The elevator vibrates, then begins the drop sequence. The idol laughs menacingly at the riders, and suddenly shoots forward at them. The ghostly reflection of the riders disappears and leaves the idol alone in the empty elevator. As they do, the lighting of the hotel is replaced with an eerie green glow, which makes the reflections of the guests ghostlike, an effect similar to the California and Paris rides. Hightower tells the guests to wave and say "good bye" to themselves. The elevator ascends again, then the doors open, revealing a large, ornate mirror. The idol turns toward the guests' elevator and laughs before the doors close. The private apartments fade away, replaced by a star field.
The idol zaps him with a bolt of green electricity, blasting him backwards past open elevator doors at the opposite end of the apartments, where Hightower falls down the shaft. Hightower's ghost, appears beside it and reaches out to touch it. The elevator begins its ascent, then stops and the doors open to reveal the private apartments of Harrison Hightower, the idol sitting on a table in the center. The glowing green eyes of the idol appear in the darkness as the elevator enters the drop shaft.
Hightower explains what happened to him, while the elevator is pushed backwards. Guests are then ushered into an enormous storage room where Hightower kept his treasures.Īs the ride begins, a flash of electricity appears on the top of the elevator doors, the lights flicker, then go out. A gray fog covers the window, which remains the same when the fog lifts. Shiriki Utundu comes to life, laughs mischievously at the guests, and vanishes into a star-field. All the lights in the hotel go out, and a flash of green lightning shatters the bottom of the window. All throughout, Hightower's voice is heard echoing throughout the office warning guests the curse is real and urging them to leave while they can. The lights dim and the stained glass window changes to show a frightened Hightower holding the idol and then entering the elevator on that fateful night, then shows the outside of the hotel as the elevator ascends. A tour guide talks about Hightower, then winds up an old gramophone that plays a recording of Hightower's last interview. Guests enter one Hightower's office, where a large stained glass window depicts a confident Hightower, while Shiriki Utundu sits on a pedestal nearby the stained glass. Guests are then ushered into a room filled with many photographs of Hightower, his expeditions, and his hotel. At the end of the lobby is the elevator in its destroyed state, its doors left open with only a single plank of wood holding them together. On each ceiling arch is painted a mural of Hightower on one of his adventures, portraying his escape from native people with a valuable artifact or item in his possession. The queue area winds through gardens filled with statues from many different countries up to the Hotel Hightower before guests then enter the lobby.
The ride has a green roof made of copper and a brick façade, with its upper levels sitting precariously on a smaller middle that connects it to the base of the building. The hotel's design is based on a mishmash of Gothic Revival and Moorish Revival architecture (or Neo-Moorish), popular with American and European architects during the 19th and early 20th centuries when the increasing exploitation of European colonies in the Middle East and Africa brought back a thirst for all things "oriental." It is now a style found more commonly in synagogues, due to the association with the Golden Age of Jewry in Moorish Spain.
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