Hello from the Tower of Terror Theater

Tower of Terror Theater

Well-Known Member
Hi all, I can honestly say that a little over 2 months ago I knew virtually NOTHING about special effects props, equipment, or design. Since that time I have been essentially obsessed with creating a recreation of the Tower of Terror basement elevator entrance with an accompanying scene replete with props and special effects. The majority of these have been developed from basic concepts which I have dreamed up in the past 2 months, and have actually come to fruition in the form of actual functioning props or special effects which are now show ready. Let me say that I have been lucky to have the resources of a special effects/prop maker/set maker as well as a haunted house/escape room tech to to the hands on (harder) part of the build, and I can only claim the fun part of the concept stage as my own. Anyway just to give you an idea of what has been done so far is the creation of the physical set of the Tower of terror Basement elevator, working elevator dial with light, Working elevator button, aged flickering cage lights, vintage 1950's TV with 4:3 ratio LCD conversion, "bursting" steam pipe replica with use of CO2 cannon, Simulated rain system for exterior patio, a custom one of a kind "flipping table," functioning converted Steam pressure gauge with light and moving dial, conversion of standard sliding glass door to "elevator doors" Anyway that is a partial list. My goal is to share with others the work we have done and hopefully learn from other special effects professionals and enthusiasts how to perhaps implement the many other concepts I have but have not yet implemented. The Youtube channel in which I document the continuing project is here with demos of the current functional props:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcTO0no5eLSdGT8u6C-mcJg?view_as=subscriber

Demos of a few of the special effects here including simulated rain:
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Bursting steam pipe:
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Elevator door wrap:
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Very cool. Welcome aboard.
 
@Tower of Terror Theater ... Wait... where is this? This is AMAZING!!! Is this a public display somewhere? Is this for a production or is this a hobby? I've checked out your youtube channel and it's fascinating and beautiful work. I need to know more! I'm going to move this post over to the Scenery Props and Rigging Forum as this is amazing and a lot of people don't read the new member board and you are doing some amazing stuff here that needs to be seen.
 
Here is the latest video of the automated sequence of special effects at the Tower of Terror Theater. This is the exterior entrance to my home theater and reflects my love of the Tower of Terror ride.
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This is so amazing and so well done! Thanks for sharing this with us! I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love videos of how you created the effects, what you are using for control systems, your scenic decoration techniques, etc...
 
So my YouTube channel, The Tower of Terror Theater documents the whole creation of the set, and some of the conceptualization, design, problems, construction, and testing, and refinement of props; and abandonment of some props and concepts for others. Specifically the videos labelled "Behind the scenes" have some of the more development details of the project. Just to give credit where credit is due, again I have no expertise whatsoever in set design and special effects props, and brought on very talented people to help me make this project a reality. All I claim credit for is an active imagination. Here is a link to the channel if you would like to explore further, and I would be happy to address any specific questions you might have, as best I can. Thanks!

 
This really speaks to me. Nice job.
 
But does it do it in Rod Serling's or Vincent Price's voice?
Or Douglas Rain's voice in his role portraying HAL's voice; one letter ahead of IBM, in the film Space Odyssey and its sequel.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
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Well it does it in a voice selected by Carol Serling as being the closest to her husband Rod Serling's voice for the Tower of Terror ride, and for the Tower of Terror Theater. See what you think of the custom narration done for the project by Mark Silverman who did the voice-over for the Tower of Terror ride:

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But does it do it in Rod Serling's or Vincent Price's voice?
Rod Serling's. But I've also got a strange urge to watch Guardians of the Galaxy from it as well.
 
Well after a yr of work on my Tower of Terror recreation, I was thrilled to see my project shown on the Halloween edition of Good Morning America. Donald the tech wizard and creative partner in the project told me he knew someone from GMA, and that they may be interested in showing it. I thought OK, that would be nice, but was not sure if it would really happen. I never heard back from GMA, and then Lo and behold, get a text from Donald that it was on GMA on Halloween day. It is the last house shown in the segment.
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Here is the latest prop addition to the set. It is a recreation of the Tower of Terror ride elevator control panel. We suspected that the panel might really be a functional panel as the switches were heavy duty industrial very expensive ones, and have heard from former Disney bellhops that worked with the panel that it controlled ride functions and the phone was used communicate with other Disney personnel. We were able to find many of the identical switches on used on ebay at very reasonable cost. The first photo shows the real panel which are located next to the elevators of the ride, and the next photo shows the recreation mounted in set. Still have to add a switch or two, place the tags identifying switches. In our reproduction, some of the buttons will be lighted and functional to control/test the fire alarms on set. There will be a motion activated sequence so that the phone will ring, and once the handset is lifted off the hook it will play an audio clip from a 1990's commercial featuring a bellhop as well as a couple other custom audio files telling visitors to proceed to the elevator and press the elevator button to start the automated special effects show. As usual I can take virtually no credit for this creation which my tech wizard friend and fellow Twilight Zone fan Donald made this prop for me.
dios-tower of terror-elevator controls-000-2015.jpg
IMG_1373.JPG
 
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Latest improvements on Elevator Control panel adding lighting to buttons, adding motion-activated telephone ring which will play multiple audio clips which will be synchronized with the Rod Serling deepfakes playing inside the elevator doors. The clip played on this video is one of several which will play after guests pick up ringing phone (ring will stop after pick up of handset). Still to hook up control of two vintage functional fire alarms in room to the red "ALARM TEST" button.
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It has been a yr since my last update of my project to recreate the Disney Tower of Terror Basement Boiler room along with honoring the memory of Rod Serling and his classic Twilight Zone series. Here is the most recent video incorporating many new props and effects. Rather than describe, better to just watch. Thanks!

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