Disney brought the flight simulator to the attention of theme park fans in 1987, when it opened Star Tours at Disneyland. In 1995, Disney moved the industry forward the next step, blending simulator technology with a more traditional track ride in the Indiana Jones Adventure.
Here's the story: Indiana Jones has just discovered an ancient, forgotten "Temple of the Forbidden Eye." As you approach the temple, clues are written in petroglyphs along the wall, describing the three treasures offered by the temple's goddess, Mara (money, eternal youth or the ability to see the future), as well as some of the nasty stuff that will happen to you if you break the temple's one rule. More on that in a minute.
Trouble is, Indy ran out of money to explore the temple, so his buddy Sallah's been running Jeep tours of the temple to raise cash. Even worse, Indy's gone missing in the temple, so you're going on a tour to help find him.
Buckle up, and don't forget that one rule: Whatever you do, don't look into the eye of Mara. (Because it's, like, you know, forbidden. Duh.)
So what does everyone immediately do? ;-)
Say it with me know, something goes terribly wrong and now the wrath of Mara is unleashed upon you for a wild ride through the temple. After a series of narrow escapes, you're ultimately rescued by Indiana Jones himself.
With hundreds of effects elements in the ride, it's not surprising that some of them no longer work like they once did. At the recent premiere of the new Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln show, Disney Imagineer Tony Baxter revealed that he's been lobbying to install a next-generation Indiana Jones animatronic on this ride, as part of a major upgrade. But that hasn't kept this version of Indiana Jones from enduring as one of Disneyland's most popular rides, and a seed in the top half of this bracket.
You can find another version of the Indiana Jones ride, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull, at Tokyo DisneySea. And the ride system for Indiana Jones is quite similar to that of the Dinosaur ride in Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
What do you think of Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure? Let's hear from you, in the comments.
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How does this attraction rate so highly? I've ridden it multiple times, and what happens? You get pitched around a lot while observing mediocre effects. Frankly, Dinosaur buries this, and I hope Toy Story Mania murders it.
6-Fair, at best, considering its popularity, and I know Mr. Niles backs me on this.
If you take the full experience and find a decoder card to print out somewhere online, the queue itself is wonderful. Especially when all the effects there are working (spike room and the man in well).
For the actual ride itself, I have noticed that has become jerkier with age. My first experience was in 2003. Over the years I have seen the ride closed during the day for "unknown reasons". (Most of these occur around 5-6pm). I've been on the ride during a breakdown, which was a great time.
I do feel some of the effects need to be re-timed and smoothed out. The mudslide feels like a rockslide.
It would be great to see new animatronic Indiana Jones. But I doubt that will happen anytime soon. Closing a ride of that magnitude with nothing similar to offer will have many guests upset. Closing Space Mountain was not that big of deal to me since you had several other coasters to choose from between the two parks.
My renovation prediction: see this ride go under rehab when Radiator Springs Racers open.
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