Tower of Terror is a free-fall/haunted house attraction in Tokyo DisneySea. The attraction is a reimagining of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in American and European parks.
History[]
Background[]
The Hotel Hightower was a grand hotel located at One Park Avenue in New York City and which was constructed in 1892. The hotel was built by Harrison Hightower III, an evil billionaire, businessman and colonial explorer who used the hotel as a meeting place for fellow colonizers as well as a personal museum for stolen and amorally traded artifacts. On the December 31 of 1899, Hightower held a New Year's Eve party to celebrate his acquisition of the Shiriki Utundu, a feared idol from the Congo which he stole from the peaceful Mtundu tribe. When Hightower used the idol to extinguish his cigar, the idol came to life, killed Hightower in an elevator shaft, and left the hotel abandoned.
Years later, Hightower's disappearance was still shrouded in mystery. Hightower's rival Cornelius Endicott II planned on demolishing the Hotel Hightower before his daughter, Beatrice Rose Endicott saved it in 1912 by founding the New York City Preservation Society and turning the hotel into a historic site. However unknown to Beatrice, she did this due to the manipulation of the late Hightower's manservant Archibald Smelding who intended on bringing tourists and employees of the NCPS to to hotel as sacrifice to Shiriki Utundu in hopes that the fresh blood might persuade it into freeing his master's soul.
Development history[]
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is an attraction from Disney's Hollywood Studios loosely based on the classic horror/sci-fi/fantasy The Twilight Zone. The attraction revolved around a haunted hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood which became connected to the nightmarish 5th dimension AKA The Twilight Zone. For Tokyo audiences, the ride had to be fully reimagined due to Japanese audiences not being as familiarized with the Twilight Zone property as North American and European audiences. The new story revolved around evil western colonial explorers which was later bastardized with the attraction Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland to retcon in the glamorized colonial aristocratic Society of Explorers and Adventurers.
Summary[]
Jungle Cruise connections[]
Jungle Cruise[]
In the queue for both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise are crates for Hightower Industries though it is not explicitly tied to Harrison III. Alberta Falls also mentioned travelling to New York City as a girl with her father in The Daily Gnus. In Tower of Terror, a mural depicts the chieftain of an Easter Island tribe who is overweight with a skirt and top-hat, a design seemingly inspired by Chief Nah-mee from the Jungle Cruise. Skipper Missy also mentions the Hotel Hightower over the Global Broadcasting Service. In the queue for Walt Disney World's Jungle Cruise, there is a souvenir banner for the S.S. Columbia which belonged to Harrison Hightower III's rival, Cornelius Endicott II.
Skipper Canteen[]
The menus of the Skipper Canteen have an item called Shiriki Noodle Soup, mentioned as having been served at Hightower's 1899 New Year's Eve party. There is a certificate in the Falls estate for the, "Hightower Spirit of Adventure Award" being awarded by S.E.A. to Dr. Albert Falls and signed by Captain Mary Oceaneer. Hightower is also one of the authors of the books in the library with his works including, "MINE!", "Treasures of the Animal Kingdom" and, "Everest Expedition: Search for the Yeti".
Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar[]
Harrison Hightower III is mentioned in a letter sent to Trader Sam by the New York City Preservation Society on the November 6 of 1912.[1] This letter speaks about how Sam's apparent grandfather Billamongawonga AKA, "Trader Bill" was Hightower's, "Right-hand man" with them sending Sam a portrait of Bill taken from the Hotel Hightower.
Tropical Hideaway[]
On a wall in the hideaway is an oar for H. Hightower's voyage on the Yangtze River in 1872.
Other connections[]
Adventurers Club[]
A portrait from the Adventurers Club depicting club founder Merriweather Adam Pleasure was retconned in Disney's Aulani resort into also depicting Harrison Hightower III on his Congo expedition, identified by Pamelia Perkins as a disgraceful ancestor of their organization.
Bengal Barbecue[]
There is a miniature portrait in the possession of Professor Blauerhimmel, depicting the 1899 meeting of S.E.A. in the Hotel Hightower.
Haunted Mansion[]
Hightower shares his surname, nationality and status with George Hightower, a former owner of the Haunted Mansion who was killed by his bride, Constance Hatchaway.
Indiana Jones[]
A photograph in the Hotel Hightower shows him chewing a cigar outside of the Temple of the Crystal Skull in the Lost River Delta, years prior to the events of Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull.
Lost River Delta[]
Hightower has a mural of him and Smelding stealing an idol from the temple from Raging Spirits in the 1880s. In Raging Spirits, there are also crates from the, "Hightower Trust". Another photograph in the hotel shows Hightower outside the aforementioned Temple of the Crystal Skull.
Magic of Disney Animation[]
The film, "The Bride of Frankenollie" was written by one Harrison Hightower IV.
Mystic Manor[]
This attraction retconned Hightower into being a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers and as having hosted them in the Hotel Hightower, namely on the New Year's Eve party to celebrate his theft of Shiriki Utundu.
Trivia[]
- Hightower was portrayed by imagineer Joe Rohde who developed much of Kilimanjaro Safaris, the Jungle Cruise's successor attraction.
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror's fictionalized depiction of Sunset Boulevard is connected to the Jungle Cruise via the fictional film The Jungle Cruise having debuted at the Theatre of the Stars. It also has looser connections due to shared references to historic figures such as Walt Disney, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and Shirley Temple Black.
Gallery[]
