Walt Disney Imagineering’s two-month Disneyland riddle hunt ends with Hazel Hightower, a time-traveling thief whose father is the villain of Tokyo DisneySea’s Tower of Terror.
The mystery that started at D23 finally has a name: Hazel Hightower.
Walt Disney Imagineering revealed her on Instagram on Tuesday, Oct. 20, as the newest member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, the secret club of explorers whose stories tie together rides around the world. She’s also the thief who stole the S.E.A. artifact that kicked off the whole hunt.
She also comes from a famous family. Hazel is the daughter of Harrison Hightower III, the S.E.A. adventurer behind the Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea.
Who is Hazel Hightower?
According to the letter she left for the S.E.A., Hazel was born in Egypt on April 1, 1881. Her father vanished before she started university in London.
When she applied to join the S.E.A., the society turned her down, reportedly because of what her father had done. So she took matters into her own hands and stole the artifact to prove herself, BlogMickey reported.
In the letter, she says she has mixed feelings about her dad. She doesn’t agree with everything he did, but she credits him with making her curious about the world. She wants to show the Hightower name doesn’t define her.
She signs off as a “little bit villain and a little bit hero.”
What did Hazel Hightower steal?
The Rainbow Ridge Jewel, a big egg-shaped geode filled with rainbow crystals. In the story, miners found it in Rainbow Ridge, the frontier mining town at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and its disappearance was a scandal for the S.E.A.
It turns out her father had hidden the jewel in an official S.E.A. crate. Hazel built a time machine called the Timeskipper, went back in time, returned the jewel to Rainbow Ridge and swapped it for her note. That note is what Imagineers found when they opened the crate at D23 in August.
How did the S.E.A. riddle hunt work?
Over two months, Imagineering released 11 riddles. Each one pointed to a spot at Disneyland and hid a letter from her 14-letter name, out of order.
The clues sent fans to places like:
Main Street, U.S.A.
The Lilly Belle car on the Disneyland Railroad
The Swiss canton shields in the Matterhorn Bobsleds queue
The commemorative oars at The Tropical Hideaway
The last two riddles dropped on Oct. 19. Once fans had every letter, they could unscramble the name.
Can you see the Rainbow Ridge Jewel at Disneyland?
Yes, for a limited time starting Oct. 20. The jewel is on display at the ticket booth outside Pioneer Mercantile in Frontierland.
Disneyland ticket holders can also get a free commemorative ticket from Hazel. Ask a cast member at Pioneer Mercantile, or tap your MagicBand+ to get one.
Who is Harrison Hightower?
He’s the villain of Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea, which opened in 2006 with a completely different story than the U.S. versions. There’s no Twilight Zone in Tokyo.
Instead, the ride is set in Hotel Hightower in New York in 1899. Harrison Hightower, a greedy explorer, brought home a cursed idol called Shiriki Utundu and mysteriously disappeared from his hotel’s elevator.
So Hazel’s dad is basically the Tower of Terror villain Americans never met. Fun timing, too, since the U.S. Hollywood Tower Hotel is getting its purple lightning back this fall.
Will Hazel Hightower be in a Disney ride?
Disney hasn’t said. She isn’t part of any current attraction, Laughing Place noted, but Imagineering doesn’t usually invent a new S.E.A. member for nothing.
The S.E.A. already connects rides and restaurants like Mystic Manor in Hong Kong, Tokyo DisneySea’s Fortress Explorations, Skipper Canteen at Magic Kingdom and The Tropical Hideaway at Disneyland. Hazel’s story ends with her setting the Timeskipper for somewhere far away, so she could pop up just about anywhere next.
Article compiled and written by Kambrea Pratt (editor-in-chief), Derek Gibbs (beat editor) and the Pirates & Princesses newsroom. Pirates & Princesses is part of WebReef Media.
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Hat Tips:
BlogMickey (Oct. 20, 2026), Hazel’s letter, backstory, the riddle structure, the jewel display and the ticket
Laughing Place, Dirk Libbey (Oct. 20, 2026), the reveal, her father and her place in the S.E.A.
Walt Disney Imagineering on Instagram (Oct. 20, 2026), the reveal and artwork
@DrewDisneyDude on X (Oct. 20, 2026), the artwork
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