In your opinion, what is the most egregious thing Harrison Hightower III stole besides Shiriki Utundu? I'm doing a presentation about SEA at a local Nerd Nite event and the people need to know just how much of a colonizing bastard Harrison was. Also, do you have any favorite SEA facts or attraction tie-ins?
I think one of the most quietly effective displays Disney Imagineering has ever done is the "Egyptian Display" in the lower floor of the Artifact Storage/boiler room. The way the mummy bodies are falling out of their coffins, the organ jars knocked over and spilling dust... it really hammers home that Hightower Does. Not. Care. Zero respect whatsoever, even for fellow rich people/royalty. Nope, he plundered the whole tomb, had the walls carved into a check-in desk (which is a horrifying reveal upon re-ride when you see the desk again and make the connection), and then threw the bodies back in the storage room with no regard to preservation or even basic respect. I think that makes it the most egregious thing Hightower stole.
And then there's the line in the newspaper about how his motto is about "liberating art from primitive cultures" and then his hotel being filled with plundered art from literally *everywhere*. Everyone is below him in his mind. Plus the newspaper articles and paintings that make it clear he has no regard for the lives of his assistant and crew, risking them for his sake all the time.
And the other corpse parts in artifact storage, sticking out of random shelves and crates.
He's probably one of the most easily and effectively hate-able characters Disney's ever made.
As for SEA facts/tie-ins: one thing I find both overwhelming and amusing is how INSANE and sprawling the continuity becomes if you bother to track the implications. Like, okay, starting with Hotel Hightower, it's directly, officially, in-ride-observably in the same continuity as Indiana Jones. But then there's the Easter Eggs that imply Hotel Hightower and the Hollywood Tower are also in the same continuity (newspapers in Shanghai, Mystic Manor monkey in Florida Tower), so Hotel Hightower is in the same continuity as The Twilight Zone which by implication is now in the same continuity as Indiana Jones. Then Rock n Roller Coaster with Aerosmith (RIP) had a backstory stating that the band chose G Force Records because it also gave them the opportunity to hang around that cool abandoned hotel next door. So now 1990s Aerosmith is in the same universe as both Indiana Jones and The Twilight Zone. Oh, and then there's some quietly removed Buena Vista Street Lore that suggested that BOTH the DCA style Hollywood Tower and Hollywood Studios style Hollywood Tower existed separately, meaning three Towers of Terror and two Hollywood Towers are also all in on this.
It gets so ridiculous, confusing, and complicated so fast that I find it hilarious, AND it prevents me from ever deep-diving the lore too much, because it feels like that way lies madness. I can barely keep track of what parts relate to Tower as it is!
Also, that's so cool that you get to give a presentation about SEA! Wish I could see it! It might help clear up some of the madness of this continuity for me haha. Let me know if you need any clarification or want any more info!
