#paris tower

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Something about the little girl in A New Dimension of Chills feels similar, treatment-wise, to Constance in the Haunted Mansion.  An ambiguous, not even officially named character suddenly gets a very prominent, very talkative upgrade to “star” of the attraction.

I also wonder if placing the focus on the girl in A New Dimension of Chills is a step towards, or contingency plan for, losing the Twilight Zone branding.  She’s a Disney-owned character, from what I understand, and fits the archetype of “creepy child ghost” that works independently of IP.  Lacking their Rod Serling narration, the two New Dimension sequences I’ve seen are a lot less obviously Twilight Zone.  Swap out the pre-show and Disney could have a non-licensed, but also thankfully non-Guardians, version of Tower of Terror that would require less of an extensive makeover than trying to redo a TZ Tower to the Shiriki Utundu storyline (which has a totally different era and architecture).

Of course, if this was about changing the branding, I think Disney would have gone ahead and done that already when installing New Dimension.

[manon-ddc]

© M.Dognin

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Here’s a video of one of the new sequences from A New Dimension of Chills, posted by YouTuber Le Simulateur Auvergnat.

Some things I noticed:

-It seems to use the fast upwards launch of Mission Breakout/Monsters After Dark

-I LOVE the presentation of the hallway scene in this! Going from the starfield to the freakishly flickering “real” hallway was freaking gorgeous

-The presentation is incredibly creepy and chilling, in a way that I wouldn’t really expect from Disney!  I definitely love the atmosphere!  I don’t know much French so I have no idea what exactly the plot is, and therefore can’t tell how “on theme” it is for the Twilight Zone, but this does such a good job of ramping up the creepy factor on an already spooky ride that I’d be willing to let it slide even if it didn’t quite match

Overall, this looks like an excellent addition for Disneyland Paris, and I hope videos of the other new sequences show up soon!

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Apparently Disneyland Paris is specifically discouraging anyone from recording the new Tower of Terror sequences to avoid spoilers.  I understand that they want to attract more people to the parks with curiosity, but, like... we can’t all afford to just hop on a plane to Paris, Disney.

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Finally, another video of Paris’ updated drop sequences has surfaced.  This one, posted by TowerofTerrorDatabase, is “The Malevolent Machine”.

This one reuses a lot more of the original presentation, featuring a large chunk of the original Hallway Scene sequence.  As a result, I find this one somewhat less impressive than “The Shaft Creatures”.

I couldn’t help but notice the emphasis on mechanical noises during the drop sequences of this version; they seem to be recycled from Florida’s drop sequence sound effects.

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Just noticed another thing about New Dimension of Chills: There’s a lot of emphasis on a square of TV static/the TV “turning off” at the end of the ride sequence, similar to Florida’s ending except projected over the exit doors instead of a screen.

I wonder if this is to make the ride experience more similar to Florida, or a sign that the designers might plan to actually implement these new projections in Florida.

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Here’s some of the first photos of the new show sequences at Paris Tower, thanks to @jimmydiddles13 !

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Masterpost: Alternate Tower Spotlight--Paris Tower of Terror

Want to know more about the DCA Tower's not-quite-twin in Paris? Well, here's a good start! This Alternate Tower Spotlight gives a half-wa...

I thought I’d posted this before, but I guess I hadn’t!  Here’s the long overdue masterpost about the Paris Tower of Terror!  I really hope to get back there someday so I can cover it more thoroughly.  I actually have a few lingering questions about it, but don’t know who to ask...