It’s time for this month’s “Rode It! Loved It!,” my reviews of established attractions. Let’s head over to Adventureland at Disneyland for a highly regarded and rollicking ride with Indiana Jones.
4.75 (out of 5)
An E-Ticket tour de force, Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure immerses guests into the world of the popular movie series through the use of Disney’s innovative “Enhanced Motion Vehicles,” highly elaborate sets, and a stunning array of effects. Rather than retell one of the movie franchise’s stories, it creates a new plot and casts riders in leading roles. It is one of Imagineering’s crowning achievements.
Getting to the attraction is an adventure in itself. There are reasons why Indiana Jones’ queue is incredibly long. For one, the ride attracts huge crowds and requires a long line to accommodate the masses. More significantly, however, the meandering passageways are necessary to move guests to the ride building that is located outside the park’s original boundaries. With virtually no space to expand within Disneyland, the park built the attraction in a former parking lot beyond the Jungle River Cruise.
To acclimate to the story, in which guests are cast as 1930s-era tourists visiting an ancient temple unearthed by archaeologist/action stud/snake-phobe Indiana Jones, they move through foreboding caverns adorned with flickering lights, mysterious wall etchings, ominous spikes, even-more ominous skeletons, and other time-killing diversions. The passageway ends in a pre-show room that features vintage newsreel footage to set up the ride. It seems that Indy’s excavation site has become a famous vacation spot. Tourists are flocking to see the shrine with its purported treasures and mystical powers. But, the newsreel warns (with an all-too-obvious dose of theme park ride calamity foreshadowing), visitors MUST NOT look into the eyes of the temple’s idol, Mara, or an ancient curse will befall them. Hence the name of the shrine (and the subtitle of the attraction): the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.
Riders board the vehicles from one of two loading platforms. The first scene takes guests into the Chamber of Destiny for a face-to-giant-face meeting with Mara. The vehicles move toward a blinding light that is–you got it–the forbidden eye. Having triggered the curse, all hell breaks loose. Lighting crackles, snakes slither (why does it always have to be snakes, indeed), and other horrors ensue.
The actual course of events differs slightly for each ride. According to Disney, its Enhanced Motion Vehicles, which have onboard computers that independently control them through the attraction, are capable of delivering 160,000 different variations of motions and actions. The sophisticated, 12-passenger, Jeep-like vehicles are unlike anything that preceded them and seem to adopt personalities of their own. When they encounter the snakes, for example, they shudder and recoil in much the same way as their passengers.
Amid the chaos, an old pal comes to the rescue. A startlingly lifelike animatronic Indiana Jones intercedes and attempts to direct visitors to safety. More catastrophes unfold, however, as the vehicles traverse a rickety bridge above the lava-spewing Cavern of Bubbling Death (why does it always have to be bubbling death?), and move into a room filled with bugs–ewww!–and a cave where poisonous darts whiz within inches of riders–eeahhh! The ride is great at using darkness and momentary bursts of light to heighten the tension and add to disorienting misdirection. The onboard audio, which includes the familiar Indiana Jones score interspersed with other original music and sound effects, also adds to the drama.
Indy concludes with an incredible scene featuring the iconic, giant rolling boulder from the first movie. Even though guests rationally understand that it’s a ride and that they aren’t in any real danger, the effect is so well constructed, they can’t help but react by ducking lest the ensuing boulder flattens them. Spared from becoming pancakes, guests round a bend for a final sendoff from Indy. If the unload area is backed up (especially if only one side of the ride is operating), the vehicles linger in the last scene with the Indiana Jones character. After he says his line, it’s odd to watch the animatronic Jones move repetitively and a bit awkwardly waiting for the next vehicle.
Note that while there are no coaster drops or inversions, the vehicles are fast, and the ride is action-packed with quick starts and stops and plenty of jostling. Also, many of the scenes are dark, and there are all kinds of dark ride gotchas, such as the aforementioined snakes and “poisonous” darts. On my 10-point thrill scale (where 10 is yikes!), I give Indiana Jones Adventure a 3.75.
There is a similar Indiana Jones attraction at Tokyo Disney Sea, the second park at the Tokyo Disney resort. That ride is called Temple of the Crystal Skull. Enhanced Motion Vehicle technology was also used in the Dinosaur attraction (formerly known as Countdown to Extinction) at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. After years of mixed reviews, it closed earlier this year and will be re-themed as another Indiana Jones ride. It is scheduled to open in 2027 as part of the park’s new Tropical Americas land.
Does Indiana Jones Adventure hold up against more recent E-Ticket attractions? Are you looking forward to the new Indy ride at Disney World?