Development for this attraction actually started back in the development stages for Disneyland Paris. There was supposed to be more to the frontier land in DLP but untimely due to budget issues it eventually got brought over to the then named Disney MGM Studios park in Orlando, Florida. It did eventually get brought back over to Europe 15 years later alongside its Rod Serling type host. This was the latest version to open and I do hope we see Shanghai and Hong Kong also have an extended stay in the Hollywood Tower Hotel. 

Orlando Florida:

This is the original version of Twilight Zone that was brought over to California and Paris but also got re-themed for Tokyo. You enter the hotel lobby awaiting check-in. This room is expertly decorated with props that are vintage furniture, statues etc. You then get guided into the library specifically onto the rug by a bellboy where you're invited to watch the ride preshow on the television set in the corner. The ride preshow is set out like a twilight zone episode with a great faux Rod Serling voice actor named Mark Silverman and Serling playing himself using archived footage, the imagineers used there Disney magic to edit it in a way to look as if Serling himself was actually presenting this exact story, or as it's referred as the lost episode of The Twilight Zone. This was all the way back in the early 90s and the editing is perfect. After you watch Serling explain what happened in the hotel on Halloween night 1939 you enter the boiler room which is a super cool queue that leads you to one of the bellhops who kindly guide you into the elevator (I must add these cast members are amazing and funny/spooky). After you've been thrown around up and down at 30MPH you are greeted by another bellhop who Leads you down into the hotel's backstage and through the gift shop. 

As mentioned prior this concept was made for DLP which I'll expand on later, but for right now we'll stick in Orlando. After the success of MGM Studios in 1989 Disney got started on the next expansion Sunset Boulevard and what do new lands need, a star attraction. After rummaging through the DLP waste bin they found a drop tower ride which they ended up recycling for this new land and branded it with Mel Books… that's right it wasn't originally going to be based on The Twilight Zone. As an effort for Brooks to start shooting films at MGM, Disney offered him his own ride in MGM Studios and with Brooks and his son Max being Disneyland fans, development went underway with a little hesitation from Brooks. Something based on Young Frankenstein was the original choice and even a haunted house type ride was considered until Brooks left to go film “life stinks” so Disney was left with a half-baked idea with no theme. But in early development for MGM they wanted a Twilight Zone ride and this now became a perfect fit into what was planned with Brooks. So Disney got to work re-theming the ride (a little ironic today) and the ride we know managed to open on July 22, 1994 with the rest of the land. Since opening it's stayed fairly unchanged apart from the ride sequence getting randomized so you never know what to expect and effects being updated.

Anaheim, California:

Over in Anaheim the ride didn't change much. Instead of entering the fifth dimension you simply go back into the elevator shaft. But the ride mainly stayed the same until the re-theming in 2017 to line up with the upcoming Guardians of The Galaxy 2. Everything is laid out predominantly the same as The Twilight Zone but with a coat of The Collector paint. The former lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel is now a winding queue with some of The Collector's collections and a looping video which explains the story of the ride hosted by the Guardians themselves trapped in electrified cages. You're then guided into the old study of the HTH, which is now The Collector's office, in which a video plays of The Collector greeting you, this video swiftly gets hijacked by Rocket and explaining a plan of escape. You then enter the old boiler room it's now storage for The Collector. This has a few props from Disney past like the Yeti from the Matterhorn and more I won't spoil. You then enter the elevator that's piloted by Rocket and one of 6 tracks play. After you free the guardians you are guided through a corridor with a defeated Collector on the speakers. You're finally guided into the gift shop.

When DCA opened back in 2001 it had a similar story to the opening of DLP where they had to scramble to get the attention onto the new park as attendance was lower than initially projected as part of that they brought over a new E-ticket, Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror. But this wasn't taken from MGM Studios. In fact it was taken From WDS over in Paris. So that's twice the idea was stolen. This version also managed to open 3 years prior to Paris and roughly 10 years after its imaging. After Disney's acquisition of Marvel 2009 they wanted to bring superheroes to their parks. So as the first part of what would become Avengers Campus, in 2017 they re-themed ToT to the Guardians Of The Galaxy - Mission: Breakout. They tied the ride into Avengers Campus when it opened in 2021 with new Kirby Krackle inspired energy markings were placed around the ride.

Tokyo, Japan:

Tokyo probably had the most drastic re-theming due to the fact The Twilight Zone didn't have that much of an influence in Japan. So when it came to bringing the ride over to the new Disneysea they created a new story that was still in a similar vein. The indoor queue building is quite a bit larger than the one in the rest of the world and you're no longer in the Hollywood Tower Hotel but in Hotel Hightower owned by Harrison Hightower III, who is part of the Society of Explorers and Adventures, and now located in New York City. You still wind through the Lobby of a hotel but you're on a tour of this historic building. After being ushered into Hightowers office you are played an old gramophone recording of an Interview of Hightower before an idol takes over. You then get guided into an old storage room which is the queue for the elevators. The rest of the ride plays out similar to the rest of the rides across the world but with a different story and preset ride drop sequence that seems to be shared with Paris.

There's honestly not much information I could find on the History of this version of Tower of Terror. Other than the fact that it was re-themed due to the fact The Twilight Zone wasn't really known in Japan. It was likely just a really popular ride that Tokyo wanted and they just needed some time to figure everything out and create a new story. It opened five years after the parks opening.

Paris, France:

There's not much to say about the ride Experience due to the fact like most of DLP this is just a recycled story and recycled attraction. Even though this version in some sort of state was planned to be introduced in 1995 with some sort of Europe MGM Studios, but Due to the unfortunate state of DLP it got shelved. 

As I've mentioned earlier this attraction was meant to be there on opening day in 1992 but Due to rising costs it was shelved for a later date. One of these concepts was some sort of geyser ride nestled between Phantom Manor and the little geyser in frontier land. It would further explain the story of thunder mesa and would end up being the inspiration for one of the best rides in any Disney park. After this idea would end up being scrapped it was resurfaced with phase two of DLP where Space Mountain would be introduced and a potential journey to the center of the earth, which would be you drilling into the center of the earth. Due to budget constraints due to the park failing, everything would be scaled back drastically and we wouldn't see a version until the opening of MGM Studios Europe in 1995… oh wait that also got scaled back and didn't open until 2002 and even then we didn't see the ride until 2007 due to the horrendous state of the park and being considered the worst Disney Park in the world they needed something to bring guests in so out came out Geyser Mountain, I mean Hollywood Tower Of Terror.