Indiana Jones and The Attractions of Disney

Okay, I know that's a corny title but it's the best I could up with.  Indiana Jones is awesome. There's no denying that. All of the films are great and fun to watch.  Yes, I know that 4th one is looked down upon but that was the first Indy film I saw in theaters, so I can't hate on it too much.  Now I know what you may be thinking, why am I talking about Indiana Jones on a Disney blog, when Indy is not a Disney property.  Well, simple.  Indiana Jones is represented in multiple Disney Parks and I want to talk about some of these attractions.  Now to be fair,   I have not been most of these, so these thoughts will just be from the perspective of an on looker.  Thankfully, I have the Indiana Jones Wiki by my side to help me go over these attractions.  On a sidenote, who else wants that Indy Mickey?    I think the best way to look at this article is for those of you that recall my Automobile Month, when I did a my 2 Part article detailing all of the Car Based attractions at the Disney Parks, this one is basically an Indiana Jones version of that article. Now let's get started. Hmm, where to start.  How about with an attraction that while not an Indy attraction, it features a scene from Raiders of The Lost Ark.  For our first attraction, we climb aboard, one of my favorite and perhaps underrated Disney World attractions.


The Great Movie Ride - Disney Hollywood Studios

I've said it before and I'll say it again,  The Great Movie Ride is the heart and soul of Hollywood Studios.  On this ride, you go through classic scenes of cinema and as you can see, we are at the scene from Raiders of The Lost Ark, where Indy and Sallah are removing the Ark.  At this point, in the ride,  your vehicle will have been hijacked by either a cowboy or a mobster.  This scene is also the demise of the hijacker as you go into another area, where the hijacker sees a jewel and not realizing that there may be  consequences, they try to steal the jewel and at that time, a cloud of smoke forms around the hijacker and then all we see is a skeleton of the hijacker.  At that point, the original guide, who'd been with you until the hijacker took over returns. Now as I said, this is one of my favorite rides at Hollywood Studios. Because I like the idea of seeing scenes from classic films brought to life like this. Sure, it's aged over time as this is an opening day attraction but it still has a lot of heart to it. Now besides Lost Ark, other films that are represented on this ride  include Alien,  Mary Poppins,  The Wizard of Oz, Singin' In The Rain,  Tarzan and The Ape Man,  The Public Enemy,  and Western films with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.  Now besides Lost Ark,  the queue line used to have Indy props that you could look at while waiting to get on the ride. The props included Indy's machete and monkey heads from Temple of Doom. Now  let's move onto a attraction that has much more to do with Indy but we will be staying in Hollywood Studios.



Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!  - Hollywood Studios

This show right here is perhaps the biggest draw for Indy fans at Hollywood Studios.  The entire premise of the show is that they show you how different stunts from Raiders of The Lost Ark are pulled off.  The show starts off with with our Indy stunt double facing the dangers of the Peruvian temple and then we see the boulder.  We later see how the stunt double was able to avoid the boulder.

Now I don't want to give away all the stunts but another big one that is recreated at the end is when Indy and  Marion are trying to escape on the plane and we get to see it on fire and it's really awesome. It involves a lot of pyrotechnics and the camp is on fire.  It's a really great moment in the entire show.

Now this show relies on audience participation and if your 18 and older.  You can get in on the fun. I really like that as well.  Now also this particular show has been featured on television.  At least twice that I know of.  The first time was in the special, The Muppets at Walt Disney World, where Kermit was the Indy stunt double and Kermit was trying  to run from the boulder.

Okay first, Mickey as Indy and now Kermit as Indy.  That's just cool!  Granted, they don't top the real thing. The other time, I recall it appearing on TV was on the episode of Full House, The House Meets The Mouse.  Where the family goes to Disney World and D.J., the oldest sister is having hallucinations of her boyfriend Steve.  She sees him everywhere at the park and one of the funniest moments is when she sees him as Aladdin because Scott Weinger was also the voice of Aladdin. Anyways back on topic, when D.J. and the other girls go to this show, she sees Scott as Indy.

That was a fun little touch in the episode but personally, I think Kermit is cooler.  I should also state this was first Indy attraction at any Disney park and I have to say that while I like it, I think it might be time to update it. Don't get me wrong, Raiders is a great film but you have two other beloved films and Indy 4, that you could take from and feature some of the stunts from those films as well. Now I can't confirm this but I do believe that one time, there were plans to retheme this attraction to the TV show, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.  For those that do not know, this show explored the adventures of Young Indy at different points in his life.

Now there are two things in my opinion that a Young Indy stunt show, would've had going against it.  The first is that attractions based on TV shows tend to have a shorter life than film based attractions.  I think it's in part because films tend to stick with people longer than TV shows. Yes, you can use The Tower of Terror against me in that argument but the difference there is that Twilight Zone is a classic beloved series and while I'm sure Young Indiana Jones was popular when it was on  TV, it would probably fade out of the public conscious over time whereas going with the films was the better idea because the films are memorable and will stick with people long after they see them. So using Raiders as the theme was a good idea and not changing it to Young Indiana Jones was a smart move.  Because  I feel that if they had gone with Young Indy, it wouldn't last very long. Now we leave the East Coast and head to West Coast to head to Disneyland. Let's travel by map.

Okay, so maybe the stop in Babylon wasn't needed and made he trip longer but oh well.  To Adventureland.



The Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Ride -  Disneyland

Now before we get to the attraction, I want to talk about this poster. It is just gorgeous, this is great theme park poster. It almost looks like it should be for a movie.  Now for a full explanation of the ride,  here is the Indiana Jones Wiki page.  Now the story is apparently told through newsreels and other things scattered throughout the ride and there are different rooms. Also the car for this ride is a neat looking car and the mechanics make it shake and I believe that the same mechanics were later used for Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom.

I have to say that the car does look great and also it's funny, even though Indy was included, Disney didn't have the rights to Harrison Ford's likeness and had to find a way around that and had to tweak the look to Indy.  They later on got the rights and were able to make the Indy's that appear throughout the attraction to look like Harrison Ford. Oh,  before I forget there is a hidden Eeyore on this ride as where this ride is located used to be the Eeyore parking lot.

Indiana Jones:  Temple of the Crystal Skull - Tokyo DisneySea

First off, don't let the name fool you.  This ride has very little to do with the fourth film other than the name.   The best way to sum up this ride is to say that it's basically Tokyo's version of  Forbidden Eye.  The biggest element to this ride is actually the fountain of youth.  I will say that I do like the look of the temple and it is nice to see Indy in other parks outside of the states.  So throughout the entire ride, you follow Indy as he searches for the Fountain of Youth and I have to say the strange thing about this ride is that they actually got the rights to Ford's likeness and were able to make the Indy's on this ride actually look like Indiana Jones.   Now we will be heading to Disneyland Paris for...




Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril (Indiana Jones and The Temple of Peril)  - Disneyland Paris

Now unlike our last attraction, this one actually does tie into a film.  The theme of this ride is Temple of Doom. Mainly the mine cart scene and is it just me or does anyone else think that this is a good idea for a roller coaster?  This was apparently the first Disney coaster with the inversion and it was also at one the most intense but it no longer holds that title.   Now I have to say that I really like this idea of an Indy coaster but I do have a suggestion.   Disney is known for telling good stories with their attractions and I think maybe Disney could've actually gone a step further and added in scenes from Temple of Doom with Indy and Short Round on this attraction. However the biggest thing hold then Euro Disney back was budget constraints. Something they were notorious for back in the day.  Also in 2000,  to try and and bring interest back to the attraction, they reversed the ride and it became Indiana Jones and The Temple of Peril: Backwards.  For this, they had make some of the edges smoother.  It was a neat idea and it seems to have lasted for a short while as in November of 2004,  it was turned back into Indiana Jones and The Temple of Peril and the cars went back to they faced when the ride opened back in '93.  I have to say that this along with Forbidden Ride are perhaps the two that I want to go on the most.  Now we head back to Disneyland to take a look at something that was only temporary and a promotion for the 4th film. It is the...


Indiana Jones: Summer of Hidden Mysteries

Now this is the first time I've ever heard of this but it sounds really cool.  Now three of the big things that happened here is that on the Jungle Cruise, they put five item representing the first 3 films all over it.  Yet they didn't include the raft from Temple of Doom.  Though having a poession of Indy's dad was a nice touch. Now the next thing is called Random Acts of Indy.


Random Acts of Indy

This was a street show in Adventureland where Indy would walk around and interact with guests as Indy was running from villains.   There were different location where Indy and the villain would fight such as on the Jungle Cruise and on Tarzan Treehouse.  Okay,  I'm give you the description Disney gave as it makes it sound more awesome than I could.

In the crowded streets of exotic Adventureland, guests never know when Indiana Jones might make an appearance. It could be in their midst, perhaps it will be high overhead, or even right next to them as Indy dashes by. But look fast, because Indy's never in one place for long, especially when he’s being pursued by sinister villains!

Okay, I really wish that I had seen this one because I would've loved to see people's reaction to Indiana Jones coming to them and showing them his map.  Can we get this at Disney World? Please!  It sounds so cool. Okay be honest here, who would want to take a picture with Indy holding his whip?   Now there is one last thing to talk about with Summer of Hidden Mysteries.



Indiana Jones and The Secret of  the Stone Tiger

The Secret of The Stone Tiger was a child participation show and the story goes that Indy is supposed to give a lecture on the the Stone Tiger but he's gone missing. Instead it falls to Rachel Flannery, a character created for this show and with Dr. Jones' notes, she is able to piece together the secret of the Stone Tiger.Indy eventually escapes the Stone Tiger and has the artifact in hand and hands over to Rachel who is overtaken with the artifact (Not a good thing for someone that knows Indy)   Indy and Rachel fight over the piece. Indy comes out successful (like I'd expect anything less) and Rachel sadly falls to her doom into the Stone Tiger's maw.   I have to say that out of everything I've talked about, this is one that I'm okay with skipping as it just sounds so boring. I'm sure the actors play Indy and Rachel did a fine job but there is no real draw to this one in my opinion. Of course as I stated, this was a show geared towards a younger audience and that may be part of it but even then, I don't know.  In case your wondering what Rachel might look like, here is one of the actresses that played her.

Also you may have noticed the Stone Tiger looked like something from a Disney film. Well, you see and I don't know if this is still the case but I know when I went to Disneyland, this area was known as Aladdin's Oasis and that Tiger head was actually the Cave of Wonders.

In the end, I have to admit that I did not realize that Indiana Jones was in so many parks and there are some things that I wish I could check out and maybe I'll get the chance if I ever go to any of those parks.  It's almost amazing to think a non Disney film can have so much repersantion in the Disney parks all over the world.  I hope that you guys have enjoyed this look at Indiana Jones and The Attractions of Disney.  Now there is only one way to end this article.