A couple of years back in a posting on another website, I wrote that I has officially retired from going on The Hollywood Tower of Terror. Anxiety had got the best of me. It wasn't the ride that got to me. From the time you strap in, the ride experience is what?....maybe 40 seconds long? It's easy to think that in less than a minute a relatively benign ride will have me walking towards the exit (which is a store of course with plenty of do-dads that tell you how you survived the Tower or Terror).
No it wasn't the ride, it was the waiting to get on the ride that eventually led to my retirement from the Tower of Terror. The little waiting room scene with Rod Serling on the TV added to the the rides immense theming and didn't bother me. The ghouls that made sure everyone got strapped in didn't bother me. What finally got to me was standing there waiting for the elevator doors to open. That was the moment that did me in.
I could feel my heart beat faster, the anxiety level rise. The waiting....however brief it was......got to me. The ride was only the finishing step to getting out of the place.
It's been 4 years now since I've been on the Tower of Terror and I'm fine with it having made the elevator plunge at least a dozen times in my lifetime. The only way I could see getting on the ride again would be to go with someone who wanted to spend the time waiting for the elevator doors to open talking about the weather or where we are going for dinner. Sometimes distractions from what is about to be are a good thing,
I ended up on the ride, which I was not supposed to ride. I was in a wheelchair due to disabilities, told the attendant when I reached the front of the line that I would escort my grandson to the top of the ride, but would not participate. He told the 2nd attendant, who did not pass the word to the 3rd and final attendant who loaded the elevator. My wheelchair was put to the side, which I was supposed to take down, and I assumed we were going up to the ride, where my wheelchair would be waiting for me. I was unknowingly on the ride. Afterwards, I purchased a digital photo at the tower hotel gift store, and have been trying to access my photo for 3 days. I have 30 days to get the photo, and at this point, I think it is going to take all 30 days to retrieve it. Every time I call guest services I am given a different number to call.
ReplyDelete