Tower Of Terror (UPDATED, PLEASE REREAD)

[lifeguard1020]

I'm mostly curious about at what point in the ride to the vehicles recharge. I'm assuming at Load because that's the time they are still the longest, but you never know...

 

[Rob562]

I'm mostly curious about at what point in the ride to the vehicles recharge. I'm assuming at Load because that's the time they are still the longest, but you never know...

Unload. It's the only time they're sitting still while actually resting on the floor.

At Load they're one floor up inside the shaft, which would require building all of the charging systems into all four VVC's or attached to the shaft walls in some way.

-Rob

 

[MattyMitch]

Here is a photo of the load panel.
I assume the buttons are:
E stop
Ride Stop
Doors
Status Lights
Dispatch
Prerecorded Announcements

Don't know, just my guess. Anybody else know or want to share?

 

[Rob562]

Top right is E-stop. As far as I know, that would stop the entire ride system on that half of the building, but possibly only that shaft.

Red button above bottom right is a lift hold button. As soon as the load doors open, the CM pushes it down (it stays down). This holds the lift in place no matter what. To dispatch, the CM must pull the button back up and then press Advance, which is the bottom right.


There are no door controls that I know if, though there is a manual physical release above the door.

Upper left is communication, each button connects the phone to a different station in-building.

-Rob

 

[MattyMitch]

Top right is E-stop. As far as I know, that would stop the entire ride system on that half of the building, but possibly only that shaft.

Red button above bottom right is a lift hold button. As soon as the load doors open, the CM pushes it down (it stays down). This holds the lift in place no matter what. To dispatch, the CM must pull the button back up and then press Advance, which is the bottom right.


There are no door controls that I know if, though there is a manual physical release above the door.

Upper left is communication, each button connects the phone to a different station in-building.

-Rob

What would the buttons do under the estop? Also what about the rotary switch on the left of the estop?

 

[WDWTrojan]

Top right is E-stop. As far as I know, that would stop the entire ride system on that half of the building, but possibly only that shaft.

Red button above bottom right is a lift hold button. As soon as the load doors open, the CM pushes it down (it stays down). This holds the lift in place no matter what. To dispatch, the CM must pull the button back up and then press Advance, which is the bottom right.


There are no door controls that I know if, though there is a manual physical release above the door.

Upper left is communication, each button connects the phone to a different station in-building.

-Rob

Couple things to clarify here:

- Someone asked about mics in the VVCs earlier. There are none. There is a standard speakerphone, however, in each VVC, which is linked to the WDW phone system. They automatically answer when the extension is dialed. This is done per Florida code that requires phones in elevators so emergency operators can contact occupants who may be stranded in an elevator. Tower cast members can dial the extension to "listen in" on a vehicle and the occupants can talk back. Usually though, if they call in during normal operation, they just hear screaming, given that it's Tower of Terror.

- There is a "door control" which is at the top of the console. Normal operating cast members do not use this functionality with any regularity. Occasionally, if a lift has arrived to load, they may use this to close the doors, without dispatching the vehicle, so nobody boards the vehicle if they are dealing with a situation or are otherwise distracted. They can then switch it to open. It is a rarity this is done. Occasionally it is also used if there is a television taping and they need the doors to open exactly on cue behind a bellhop. This switch is much more commonly used by maintenance. As are a host of other buttons that go unused during the normal course of business. Many of which are also disabled and may only be enabled with an override given from the Tower control room (lift call, etc).

- One interesting note with the "Door Stop" button people have been asking about. As someone mentioned, pressing it down while the vehicle is at load prevents it from being dispatched. It is a failsafe to ensure the button isn't pressed by accident. Once released, the vehicle can be dispatched. After pressing the "advance" button there are a couple of seconds the cast member has to hit this door stop to reopen the doors. This is another rare situation but has been used. Examples might be a cast member seeing someone begging to get out, notice a last-minute safety issue, etc. It is a pain to use because while the doors reopen and the lift doesn't move, the show continues as normal (lights flicker, music/audio plays, etc). You have to pull everyone out of the vehicle, dispatch it and wait for the next vehicle.

 

[mkt]

 

[Goofyernmost]

Clamps. Big clamps. Very strong clamps.

And you can clearly hear them clanking into place.

 

[SingleRider]

I found a video that partially shows an AGV entering a load shaft at the bottom floor -

It starts around the 10:11 mark