The Rest of The Story

Okay, so here’s my story about how the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror broke while I was riding.

First, I have to get from here to there.  I signed up for some training in Orlando, knowing that MLB Spring Training was in full swing and that I might get a chance to see a game or two along with the training class.  So, that puts me in Orlando in time to see a baseball game at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports (I’m sorry, but Wide World of Sports will always be ABC’s Wide World of Sports to me, with Jim McKay’s voiceover saying "spanning the globe" and "the thrill of victory").  The Nationals playing the Braves, except the Nats travelling team doesn’t seem to include anyone that will actually be playing in Nationals Park in April. The Nats lost the game, but it’s just spring training.

Then I had two days, and I do mean two whole days, of training.

I was staying in Orlando for a couple of more days, to give myself a short vacation and to be able to catch another baseball game, so on Saturday I did Epcot and the Studios because you can slip out the back of Epcot on the boat to get to the Studios.

The flower and garden show was going on at Epcot, but I wasn’t impressed by most of the topiary. Unless I am mistaken, the smaller topiaries were just wire forms shoved full of moss that was then painted.  Isn’t topiary supposed to be living plants?

I had read somewhere (isn’t it great when you read so much that you forget where you read something?) that "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" had been replaced by the rerelease of "Captain EO" starring Michael Jackson, and I remember seeing "Captain EO" the first time around and decided to check out the rerelease. 

Has anyone else noticed that Captain EO is wearing a shirt with a big rainbow across the front?

So then it was off to the Studio where I amused myself until late afternoon when I wandered down to the Tower of Terror.  The line was longer than the 40 minute wait they had posted, but the group of kids ahead of me–they were either cheerleaders or a dance group–in line were fairly amusing, so the extra time wasn’t that obvious.  Everything is going well, I go through the library and pick my line in the basement–always pick the line at the far end of the basement, it’s the only one that doesn’t double back (i.e. it’s really the shortest).  Because I was a single, when I got near the front of the line I was pulled out to fill out the last seat in my elevator car.  The cast member/bellhop made the requisite jokes about how "I hope you have a better trip then the last group" and off we go.

At this point in the story I should describe some of the other riders.  I was in the middle row, seat on the aisle, and the people across the aisle from me were obviously veteran Tower of Terror riders.  I say obviously because the group in the top row were a bridal (hen?) party that were on their first terrifying elevator ride.  The bridals were asking if it was really scary (not if you were used to falling elevators) and if anyone had ever gotten hurt on the ride (who would live to tell about that) and other questions that the veterans (including myself, thank you very much) were using to lighten their terrified mood.

We went up to the first stop and saw the "missing" people and then the window breaks and everything turns into stars ("look at all the stars") and then the doors closed and we went up to the next level.  This is where the elevator car comes out of the shaft, travels past the stars and bolts of lightening and then into the "real" elevator shaft.  Except we only moved about a foot or two and everything stopped.  As we are sitting in the doorway of the first elevator shaft, we watch the doors at the other end of the "floor" open and then close and then an announcement comes on telling us to remain in our seats, the ride would restart in a moment.  And it doesn’t.  The bridals are asking if our elevator car is the problem and the veterans across from me assure them that it isn’t us.  Me?  I’m thinking that it could be us, but I’m guessing that the odds are better that it isn’t us.  The next announcements might have not have been intended for rider’s ears, because they were something like "restart will be right after the reboot, standby."

I guess the reboot never happened because the lights came on and the floating voice told us to stay in our seats and cast members would be right along.  At that point, a door opened on the left side wall (we were stuck coming out of the right elevator shaft) and a short man walked out with a set of portable stairs and what looked like the controls to an industrial crane–you know, a foot-long box with a big red button, a big green button and a couple other switches?  Lou told us to sit tight and we’d be joined by some cast members.  We weren’t "allowed" to take pictures, but sometimes some pictures get taken when no one is looking.  Lou was a trip.

Two cast members came out of Lou’s door–did I mention that Lou was there so quickly that he must be permanently stationed just outside that door?–and watch as Lou plugged his industrial crane controller into the front of our elevator car, below "floor" level, and proceeded to drive us like a remote controlled car, out of the elevator shaft and toward the point where the left elevator track meets the right elevator track.  I realize that this will not make sense unless you’ve been on this ride.  When we were no longer dangling over the real elevator shaft, he explained that we would be getting out of the car, walking down his set of portable stairs–"I know you can all walk, but please look down at your feet as you come down these stairs, they are very narrow and I wouldn’t want you to fall and break the ride."  See, what a fun guy–and exiting through his door in the wall.  We had to watch our step as we crossed over the tracks, and the floor is either mirrored or very shiny metal that was quite slick.

I was looking back at the elevator car as I stepped over the tracks and I was really impressed by how big those things are and how high above the real floor you are actually riding. 

Through Lou’s door is a small area with three other doors and a "real" elevator.  Two of the doors were marked "Smoke Vestibule" and the other door had something about "5th Dimension" on it’s sign.  The real elevator was going to take us back down to the basement, where we would be put back onto the first "elevator" for a re-ride.  It was a tight fit, it seems that more people can fit into a falling elevator car than a real elevator car, and two of our number decided to skip the ride.  It was two of the older members of the bridal party, I know that one of them was "mom" to one of the bridals that stayed on the ride.  We were joined by two new people, and you should have seen their reaction when we told them that we’d just been stuck.

Everyone, except the two new people, joked back with the bellhop when they tried to make their scary ride jokes, and then we were on our way.  Of course, we all cheered

when our new elevator car got past the spot where we broke down the first time, and while the dropping/lifting/dropping part of the ride is supposed to be random, I have a feeling that we got an extra lift/drop because we were nearly stopped when we shot back up, the delay was just too coincidental.  Maybe Disney gives you a little extra to make up for the inconvenience of getting stuck?

We all got our of our elevator car and went around the corner to see the action picture they took at the peak of terror and there were two photos displayed.  The first photo was of us with many of us with our arms in the air and some of us screaming. Oh, and one of us with his head stuck to is girlfriend’s shoulder/arm/chest. he was either screaming or performing mouth-to-mouth on her right nipple.  The other photo was of an empty elevator car, our first and broken car.  I so wanted to get a copy of that photo but they are so expensive and then what would I have, a photo of an empty ToT elevator car.

And that’s how I got stuck on the Tower of Terror.  It’s the first amusement park ride I’ve ever been stuck on and it wasn’t terrifying and the fire department didn’t have to lift us off with the hook and ladder, but it’s a story that I’ll be telling for as long as I can remember the name of the ride.

Ender is out.