways" mentioned but it didn't look like any hotel I've ever been in)... after that I thought it just opened you up to broad day light and dropped you. It then might lauch you up and back down again, and back up again and back down again. I think they've messed with the ride quite a few times when it comes to the "bungee cord" effect. Neither my father nor I recalled all the bouncing the first time we rode the ride (when it first opened) and were laughing our arses off when we were "saved" from the fall only to fall again. Admitedly our origial memory may not be that wonderful... still we didn't remember so many falls... "your going to die", "naw, your not going to die", "your going to die", "just kidding", "hmm... maybe this time you'll be afraid". However I don't ever remember being launched upwards first. Its sad that someone actually died on that ride but its a really tame ride IMHO. As long as the person didn't fall out I don't see where Disney is to blame. Its a low physical impact ride.
Someone died on "Pirates of the Carribean"? Now that's scarry. I think we should look out for the posibly frights in "Its a Small World" next. I'll go back to my same old, same old. People gotta die somewhere.
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What is the use of women?" Steve W. from JREF's 'This is no fun' Posts: 7622 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Maybe a little early to say but it sounds like some kind of medical condition might be to blame, the fact that she got off the ride fine kind of shows that there's no blame with Disney...
Posts: 625 | From: Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Chimera: Is that an acurate description? Things jumble up in my mind but I thought you went up in the elevator, stopped to see the "vanished guest" in a hallway (not travel down it), then countinued up (not launched up) to "Twilight land" with the cool images (perhaps the "hallways" mentioned but it didn't look like any hotel I've ever been in)... after that I thought it just opened you up to broad day light and dropped you. It then might lauch you up and back down again, and back up again and back down again. I think they've messed with the ride quite a few times when it comes to the "bungee cord" effect. Neither my father nor I recalled all the bouncing the first time we rode the ride (when it first opened) and were laughing our arses off when we were "saved" from the fall only to fall again.
Only time that I rode "Tower of Terror" was 5 years ago, but there was a lot of up and down. Your general recollection of the ride seems to be what I remember as well, though.
Personally, I thought the "Tower of Terror" was one of the only fun attractions at Disney World.
-------------------- "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." - G.K. Chesterton Posts: 1514 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Chimera: Is that an acurate description? Things jumble up in my mind but I thought you went up in the elevator, stopped to see the "vanished guest" in a hallway (not travel down it), then countinued up (not launched up) to "Twilight land" with the cool images (perhaps the "hallways" mentioned but it didn't look like any hotel I've ever been in)... after that I thought it just opened you up to broad day light and dropped you. It then might lauch you up and back down again, and back up again and back down again. I think they've messed with the ride quite a few times when it comes to the "bungee cord" effect. Neither my father nor I recalled all the bouncing the first time we rode the ride (when it first opened) and were laughing our arses off when we were "saved" from the fall only to fall again.
Only time that I rode "Tower of Terror" was 5 years ago, but there was a lot of up and down. Your general recollection of the ride seems to be what I remember as well, though.
Personally, I thought the "Tower of Terror" was one of the only fun attractions at Disney World.
I agree it was my favorite last time I was there, many years ago. I don't think there is any launching up, but I am fairly certain that the ride has several different variations. Normally though, they 'drop' the elevator at least once in the dark and once in the light.
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My understanding is that the bounce is random with each ride, thus keeping a sense of suspense even for people who have ridden before.
-------------------- Come on, come on - spin a little tighter Come on, come on - and the world's a little brighter Posts: 5595 | From: Columbus, OH : The Soccer Capital of America | Registered: Sep 2002
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White Knight
The Red and the Green Stamps
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quote:Originally posted by chillas: My understanding is that the bounce is random with each ride, thus keeping a sense of suspense even for people who have ridden before.
ToT is the only ride I will stand in line to ride multiple times on my semi-annual pilgrimage to Walt's Dizzy World. My wife, on the other hand, prefers It's a Small World.
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-------------------- Come on, come on - spin a little tighter Come on, come on - and the world's a little brighter Posts: 5595 | From: Columbus, OH : The Soccer Capital of America | Registered: Sep 2002
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mellomeh
The Red and the Green Stamps
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On the bright side, at least they can now describe the ride as "heartstopping".
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Okay, I must be really dense today, because after reading the title of the thread, I thought some girl just really didn't like the ride, and was being rather vocal about it.
-------------------- Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage. Lao Tzu Posts: 1544 | From: Northern California | Registered: Jul 2004
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Roxi of Simple Delight
The Red and the Green Stamps
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All I remember about the tower of terror is that my father's glasses flew out of his top pocket, and just as the picture was snapped my mother reached up and caught them with her left hand.
Sounds like a bad year for Disney...two deaths and one critical case. Although, considering all of the people that come through there, I'm suprised things like this don't happen more often.
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The Disney's California Adventure version of Tower of Terror is programmed to have a consistent set of drops and raises that's the same each time, every time--but the ride can be reprogrammed for a large number of combinations. The newspaper article I read said that Disney engineers planned to change up the ride's programming several months after it opened.
Posts: 940 | From: California | Registered: Sep 2003
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-------------------- Come on, come on - spin a little tighter Come on, come on - and the world's a little brighter Posts: 5595 | From: Columbus, OH : The Soccer Capital of America | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Count me as anohter who thinks that odds are this was some pre-existing condition (known or not) and not a direct result of the ride.. Therefor not Disneys fault.
I dont' remember personally, but most of these rides (with drops, flashing lights, etc) have a sign that says if you have certain medical conditions you should not ride. If people do anyways, or they dont know they have the condition, you can hardly blame the park.
Plus I'd say if you took all the accidents/deaths at Disney (even if you include those not disneys fault) and divide by the number of guests that have come it would be safer then virtually any other public location in the world.
-------------------- "All people are responsible for the good that they didn't do" Posts: 4774 | From: Virginia | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote: As Tower of Terror sends thrills and chills through brave Disney guests, Tschanz and Skees hear their share of shrieks and screams coming from the cavernous elevator shafts. And they're also hearing lots of questions. The number-one question people ask? "Which ride profile will be next?"
"When we say the Tower is now in control, that is 100 percent accurate," Tschanz says. "The very moment that the elevator is entering the shaft, the computer decides what is going to happen. It decides which experience it picks.
"As far as which one is next, the sequence does not go in any order and then just start over. The Tower actually has a random number generator that's based on modulo functions," he says. "It is a totally random set of numbers. We don't know and even the ride operators don't know. Really, only the Tower knows."
There are pictures of the drop profiles from November 2002.
According to this article, the ride has been reopened. In 11 years, there have been only 3 incidents on the ride. I call that a fairly safe ride.
-------------------- "Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces." Judith Viorst Posts: 1082 | From: Luzern, Switzerland | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote: As Tower of Terror sends thrills and chills through brave Disney guests, Tschanz and Skees hear their share of shrieks and screams coming from the cavernous elevator shafts. And they're also hearing lots of questions. The number-one question people ask? "Which ride profile will be next?"
"When we say the Tower is now in control, that is 100 percent accurate," Tschanz says. "The very moment that the elevator is entering the shaft, the computer decides what is going to happen. It decides which experience it picks.
"As far as which one is next, the sequence does not go in any order and then just start over. The Tower actually has a random number generator that's based on modulo functions," he says. "It is a totally random set of numbers. We don't know and even the ride operators don't know. Really, only the Tower knows."
Not to both nitpick and hijack within the same post, but a line in that article concerns me:
quote: It’s the first Disney attraction in the world to offer random experiences and the first where the attraction actually determines the ride sequence.
It was my understanding that The Indiana Jones Adventure at Disney Land was the first to have random sequences. ToT is older (1994), but the random elements weren't introduced (I thought) until 2002. IJA has had that feature since it opened in 1995.
IJA is one of the best rides in the world, by the way.
-------------------- Come on, come on - spin a little tighter Come on, come on - and the world's a little brighter Posts: 5595 | From: Columbus, OH : The Soccer Capital of America | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
My boyfriend somehow convinced me to go on this in Nov. when we went. It does start out at the back of the hotel, go up, go down a hallway with images where you stop, see the guests vanish, and then the hell begins. *shudder*
As someone who will not even go up a ladder for fear of it falling over, I have no idea how I went on it, but I can definatly see it causing a heart attack, especially in a prexisting condition.
-------------------- “You want to know what marriage is really like? You wake up she's there. You come back from work she's there. You fall asleep she's there…I know that sounds like a bad thing. But, it's not. Not if it's the right person.” ~Raymond Barone Posts: 334 | From: Arkansas | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by faceless007: The Disney's California Adventure version of Tower of Terror is programmed to have a consistent set of drops and raises that's the same each time, every time--but the ride can be reprogrammed for a large number of combinations. The newspaper article I read said that Disney engineers planned to change up the ride's programming several months after it opened.
Just got back from Disneyland a couple weeks ago. When I saw the ToT from outside the gate for the first time I was like "You have GOT to be NFBSKing me!" I wound up not riding it (Yes I'm a chicken)anyway.....we were talking to an employee whos friend did the test runs on it. She said that HE said it had 135 different drop combinations so he thought if he rode it 135 times he would experience them all........said he wound up riding it 165 to get them all because it was so random. Can't say this as an absolute cause it was 2 people down the line, however...would not surprise me.
Posts: 140 | From: Phoenix | Registered: Oct 2003
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I absolutly adore this ride...I'd go on it again and again...I've been on it a countless number of times and its all been different...its an experiance of a ride...and always worth the wait...I convinced my mom...who hates thrill rides to go and she is addicted to it
-------------------- If God was a college student he would not have created the world in seven days. He would have slacked off for six and then pulled an all-nighter Posts: 30 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Kelfa21: I absolutly adore this ride...I'd go on it again and again...I've been on it a countless number of times and its all been different...its an experiance of a ride...and always worth the wait...I convinced my mom...who hates thrill rides to go and she is addicted to it
Hijack: Kelfa, this is a real question, not someone trying to make fun of you. Why do you use ellipses instead of commas and periods? I keep seeing this and it makes no sense to me.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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EmmaB
The Red and the Green Stamps
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One photo in a paper claimed the girl was shown grimacing as she got off the ride". When I saw it, it looked more like a genuine smile.
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I don't like the new "random drop profile" idea.
I rode the ride the year it opened, when it was a simple 13 story drop. Scary.
I rode it a couple years later as the "Tower of Terror 2" where they dropped you twice. Scary.
I rode it a couple of months ago where they did the random stop-start-jump feel...it's just too disorienting and I didn't care for it. It isn't as scary anymore and it makes your stomach feel like a martini shaker.
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I rode it right before they introduced the rabndom profiles, and I've got to say...it's easily one of my favorites at WDW...
Posts: 277 | From: Virginia | Registered: Nov 2002
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Yeah, I rode it ONE WEEK before it was closed...
I am 32 and was scared to death.
This is from the guy who likes Test Track, and other rollercoasters.
Posts: 95 | From: Gurnee, Illinois | Registered: Feb 2005
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InsAnnity
The Red and the Green Stamps
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The 16 year old puzzles me. However, the four year old boy dying on Mission Space does not surprise me at all. What I question is how a four year old made it onto that ride when my four year old daughter was too short for Splash Mountain.
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With everyone dying and getting injured in Disney parks, It's turning into a death park! Seriously, pretty weird. Going to Disney could be considered a punishment.
Pork "Billy! If you're going to talk like that, ride Tower of Terror!" Chop
Edit: It really is odd how everyone is getting hurt, though.
-------------------- Have you heard the Word? Praise Hircine! Posts: 283 | From: Ohio | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by InsAnnity: The 16 year old puzzles me. However, the four year old boy dying on Mission Space does not surprise me at all. What I question is how a four year old made it onto that ride when my four year old daughter was too short for Splash Mountain.
Depends on the height of the child. My SO's five year old is the size of an average four year old and my seven year old is the size of a ten year old. Therefore, at five, my daughter could ride rides that my SO's daughter can't now ride at five.
Watch?? I'm gonna pray, man! Know any good religions?--Zaphod Beeblebrox Posts: 2366 | From: Harrisonburg, Virginia | Registered: Apr 2005
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InsAnnity
The Red and the Green Stamps
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I recently read that the boy met the height requirement, so I see how he made it on the ride. It's a really intense ride, though. I'm surprised Disney didn't require a taller height, but then they are faced with the issue of leaving out shorter adults and teens. But IMHO, I still think the height issue needs to be addressed before this happens to another small child who is tall enough to get by the people with the yardsticks. I'm a grown adult, and at the takeoff part of the ride,I found it hard to draw more than a shallow breath for at least 2 minutes. I'm pretty sure a child would find it even harder to breathe, and whether that had something to do with his death or not, it's a pretty terrifying experience for a child to be unable to breathe. I hope they figure something out so this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
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quote:Originally posted by chillas: It was my understanding that The Indiana Jones Adventure at Disney Land was the first to have random sequences. ToT is older (1994), but the random elements weren't introduced (I thought) until 2002. IJA has had that feature since it opened in 1995.
IJA is one of the best rides in the world, by the way.
Maybe I should make a new thread about this, but could someone please clarify for me the nature of the randomness of Indiana Jones Adventure? I remember reading about it when the ride first opened, but I've ridden it many, many times, and except for the door at the beginning (which is obviously just a rotating wall, so it doesn't really change anything), the ride has always been exactly the same as far as I could tell. Also, I worked at Disneyland briefly several months ago, and during training, I asked the trainers (who seemed to be quite knowledgable about most of the rides' secrets) about the supposed randomness, and they thought I was referring to the three doors at the beginning. They didn't know of any other variables in the ride path.
Posts: 940 | From: California | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
From my understanding, the ride path itself is not randomized. Rather, the vehicle's various jerks, tilts, bumps, etc. are random. You can ride the same vehicle twice in a row and it will bump and tilt in different spots than before.
At least, that's how I interpreted the "random" aspect of the ride.
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I'm pretty sure the ride routes are changed. I went on it one time and you go through the hall with the walls throwing arrows at you. The next time I went on I went through a dark bit with thousands of beetles. There's also a route with a giant snake apparently
Posts: 824 | From: England | Registered: Mar 2005
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