YMMV / The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

• Awesome Music: The sort of ghostly, echoey 1930s jazz music that plays in the queue and lobby of the Twilight Zone rides consisting of many iconic jazz artists like Fats Waller, Vera Lynn, Turner Layton, Red Allen, Johnny Hodges, Glenn Miller, etc. It really does add to the ride's story and theming.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Twilight Zone: The Ride.
  • "The Hollywood Tower of Terror"; this nickname was even used for the ride's representation in Disney Magic Kingdoms, since The Twilight Zone is owned by Paramount Global.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Twilight Zone versions of the Tower of Terror are supposed to be set in Hollywood, California. Yet the only version of the ride that actually did exist in California has been re-themed. On top of that, the California ride only lasted 13 years. Guess 13 really is unlucky.
  • This video points out that, as amazing and fun as the ride is, there is a very thin connection to The Twilight Zone’s actual stories beyond its theming. In removing the Twilight Zone aspect, the irony was the DisneySea version fits in more with the show’s morality tales.
• Newer Than They Think: Despite now being a signature attraction, to the point that it is one of Walt Disney World's four park icons (along with Cinderella's Castle for Magic Kingdom, Spaceship Earth for Epcot, and the Tree of Life for Animal Kingdom), Tower of Terror did not open with Hollywood Studios and was instead built five years later in the park's first expansion project. For years, it was actually the Mickey's Sorcerer Hat that was the icon for Hollywood Studios.
• Spiritual Successor: To The Haunted Mansion in some ways, owning to both its spooky, abandoned atmosphere and presence of ghosts.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: At the 2016 San Diego Comic Con it was announced that California Adventure's Tower of Terror would be changed into Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!. People felt it's only a marketed ploy just so Disneyland can show off that they own the Marvel brand. This prompted the creation of a petition on Change.org to keep the ride as it is. That said, the Florida and Paris versions of the ride are still in place, though Paris later got a retheme of its own (albeit still connected to the original storyline). As of the Paris overhaul, no two versions of the Tower of Terror are exactly the same.
• Vindicated by History: When California Adventure's version first opened in 2004, several theme park fans dismissed it as a cheap and inferior duplicate of the Walt Disney World ride. However, California's version eventually grew a strong enough following for its closure to elicit genuine anger and mourning from the theme park community when it got converted into Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The preshow features Rod Serling's intro narration for The Twilight Zone, along with his appearance in the opening to "It's A Good Life." For the rest of the preshow, he's actually voiced by Mark Silverman, who is completely seamless in his impression of Serling. It's like Rod Serling was approached by Walt Disney in the 60s and recorded the intro for an attraction that wouldn't open for another 30 years.