DisneyTips.com Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
A Walt Disney World vacation is full of so many rides and experiences to suit every Guest.
From the thrills of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance to rides for younger Guests like The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo the Flying Elephant, the Lake Buena Vista Resort has something for everyone on their Disney vacation.
And now, it seems Disney will be catering to fans of one of its biggest animated movies with a retheme of a beloved attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
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So much change is happening at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom lately, and if Tower of Terror is your favorite ride, then you might not be excited about this big Imagineering decision.
Tower of Terror is a classic and well-loved attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, sending Guests 13-floors down an elevator shaft into The Twilight Zone.
Full of amazing references back to the television series starring Rod Serling, with a creepy library pre-show and incredibly themed lobby area, The Tower of Terror is synonymous with scares and “the glitz and the glitter” of Hollywood, but now, the famous ride is being transformed into an Encanto (2021) attraction.
Credit: Disney
According to sources, the Tower of Terror has been chosen by Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek as the foundation for Disney Parks’ first Encanto ride, a decision that is sure to divide fans.
The attraction building, complete with Morocco theming to tie in with the EPCOT theme park’s World Showcase, is seen to be a good fit for the Madrigal family’s Casita. The whimsically magical home from the Lin-Manuel Miranda movie is full of moving parts, beautiful colors, and amazing designs, all of which will apparently be making their way to Disney’s Hollywood Studios during the refurb.
The Madrigal family’s house was gifted to the family via a magical candle, and since the building is sentient, it is practically a character in itself. The 13-story elevator drop will become part of the magic personality of the Encanto Casa Madrigal, pulling Guests through the numerous doors of each family member – Alma, Pepa, Julieta, Bruno, Dolores, Camilo, Antonio, Isabela, and Luisa.
We suspect that the Tower of Terror’s beloved hotel lobby will be transformed into the ground floor courtyard of the Casita, with the ride taking Guests on a journey through each character’s room. Each bedroom door in the movie depicts its inhabitant using their respective gift carved into the wood, emitting a golden glow down to the doorknob.
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The Tower of Terror attraction itself has many incarnations across Disney’s theme parks, but all feature the thrilling elevator drop.
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, the Hollywood Tower Hotel is located in Sunset Boulevard and currently takes Guests through a spooky library preshow to the service elevators featuring Twilight Zone host Rod Serling.
Guests at Tokyo DisneySea and Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris also enjoy different versions of the attraction, while in Disney’s California Adventure, the attraction saw a controversial refurbishment into Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! that saw actors like Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana reprising their famous Marvel Studios roles.
And just like the Guardians version, we’re sure to hear music as the elevator drops. Expect to hear the movie’s famous earworm songs like “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and “The Family Madrigal” as characters like Mirabel and Bruno appear in the attraction.
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Of course, all of us here at Disney Tips would like to wish our readers APRIL FOOLS!
Don’t worry, readers! The Tower of Terror in Walt Disney World will not be rethemed any time soon, particularly not for an Encanto attraction – although Chapek and Miranda are apparently in talks for a Disney Park experience to appear soon in Disneyland or Disney World.
During an interview, Lin-Manuel Miranda talked about a conversation he had with Bob Chapek saying, “I talked to him and said, “I know there’s a world in which this casita lives in a theme park and we get to actually walk through it in real life.”
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Disney World has seen multiple refurbs already this year. Both Splash Mountains at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Park closed back in January for routine refurbishment, with Walt Disney World’s version of the popular ride reopening on February 10 and Disneyland’s version reopening soon on March 7, 2022.
Big Thunder Mountain in Walt Disney World also just reopened after a short refurbishment, while Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be reopening in April 2022 after an extended closure.
The Walt Disney World Railroad in Magic Kingdom has now been closed for over three years while we await the opening of the new TRON Lightcycle roller coaster, which has now taken longer to build than the entire theme park itself.
