Photo credit Stretching Room Photography
A rumor got out earlier this year about a plan to remake Tower of Terror into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride. It appears that rumor may actually be true, as TDA and WDI have been working on this project behind the scenes for the last couple of months at night and after the park is closed (per various sources and CM's familiar with the situation.)
The rumor is that the new overlay will feature the Collector from the Guardians of the Galaxy Series. This will likely happen Fall 2016 so as to give WDI enough time to pull out the old Twilight Zone Overlay, and have the ride back up and running with it's brand spankin' new theme by the time the New Guardians of the Galaxy movie opens in May 2017, where they will premiere the new movie in none other than DCA.
The rumor originally included some info that said that the contracts for the Twilight Zone IP rights were up for renewal and the folks at CBS wanted far more money to continue future rights usage. Disney however has slowly been moving away from leasing IP rights anyways for franchises they have no intention of ever owning, and as such don't even use the Twilight Zone for the Tower of Terror in Japan period. I don't foresee them renewing their contracts for something when it could be changed over with a 6 month refurb to a franchise they actually own. This would save them significant money, and probably pay for at least a good portion of the refurb that the ride needs anyways. I don't know when the actual contracts expire, but there is usually substance to rumors of this nature, and the fact that they are even talking a GotG overlay lends credence to the fact that these contracts may be expiring soon. Make sense now?
The only thing that could derail this plan would be a disaster from Shanghai, but as it sits now, Shanghai is looking good to fulfill it's destiny and at least for the time being cover it's own costs, as opening day is sold out, and the leaked footage of the new Pirates ride has enthralled not only this writer, but pretty much every single person who has watched the video. This should be enough to get the American parks back on track to change the pretty much useless Hollywood Backlot in DCA over to something more useful, like Marvel, and be able to add an awesome E-ticket ride shortly after the new Star Wars land opens in 2019.
The biggest question that has been asked is how will the new overlay actually work? Well I like the answer that ThemeParkInsider.com editor Robert Niles gave us a few weeks ago:
"Let's start breaking down this question by noting that Disney already has installed a Tower of Terror ride without the Twilight Zone theme. At Tokyo DisneySea, the Tower of Terror is the former property of a character named Harrison Hightower, a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers who traveled the world collecting antiquities that he brought to keep in his tower hotel.
Ultimately, one of those treasures — the Shiriki Utundu idol — wasn't as inanimate as it seemed. After dispatching Hightower and cursing his hotel, the Shiriki Utundu has been sending visitors on a wild ride on the hotel's elevators — as revenge upon those who would disturb sacred relics.
Even if you've not read any of the rumors about the new Tower of Terror overlay, if you're familiar with Guardians of the Galaxy, perhaps that description of Harrison Hightower might sound familiar.
Here's the way that a Guardians overlay might not just work on Tower of Terror, but might even provide a better narrative device for the ride. Harrison Hightower's equivalent in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is Taneleer Tivan — aka the Collector. Featured briefly in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, the Collector searches the galaxy gathering curiosities, including life forms, for his museum.
Disney could make a Guardians overlay work simply by starting with the Harrison Hightower framework for Tower of Terror and swapping the Collector in Hightower's place. Disney doesn't even need to change the exterior setting of the ride. It could remain the Hollywood Tower Hotel, while the story explains that Taneleer Tivan is using the property as cover for a secret new collection of stuff from our corner of the galaxy.
Why are we here? The Collector is trying to collect us, and it's up to the Guardians of the Galaxy to save us. We board the elevator, and the Collector tries to "file" us upstairs. But the Guardians attack, and we bounce up and down in middle of the battle before the Guardians prevail and we are freed.
Frankly, to me, that scenario provides a stronger narrative explaining what happens on the ride that the current Twilight Zone story does."
This would actually make the Hollywood Tower Hotel ride much more relevant than it's current Twilight Zone theme while largely leaving the ride in tact otherwise. They could add some new cool effects to the pre-show, and even change out the "artifacts" to be interactive. This was the first solution I've seen to the overlay issue that has made any bit of sense, and seems like it's something TDA and WDI may love quite a bit if the rumors are true.
So there you have it... GotG looks to be coming to DCA, and while some people want to stop it, it looks like it may end up being a change for the better if they get the theming right.