Tower of Terror Experiencing “Constant” Issues, Fans Fear the Worst

Aug 24, 2023

in Walt Disney World

Credit: Chad Sparkes via Flickr

Tower of Terror has been a Disney World staple since 1994 – but fans fear it may need some serious work.

In the 1990s, Disney’s Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney-MGM Studios) desperately needed major attractions to attract new guests. Walt Disney Imagineering ultimately took inspiration from Rod Serling’s anthology stories featured in The Twilight Zone and decided to build a drop-shaft ride that would transport riders to the Fifth Dimension.

Related: Disney Closing Tower of Terror Indefinitely Soon

The result was, of course, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Located at the end of Sunset Boulevard, the ride starts at the dilapidated Hollywood Tower Hotel, where in 1939, a lightning bolt struck and caused five guests – an actor, singer, child star, her nanny, and a hotel bellhop – to vanish from the elevator.

Rod Serling, the host of The Twilight Zone, then tells guests that they’ll be using a maintenance service elevator to guest star in an episode of the show. Of course, that doesn’t quite go to plan, and guests end up in the the Fifth Dimension – plummeting repeatedly to and from the ground.

The Tower of Terror rapidly became a Walt Disney World Resort favorite. While additional versions later opened at Walt Disney Studios Park, Tokyo DisneySea, and Disney California Adventure (where it has since been changed to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT!), many consider the original at Hollywood Studios to be superior.

Now, however, guests fear that the ride is experiencing pressing technical issues. The Tower of Terror has a recent habit of breaking down mid-ride, with some guests even evacuated from the attraction.

This has led to higher wait times than usual, with the ride reportedly reaching up to 220 minutes this week.

“What’s up with the extreme Tower of Terror wait times?” questioned KGaviation on Reddit. “I’ll be going next week and I’ve been keeping an eye on the park wait times over the past week and noticed Tower of Terror had had some crazy wait times recently. Currently 95, but was 140 earlier. Was even 225 the other day. It seems to hit the 100’s+ at least every day I’ve checked. Is only one side working or is it not accurate? Just wondering.”

Other guests confirmed that it often appears like only one side of the attraction is working lately. “I was there multiple times last week, and one day it was down for a long time, and the other day, they only had one elevator working for a while,” said AntPerez11.

“I’m here right now. It was down all day until about 2 p.m. Eastern,” said Kikix69. “Since that time, it’s been operational for a little, and then down for a little. Not many people in the park today have been able to ride it due to the constant break downs, thus vastly increasing the wait times.”

Another user, Abigail-Mary, said, “One of the two elevators has been broken, so it’s doubling the wait time.”

As there’s no official word from Disney on the current status of the Tower of Terror, it’s best to take these claims with a grain of salt. However, there’s no denying that the ride has experienced more downtime than usual lately – despite only undergoing refurbishment on half of its elevator shafts earlier this year.

Have you noticed any issues with the Tower of Terror lately? Let us know in the comments!

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Chloë is a theme park addict and self-proclaimed novelty hunter. She's obsessed with all things Star Wars, loves roller coasters (but hates Pixar Pal-A-Round), and lives for Disney's next Muppets project.