Disney World Reveals Overhaul for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Week by week, the scaffolding surrounding the Hollywood Tower Hotel at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been growing. The latest addition makes it harder than ever to ignore that something significant is underway on one of Walt Disney World Resort’s most iconic facades.
A Construction Story That Began in May
The exterior work on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has been unfolding in stages since spring. The first signs emerged in May with refurbishment activity inside the attraction’s queue, followed by decorative flags disappearing from the Tower Hotel Gifts exit and scrim materializing over portions of the facade near the gift shop. Last week brought scaffolding to the far right side of the Hollywood Tower Hotel’s exterior — the first visible metal construction framework on the building’s face.
Through it all, Walt Disney World Resort has offered no explanation, and the drop ride has continued operating without interruption.
What’s New This Week
On Tuesday, WDWNT reported that the scaffolding footprint has expanded again, with new metal construction equipment now installed along the top center of the Hollywood Tower Hotel facade directly above the Tower Hotel Gifts merchandise location. Combined with the scaffolding already in place on the right side of the building, the Hollywood Tower Hotel is now partially framed by construction equipment on multiple sections of its exterior.
No active construction work has been observed in the area despite the growing equipment presence, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror remains open to Disney’s Hollywood Studios guests throughout the ongoing work.
What the Permits Suggest
Walt Disney World Resort filed a “general construction” permit for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror back in March. The filing came from the resort’s Facility Asset Management team — the division typically responsible for maintenance and restoration projects rather than creative reimaginings or significant attraction updates. That context, combined with the gradual, methodical nature of the scaffolding installation, suggests the Hollywood Tower Hotel is undergoing an exterior refurbishment rather than anything more transformative.
Walt Disney World Resort has still not issued any public comment about the ongoing construction on the attraction’s facade.
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