The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disneyland Paris is set to shut in May and not re-open until March next year. Rumours have circulated that this was to convert the ride into Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission breakout. However, the latest rumours suggest that this will not be the case. The change in Anaheim to Guardians of the Galaxy from the twilight zone theme was very controversial. However, since opening the ride has been very popular and many now think it to be an upgrade on the original ride.
On the other hand, these rumours don’t necessarily mean that Disneyland Paris will keep the twilight zone theme. It is widely believed that Disney’s licensing deal for the Twilight zone will run out soon. Disney might be able to extend this deal and simply choose not too. On the other hand, Disney might not be able to extend the licensing deal. This may well be the case as CBS are currently working on a remake of the Twilight zone TV show. This could mean that CBS may not want Disney to use the Twilight zone licence as it would advertise the old show by it being predominantly featured in the ride.
Therefore, if Disney can’t extend the license and are not changing the ride to Guardians of the Galaxy what is the future of this ride. This article will now try and explore some of the possibilities Disney could be considering when it comes to changing the Tower of Terror in Paris.
Stark Tower
Could Disney convert the ride into Stark Tower. Stark Tower, or Avengers Tower as it’s also known, has been featured in many of the recent Marvel films made by Disney. Creating Stark Tower would give Disney the opportunity to re-theme the ride so that it features Iron Man or the whole Avengers team. I’m sure Disney could create a variety of stories that incorporate these characters inside the Tower that works alongside the current ride system. This would be the first attraction at the Disneyland Paris resort that features characters from the Marvel universe. This conversion could then be the start of a much larger Marvel Land at the studios park in Paris. A lot of land behind the ride could be made available for this new area by removing the rather out dated and neglected tram tour attraction.
Tokyo’s Tower of Terror
The ride in Tokyo at the Disney sea park is not based on the Twilight zone. This is because the Twilight zone tv show was not popular in Japan. For the Tokyo ride Disney created a brand new original story. The ride expanded on the story of the society of explorers and adventurers. The story about this society already existed at Tokyo DisneySea before this attraction was open. The ride is still set in a hotel. The Hotel Hightower is set in New York and not Hollywood like the versions in Paris and Orlando. The outside of the building is also very different to the Twilight zone themed attractions.
The main character in this story is the hotel owner, Harrison Hightower III. Harrison is also known to be a keen collector of historical artefacts. The story is based on the disappearance of this character in the hotels elevator at midnight. This disappearance occurs during an event where he was unveiling his latest collectors item, an idol. The hotel is then left unattended for 13 years before the New York city preservation society starts offering tours of this now infamous hotel.
This version of the ride is highly regarded and could be a good fit for Paris if the Twilight zone theme is to be removed. One thing that could hinder this idea is that it may be hard to fit this storyline into the studio park in Paris. However, the current ride does not really fit into this park. In fact, this could be said for many of the rides at this park.
Star Wars
Could Disney create a brand new Star Wars attraction using the current ride system. This could then be used as a centre piece of a new Star Wars land. A Star Wars land exclusive to Paris and different to the Star Wars: A Galaxys edge lands being built in Orlando and Anaheim. Any new Star Wars attraction would attract droves of guests to the park. This could be very appealing to Disney even though it’s tricky to imagine how the building could be made to look like it belongs in the Star Wars universe.
If Disney were to go down this route then I feel it’s highly likely that the new attraction will have a new story based on a new planet that not yet been mentioned in the films, tv shows or comics. This would give Disney more freedom in designing the ride. Disney have used this tactic when designing the new Star Wars land being built in Orlando and Anaheim. The new Star Wars areas being built in the US will be set on the planet Jakku. Jakku has not been featured in the films.
Pixar
The Walt Disney studios park in Paris already has many attractions themed to characters from Pixar films. Films such as Toy story, Ratatouille, Cars and Finding Nemo are already featured in this park. However, that still leaves many Pixar films that are not featured in the Park. For example, films such as the Incredibles, Inside out, Coco and Monsters inc are not predominantly featured in the park.
But, which of these films could be suited to using the building and ride system of the Tower of terror. Out of the films mentioned, I think that the Incredibles story and characters could be best suited. If the tower of terror was to be based by a Pixar attraction then this could see a large area of the park being converted into a completely Pixar based section of the park. In fact, not many more changes would be required to change this into a park solely based on Pixar.
There are many other possibilities for the ride not discussed in this article. Disney imagineers could create a completely brand new story to fit the attraction. There are also many other films and characters that Disney could use to develop a story that fits this attraction. For now, the future of the ride remains a hot topic of conservation and only time will tell when it comes to what the future holds for this much loved attraction.
Thanks for reading.
Please comment on what you would like to see happen to this much loved attraction.
