The menacing abandoned hotel tower one sees from well outside the parking lot is the park's premier thrill ride. Next summer the Rock & Roller Coaster may very well rival Tower's popularity but probably not the storied presence. The relatively low 40-inch height requirement may seem to downplay the severity of the drop but it certainly is intimidating. After walking through the hotel lobby, where the decor shows a formerly glamorous tinseltown hotel in ruins, you watch a pre-show in which old Rod Sterling footage has been spliced together to set-up the Disney-conceived plot. Riders then find themselves in a boiler room where the pathway eventually leads to one of four 22-seat sit-down elevators. Must be 40 inches to ride.

Now Disney wouldn't just fly you up and shoot you down. The first stop is a stunning hallway where the five passengers who allegedly disappeared on the hotel elevator years before appear in ghost form, before a crash of thunder transforms the scene into a deep starfield. The doors shut and your last stop finds you travelling through dark corridors. At one point you see an eyeball projection, inside the pupil is a photograph of your vehicle taken moments before. After not one, two but three drops you are back to terra firma. These are real elevators, pulling the car down at a speed faster than gravity. The thrill may not be the same as the popular freefall rides at more thrill-oriented amusement parks but it is exhilarating. Twilight Zone fans may notice relic reproductions of some icon props from the popular television series in the pre-show and the unloading areas. This lines for this ride can get quite long so it is best to hit either immediately after the park opens, or later in the day, preferably when a Beauty & the Beast show is in session

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