The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is shedding its scaffolding. New photos from Disney’s Hollywood Studios show crews pulling the construction framework off the Hollywood Tower Hotel, with the restored exterior and its repainted lightning scar now visible on the way out.
Tower of Terror’s restored lightning strike looks… electric.
— Drew the Disney Dude (@DrewDisneyDude) October 23, 2026
Scaffolding is being removed from the exterior as the attraction returns to its opening-day look at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
The Lightning Scar Is Back
The big change is the jagged purple scar on the upper floors of the tower, left by the lightning strike in the ride’s backstory. It had faded over the years, and the refresh brought it back to its bold original look. We first saw the repainted scar earlier this week, when new purple paint appeared on the upper floors.
Drew Smith says the attraction is returning to its opening-day look. In Drew’s photos, the aged stucco and storm damage on the upper floors look sharper than they have in a while.
A Long Exterior Project
This has been a piece-by-piece job. Scaffolding first went up this summer, and the refresh was partly revealed in early October as one side of the building was uncovered. The work has stayed on the outside of the building, so the ride itself has kept running throughout.
Because the tower is one of the tallest structures at Hollywood Studios and a visual anchor for the Sunset Boulevard end of the park, the scaffolding has been hard to miss from across the park. Scaffolding still wraps the lower front in Drew’s photos, but the upper floors are largely clear for the first time in months.
The Drop Is Still The Same
The refresh is cosmetic, so the ride experience has not changed. Guests still board the service elevator of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, rise, roll through the Fifth Dimension and drop in a randomized sequence of plunges, as the 2026 point-of-view video above shows.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror opened at the park in 1994 and remains one of its signature attractions, themed to a Hollywood hotel abandoned after a lightning strike sent an elevator car full of guests disappearing on Halloween night. The refreshed exterior is emerging just in time for the busy holiday season at Hollywood Studios.
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