Tower of Terror Ride length theory

[Uncle Orville]

At dinner last night my family and I were discussing many different parts of ToT. My dad said I wonder how it does a different drop sequence every time. He thought each ride was a set length, but I disagreed. I came up with a theory, feel free to add your ideas to this, or disprove if if its wrong, but here is what I came up with. The length of the ride depends on either the elevator in front of you, or the one behind you (Im not sure which one) and how fast they load/unload depending on which elevator it is causing the ride to be longer. I think its the elevator in front of you because the ride can't be over until the elevator in front of you has been unloaded. They aren't going to have you see the film after your last drop until they can move your car to exit. They don't want you stopped in the shaft, so they have to wait until the car is unloaded until you can end. This means they have to keep shooting you up and down passing enough time until the last car is being sent up. That being said, you want a really pokey group in front of you so your ride lasts longer because it will take them longer to get off which means you will be in the shaft longer. This is just my theory, if there are any gaps, point them out and I will try to fix that, and if you have a different idea, or know how it works for sure, feel free to share it.

 

[marni1971]

If I recall, your load bellhop can ask for a dispatch to be given, but the doors won't close until the ride control system knows (in theory) your ride will be one continuous motion including the drop VVC being ready and waiting when you arrive. With two accents shafts sharing one drop shaft each profile (and ride) should be more or less the same length.

Any bottleneck or slack in the ride path is taken up between unload and the ascent VVC. If you look carefully, as you pull out of the drop shaft and rotate to unload you may see another AGV either waiting or moving into the ascent shaft. Or you'll see nothing and the leading AGV has already left depending on timing. This should eradicate any vehicle bunching, and ensure the same ride length each time.

 

[Tom]

That's a good theory. And it's probably at least partially correct.

The computers that run Tower are extremely sophisticated. They're monitoring the position of every elevator at every second.

Each elevator ahead of you has to pass a certain checkpoint before the one behind it can make the next move. Every scene and travel segment is precisely timed. And each drop sequence has a precise duration as well. I'm not sure if they're all the same, or if they vary.

So, I suppose there is a chance the drop sequence could continue if the previous elevator is taking an unusually long time to unload.

 

[Tom]

If I recall, your load bellhop can ask for a dispatch to be given, but the doors won't close until the ride control system knows (in theory) your ride will be one continuous motion including the drop VVC being ready and waiting when you arrive. With two accents shafts sharing one drop shaft each profile (and ride) should be more or less the same length.

Any bottleneck or slack in the ride path is taken up between unload and the ascent VVC. If you look carefully, as you pull out of the drop shaft and rotate to unload you may see another AGV either waiting or moving into the ascent shaft. Or you'll see nothing and the leading AGV has already left depending on timing. This should eradicate any vehicle bunching, and ensure the same ride length each time.

Very true. It's more likely that there's slack built into each segment, so that if unload takes unusually long, it's still out of the way before the VVC hits bottom and backs out.

I'll say that looking out the side of the elevator when you're pulling up to unload, and seeing another elevator creeping around in the dark, by itself, is one of the creepiest things in the world for me.

 

[disney4life2008]

This is making me excited to ride again. Its nothing like being weight less

 

[The Empress Lilly]

At dinner last night my family and I were discussing many different parts of ToT. My dad said I wonder how it does a different drop sequence every time. He thought each ride was a set length, but I disagreed. I came up with a theory, feel free to add your ideas to this, or disprove if if its wrong, but here is what I came up with. The length of the ride depends on either the elevator in front of you, or the one behind you (Im not sure which one) and how fast they load/unload depending on which elevator it is causing the ride to be longer. I think its the elevator in front of you because the ride can't be over until the elevator in front of you has been unloaded. They aren't going to have you see the film after your last drop until they can move your car to exit. They don't want you stopped in the shaft, so they have to wait until the car is unloaded until you can end. This means they have to keep shooting you up and down passing enough time until the last car is being sent up. That being said, you want a really pokey group in front of you so your ride lasts longer because it will take them longer to get off which means you will be in the shaft longer. This is just my theory, if there are any gaps, point them out and I will try to fix that, and if you have a different idea, or know how it works for sure, feel free to share it.

To my understanding, ToT has four drop sequences, from which the computer randomly selects one pattern by which you get shafted. Basically, your dad sounds right.

For the rest, I think Marni covered it. I would've posted EXACTLY all the same intricate technical stuff as he did and only didn't because he got here first!!

 

[Redsky89]

 

[Tom Morrow]

There are four drop profiles, and each one is the exact same length - 45 seconds. That's the only way you can make the ride cycle through vehicles smoothly in correct intervals.

Occasionally you may be held at points in the ride before or after the drop profile due to, for example, a hold up at unload, just like on any other circuit ride. But, the drop profiles are always the exact same length.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Yeah pretty much. I'm just sitting here like "me like tower of terror lots".

 

[Tom]

i would like to see video of what ur describing, does sound creepy.

Unless someone has videotaped it using an infrared camera, a standard video camera would not be able to see it. There's not enough light and the camera would focus on the cage wall rather than the distant background.

But as you back out of the drop shaft, and the elevator pivots to face the unload doors, look out the side wall of the elevator that's opposite where the dropshaft was. You really need to be sitting up against the wall to see anything, because you almost have to press your face against the cage to see.

But if your eyes focus/adjust, you'll see the previous elevator backing away from you, and into one of the two ascent shafts that feed that drop shaft. You'll only see it if it's going into the one within sight...the other one would be behind your vehicle.

It's very creepy to me though. Knowing it's a free-roaming machine (i.e. not attached to a track) just driving itself around in the dark.

 

[Tom]

There are four drop profiles, and each one is the exact same length - 45 seconds. That's the only way you can make the ride cycle through vehicles smoothly in correct intervals.

Occasionally you may be held at points in the ride before or after the drop profile due to, for example, a hold up at unload, just like on any other circuit ride. But, the drop profiles are always the exact same length.

Yeah, it makes way more sense that the profiles are all exactly the same length. Otherwise it would be compensating for every single scenario at dispatch.

Oddly, in all the times I've ridden ToT (which is many), I've never experienced a hold point. The only time I've ever been stalled was at load, waiting for the vehicle to be cleared for ascent. To me, that clearly shows how impressive the software is that manages the ride.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Yeah, it makes way more sense that the profiles are all exactly the same length. Otherwise it would be compensating for every single scenario at dispatch.

Oddly, in all the times I've ridden ToT (which is many), I've never experienced a hold point. The only time I've ever been stalled was at load, waiting for the vehicle to be cleared for ascent. To me, that clearly shows how impressive the software is that manages the ride.

Yep, its very rare to experience a hold point. Another impressive thing to note is that, if the vehicles are being sent on time, once your vehicle finishes it's drop profile and leaves the drop shaft, the drop lift will return to the 5th dimension level and the next one should be seconds away from being ready to enter it. So in other words, the drop lifts are moving much more than they are waiting.

 

[marni1971]

, I've never experienced a hold point. The only time I've ever been stalled was at load, waiting for the vehicle to be cleared for ascent. To me, that clearly shows how impressive the software is that manages the ride.

I had a hold just last year just before entering the drop shaft. Nicely it turned into a cascade that ended with a lights on drop

 

[Tom]

I had a hold just last year just before entering the drop shaft. Nicely it turned into a cascade that ended with a lights on drop

NICE! I've always wanted to experience lights-on or an evac on Tower.

My biggest fear in all of WDW is that - in the pitch blackness - the vehicle will advance into the drop shaft, and the VVC won't be there. I seriously get nervous every time the mirrors open and clench up until I hear the clicking as we roll into the VVC.

 

[Rob562]

A couple additional points:

There is a "parking space" between the drop shaft and the unload point where the system can hold a ride vehicle if necessary. (I've heard there is room for two to park there, but I don't think that's possible in the available space) This would be the point where there is the basement knick-knacks on either side of you. Because you can't see behind you, you wouldn't be aware of a vehicle sitting at Unload behind you that would then back up, turn and move away before your vehicle continued backwards. (Though if you listen very carefully you might hear it)

At any given time, there are up to four vehicles circulating on each side of the Tower. So even if there were a major hold-up at Unload, a cascade e-stop would mean one vehicle at Unload, one at the hold point, one in the drop shaft and one in the 5th Dimension.

Typically when your vehicle is pulling into Unload you can *hear* another ride vehicle backing into one of the Load VVC's rather than see it. (It makes the same rattle-bang that you hear when you're rolling in and out of the shafts yourself)

-Rob