The View from Scopa Towers

The cast member tells us there is to be no photography of any kind. This is for the safety of everyone in the elevator. She then SLAMS THE GATE. This was done for effect. Holly started praying. Just before the cast member closes the doors she says, "See you at the bottom."

The doors close and we hear Rod Serling's voice and the elevator shoots....that's right SHOOTS UP about 20 feet. The door opens and we are looking out into a hotel hallway. It's about 80 feet long. There are tables, mirrors, doors, paintings, plants, intersecting hallways, and a window at the far end. I don't recall what good old Rod was saying but as he said it the five poor souls who were in that elevator that fateful night walked into the hallway and beckoned for us to follow them. They were ghostly apparitions.

As they beckoned us they, and the hallway, began to fade...no it's not fading it's changing. Woa! Now I'm looking into deep space, a star field. How the heck did they...wait…the window is still there...it's on…wait…it's floating towards us...CRASH!!!!! It falls and the doors slam shut. Too cool.

We shoot up another 50 feet and Rod says something about the Twilight Zone. The doors open. The elevator moves forward on a track of some sort and we pass by images of TV's Twilight Zone. I won't go into the details because I'm still not sure what I saw.

Blue...I remember the color blue. Think of the opening of The Twilight Zone Television show and you can get an idea of what you'll see. As we move forward through "The Zone" I'm thinking, "Hey that's a screen coming up. We're gonna hit it...HEY WE"RE GONNA..." A big white line or lightning bolt or laser light or something like that comes down in front of us, crackles and splits this wall. This part of the attraction is kinda fuzzy to me, but it blows you away.

Okay we are at the end of the track now wha.........THE DOORS SLAM SHUT! I'm thinking, "Some day I just gotta get my will in order." We SHOOT UP ANOTHER 50 feet and hear Rod mumble something...we hear one word loud and clear.....TERROR! The doors open up and we are under the O in the word Hollywood. The O is sparking and we can see just beyond the soundstages towards Catastrophe Canyon. "Oh my god," yelps Holly. We drop a foot. I had forgotten about that....for the photo. I think, "Oh-Oh!"

Then it happened.

Let me make it clear to everyone in here that I worked on this part of the trip report for hours trying as best I can to accurately describe what happened. The elevator TOOK OFF. It didn't fall. It didn't drop. Don't let anyone tell you it's a free-fall. Someone stepped on the gas and we were PULLED DOWN at a tremendous force.

Have you ever watched a cartoon where a character runs off a cliff and suddenly realizes he's not on solid ground? The bottom part of his body drops but his neck and shoulders stay up for a second...then they follow the rest of his body. That's what it felt like. The only part of the body (I thought) that feels distressed is the chest and above. I thought I was going to split in two. I actually felt that my head and shoulders were going to remain up there...or my innards were going to escape through my mouth.

But! But! But! But....before you get turned off from what I've just said listen to this. This PULL happens so fast that you cannot even complete a single thought. Just as you START to feel the uneasiness I just described...IT'S OVER! I mean ZIP! IT'S OVER! Be aware that even though the lower half of your body appears to have gone through the ride without any ill effects it ain't so. Your knees and legs will shake as you get up and leave the elevator. Your body is in shock for a minute after the ride.

My body was pretty upset because I didn't tell it what was going to happen. My brain was still puzzled by the special effects. My chest was trying to fall back into place, and my legs were warning me to keep moving or they were going on strike. Let me make this interesting observation.

We walked out past the unloading portion of the Tower Basement and turned a corner to see a large waiting area and a long counter. Behind the counter the wall contained a message reading:

Picture if you will.....

...the expression of horror on your face as...

…or something like that. This is to be the area where you can purchase the photo of yourself as you are frightened to death from that little one foot drop before THE BIG ONE. This area was incomplete so no photo for us.

We went into the gift shop. We all deserved a shirt after that. The shirts were selling like hotcakes. Of course they were out of my size for the one I wanted so I settled for my second choice. My shirt is black with the outline of The Hollywood Hotel. The front of the shirt contains green and purple letters that spell out "Hollywood Tower of Terror." The back says, "You can check in........but you can't check out!"

The cast members in the gift shop were dressed like morticians. One asked me if I looked up while on the elevator. "Why?" I asked. He smiled.

We left the gift shop and walked into the courtyard. I saw some people sitting down and trying to catch their composure. Some people had a tough time with this ride. Media people were floating all around too. ABC's Spencer Christian was in the area. As we left the TZTOT area we passed hundreds of people gathered on Sunset Blvd.

I overheard countless debates over whether or not to attempt the attraction. There were families having STRONG DISCUSSIONS.

"Gee Frederick I don't know if it's safe!"

"C'mon Dad, I'm tall enough!"

"Now Arthur we can't let Junior and Sis go on alone. I'm sure your back will be okay."

"Omigod did you hear those screams?"

"Hey, I just had a milkshake...and you want me to ride that thing?"

We stopped off at the Sunset Ranch Market to get a drink (mostly for Holly) and then headed out to check the ticker tape parade which kicks off the NY Street Party. Boy was that small. Don't bother.

After that we worked our way back to Hollywood Blvd. and changed our plans to go to EPCOT that evening. Why? Simply, that if we want to ride the Tower again (Mike and I were game) then the best bet was to ride it that evening before word got out that it was open. Tomorrow the lines would be too long.

We had dinner in Hollywood & Vine although after her venture into the Twilight Zone Holly wasn't hungry . When we left H&V we came out into the throes of Streetmosphere (can you tell that we love this entertainment?) Shelby Mayor gave me his card and told me that we could make millions by putting a blonde wig on me, stuffing me in pink tights, and throwing me into the wrestling ring.

Mike and I went back to the Tower and the queue looked short enough for us. While in line we struck up conversations with the other visitors and we were bombarded with questions regarding the attraction. We played it cute and said we couldn't remember a lot of the stuff. When asked about the drop we said, "What drop?"

When we got to the boiler room we got to cut in front of a lot of people because we were a party of two. As we were moving towards the elevator I asked "Where are the seats? What row?" "It doesn't matter, sir." replied the cast member. "It does to me!"

When we got there I found myself standing on the spot representing the middle seat in the last row. I turned to the cast member and said, "Do I get the seat belt?" She nodded. "I prefer not to!" I semi-demanded in my best Bartleby the Scrivener voice.

She switched us with two other people. Everyone was wondering why.

Mike and I knew why.

We were in the front row. We sat in the front row on our initial journey also. I won't go through the special effects again but will say that the ride is better the second time around because you know what to look for. Look up whenever you think of it. Also, it's better during the day than at night.

The park was about to close for the day so we picked up some gifts we had planned to get for some friends and returned to the CBR. We had gone nonstop since 9 that morning. From opening day MGM has always played music throughout the day. As the day goes on the music changes. On this particular evening as we exited the turnstiles the music was bidding us farewell. Can music sob? I forget the song that was playing...it sure was melancholy.