Stuck on the Tower

A business really shows its true color when something goes wrong. I’ve seen good companies turn into monsters when trying to right a wrong (or in some cases ignoring the wrong).

What did Disney do when my wife and I got stuck on the Tower of Terror? Granted that’s not a major problem but it still wasn’t fun.

We had been through all the drops, entered the maintenance room, turned to face the elevator door and started to move towards it. That’s when we stopped. Right away I knew something was wrong. We were about six inches short of where we needed to be. The music / voiceover ran its length followed by about thirty seconds of silence. Still we were not moving. Next the lights turned off, the wall to the left of us opened and the wall on the right closed for the next ride vehicle.

After about a minute in the dark someone turned the lights on. We could see into the guts of the tower. It was just a typical unthemed area. A mechanic turned the corner with another guy. The mechanic had a uniform on that somewhat fit in with the Tower of Terror theme. He looked under our cart and in no time got us moving, and the doors opened. Instead of just disappearing after that he got right in the act by apologizing and saying he hoped it didn’t ruin our stay at the Hollywood Tower Hotel. He also said if we needed anything to ask for assistance from the bellhop.

First of all the fact that a cast member who is behind the scenes would be required to dress in a costume that fits in with the theme is amazing. The fact that he would be trained not to break the story is even more amazing. That really hits home when you realize he might have to interact with guests only a handful of times a year.