Disney World’s Tower of Terror Could Be Getting New or Expanded Twilight Zone ‘Episode’

It looks like Walt Disney World might be pulling a page from its ‘singles and doubles’ playbook to get fans excited about the 2027 slate and draw them to the parks. This was especially fruitful at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which featured Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run with Mandalorian and Grogu, and the reimagined Animation Courtyard.

The strategy was also utilized at Magic Kingdom, and to a lesser extent, EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. The end result was a formidable package of smaller scale projects aimed squarely at WDW diehards as opposed to casual tourists. We were certainly fans of the changes, as literally all of the new additions were improvements over their predecessors. This is something we’ve already covered at length in Walt Disney World’s Newly Reimagined Rides Are All Upgrades, so we won’t fixate on it.

In fact, we were so pleased by the strategy that our biggest disappointment of the 2026 D23 Expo was that not much in the way of near-term singles and doubles were announced for Walt Disney World in 2027. Well, it now seems like lightning might strike twice, and Tower of Terror could be the next attraction in Disney’s Hollywood Studios to receive a plussing with a new or expanded ‘episode’ of the Twilight Zone coming to the attraction.

Mark Silverman, the voice of Rod Serling in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror since the attraction opened at the Disney-MGM Studios in 1994, posted a photo to Instagram of him standing in front of the entrance to Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California with the following caption:

Last week at WDI. Walt Disney Imagineering, One of my favorite places to be. It all started for me there in 1993, auditioning to narrate a brand new attraction for Walt Disney World called The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

When someone asked Silverman in the comments, “Are we getting to hear something new from you at Disney?!” Silverman responded with a cryptic: “well…. could be.”

Rod Serling passed away in 1975, requiring Walt Disney Imagineering to pair footage of the Twilight Zone host pulled from the “It’s a Good Life” episode with new narration by Silverman, who reportedly won the role with the blessing of Carol Serling, Rod’s widow.

Silverman has been the voice of Serling ever since, at both domestic versions of Tower of Terror (Tokyo DisneySea never had a Twilight Zone tie-in), and beyond. As far as involvement with Imagineering would go, Silverman is either working on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, A Pirate’s Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas, or something brand new.

Given that the caption references the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and since that’s a fairly easy attraction to update on a quick turnaround timeline, it’s safe to say that’s the project on which Mark Silverman is working.

This wouldn’t be the first time an actor associated with a Disney project prematurely leaked news, or an element of it. Way back in 2007, Anthony Daniels revealed that Star Tours 2 was coming soon. It took another 2 years for it to even be announced, and 2 more years after that for it to open.

Other leaks have come courtesy of voice actors, with the most recent high-profile example being the opening year of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure before Splash Mountain had even closed.

In this case, I’m actually inclined to believe that the “leak” is purposeful, sanctioned by Disney as a viral tease to kickstart the hype cycle. If it were truly accidental, that post would be long gone, but it hasn’t been deleted a day after being posted.

This also wouldn’t be the first time that the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has changed. We’ve been imploring Walt Disney World to Bring Back Summer Nightastic for the last several years, and one of the highlights of that 2010 special event was a limited-time version of the attraction.

That included a new drop profile that was more intensive and reminiscent of the original Tower of Terror ride profiles, along with new audio effects, and visual changes in the Fifth Dimension scene. The visuals included restored effects, as well as a new starfield and photo of guests that appeared within the attraction. Some of these new effects actually stuck around long after Summer Nightastic ended, so you might’ve seen them on much more recent visits.

More recently, Tokyo DisneySea has drawn inspiration from the more intensive versions of the attraction, with its own twist called “Tower of Terror: Level 13,” where guests can enjoy Tower of Terror with even more thrills than it usually has. In addition to that, there’s “Tower of Terror: Level 13 ‘Shadows of Shiriki,'” which gives guests the chance to experience the horror of the curse of “Shiriki Utundu” more than ever before.

Then there’s the version at Disney Adventure World in Paris, which features three new storylines and ride sequences that offer more chills and thrills for this classic attraction. In this new version of the show, the young girl from the video in the Library scene becomes a starring character on the ride, warning us not to cross over into the Twilight Zone. Imagineering also added new illusions, media sequences, and audio soundtracks to create three different show and ride sequences for the attraction.

It’s our understanding that the story expansion and changes to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror have been very well received by Disneyland Paris guests. We would also assume that having three different versions has improved re-rideability, in the same way that Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets draw more repeat guests thanks to their variations.

It’s also worth noting that Imagineering Senior Creative Director Tom Fitzgerald previously shared that the “behind-the-scenes story of this new edition [at Disneyland Paris] actually began years ago at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, when Imagineers created new ride profiles for the existing attraction,” but that the DLP team took it a step further. We wouldn’t be surprised if this is Imagineering coming full circle, and now drawing inspiration from the Paris project for Florida.

Walt Disney World has been giving the Tower of Terror attention recently. While the attraction remains operational, its facade is covered in scaffolding as part of an exterior maintenance project. What little we’ve seen of the restored facade looks fantastic–similar to the end results over at Haunted Mansion.

Prior to this, Tower of Terror received a multi-month stealth refurbishment project during which the ride also remain open, even though half of its capacity was offline while the attraction’s drop shafts received maintenance. This lasted several months and was confirmed by Cast Members at the attraction, but was also evident even from the outside (and via elevated wait times since the ride was running at half its normal throughput.)

It’s potentially worth noting here that Walt Disney World previously used routine maintenance projects as precursors to reimaginings, most notably with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith going down for two multi-month ride system refurbishments in the years prior to the Muppets reimagining.

I’m very excited and cautiously optimistic about this. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is one of my favorite attractions not just at Walt Disney World, but in the entire world (#9 worldwide on Sarah & Tom Bricker’s Top 15 Disney Attractions).

Beyond the gratuitous Twilight Zone references, I love that Tower of Terror is darker than the rest of Disney’s Hollywood Studios–like Sunset Boulevard rather than Singin’ in the Rain. The attraction delivers on that tone with an encompassing experience that includes an elaborate queue, pre-show, second queue, ride, and post-show.

It’s a satisfying 20-minute journey that is so much more than the sum of its parts, with deliberate pacing and tension. One of Imagineering’s best modern works of immersion that wasn’t eclipsed at Walt Disney World for decades. I would love to see Disney double-down on its tone with a more haunting story, intense drop profile, or other effects added in the Fifth Dimension.

Some Tower of Terror diehards might recoil at the notion of the attraction being tinkered with, as there’s no sense in messing with perfection, but that is not my perspective. I’ve enjoyed all of the other ‘extended’ versions around the world, and think Imagineering did a good job extending the story in Paris.

Moreover, what I love about the Tower of Terror is the worldbuilding and start-to-finish nature of the storytelling. As long as it remains a Twilight Zone attraction, I don’t really think there’s any messing that up. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think the story contained within the preshow and the attraction is an untouchable masterpiece. I certainly enjoy it, but it’s not really a morality play or cautionary tale in the sense of a typical episode.

I also think a big part of why it works so well is because the Tower of Terror is an exercise in excess (in the best way possible), so adding even more story is likely to be a good thing from my perspective. That’s not how the Tower of Terror gets “messed up.” That would happen by virtue of replacing the Twilight Zone IP with something else.

Speaking of which, if Mark Silverman is recording new lines for the Tower of Terror, we can presumably mark it safe from a Disney intellectual property injection for the next five years or so. There was a time when Guardians of the Galaxy was strongly rumored for Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and I’m very glad it went to California instead.

There haven’t been any credible rumors of a retheme in a while, but being an older, non-Disney IP, there’s always that danger. However, if Silverman is involved, that presumably means Rod Serling is sticking around. This means that any reimagining or retheme would retain the Twilight Zone integration.

As for what changes to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror could potentially entail, my guess is something very similar to what was done at Disney Adventure World. Albeit, obviously, with more footage or at least narration featuring Rod Serling.

My hope is that there are multiple expanded stories, adding to the re-rideability. My expectation is that Imagineering takes what’s already in the pre-show, and adds more audio later in the attraction, as opposed to new video. I’d love to be wrong about that, though.

As a longtime Twilight Zone fan, I wouldn’t mind seeing Tower of Terror become more like Cosmic Rewind, Mission Breakout, or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Have entirely different twists on the ‘episode’ or alternate endings.

Maybe add even more Easter Eggs, with nods to classic episodes like “To Serve Man,” “Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” “Time Enough At Last,” “Eye of the Beholder,” etc. But also sleepers like “He’s Alive,” “People Are Alike All Over” and “Howling Man.”

Ultimately, I view this as great news. Or rather, rumor, leak, or however you want to categorize it. Obviously, nothing official has been announced, but there are only a couple of possibilities here. We’re going to assume the most likely one is the likely outcome, and that’s a reimagining, refresh, or expanded episode of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Again, I know other fans will have a “don’t mess with perfection” or “don’t fix what isn’t broken” mentality towards this, which is understandable. On the other hand, I happen to think it’s refreshing that Imagineering is “messing” with Tower of Terror, but in a way that potentially retains and expands on the Twilight Zone integration.

That really underscores just how far beyond the dark days we really are. Instead of having to fear the worst, Imagineering is giving us more of what we already love. Like so many other recent changes, this would’ve been utterly unfathomable even 5 years ago. It’s honestly amazing they’re (again, presumably) getting the budget for a project like this in the first place, which is another that seems squarely aimed at fans.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of Mark Silverman sharing his visit to Walt Disney Imagineering? Is this a thinly-veiled tease for an update to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror? Or do you think it’s something else entirely…or nothing at all? Expecting an update on par with what Paris already got? If this is the first sign of Summer Nightastic 2.0, what else would you like to see? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any other thoughts or commentary to add? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!