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View Full Version : The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror event - April 23, 2004



cstephens
04-24-2004, 02:06 AM
After I spent part of the day at the resort, my husband then met up with me around 4:45pm, and we went to register for the event. Registration for the past few events we've been to have been at the Grand Californian ballroom, but this registration was at the Disneyland Hotel ballrooms. There weren't a lot of signs directing people where to go, so we finally asked a couple who it was evident had registered for the event already, and they directed us to the right way.

We checked in and were given our packets, which came in a black envelope with "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror April 23, 2004" printed on the front and included a welcome letter, an itinerary, a shopping list for merchandise that was still available, an invoice for the merchandise we'd already purchased and a survey. Also included was an event lanyard with the Hollywood Tower Hotel (HTH) emblem, an admission ticket for the evening's event, a "Terrifying Fun Book" (which had 5 tear-away coupons for games and tear-away coupons for a treat, a drink and a commemorative gift at the end of the night), and a pin of Minnie. We then went to pick up our pre-purchased merchandise (which came in the translucent bags we've been used to now, with the event title printed on the side) and then had a quick look around the merchandise store. The entire process was the easiest we've encountered in the several events we've attended.

Since we had signed up for the lowest level package, our entry into the event wasn't until 9:15, so we had a lovely and leisurely dinner at Catal, our favorite restaurant at the resort. We then headed for DCA around 9pm and found a line of people waiting to get into the event as well. They let us in (having to show our lanyard and our admission ticket) around 9:15. DCA was still open, and the Electrical Parade was just finishing up. We made our way to the Hollywood Backlot area, where another line formed to get into the event itself. Everyone in our line had signed up for the lowest level package. People who had signed up for the higher level packages had earlier entry times into the event because they had extra activities. While we were waiting in line, we ended up striking up a conversation with the two people behind us. They didn't know much about what to expect, so we answered the questions they had, and we actually ended up going on the ride with them. (They loved it, and when we ran into them later in the evening, they had just finished their third ride.) After waiting a short while, our line started to move, and we were let into the area just outside the Hyperion Theatre and into the area surrounding the Tower of Terror. Some people decided to go play the games or have their refreshments first. We opted to go on the ride first, figuring we could play the games and have our treats after, and then hoping there might even be time for another ride. The line to get into the ride was fairly long, even using some of the attraction queue space, but the line moved fairly easily.

When we finished with the ride and came out the exit (the gift shop was very, very crowded, and many people seemed to be making a lot of purchases), we noticed that there was no longer an outside line for the attraction. It was only 10pm at that point, so we were pleased that we had another hour and a half in which to enjoy the evening. We decided to go play whatever games had been set up. There were five games, following the course of going to the hotel. The prize for each of the games was another pin that matched the Minnie pin we'd received with our registration packets, so after we finished all the games, we had Mickey, Donald, Daisy, Pluto and Goofy pins to add to our collection. And at these games, everyone was a winner. The first game involved packing. There was a hat, a folded-up t-shirt, a slipper and a pair of socks, with compartments for each of them. The task was to toss each item into its appropriate compartment. The second game was arriving at the hotel. There were standees of the hotel with three different-sized holes cut into them, and a swinging portion that would cover and uncover the holes. The task was to throw small koosh-like balls through the holes. The third game involved the bellhop and bells like those one might find in a hotel lobby to summon the bellhop. The CM played a bit of a tune on the bells, and the task was to duplicate what he did. Appropriately enough, he played the first strains of the Twilight Zone theme. The fourth game involved check-in. It was a competition between two people (or with a CM if the person was solo). There were colored mail slots and colored letters. The task was to correctly put each letter into its corresponding colored mail slot, and the first person to finish won. The fifth game was a ring toss. There were standees of hotel guests, and you were given three rings that you had to toss to catch on the arm of one of the guests. I really enjoyed this part of the evening. I like pins, but I'm not fond of just being handed them. We had a really fun time playing all the games and getting the pins that way, and CMs really seemed to be having as much fun as the attendees.

After we finished our games, we picked up our treat (a cookie with a picture of the HTH on it) and drink and found a table. There were tables and chairs set up all around in the area between the Tower of Terror entrance and the Fastpass machines, as well as in the area outside the gift shop. There was also a live band playing big band music. It was very nice to sit out on this lovely Spring day in comfortable weather, having a sweet treat, listening to the music, and just enjoying the atmosphere. As we had our snack, others were taking additional rides, so it was nice that people were able to do multiple rides. I was curious and so had found out from a CM lead that the attendance to this event was between 750 and 1000 people. After we finished our snack, we decided to take a second ride before heading out for the evening around 11pm.

We had been speculating on what the parting gift would be. Since we had already received six pins, we were figuring (and hoping) that it wasn't going to be another pin. As we walked out of the Hollywood Backlot area and headed towards the gates, we noticed CMs standing just before the gates, right next to a few tables piled with boxes about the size of a small shoebox. We gave them our tickets and were each given a box. We had no idea what might be in the box. Eager to find out, we stepped outside the gates and opened one. Inside the white thin-cardboard sleeve was a sturdy gray box with a lid. There was a postcard of the event art of the HTH being struck by lightning. The box had the HTH emblem and name. Inside the padded box was a pocket watch and small display dome. The pocket watch is gold in color, with the HTH glamour art picture on one side, and embedded on the other side is the HTH emblem and name and the event date "April 23, 2004". When you click the top of the watch, it opens, and the watch is running and set to the correct time. The dome is made of hard plastic on a wooden base and inside is a hook on which to hang the watch. We were a bit astounded by this gift, as were others around us who were either opening their own boxes or looking at the one we'd opened. It's one of the nicest gifts we've received at this kind of event, and the pocket watch fits in perfectly with the theming of the hotel. I love the merchandise of the HTH moreso than the merchandise of the Tower of Terror attraction, and the pocket watch is packaged as if it's a souvenir from the hotel. Bravo to the Disney folks for coming up with such a nifty gift.

We had an absolutely wonderful time at this event, from the ease of registration, to being able to do the ride more than once, to the fun games we played and the nice atmosphere of the set-up, to the terrific parting gift. Disney definitely did this event right.

Niwel
04-24-2004, 07:37 AM
Wow! Great recap. The watch sounds amazing. I've never gone to a merchandise event because I've heard about how disorganized they are -- looks like between this and the last event, Disneyland has started to get its act together :)

Not Afraid
04-24-2004, 10:06 AM
It figures. Here's the watch on Ebay already. (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=138&item=2240643572&rd=1):rolleyes:

KarenW2
04-24-2004, 12:52 PM
Our experience was a little different, as we had the earlier entry tickets for 7:30 pm. Since the park was open to the public til 9 pm, we decided to go check out the line at the letter "C", where we were to meet our event escort. There were several people already in line and others in the park. I got on line and my hubby went back in, to check out the Tower area, to see what was up. He came back with the report that CMs said we might as well go in, since there were others waiting at the end of the street, so I got out of line, we went thru the entry again & got down to the Tower.

Others with our same lanyards were walking towards us! They said CMs told them they "might want to go back out" and meet at the "C", since something we "might not want to miss" would be happening, so we once again went back out of the park! :( Now the line was at least 3 times as long as when we left it, so I found a place to sit, while my hubby waited online. They were supposed to escort us at 7:15, but nothing happened, and when it was after 7:30, somebody said we all were supposed to just pick a line and enter en masse, with CMs swiping our ticket media, so that was frustrating! We could've stayed in the park, sitting comfortably on a nice bench, instead of going back out all over again & waiting for something that didn't happen! :(

Once we got back down there, it was pretty smooth sailing. We first noticed Ken (the host CM from Play It!), dressed as a bellhop, with a CM badge that read "Larry". He was carrying a small rose bush and was looking for a "Mrs. Bell", so he could deliver it to her. He walked all over, asking for her and would go backstage every so often, coming out with an even larger rose bush the next time! He was pretty funny to watch. There were other "streetmosphere" folk around, in 30's costumes, a female photographer with her male reporter friend, asking us if we'd heard anything about "strange goings-on" at the hotel, taking down names in his notebook & taking fake photos. We asked her if she'd take a real photo of us, with our own camera & even tho she didn't know how, she tried. She said our camera must've come from "another dimension"!!

There were several buffet tables set-up in different areas, with the same food on them - cheese raviolis, marinated veggies, filet mignon balls covered in puff pastry, various cheeses cut like french fries, dried fruit, etc. Waitstaff with trays were passing out various things too - chicken pieces dipped in coconut batter, crostini, bruschetti, risotto rounds, etc. I can't do fried foods, so there were other things I don't remember, because I couldn't eat them. Drinks were virgin and real "Cosmopolitans" with the lighted ice cubes, red wine, white wine, beer, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dasani water, etc., all you could drink. There were plenty of tables set-up, so you weren't forced to sit with people you didn't know or want to sit with, which was great.

The waitstaff was great, picking up finished items, passing out more food than you'd want to eat & all. Desserts on trays were a white/milk chocolate cup sort of thing (no dish) filled with a mousse-like dessert and a white chocolate HTH logo and various kinds of cookies, also all you wanted to eat.

The "big band" was nice to listen to, sitting and eating, waiting for someone to announce what would happen next. No CMs made any announcements, but they did play the ToT theme at one point. After that, people could file thru the ride, as many times as they wanted to. We went on it 3 times total, and would've gone on it more often, but my stomach was very upset from having eaten that food & then gone on the ride. Interesting, since the Florida version never bothered my stomach. We met up with some LaughingPlace.com friends, played the games, took our last ride, then went to pick up our event gift. We were disappointed we had to exit the park & walk all the way thru Downtown Disney, even tho we were staying at the Grand. All that standing and walking was very hard on my arthritis.

Our registration went fairly easily too, tho when we got there and hunted to find someone to help us, we were told they were at lunch til after 2:30, so we had lunch at Tortilla Jo's, to see what it was like. The inside restaurant food was OK, not great, and their definition of an enchilada looked like a tortilla with only meat inside, not rolled with sauce & cheese like we're used to. With the Premium Annual Pass, we got a dessert to split between us, so we chose the flan.

From there, we went back to registration to get our goodies. We received a VERY NICE silver cigarette case with the date & HTH logo on it, as well as a gold front desk bell pin, along with the Minnie Mouse pin. We got all we ordered on our RSP stuff and had to exchange 3 out of 4 Bellhop Stitch pins, because they were defective. We found it interesting that they increased the issue on the Which Way to Go Stitch pin (1000 to 1,500) but decreased the issue on the Tip Top Arrival boxed pin sets (250, not 500).

We would've preferred they kept the registration at the Grand, since that's where we stayed and would've been much easier than walking back & forth to the DH. We were surprised/disappointed that there was no "photo op" for this event, but I think it might've been because they wanted to sell more on-ride Tower photos. We dressed in keeping with the black and white theme and would've liked a photo of us dressed that way, not a partial photo of us and a bunch of strangers on the ride! We chose not to attend the artist "meet and greet", as we needed to run in to DL, to check out pirates merchandise for a project I'm working on and wanted to get back to the hotel to rest, since it was soooo hot and crowded! The CMs said we couldn't ride in either the front or the tail of the monorail, because it was over 90 degrees inside!

All in all, we had a nice time, but both agreed we enjoyed the Pirates movie event better, with the Blue Bayou dinner & all, especially for the money we spent.

Mickeyslittlehelper
04-24-2004, 01:09 PM
At the event last night (23rd) they had stuff for sale. Are the t-shirts (pictured on this website http://www.dizpins.com/events/dl_tot.htm) exclusive to the event or will they be sold once the ride opens?

Thanks