"Tower of Terror" concept

[Cerberus]

After seeing how well my old “Pride Mountain” project was received, I said I would return in the future with another to share with you all. Hopefully everyone will be alright with me doing so. These little projects are the only way I’m ever going to have a chance to hit that “New Topic!” button, since I’m always so late on news and revelations and such

 

Usual warnings before I start rambling. This post will be image heavy (16 images, I think) and long. I can’t promise it’ll be exciting or worthwhile for everyone, but I tried my best!

 

Okay, if you know anything about Disney and their goings-on, you’ll probably know about Disneyland Resort Paris’, much-anticipated “Tower of Terror” installation. If not, there’s a good thread which mentions it HERE to catch up. As usual for such an awesome attraction, the project has had fans in a buzz. I think in general we’re all looking forward to having the popular classic closer to home.

 

However… upon reading all the threads regarding it on various forums, a lot of people seem to be feeling a little let down in regards to the originality of the final product. See, whilst Tokyo Disney Resort got a stunning and uniquely custom Tower of Terror, Paris is simply getting a clone of the Disneyland California version.

I kinda feel the same way too. When the project was initially announced, I thought it would be cool if Disney were going to make the “Hotel” look more European to fit the different audience.

 

Well, since financial troubles beyond anyone’s control restricted the imaginers from going wild with the project, I figure there would be no problem if I explored the possibilities myself.

 

So I wanted to address a few key things. Especially those that have been moaned about many a time on forums. After poking around for a few hours I managed to break it down to a small wish list.

-Unique for Paris

-No hallway between loading and unloading

-A unique storyline

-More re-ride factor through difference

 

Hopefully I managed to cover these points successfully. Feel free to tell me if I missed the mark. Feedback is good for future projects!

 

Here we go..

 

The general idea is that hundreds of years ago when folks were scared of witches, demons and other unholy forces, villagers rounder up all the accused and entombed them in an underground burial site for safety. More recently a wealthy hotel manager decided to construct his latest and greatest resort right on top of the long-forgotten, ancient graveyard. On the night of the grand opening, the burial chamber roof gives way under the weight of the hotel’s foundations and the innards of the building collapse into it. The ghosts and spirits of the witches are freed again and continue to haunt what was left of the structure.

 

In true Tower Of Terror style, the experience starts as you approach the building. Right away you should be able to tell the difference between this ride and the similar attractions elsewhere. Instead simply missing the external elevator shaft like the other Towers this one is in a terrible state, sporting a huge split down the centre and an unnerving lean to one half of the structure.

 

 

The path picks around various piles of debris and leads up the front stairs onto the veranda. This is where the queue should typically start… unless the ride team are naff or something. Either way, you enter through the front doors and step immediately into the lobby. As you’d expect from a half-collapsed building, the room doesn’t exactly look in the best condition, although you can vaguely establish that the Hotel was fairy upper class and grand in its time.

 

 

The roped queue line wanders past a lounge scene not dissimilar to the existing ToT rides and then past the front of a dummy elevator door. If your timing is good here, you might just catch a glimpse of the ride elevator fall past, or hear the faint screams of riders on it. The lack of a pre-show means that various clips of information about the plot need to be given on randomly placed TVs (Old style monotone, of course) as you proceed throughout the room.

 

 

 

The queue continues past a reception desk and out a door to the left of the building. This area is the patio and outside dining area of the hotel, almost directly beneath the collapsed side tower. Scattered tables and chairs give some impression of the mad dash that must have occurred when hotel guests fled to escape the falling brickwork.

You proceed around a water feature and head indoors again through a second door.

 

 

This room appears to be a boarding area for the elevators, but since those are damaged beyond any useable condition on this floor, you need to take the stairs.

 

At the top of the stairs a ride host will pause you briefly and then direct you to one of three batching areas along a corridor. The right hand end of this hall appears to have buckled and collapsed, leaving a cobweb of cracks along the rest to suggest it will soon follow. The elevator doors are still in a fairly usable condition here though.

 

 

A short while later and your elevator door slides open, inviting you inside. Straight inside that is- none of that hallway thing here! Unlike previous ToTs, the elevators on this version are supposed to be the passenger lift and so are decorated lavishly like the rest of the building. You take a seat on wooden benches and fasten yourself in place with a basic seatbelt. The ride host recites the usual and then steps away to allow the doors to shut on you.

 

The lights buzz and flicker out, leaving you in darkness. Instead of rising to a show floor like the other towers, this one descends slowly into the basement, below ground level. The doors slide open and reveal a sort of ballroom/dining hall expanse. Waltzing and socialising (in a very “Haunted mansion” kind of way) in this room are dozens of ghost hotel guests, re-enacting the day of the disaster. An eerie voice recites tale…

 

 

“The year is 1929. What had been wasteland for centuries has been developed into the world-class hotel you see before you. The ribbon-cutting ceremony had attracted some of Europe’s most affluent and elegant. A ballroom occasion was held to celebrate the opening of the hotel and to wish it many prosperous years… It didn’t even last one night….”

 

Without closing the doors the elevator creeps down even lower, leaving the party behind. You pass beneath the floor of the ballroom and what appears to be the foundation layer of the building and finally level out in front of a crumbling hole. Through the opening you can just about make out the interior of a burial chamber, complete with coffins, tombstones and various rotting artefacts. The ghost host voice continues…

 

 

“But this land was already inhabited, and its restless residents have been disturbed. A hastily constructed burial chamber entombing evil for generations was finally broken open by the construction of the building atop it, allowing it’s sinister prisoners to once again wreak havoc and evil about the land…”

 

The lighting sharpens slightly and the gravestones wobble noticeably. Rafters supporting the room creak with stress and buckle perilously close to breaking point. The elevator suddenly rises back up to the ballroom level, just in time to witness the whole room split open and crumple into the basement. The ride falls in sync with the rooms simulated collapse, dropping just enough to give riders their first taste of freefall and to land the elevator back into the tomb scene with a newly formed hole in the ceiling. Spirits are seen rising from their graves and escaping through the opening, the elevator shudders slightly and pulls up quickly to escape to the top of the building.

 

 

The rest should be fairly obvious. Drop sequences try their best to replicate the callapse of the hotel by plunging you repeatedly down the elevator shaft.

 

One thing to note about the drop section is that each shaft offers slightly different visuals depending on where it is located on the building (In more than just the obvious way..). Shaft one is actually in what’s supposed to be the main hotel elevator shaft and

Therefore gives an almost completely unobstructed view outside through a glazed strip on the tower. Shaft two follows almost exactly along the huge crack in the building, giving a somewhat shielded view through broken windows and masonry. Shaft three is more enclosed and tops out in a completely concealed “manager’s suite”, offering the tradition ToT dark ride feeling.

Hopefully small changes like that could go some way to helping re-ride excitement. And of course, night riding means some cool lighting effects can be used. Since there's no signage on this tower, the focus is a deep and eerie red glow from within the destroyed building.

 

 

A final message from the ghost host is played as the elevator slowly levels out on the exit floor…

 

“Next time you check into a hotel you may wish to investigate who exactly it hosts, or you could end up sharing a very permanent room with a selection of very sinister guests”

 

You actually leave the elevator underground on a completely separate level between the lobby and the show scenes. This eliminates the need for that dreaded “hallway of un-themeness” that the other non-Florida towers have. This does unfortunately mean that the lift then has to raise empty to the loading floor after, and that only one elevator may occupy a single shaft, but I don’t think that would hinder capacity as badly as it may sound.

 

 

You leave the building via a staircase that takes you up to ground level where no doubt the park’s financial managers would have insisted on placing a gift shop and on-ride photo sales point

 

Aaaaand, that’s about it.

Here’s a few extra images of the attraction that should hopefully make my waffle more interesting and conceivable. No audio this time though, because I refuse to record myself attempting a ghostly voice...

 

The plans for the main three public floors...

 

 

A picture of the hotel BEFORE it fell apart

 

 

And the same picture again before I got all "arty-farty" and raped it with multiple Photoshop effects- because I know SOMEONE would have moaned about that...

 

 

So, that's my lot. Hope some of you guys enjoy it or get inspired to be creative or something

 

Is anyone else here kinda bummed about the whole cloned ride thing?

I'm not trying to make a statement that I hate Disney for their efforts by doing this. Not at all- I'm over the moon at the mere concept of getting that awesome attraction in a park near me!

 

I'm just upset that the financial difficulties of the park meant that the imagineers weren't given the freedom to create something unique. I would imagine they feel the same way =(

 

Thanks for reading

 

Tim

[coasterdude5]

Incredible! You have a real talent for this!

[okinawaboy11]

You seriously need a job with Disney.

[TheStig]

Woah that was amazing! If this was a real ToT I would fly ANYWHERE to ride it! You seriously should be an imagineer, you've got some real good talent. Maybe if Im some billionare tycoon someday, Ill give you a ring, because this is one of the greatest Tower ideas Ive evr heard. Personially, I think this would be better than the WDW one if it were real, but I still like the 5D room and the capacity that the WDW one has. Maybe you could have a 5D room through the ball room or something, that would be cool. Once again nice work!

 

Colin C

[Three]

I concur. You really need to put these talents to good use.

[Teus]

I don't know english very well (so sorry if I don't write well),I'm from Italy and this is the first message that I write here. I do this effort becouse this is a GREAT WORK. In Italy we said Complimenti!!!

 

I have loved tower of terror since I went last year to Disneyland CA, now I can't wait that TOT in Paris will be complete.

 

If the final project will be the same as your draws (but this is only a dream) we certainly see one of the best attraction in the world.

[Jon Sabo]

Awesome job and creativity. I thought I enjoyed my own design work and you should be proud of yours as well.

I think you have a real talent in this field. I hope you plan on design work/architecture to pursue as a career.

I will have to find the number, but if you would be interested in working for Lucas Arts (George Lucas-Star Wars) I could give you a contact # and see if they could recruit you under an apprenticeship program.

Keep your dream alive!

[BeemerBoy]

Okay, first, Teus....welcome. Oh, and your english is just fine. Complimenti on that. Second....Cerberus, very nice work. I'm curious, are you going to college, or university, or whatever they call it there? I'm sure many of us would like to know after seeing that work, because talent like that should never go to waste.

[Canobie Fan]

http://www.filehigh.com/serve/12875/155900.jpg

yay for the book of POOP!

[Jumboshrmp]

WOW!

Can you say "future Imagineer"?

future imagineer

 

That would be AWESOME!

[Luxo]

Have I ever said, I LOVE your work! I've seen your deviantart page, and everything blows me away .

 

Like Pride Mountain, this concept seems very realistic and unique...oh yeah, room 666, thats awesome.

[kenshinmac]

You know it could be possible to have two elevators in the shaft if it simply used a system similar to CAs to take it out and in. Then you shuffle the unloaded car up while the other one is on its way down... It would work but it would mean a bit more testing and coordination. I don't think it would quite be a Tower of Terror if there was no horizontal movement at all... I mean how cool would it be if the car drew back in kinda the same way that the Haunted Mansion elevator expands vertically... Just kinda warping and distorting instead of just being just lowered down...

[B.Toast]

Holy smokes thats awsome.

 

That might even be cooler than Tokyo's Tower!

[Jeezus Juice]

Dude, seriously...brilliant!

[mb425]

Wow... That is amazing! Great work!

[zaneymon]

OMFG that is such a cool idea it was be mad if i was real

[ECZenith]

Outstanding! God I hope you're making the efforts to design for the mouse.

Keep this stuff coming!

[Token Yankee Guy]

omg, that's amazing. You should really submit the idea to Disney and see what they think.

 

Great Job!

[Nrthwnd]

Wow.

 

Another great personal rendition of the ToT here, I'd say.

 

Excellent work. Hope you're keeping this all together on paper to compose your (ahem) Future Portfolio?

 

 

Great job. Very impressive.

 

WOO HOO!

[Corkscrewed]

Yeah... future Imagineer.

 

Geez, how can I even dream of competing with THIS?!

 

Awesome stuff, man! Just astounding.

[Xenox]

Dude, that was seriously awesome!!! I mean really, do try to get a job with Disney 'cause you, my fine sir, have talent with this stuff, lots and lots of it.

 

P.S. I was drooling all over my keyboard when I saw the pictures...

[VegasCoaster]

You have somehow managed to thwart all my aspirations of ever being invovled with Disney with this amazing concept work you keep putting out. I seriously need about 10 years of drawing/photoshop classes to catch up with this. Amazing stuff, keep up the god work, and maybe some Disney spies will find you or something, but its deifinately high quality work, and at their level.

[thunder001]

Coming from someone who has never been to either Disney park, I now feel that the ride will not hold up to the vision that I now hold in my head after reading your idea. That is some serious work and I have to agree with everyone else about getting a job with Disney, but don't wait...Send It Now!!!

 

It can never hurt to try to get into a company like Disney as early as possible....GO FOR IT

[Cerberus]

You know it could be possible to have two elevators in the shaft if it simply used a system similar to CAs to take it out and in. Then you shuffle the unloaded car up while the other one is on its way down...

 

Oh my god! Yes, you're right!

A smaller lift shaft in front of the main one to shuffle load position elevators about.

I can't believe I didn't think of that. Curse you for not somehow doing the impossible and giving me the idea BEFORE I started!

 

Thanks for all the comments anyway.

Unfortunately we already established in the previous thread that Disney would basically cover their eyes with their hands and mail the whole package back to me as if it were some form of paperback medusa.

So now I guess it's just about finding a smaller company...

 

Someone asked what I'm doing at the moment. I'm currently in college just scraping my way through a Graphic Design course (There are no words to describe how much of a let-down this was. Motivation - 0), so I should probably get that out of the way before I job hunt.

 

By the way, I only realised at the last minuit that the whole "witch hunt" colonial times ear didn't really occur in Europe. Bah.

[Ghost]

We honor your work here

 

Amazing... what a talent you have...

but you do understand that you'll have to give us more, more, more... of this magical concepts....