Hollywood Tower Hotel

Bringing Hollywood's brightest showplace to life... on a small scale.

[towertoscale]

Hollywood Tower updates

Terribly sorry for the loooong absence. Was going though the blog, and realised that the last post was on May of this year. My bad. Here’s hoping the following entries make up for it. For all of you who have stuck with this blog, thank you kindly!

Life stuff has been going on, as usual, but finally got a chance to continue working on my DHS version of the Tower 3D model.

Right now took a trip up north to Vancouver, but fortunately been able to use a friend’s pc to work. The scale model stayed back home, so that is going to be put on hiatus, for now. If all goes well, it shall be resumed in 2019.

In the meantime, I leave with a few screenshot of what I have been working on during the last few days. More screenshots soon to follow. Enjoy!

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

Alternate Tower Spotlight: The Florida Tower of Terror--The Boiler Room and Loading Areas

After viewing the pre-show, guests filed into the boiler room hallway. Unlike the all-concrete walls of the DCA and Paris Towers, the walls...

After a long wait, the next installment of Florida is here at last!

This “episode” features a more realistic boiler room and a much more bored set of bellhops… enjoy!

[disneyphotoshare]

The Library by Mark Walter

[laffiteslanding]

A Tale of Two Towers: The Taller We Stand, The Nearer The Stars

"Anyone who visits American Waterfront will soon find their gaze irresistibly drawn to the unique form of the lo...

After a moving-induced hiatus, I’m back! And nothing says summer like finally finishing a two-part Tower of Terror series on blogspot right? If your summer is lacking either Tower or Terror, go check it out!

[pureimagineering]

This is such a helpful walk-through!

No matter how much I’ve tried to research Tokyo’s Tower, I just couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but now I think I get it.

An aristocrat steals a magical artifact and then suffers its wrath? Cool!

That said, I’m still confused. What does suffering the wrath of a magical artifact have to do with a hotel? And what does it have to do with us riding a broken elevator?

It’s not a bad story; it’s just wrong for this ride. The Tower of Terror half feels tacked on.

Y'know where this story would work perfectly, though? Mystic Manor.

If you fused Hightower’s Observable Story (along with its ominous tone, and its thematic exploration of exploitation and hubris) with Mystic Manor’s Experiential Story (which is basically Night at the Museum, but as a ride), I think you’d have a more satisfying attraction than either one individually.

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

@laffiteslanding This is a great walkthrough that really helped me finally get an understanding of Tokyo’s Tower!

I agree with @pureimagineering in that I’m not quite sure how the actual drop ride portion fits in to the experience.  Are our tours of the hotel supposed to continue on the upper floors?  Is the historical society oblivious to what’s happening with the elevators and the curse?

However, the thing that really stood out to me about this description of the Tokyo Tower is how INCREDIBLY “Twilight Zone” the plot is.  The entire atmospheric setup, the karmic justice, the subtle optimism… I can practically see Rod Serling, in black and white, standing next to the idol and giving sharp narration about Hightower and his comeuppance.  It’s no wonder that the SEA continuity has implied that both the Hollywood Tower Hotel and Hotel Hightower exist in-story; they definitely ARE the same universe, and that universe looks suspiciously like the Twilight Zone.

[towertoscale]

Had some time to work on the model. This is somewhat of a white card model, but to real scale of the diorama. Wanted to see if there were some adjustments to be made to the pieces before doing the diorama for real.

Made out of paper and some foamcore panels. Added the quarter for size reference. Also each square is 1cm.

Hope you like it!

[towertoscale]

Hello! It’s been a while...

Finally printed out the layout for the elevator diorama. It’s tabloid paper, so you have a little size reference.

I’ll try to work on it during the course of the week, so stay tuned for updates.

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

Happy (would-be) 14th Anniversary, DCA Tower of Terror!

[disney-universes]

From the official Disneyland Paris Youtube account, a documentary on their Tower of Terror for its 10th anniversary.

[towertoscale]

Rather interesting documentary!

[california-canadian-deactivated]

[mytripstodisney]

[disleanne]

“But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.”

[towertoscale]

Quick update: This will be the general layout of the back wall of the diorama. Still missing are the wall mounted lights and an operator’s panel on the right, instead of a door. It’s a mix of both Florida’s and what was California’s Towers

[towertoscale]

Paint test

So, did some quick color test, and I’m pleased with the result! 

What do you think?

[towertoscale]

Service Elevator diorama

Hello, everybody! Wanted to practice some new techniques, and build something in the process, so I decided to get a little sidetracked from the Tower project, but not oo far off. While researching for the model of the Tower, found this picture over on flickr:

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/domtabon/19769625688/

So I decided to build a little diorama of the service elevator doors. For the time being it wond have lighting, but I’ll try to be as detailed and faithful as I’m able.

Already started on some drawings, and would like to thank @mrbellcaptain (for the measurments) and @a-land-of-shadow-and-substance (for their invaluable source of information regarding the attraction. 

Did some test with wall filler over foamboard to imitate the concrete wall, and I’m pleased with the results:

Tonight I’ll put some paint on it, and report the results tomorrow.

The idea is to build the diorama on a 1:12 scale.

[towertoscale]

Soooo, after a little over a year, I dusted of the 3d model an began working on it again. After thinking a little bit on how to tackle this, I suppose I’m going to go about the same route as I did with the DCA version: doing blocking and detailing one section at a time, from top to street level.

On this update, added some detailing the top of the tower, with those spires you can see on the facade, and a worked a little bit on the backside. Also, added the balconies on the slanted roof section, on both sides.

Thanks for dropping by!

[towertoscale]

“Your room key, sir...”

My Halloween costume for this year. Could’ve used a little make up, But I liked how it turned out.

[towertoscale]

Hello everyone! Oops, just realized the last post was last year. Sorry about that... 

Well... since Halloween is tomorrow, I wanted to celebrate by sharing these renders with you guys. They are meant to be the DCA version of the Hollyood Tower Hotel, but since that has been replaced by GOTG: Mission Breakout, let’s just say it’s from the Paris ToT, shall we?

Modelled in Maya and rendered in Keyshot

Hope you like them!