Back in early 2004 The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror opened at Disney’s California Adventure. I was obsessed from the first time I stepped into the remains of this once luxurious Hollywood retreat. That summer I set about designing a model of the Tower out of LEGOs. This was no easy feat and took a good portion of a year to do. Using a program called LEGOCAD I set about testing various designs. The one featured here is the second version and started with just a simple build of the wall of the Lobby that faces into the garden courtyard of the Tower. The second set of pieces I built were the upper floors where “The Hollywood Tower Hotel” sign would be fitted.
As many fans of the attraction will notice I placed an extra set of elevator doors on the far left and center elevator shafts. This is due to being able to see the model from all angles and not wishing to build some of the uglier backstage elements (such as air vents seen on the “roof”). On the actual attraction the lightning scar hides many rooftop elements that wouldn’t, in the “reality” of the building’s mythos, be there as the removed wings were floors with elevator shafts and rooms. I substituted the rooftop for floors similar to the removed sections above it. I also took inspiration from Disney Experience’s Tower of Terror Paper Model that also had 4 elevator door sets on the center and left shafts. This is again likely due to the model being seen from more angles than the actual attraction.
Another note is the color choices on certain parts of the building. The domes are a dark grey color, matching the window frames and fences. The “floors” are blue and red as opposed to the muted green and brown found on the actual attraction. These were design choices I made based on LEGO colors that were available at the time.
Building with LEGOs offered many difficult challenges and this design certainly has some of those difficulties featured loud and clear. What I did manage though was to capture the spirit of the attraction and the elements I wanted to show. Looking at this you can instantly see The Hollywood Tower Hotel as it once stood. Even still this version did not turn out to be the final, and even still, no version has been built by me personally. A few LEGO fans have built this model using my designs with my permission and can be found easily on the internet. I hope to some day return to the LEGO Tower of Terror model, but for now I will continue to work on the model I am currently designing and building. I hope soon to have some physical work to show off here, but for now, designs and artwork are all I have. Thank you for joining me here on my blog and for dropping in on this Throwback Thursday special!
