The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror

The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror: attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World — live wait times, operating status, and planning data on MouseHub.

Wait time history

Historical wait patterns for The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror accrete daily as MouseHub records waits every 15 minutes. Charts appear here once enough history exists.

Visitor sentiment

4.8· 8,053 Google ratings

People say this amusement park ride offers thrilling drops and a unique, immersive experience. They highlight the suspenseful storytelling, the eerie atmosphere, and the randomized drop patterns that keep the ride exciting. They also like the attention to detail in the theming, which creates a spooky and memorable experience.

Summarized with Gemini · Report summary

The MouseHub take

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has stood on Sunset Boulevard at Disney's Hollywood Studios since July 1994, and it still sets the bar for how far Disney will take a premise. You check into the Hollywood Tower Hotel, empty since a Halloween night in 1939 when a storm hit the building and the patrons riding the elevator were never seen again. Rod Serling lays that out on a television set in the hotel library. Then a service elevator hauls your row up the shaft and drops it, more than once, with snapping cables and clanging metal overhead. The drop pattern has been random since the end of 2002, so the ride you get is not the ride the group behind you gets.

Riders who like drops put this near the top of the park, and the ones who don't usually know it by the first fall. The height requirement is 40 inches, which splits plenty of families at the door. Disney's warning covers heart, back, and neck trouble along with motion sickness, and expectant mothers are told not to ride. Guests using a wheelchair or ECV transfer twice to board, and service animals can't ride at all.

At a glance

Best for
Anyone who likes a drop ride and will stand in a long line for the story that sets it up.
Skip if
Drops make you queasy, or your party has a kid under 40 inches and no appetite for splitting up.
Ride type
Haunted-hotel dark ride that ends on a randomized drop tower
Intensity
Repeated fast drops in a dark, enclosed shaft, with loud sound effects and a deliberately unsettling buildup.

The good

  • The lobby stops people at the door
    You walk into a dusty hotel lobby that stopped in 1939 and stayed there, cobwebs and abandoned luggage included. Plenty of guests slow down to look at it before a cast member moves them along.
  • Rod Serling still runs the pre-show
    The library pre-show puts Serling on a television set to explain the storm and the missing elevator. The series he created, wrote, and hosted ran from 1959 to 1964, and the attraction is built on it rather than on one episode.
  • The boiler room is where the nerves start
    The last stretch of the line leaves the hotel and runs through the building's boiler room. It's the point where the party that was joking about the drops goes quiet.
  • The drops have been random since 2002
    Disney handed the drop sequence over to the attraction itself on December 31, 2002. Ride it twice in a day and you get two different patterns, which is why it holds up on a re-ride better than most thrill rides.
  • The sound does half the work
    Snapping cables and clanging metal play overhead while the elevator throws your row up and down the shaft. Take the audio away and the drops lose a good part of their bite.
  • The bellhops never break character
    Cast members run the boarding area in costume and stay grim about it, like staff who never left 1939. They sell the hotel better than any of the props do.

The bad

  • Most of the wait happens outside
    The standby line spends a long stretch in the open before it reaches the lobby. On a Florida afternoon that stretch is the worst part of the experience.
  • The drops turn some stomachs
    The elevator pulls hard on the way down and leaves you weightless a second at a time. Disney's own warning names motion sickness alongside heart, back, and neck problems.
  • Afternoon standby climbs and stays there
    Waits build through the middle of the day and don't ease off until evening. Without a Lightning Lane pass you can lose a real piece of the afternoon standing on Sunset Boulevard.
  • It frightens kids who clear the height
    Disney flags the sudden drops in a dark, enclosed space as frightening for some guests, and the dim library and boiler room start that work well before boarding. A 40-inch kid can meet the requirement and still want out.
  • Mechanical stops are common enough to plan for
    The ride goes down during operating hours often enough that regulars expect it. If it stops while you're in line, you either wait it out with no estimate or give up the spot.

Veteran tips

  • Spend a Multi Pass slot here
    Tower of Terror sits in the second Lightning Lane Multi Pass group at Hollywood Studios, so it competes with Toy Story Mania and Star Tours rather than with Slinky Dog Dash. That makes it one of the cheaper headliners to cover with a pass.
  • Go in the first hour or don't
    Standby is at its lowest right after opening. Head for Sunset Boulevard before the park fills and you can be through the lobby while the rest of the crowd is still on Hollywood Boulevard.
  • Rider Switch covers the party left behind
    This is on Disney's Rider Switch list. The group splits at the entrance, one party rides, and up to two people ride second on a return time from a cast member. It also covers a guest whose service animal can't board, which applies here.
  • Save it for after dark
    The lit facade and the shadows along Sunset Boulevard do more for the mood than the daytime version. The outdoor part of the line is also cooler once the sun is down.
  • Empty your pockets before you strap in
    Phones, hats, and sunglasses come loose on the way down. Get them into a bag or a zipped pocket while you're still in the loading area, not once you're belted in.
  • Ride it while Fantasmic is running
    Fantasmic plays in the amphitheater off Sunset Boulevard and pulls a large share of the park with it for about half an hour. Standby here drops while the show is on.
  • Know the boarding rules before you queue
    Guests using a wheelchair or ECV transfer to a wheelchair and then to the ride vehicle, so it's two transfers rather than one. Service animals can't ride, and children under 7 need someone 14 or older with them.

MouseHub editorial, written from visitor reports and official Disney sources. Last reviewed .

Sources