Tower of Terror effects status watch

[Disgruntled Walt]

Don't forget about the projectors for the hallway scene still displaying in full black & white for more than 2 years.
View attachment 759274
There has not been any noticeable changes/fixes to show effects at all recently, its like they are either too scared to touch it again or can't be bothered anymore.

Wait, this has been showing in black and white for two years? It currently looks like this? Somebody let the site that isn't named know...Disney usually fixes stuff after they point out things like this.

 

[Rodj]

Wait, this has been showing in black and white for two years? It currently looks like this? Somebody let the site that isn't named know...Disney usually fixes stuff after they point out things like this.

That and the ghost projection. What would be the best way to contact them? I tried replying on Twitter once but got no response.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

That and the ghost projection. What would be the best way to contact them? I tried replying on Twitter once but got no response.

Their writers all have email addresses that are [first name]@w D w N t.com, so you could try that! I'm thinking Shannen Ace (that is the correct spelling) or Katie Francis might be the best bets. They post most of the day-to-day stories. Of course you could always go right to the top... Tom Corless.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Their writers all have email addresses that are [first name]@w D w N t.com, so you could try that! I'm thinking Shannen Ace (that is the correct spelling) or Katie Francis might be the best bets. They post most of the day-to-day stories. Of course you could always go right to the top... Tom Corless.

None of these people care enough or have the power to make a change. Unless it’s some woke agenda item, no action is taken. If it is, it’s priority #1. Insane management.

 

[Tower of Terror Theater]

Bumping my own thread because I think more of these threads should get off the ground.

On a recent visit to ToT:
- the TV in my library has been replaced with what appears to be a backlit LCD TV (placed behind the old-timey TV facade). It looks bad. For one thing, CRT TVs have the advantage of being able to appear "off" even if they are not, except in perhaps pitch black lighting. Currently, no HDTV can do that. So the TV is obviously on when you walk into the room, and during the show it was blindingly bright.
- Also, the sound in the library was so quiet, there was little more than quiet idle mumbles, but I could barely hear the show at all.
- The boiler room lights were at "work light" levels - way too bright, so the creepy ambiance was lost.
- I rode "Alpha" (far left), all in all everything looked and sounded okay until after the drop sequence. After that, the audio was garbled.

An OLED tv could have absolute blacks and appear off, but dont think they make small OLEDs that could fit behind the olf TV fascade.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Any status updates on how Tower is running these days?

 

[Rodj]

Any status updates on how Tower is running these days?

Still just as bad as before, literally nothing has been done with any show element. I was there in March and unfortunately the one person from the leadership team I spoke to last time wasn’t there when I went.
From one of the coordinators that I spoke to, they had a contact with someone on the maintenance team, and they mentioned that they had to turn down the color contrast of the new projectors as it was distorting the projection with the colors. There was supposedly a fix they were working on(why not just get decent projectors?), as well as wanting to fix some other effects but upper management(TDO?) is making it difficult. As much as I want to believe this, part of me feels like they were bluffing.
The current WDW administration as some other people described is that everything must have an ROI for them to invest in something.
I’m currently making a script for my video about Tower’s condition because I want to spread out the word more. It’s gonna be a pretty long video.

 

[Rodj]

I forgot to mention, on my previous visits there was a lamppost in the queue that had one of its lens broken for a while. On my March visit, I saw that instead of replicating the lens properly, they just screwed on a cheap generic light diffuser lens to it.
This is the definition of cheap:

 

[RoadiJeff]

I wonder why they didn't take a good lens from another side or from a different post and put it there and then put that ugly patch somewhere in a less noticeable location.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Why they gotta do my tower so dirty?

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Does TJ still work at DHS? Last I heard he was on the opening crew for Galaxy's Edge.

 

[Rodj]

Does TJ still work at DHS? Last I heard he was on the opening crew for Galaxy's Edge.

He transitioned back to Tower sometime later. He's mainly only there for morning shifts now though.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Rode for the first time in quite a while for the 35th. I tried to go in and just enjoy it and not get too nitpicky, but the same things still stand out:

- Library TV LCD backlight glow
- Corridor scene (first ride scene) looks awful. The "ghosts' still reflect onto the floor. I believe somebody in this thread explained why this is even happening. Anyone care to refresh my memory? Something to do with changing the reflective glass?
-The rear wall projection in the corridor scene is still desaturated and way too bright. When the rest of the scene goes dark, the screen is so bright that you can still see the hallway whereas you're only supposed to see the window floating in a black starry void. Also, many of the fiber optic stars are out at this point.

Both the library TV and the corridor back wall projection are contingent on being able to display pure black, which was standard in 1994 technology but tough on 2010 technology. But in 2024, it's possible and relatively cheap, especially for Disney. For the library TVs, even if they don't make OLED TVs that small, newer monitors will automatically shut off their backlight for a purely black signal. I have a small LG TV that does this by default. It would be as simple as finding a TV model that does it and ensuring that the signal sends pure black in between the video playback.

- The 5th dimension scene also looks terrible. Nothing moving, the starfield doors were open (though this is has always been a common point of failure).
- Drop sequence audio several seconds out of sync with the movements.

On a positive note, this is the first time the audio levels sounded good to me in quite some time.

 

[Rodj]

- Corridor scene (first ride scene) looks awful. The "ghosts' still reflect onto the floor. I believe somebody in this thread explained why this is even happening. Anyone care to refresh my memory? Something to do with changing the reflective glass?

It’s very odd and I wish I could figure it out. On my trip back in March, there was no floor “reflection” on Delta, but sometime later it appeared again. On a video where the projection froze, I did a frame by frame when the projector turned off, and the “reflection” disappeared first a few frames before the actual projection disappeared, almost as if there is another projector for it.

 

[Tom Morrow]

It’s very odd and I wish I could figure it out. On my trip back in March, there was no floor “reflection” on Delta, but sometime later it appeared again. On a video where the projection froze, I did a frame by frame when the projector turned off, and the “reflection” disappeared first a few frames before the actual projection disappeared, almost as if there is another projector for it.

Very odd. They're definitely not supposed to reflect onto the floor. I mean, why would they? Here's a restored video from 1994 where, though dim due to 1994 camera tech, you can see the scene as it was originally calibrated.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Very odd. They're definitely not supposed to reflect onto the floor. I mean, why would they? Here's a restored video from 1994 where, though dim due to 1994 camera tech, you can see the scene as it was originally calibrated.

Whoa, hang on a minute! What's with the Rod Serling footage at the very end?

That's not how it is now, but does anyone know how long this clip was used?

 

[Tom Morrow]

Whoa, hang on a minute! What's with the Rod Serling footage at the very end?
View attachment 782829
That's not how it is now, but does anyone know how long this clip was used?

I first rode in November 1994 and remembered seeing this original end video. I believe it was replaced with the first modification to the attraction, when a smaller drop from the 5th Dimension level was added before the drop profile seen here. That change happened in mid to late 1995 IIRC. Since the vehicles spent more time in the drop shaft, they had to leave the drop shaft faster (notice it sits there for quite a while in this video), so a different video was needed.

 

[Rodj]

I first rode in November 1994 and remembered seeing this original end video. I believe it was replaced with the first modification to the attraction, when a smaller drop from the 5th Dimension level was added before the drop profile seen here. That change happened in mid to late 1995 IIRC. Since the vehicles spent more time in the drop shaft, they had to leave the drop shaft faster (notice it sits there for quite a while in this video), so a different video was needed.

There was actually an in between version before this that came in between September and November that contained slight audio changes to the drop sequence as well as the current end video:

On a video uploaded which was from a disc containing the source projection videos, it was noted as revision 5 and dated September 27 1994, and this contained the current end video. This could have been when it was created and not when it was used on the ride though.

 

[scxtt_31]

Rode for the first time in quite a while for the 35th. I tried to go in and just enjoy it and not get too nitpicky, but the same things still stand out:

- Library TV LCD backlight glow
- Corridor scene (first ride scene) looks awful. The "ghosts' still reflect onto the floor. I believe somebody in this thread explained why this is even happening. Anyone care to refresh my memory? Something to do with changing the reflective glass?
-The rear wall projection in the corridor scene is still desaturated and way too bright. When the rest of the scene goes dark, the screen is so bright that you can still see the hallway whereas you're only supposed to see the window floating in a black starry void. Also, many of the fiber optic stars are out at this point.

Both the library TV and the corridor back wall projection are contingent on being able to display pure black, which was standard in 1994 technology but tough on 2010 technology. But in 2024, it's possible and relatively cheap, especially for Disney. For the library TVs, even if they don't make OLED TVs that small, newer monitors will automatically shut off their backlight for a purely black signal. I have a small LG TV that does this by default. It would be as simple as finding a TV model that does it and ensuring that the signal sends pure black in between the video playback.

- The 5th dimension scene also looks terrible. Nothing moving, the starfield doors were open (though this is has always been a common point of failure).
- Drop sequence audio several seconds out of sync with the movements.

On a positive note, this is the first time the audio levels sounded good to me in quite some time.

The audio levels have definitely gotten better especially in the drop shaft, noticed it was a lot louder when I went in December.

The ghost hallway reflection is definitely an easy fix though, this video recorded in February shows it working as it should (wish it'd stay that way):

Gonna be doing the ICP this summer which means I'll hopefully be able to get on Tower a lot and see if anything changes >

 

[VicariousCorpse]

It’s very odd and I wish I could figure it out. On my trip back in March, there was no floor “reflection” on Delta, but sometime later it appeared again. On a video where the projection froze, I did a frame by frame when the projector turned off, and the “reflection” disappeared first a few frames before the actual projection disappeared, almost as if there is another projector for it.

I'm still curious about this. In all the videos I've seen the reflection is dependent on the projection. Do you remember this video where it shows this discrepancy? Maybe a rolling shutter effect?