You don’t know a lot of fans then.
I guess knowing many individuals closely involved with the ride and its' coming to fruition doesn't count.
I don't think you guys have been paying attention if you haven't seen what a massive hit M:B is among the general public and die-hard purists alike. Also, everyone is acting like M:B replaced a ride on the same caliber as DHS ToT, but the DCA ToT was not nearly as good and calling M:B a downgrade comes down to personal preference. For one thing, the DCA ride system is better suited for the M:B story.
The ride has stood proudly for years. The TZ theme has worked to enhance the ride because sometimes the "theme" doesn't have to beat you in the face until you are blue. The story sets itself up from the very beginning of entering the park. It entities and it stands tall but also alone. When you're in the queue you feel far from the rest of the park like you're in a part of town nobody has been to in ages. (This is something the others Towers never accomplished. It was just PLOP this building is abandoned). The voice of Rod Serling alone (or his close voice over) makes the ride narration special. One of the best lines of the ride is right before you drop "You are about to experience what lies beyond the 5th dimension, beyond the deepest darkest corners of the imagination, in the Tower of Terror". 5th dimension, Rod Serling, everything works so flawless to enhance the show that a ride has not been built with such detail and creativity to date. Anyone who cannot appreciate this ride and the TZ themeing for what it really is I guess just doesn't get it. The ride could use some updates sure but the theme is fine. Leave. It. Alone.
You are not grasping that the story of the Hollywood Tower Hotel works perfectly without The Twilight Zone branding. Yes, I would miss the pre-show, musical cues, and Rod Serling's narration, but something just as cool and creepy could be conjured up. I mean, they managed it in the Disney channel movie, right? Obviously I wouldn't want it to be as corny as that movie, but as long as they retain the key elements: the forgotten golden age of Hollywood, the allure and creepiness of an abandoned, once thriving and celebrated building, and rifts in time and space, it can still work. The enduring love for ToT has little to do with the Twilight Zone property and is mostly because of those key elements. The original Twilight Zone show, being an anthology series, has nothing to even borrow from to create a new original experience other than Rod Serling himself and the musical cues... it's honestly more or less just branding... (like slapping "Cloverfield" on two movies that were previously unrelated to it
.)
You mentioned how a theme doesn't have to beat you in the face until you are blue... yet in ToT, you literally have the opening sequence of the show thrown in your face throughout. The entire fifth dimension scene is as in your face as it gets with the giant floating items that have nothing to do with the Hollywood Tower Hotel story and are there just in case it wasn't already absolutely clear that you are traversing dimensions.
