Design Ideas for the Tower of Terror Props

The props in the Tower of Terror are amazing! I’ve heard that the Mission Inn in Riverside, California, and the Biltmore in Los Angeles provided some of the inspiration for the design. Are there any other buildings that inspired this beautiful attraction?

The Imagineers looked at photographs of many elaborate buildings from the right era for their design ideas and then scoured Hollywood auction houses for the actual props. Some came from lavish estates of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. One set of chairs was 400 years old; other chairs came from the exclusive Jonathan Club, a well-known Los Angeles landmark built in the 1920s.

Disneyland's 'The Witch in the cage'

Q: I've seen over the years at Disneyland a cage that held the Hag from Snow White. When the cage was rattled, she would come to life and try to bribe folks to let her out by promising to show how to "turn water to gasoline." Who made this and what was the reason?
Reid, Ben Lomond, California 

A [Dave Smith]: The Witch in the cage was originally made by the former WED Display and Design Department at Walt Disney World, under Jim McNalis, for use in 1975 Emporium windows in the Magic Kingdom park promoting Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. When the Disneyana Shop opened on Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland in 1976, the Witch, animated and with added audio, moved west to become a major display piece in that shop. Later on it was used in the Villain's Lair shop in Fantasyland and Le Bat en Rouge in New Orleans Square. 

[Marcio Disney]