Disney has just announced that newly crowned American Idol Scotty McCreery will visit Disney Hollywood Studios on Monday 30th May. He will arrive at 10am and join a parade along Hollywood Boulevard and then towards the American Idol Experience attraction. If you are going to be there on Monday this is going to be a great event and it is all included in the usual entry ticket. So if you are a Scotty fan this would be an amazing opportunity to see your country singer favorite.

Now all I am waiting for is a visit by Steven Tyler to Rock N Roller Coaster. Dream on I think! Although of course Joe Perry was there earlier this week…..

Disney Block Party Bash Farewell

Disney has announced that the Block Party Bash Parade at Hollywood Studios will end on January 1st 2011. The parade featured Disney Pixar characters and for me was perhaps the weakest of the parades ever offered at Disney World. It seemed inevitable that the Block Party Bash would not last too much longer at Disney World when it was pulled from Disney’s California Adventure. Why didn’t it work? For me there just wasn’t enough activity or enough characters in the 35 minute parade. It spend long periods of time static and this just seemed to be a time filler so that they could have less floats on the parade.

Anyway there is a promise of an all new parade featuring the Disney Pixar characters that will start in Hollywood Studios on 16th January 2011. It is being said that it will include new characters such as Remy and Emile from Ratatouille and Carl and Russell from Up.

Picture by armadillo444

Is your idea of fun dropping 13 stories in an elevator? Well you have found your perfect ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror!

Disney is known for it’s brilliantly themed attractions and the Tower of Terror is certainly one of the very best.

Enter the Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror and you will experience The Twilight Zone. Board the elevator and you will glide past ghostly images through scary hotel passageways. Then prepare to be plunged into darkness before being dropped 13 floors to the ground! The ride is not over yet as the elevator goes up and down in a random sequence – you never know when it is going to end! Sound like your idea of fun?

Every great Disney ride has a themed back story and the Tower of Terror is of course no exception. The Hollywood Tower Hotel opened in 1919 and quickly became one of the favorite ‘haunts’ of the movie star elite of the age. But then tragedy strikes on October 31st 1939. Five guests enter the elevator of the hotel just as lightning strikes the building. The child star, her nanny, two young starlets and the bell hop vaporise – never to be seen again  (well not until much later as you will find out on the ride). All the other hotel guests run from the building leaving their belongings behind.

The Hollywood Tower of Terror mysteriously re opens in 1994 at Disney MGM Studios. Dare guests enter the building and find out what lies behind the imposing building?

Based on the television series The Twilight Zone The Tower of Terror is as you would expect 13 stories high. Walt Disney Imagineers s watched all 156 episodes  of The Twilight Zone many times over so that they could recreate the mood and feeling of the series. The star of The Twilight Zone Rod Serling appears throughout the ride on audio and video screens. Original clips were taken from the series and additional voice overs were provided by an actor specially for the  Tower of Terror ride.

The attention to detail is amazing – right from the moment that you step into the line. The hotel looks as though it has remained untouched for over 50 years – cobwebs and dust cover authentic and reproduction furniture and belongings. You really do feel as though you are stepping into a time warp.

The suspense and, let’s not gloss over this, fear, are built up slowly. By the time you get to the elevator most guests are pretty scared! The Bell Hop Cast Members do a brilliant job of remaining in character and setting the scary mood of anticipation.

Enter the ride vehicle and travel along ghostly passage ways and you may just see some of those unfortunate elevator occupants from 1939. Then comes the moment everyone has been waiting for – you enter the elevator. Yep it’s scary. Yep you feel as though you are going to rise up out of your seat with your stomach following you just a little while later. And there is a lot of screaming.

Dare you ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror? Well you need to be over 40″ to enjoy the attraction. Don’t underestimate how scary it can be for the kids either ( and some adults as well). It is all in good Disney fun but you be the judge of whether your child is going to see the funny side or not! There is a Child Swap option where all your party has to stand in line only one time – each of you can look after the child while the other experiences the ride. Ask a Cast Member for more details.

The lines for Tower of Terror can be long. It is one of the most popular attractions at Walt Disney World. So how to avoid those lines? Use a Fast Pass. As soon as you get to the park head to the Tower of Terror. If the line is already past 20 minutes ( and it could be up to 120) then get a Fast Pass.  This will give you a set time window to come back to the ride and get into the Fast Pass Line.

Want to know more about the Tower of Terror? Find out the secrets and see some amazing pictures? Then head on over to Disney Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.