Tower of Terror

Your humble blogger avoids drop tower rides at amusement parks. The wait times often exceed an hour, and the ride is over in a couple of seconds. Also, there's a problem that has increased with age: my digestive system has become more sensitive to rapid descents.

However, I did make an exception to stand in line for the Hollywood Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, which is quite a mouthful figuratively and not, it was hoped, literally.

The 199-foot "Hollywood Hotel" edifice is impressive. I did have to stand in line for an hour on Wednesday afternoon outside the structure, but the wait is tolerable if one has a smartphone with all its distractions.

Once inside the lobby, it was clear that the Disney imagineers had labored meticulously over the look of a stylish art deco structure that has gone to seed.

A black-and-white video with a Rod Serling look- and sound-alike explained that guests had been mysteriously disappearing when they stepped in the elevators.

Anticipation raised from the backstory, I found that the walk to the "elevators", and the ride itself, were anticlimactic. Twenty of us were strapped into chairs in an auditorium arrangement and shot to the top, where the wall opened to a view of Disneyland and Anaheim.

The elevator descended rapidly enough to impart the sensation of free-falling, and the process was repeated. Importantly, my gastrointestinal system experienced no ill effects.

Was the wait worthwhile? As with Radiator Springs Racers,

I was glad to have experienced it, but once is enough.

[Update: Disney will close the Tower of Terror in January and replace it with a ride related to one of its Marvel Comics properties.]