3 Reasons why I have mixed Feeling About: Guardians of the Galaxy Ride/ Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

I totally have mixed feelings about the DCA Tower of Terror getting changed.  I’ll start off by saying that the Tower of Terror is one of my favorite rides in the Disney Parks.  I once meet a group of people on Friday the 13^th to ride the Ride 13 times on Friday the 13^th.    So I obviously love the attraction.

 1.  Nostalgia factor:  Negative 

Every time Disneyland announces that they are going to replace an old Attraction the Disney Community goes a crazy.  It doesn’t matter what that attraction is or whether they even go on it anymore.   I watched a month ago people getting all upset about the old Skyway building getting torn down for Star Wars Land.  People were seriously upset about an abandoned building that hasn’t been used for anything in over a decade being taken away.   The first thing Disney fans will say is that Walt would have never done that or gotten rid of that attraction.  Then within minutes someone will respond back with the Walt Disney quote about how Disneyland will never be finished.  The battle will then go back in forth for hours.   My thoughts on this is generally in the camp of “If it isn’t broken –don’t fix it”.

That being said I love that they occasionally update Pirates and the Haunted Mansion with cool new effects---but I would never want to see them replaced.   Unlike Disneyworld where they pretty much have a ton of space, the Disneyland Resort has limited space.   When they want to do something new and exciting they generally have to remove something.   This is unfortunate, but just a matter of fact.  They pretty much expanded into the remaining space they had with Carsland.  

The Twilight Zone is one of my favorite TV shows.  The Tower of Terror fits perfectly into the theme of Hollywood Blvd and the feel of the Buena Vista Street area.   The ride is still popular and as far as I’m concerned it is a nearly perfect attraction.  I would prefer that they don’t touch it.  I will miss it when it is gone.    I love the Tower of Terror so much that I wrote about a concept for a Tower of Terror bar earlier this year.

http://braddisneylandblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/my-idea-for-tower-of-terror-bar-in-dca.html 

This idea coincidentally spread as an actual rumor for something going into the park about 3 weeks later.    I was excited that my idea may actually have been shared by Imagineering,  but the rumor turned out to be false.     Then this rumor popped up and I thought there was no way that it could be true.

I would love to see a Guardians of the Galaxy ride---just not at the expense of the Tower of Terror.

2.  The Balancing Factor:  Positive

The new ride itself looks awesome.  Guardians of the Galaxy was a great film.   I had no idea what Guardians of the Galaxy was before I saw the amazing 4-D trailer in the old Captain EO theater.  I blew me away and I’m excited to see something done with the property.  The Official announcement via Video from Joe Rhode makes the new ride look absolutely amazing.  If the announced this ride on its own without redoing the Tower of Terror I would be immediately on board.   The thought of walking through the Collector’s collection before going on a ride with Rocket the Raccoon sounds awesome.  We could even get some of the amazing soundtrack from the movie as well.  Again this ride sounds great and I’m sure I will absolutely love it.   But the ride itself will basically be the same ride with just a visual makeover.   So although I’m excited for it –I’m not sure that excite is enough to overcome the sense of loss for the Tower of Terror.   I will mourn the loss of the Tower of Terror at first and will probably get used to the great new ride.     Again I wish they could just build a Guardians ride without touching the Tower---but the fact that the Twilight Zone will remain in Orlando for now makes it hurt (just a little) less.   Here is a look at why Tower of Terror will be so exciting

3.  Is DCA heading into a Dangerous area with this change? Worried

I’ve established that I will miss the Twilight Zone version of the Tower.

I’ve established that I will probably love and enjoy the new Guardians Version.

My main concern about this change of the ride is the loss of Lands.

Disneyland is the perfect theme park design with main street leading to the hub that then branches off into perfectly themed lands.  DCA was originally setup in a similar way with themed areas representing different areas of California.   Many may say that this theme was flawed from the start.   The executives have slowly transformed DCA over the years moving away from that theme with the additions of A Bug’s Land and Carsland and Monsters Inc. Then Disney rethemed the entire entrance into Buena Vista street and combined the Soaring area and Grizzly Peak into one land.   It seemed like they were moving the park back to the California theme.  My concern with  this change to the Tower of Tower, which is based on a building in Hollywood will start to create a feeling of a less themed park.   I’m sure the Disney Imagineers will put some thought into this and unlike the Tower in Orlando –our tower is basically hidden behind Hollywood street –so it will be a less abrupt transition, but I just don’t want DCA to turn into Universal Studios.   At Universal Studios you used to walk around and see attractions like the Terminator 3-D right next to a London themed street and Back to the Future next to Conan the Barbarian.  It was just a mess with no theme at all and despite being a fun park it didn’t immerse you in an experience the way a Carsland or Adventureland does.  I don’t want Disney to lose their ability to immerse you in a Land.    I’m confident that they are going to find a way to do that with Star Wars Land.    But I fear DCA move further away from that with this change.

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