The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at the "Hollywood Tower Hotel", Disneyworld

picture from learnsomethingnewtoday.us



Personal score: 10/10

The huge thrills and amazing theme on the Tower of Terror never fail to keep me coming back to ride it again!

Adult score: 9/10

The 13 story drops can even scare the adults! Most thrill-seeking adults will love this ride, and the creepy, ominous theme keeps EVERYONE in suspense.

Young children (2-7): 5/10

To ride the Tower of Terror, you must be 40 inches tall, so many little ones won't be able to ride. Most of those who can will be frightened by the theming, and the plummets into darkness will be too much for them to handle. If the kids love other thrills, like roller coasters or dropping rides, AND can handle scary theming, they will love this ride. But otherwise - be cautious about putting young children on this ride.

Children (8-12): 7/10

Kids that are just getting into big thrills will love the Tower of Terror. Those who are still frightened by dark, enclosed spaces and ghostly stories won't enjoy it as much as the others.

Teens (13-18): 9/10

The creepy aura of this ride will attract teenagers! The amount of scariness in the drops will please thrill-seekers, and the ghost story and the Twilight Zone theme will keep riders coming back for more!

Theme: 10/10

This ride is FABULOUSLY themed. The "deserted" Hollywood Tower Hotel is clothed in greys, cremes, and blacks, and of course, cobwebs and creepy statues. The "lobby" is only the beginning though, for when entering the basement, there are cold, dank stone walls, the sound of water dripping on the ground and eerie creaks are heard. There are old boilers and dark looking "Service Elevators". Once actually inside the ride, the Twilight Zone theming takes over, and you are surrounded by pinpricks of stars and creepy blue shadows of the guests who "entered the Twilight Zone" in alleged 1939.

Thrill: 10/10

The thrill is DEFINITELY not lacking. Dropping 13 stories? Oh, yes.

Overall Average: Approximately 8.3



Description: 1930's music fills your ears as you file towards the "Hollywood Tower Hotel" lobby. Once inside, you are surrounded by cobwebs and eerie furniture. There are tables with poker cards and chips on it, but no players. There's luggage and ornate hatboxes on couches, and even a doll. But the whole place is deserted, save for the cast members dressed as bellboys and front desk attendants. Once inside the "Library", you watch a black-and-white video, similar to the intro of the Twilight Zone, and you then enter the basement. This is a room with low lighting in cold colors such as blues and greys. You wait until your "Service Elevator" arrives in the queue line, and then you board the "elevator." You sit down and secure an auto-locking seatbelt, and then you're off. Travel to the Twilight Zone, and then rise in the elevator to an ominous hallway. The flowers are black, and you see the guests that boarded the elevator and disappeared waving to you. The little girl is holding a Mickey doll. Then, you see ghostly blue apparitions of yourselves before soaring to the open windows at the top of the tower for a fabulous view of the Magic Kingdom. Then, you drop about 6 times. The drops are different ervery single ride, so you always get new thrills each time you go on!

Frontierland: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – “The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness”

From orlandofuntickets.com

Personal score: 9/10
This rollercoaster is far from the scariest – but it may very well be the most well-themed!
Adult score: 9/10
This runaway-train roller coaster doesn’t house as much thrill as most, but the theme is great, and most adults will enjoy it because of its classic persona.
Young children (2-7): 6/10
Most young children will not be tall enough to ride (The height requirement is 40 inches), and most of those who are won’t particularly enjoy the thrills. Only little-thrill-seekers will enjoy.
Children (8-12): 9/10
The theme is very enjoyable, and it invokes excitement and thrill. Children 8-12 will enjoy this mostly because of its “beginners ‘coaster” image, so kids can say they’ve been on a real roller coaster! Some, on the other hand, won’t enjoy the drops and turns.
Teens (13-18): 7/10
For cynical, thrill-loving teens, this ride won’t be enough. The thrill will be too small for any true thrill-seeker to enjoy. Others will enjoy the theme but not the ride.
Theme: 9.5/10
The theme is very exciting – the Wild West mine theme is consistent, even through the mine scenes.
Thrill: 8/10
The thrill has to do more with the theme then the actual drop! Falling stalactites and broken mine shafts add greatly to the previously not-as-exciting twists and drops.
Overall Average: Approx. 8.2/10

Description:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a small, wild-mine-car/runaway train roller coaster. The drops are small, but the theme makes up for it. There are many crazy, banked turns and twists that make for a wild ride – and there are many tunnels with stalactites and stalagmites and creaking, and even almost collapsing mine shafts. This ride is great for all people who like more playful roller coasters rather than intense ones.

New Orleans Square: The Haunted Mansion

NEW ORLEANS SQUARE: THE HAUNTED MANSION

Pic from about.com
TYPE OF RIDE: Experience ride/themed tour
Personal score: 10/10
The spirit of Halloween and playful scares is sure alive in the creepy, old Mansion!
Adult score: 7/10
The ride is mostly for kids-at-heart, but most adults will enjoy the ride for the complex theme and the laid-back style.
Young children (2-7) score: 6/10
Even though the “scare-factor” is meant to be playful rather than scary, young children might be frightened by the mummies jumping out suddenly and other elements in the ride.
Children (8-12) 9/10
The scary parts of the ride are really more mischievous and almost cynical, so older children will enjoy it.
Teens (13-18): 8/10
The theme is enjoyable, but teens might consider it childish.
Theme: 10/10
The theme is consistent throughout the ride, and is very well done. The music is great – very fitting and minor.
Thrill: N/A
Overall Average: Approx. 8.33/10

Description:The Haunted Mansion is a very experience based ride. The ride itself is supposed to be a tour of a so-called-deserted mansion that is actually inhabited by “999 happy haunts”. You board your “doom-buggies” or black cars that fit about 2 or three people (definitely 3 children) after walking through a creepy hallway and watching the “Stretching Room” do miraculous things. Your buggies are on a fixed track throughout the Mansion, and there are no drops or elements of thrill anywhere in the ride. It is about 10 minutes long. There are many rooms inside that you tour – the ghostly hallway with doors that rattle, shake and even breathe, a séance room where a psychic woman’s head is inside a crystal ball (Madame Leota) talking to the “spirits” and to instruments floating above your head, an attic with ghostly attributes, a ballroom where ghosts are dancing to a minor waltz played on an organ, and, my personal favorite, the graveyard. There are many other surprises with realistic looking spirits along the way.

New Orleans Square: Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates of the Caribbean (At all Disney Parks)
Pic from about.com
TYPE OF RIDE: Experience ride/themed tour
Personal score: 10/10
This classic Disney ride is sure to please all!
Adult score: 8/10
The theme is enjoyable because it is a little bit more mature than the theme of Haunted Mansion. Others will enjoy it because it is a classic ride.
Young children (2-7): 7/10
Young boys particularly will enjoy this ride because of the pirates, while some will dislike it because of the two small drops.
Children (8-12): 9/10
Most older children will enjoy the ride because they will understand most of the concepts and enjoy the sights and smells of being “in a boat”. Some won’t enjoy the drops.
Teens (13-18): 8/10
Teens will enjoy it for the same reason children 8-12 enjoy it.
Theme: 10/10
This ride tells more of a story than it is a tour, and the theme of swashbuckling, fighting, drinking pirates is consistent throughout the ride. The music is almost in a drunken but cheerful style.
Thrill: N/A
Overall Average: Approx. 8.6/10

Description:
Pirates of the Caribbean is a classic Disneyland ride. It is, like most of Disney’s all-ages-popular rides, like the Haunted Mansion in that it is very experience-based. The ride is supposed to be a look at a pirate’s life – you even board small boats that travel on tracks at the bottom of a relatively wide but shallow channel. Anywhere from about 15-20 people fit in a boat, making the line move quicker than many other rides’ lines. The boats are rowboat-style with about 5 rows of benches. A novelty that is not available in the Disney World version of this ride is the Blue Bayou. It is a restaurant that is actually inside the ride. The entrance is in one of the alleyways in New Orleans Square, but once you get past the waiting room, you have become part of the Pirates ride! It is right by the water from the ride, and you see boats of people going by over the wooden rail. The whole room is dark, and there are tiny pinpricks of light on the ceiling that make it look like a starry night. There are pretty lanterns strung from the tops of old-fashioned “buildings”, and the atmosphere is very lovely. The room that it is placed in is part of the first section of the ride. You go through a small marsh-like area with a few houses on stilts (One of which has Old Man Jenkins rocking away endlessly in his rocking chair on the porch) and even alligator heads on the top of the water. The only noise you can hear is crickets chirping. There are two very small drops in the ride, but they are not very steep or long. There are many memorable, Disney-style themed rooms: A skeleton steering a crashed ship in a storm, a small treasure room with skeletons with swords through them and birds on their shoulders, a bed with a skeleton in it looking in a mirror, a newly added “waterfall” (Which is really fog) with Davy Jones’s image projected on it, a fight scene with Captain Barbosa’s ship against Jack Sparrow’s along with castle turrets (This scene might be frightening for young children, because every once in a while there are loud splashes of “cannonballs” very close to the boat with red lights), pirates plundering and burning a town, and, one of my favorite rooms, the jail cell – a dog holds the key while the pirates inside beg for it. There are many other surprises, many of which include vast treasure rooms and laughing pirates. This ride is sure to please!

~ The Ghost Host ~

Haunted Mansion and Pirates Lyrics

Theme song for the Haunted Mansion attractions
Music by Buddy Baker and lyrics by F. Xavier Atencio

When the crypt goes creak,
And the tombstones quake.
Spooks come out for a swinging wake.
Happy haunts materialize,
And begin to vocalize.
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

Now don't close your eyes,
And don't try to hide.
Or a silly spook may sit by your side.
Shrouded in a daft disguise,
They pretend to terrorize.
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

(For all you music people - there is a key change here)

As the moon climbs high o'er the dead oak tree,
Spooks arrive for the midnight spree.
Creepy creeps with eerie eyes,
Start to shriek and harmonize.
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

When you hear the knell of a requiem bell,
Weird glows gleam where spirits dwell.
Restless bones etherialize,
Rise as spooks of every size...

(For all you music people again - a key change here too)

If you would like to join our jamboree,
There’s a simple rule that’s compulsory.
Mortals pay a token fee,
Rest in peace the haunting’s free.

So, hurry back we would like your company!

YO HO (A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME)
Lyrics by Xavier Atencio and music by George Bruns

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot,
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We extort, we pilfer, we filch, and sack,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
Maraud and embezzle, and even high-jack,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We kindle and char, inflame and ignite,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
We burn up the city, we're really a fright,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

We're rascals, scoundrels, villans, and knaves,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho!

Thanks to About.com for the lyrics!

~ Ghost Host ~

Welcome to the Disney Ride Guide!

Welcome!

This blog is devoted entirely to Disney - Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and even the latest Disney news!

I should probably introduce myself - I am your host. Your ghost host. Yes, indeed, my favorite will always be Haunted Mansion!

I will post reviews of all my favorite rides, and eventually, all the rides in Disneyland. Well, that's all you should know right now -

This is your GHOST HOST,
SIGNING OFF!

Hope you enjoy my site!!

~ Ghost Host ~