The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

“You are travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!”

OHMYGOD! I recently attended the launch of a new attraction at Disneyland Paris. The “Twilight Zone Tower of Terror” is a re-creation of the mysterious, suspenseful world of the classic Twilight Zone television series that ran in the UK in the late 70’s early 80’s.

I have to admit – theme parks are not usually my thing, but James and I were actually invited to join a group of other bloggers (you know who you are) at the launch of this attraction, and I was intrigued as I have such fond memories of watching this TV show from my early teens (that and Prisoner Cell Block H). Yes, I have actually been to a Disney theme park without my munchkins…(I am the most dreadful mother, sob).

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror combines powerful storytelling with a frightfully exhilarating experience. This particular function was simply not for poppets under six years of age...(sigh).

We first attended a Champagne reception in full 1940’s costume (I am a committed glamour puss afterall) at the art deco lobby of the abandoned luxury hotel, before being lead past the ruined elevator doors and into a library where we viewed the opening moments of an episode of The Twilight Zone (the music still sends tingles up my spine after all of this time!).

We were then taken to the elevator (I was completely squiffy at this point – well it would have been rude to refuse the free Champagne) where the ride creator or “Imagineer” continued to narrate the story;

“On a dark and stormy night in 1939, lightning struck the landmark Hollywood Tower Hotel and five hotel guests in an elevator were forever transported into The Twilight Zone. Today’s guests retrace those footsteps.”
I was petrified!

According to Disney legend, this hotel was at the height of its popularity in 1939 when a mysterious occurrence forced it to close. The hotel was boarded up on the evening of October 31, 1939, and so it remained until its grand reopening in the spring of 2008… in Paris! How frightfully convenient that the Eurostar goes straight there...

It was in the elevators that the mysterious occurrence took place one stormy, rain-drenched evening. As the elevator ascended, lighting struck the tower and the elevator plunged – 13 floors, carrying its five terrified passengers to certain doom. But this was no ordinary storm, no ordinary stroke of lightning. Before it reached the bottom of the shaft, the elevator and its passengers simply vanished. The hotel immediately emptied staff and guests utterly unable to contend with the baffling incident. The hotel remained as it was, untouched, undisturbed. Until now, and it has turned up in Disneyland Paris!!! Lucky us… (gulp). I really should have used the lavatory before I joined the party in the elevator.

I adore the glamour of the 1940’s but am grateful to be living today in 2008. I would never have survived such an experience in my scanty vintage gown (purchased on the internet) if it had not been for the invention of the Caesarean section and my commitment to a rigorous regime of pelvic floor exercises. I told James on the way out the attraction, I am not having any more babies, not ever.

Lesser women would have been at the mercy of their special underwear, and I don't mean their tassles!

I just hope that Disney do not turn their attentions next to the construction of an attraction based on Prisoner Cell Block H, I am afterall still haunted by fears of the Top Dog and her ironing press...