James’s obsession with the Tower of Terror began, ironically, when he rode on the ride that replaced it at Disneyland. I’d kiiiiiind of tricked Mike into going on the ride, and James insisted on going with him. Mike hated it (“Why would I want to go on a ride that simulates me falling to my death?” he said repeatedly after), but James? He loved it.
Mr. Casual
After that James became obsessed with watching YouTube videos of people on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride, which lead him to footage of people on the Tower of Terror. He began asking us when he could go on the Tower of Terror, and we’d always reply, “Well, that ride isn’t at Disneyland anymore, but maybe someday if you go to Florida you can ride it at Disney World.” We never thought we’d be going to Disney World, but when the conference invitation arrived in my inbox, the first thing Mike and I said was, “If we go, James can ride the Tower of Terror!”
In fact, when we told the kids on Christmas morning that we were taking them to Disney World, the first thing James said was, “THAT’S WHERE THE TOWER OF TERROR IS!”
On the afternoon we went to Hollywood Studios, James was beside himself. HOWEVER. He kept insisting that he did NOT want to go on the ride. He just wanted to see it, and meet a bellhop. Mike and I were like, “That’s fine” but privately we were like, “We’re dragging his butt on that ride kicking and screaming.” No way we were going all the way to Florida only for him to NOT ride the attraction he’d been obsessed with for months.
On the bus ride from our hotel to the park, James lit up when he spotted the tall exterior of the ride.
As we walked to the ride, he asked Mike if he could take a picture.
He also asked us if we’d take a picture of him in front of it. “NOT ON IT” he emphasized about thirty times.
We decided to start in the ride’s gift shop. He was thrilled to see all the different ToT merchandise and asked us if he could please get a bellhop hat (the ride is a Twilight Zone episode that takes place in a hotel). We were like, “yeah, but let’s go inside and meet a bellhop first!” He didn’t love this idea, but he’s a small child who can be picked up and taken places, so that’s what we did.
As we snaked through the line, he started to realize what was happening. Annie then “helpfully” volunteered, “Oh James, don’t worry, we’re going on the KID version of Tower of Terror! So you don’t have to be scared!” I was like, “uhhh, not exactly,” but this seemed to work with him…until Annabel started having a minor freak out about how it was going to be sooooo scary. At that point I was like, “WE ARE ALL GOING ON THIS RIDE AND IT’S GONNA BE FRIGGING MAGICAL, OKAY!”
When it was our turn, we sat down and buckled ourselves in. The bellhop assisting us could see James was nervous and said, “Don’t worry, buddy! You probably won’t die!” Which, yeah, didn’t go over so well with him (the bellhops are always sarcastic on this ride). Then Mike said, “I can’t believe I’m going on another death simulation!” and I thought Annie was going to come out of her skin.
But then the ride started…
There we are, in the back row on the left. You can just barely see James’ head poking through.
And there we are at the very top, right before we dropped. The hands are blocking James, but Mike and I are both looking at him yell, “YAAAAY!” And yes, Annie has her fingers in her ears, which is something she does when she’s nervous.
Both kids absolutely LOVED the ride. Annie even went on it again!
As a reward we went back to the gift shop, where we bought the kids hats.
When Mike and Annie went on the ride again, James and I sat outside and watched the ride. His Animal Kingdom binoculars came in handy.
He wore the hat everywhere and proudly told everyone he met that he went on the Tower of Terror. He was even telling people while he was on other rides!
So proud of him and Annie for going on the ride (yes we forced them but STILL). It was definitely one of James’ best days ever!
Deena says:
I forced my son, i think he was four, on the ToT too! Luckily, we had a FP or it wouldn’t have worked out so well. I have the funniest video and picture of his face. It was the best! He did not like it and never went on it again. My daughter loves it though! Awesome that James got to go on it.
Bobbie says:
Our younger son (then age 7) wanted to go on The Tower of Terror, too … until we got on it… I will always remember the young Englishman who was on the ride with us saying “I wet myself!”
Tina says:
I thought that my almost 5 year old daughter would have been too scared. In fact I even told her on the way in that once we were in line we weren’t getting back out. It ended up being her favorite ride out of all the rides at every park. Her and my son still talk about it two years later.
Stacey Myers - Bagent says:
He’s getting so big! So so glad this was a great trip for all of you! He’s going to remember it forever!
sam says:
I would have handled it exactly the same way! I love your descriptions. I was dying laughing!
Michele says:
“WE ARE ALL GOING ON THIS RIDE AND IT’S GONNA BE FRIGGING MAGICAL, OKAY!”
Hahahahaha. Love this story! And glad the ToT brought the magic for James.
jordan says:
WHEN DID HE GET SO DANG TALL. Seriously those top 3 pictures when he sees the tower for the first time? Gah, I can’t handle his big-kid cuteness.
I would have died. The end.
Deb says:
You are so lucky it turned out that way! I tricked my youngest into going when he was five (I explained how he loved that frog drop ride and this is very similar) and he was FURIOUS at me when it was over. He said “NEVER AGAIN!”
We love Disney World and are so glad you had fun!
Cheryl says:
My husband and son refused to go on the tower of terror at Disneyland but when it switched to Marvel I told them it was a totally different ride So they went on once, can’t get them to go on it again!
Z says:
I got obsessed with that ride when I was eight and went to Disney World, so I’m glad James and Annie had the chance to go and that it lived up to the hype. They were both really lucky to get souvenir bellhop hats, too!