The Temple of the Forbidden Eye	A Mural of Mara Greets Visitors to the Temple

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personal preference

stars: 5 (out of 5)
A truly great, well-crafted, imaginatively-created adventure in the proud history of Pirates and Haunted Mansion. It also has the best queue theming in all of Disneyland.

free association

. . . The Indiana Jones Adventure was built on what was once the Eeyore section of the old parking lot. When I first saw it under construction I thought the massive structure was going to become a parking structure. Even now, the attraction's building is quite obvious from outside the park. It's that big warehouse-like building across from the Mickey & Friends Tram Loading Area in Downtown Disney. They covered it with screens painted to look like a jungle. Still, it's hard to miss. I'm just amazed that you can't see it from inside the park. . .

. . . I remember the first time I went on Indy. It was actually a couple weeks before its scheduled debut but it must have been a "soft opening" to test the ride. I was there with a couple of friends from high school on a weekday. I remember thinking what a good deal it was to be missing school and being able to ride an attraction that very few people had been on yet. And, even better, there was not much of a wait to get in . . .

. . . A year or two after it opened, I was on the ride when it broke down in the room with the hanging vines. That's just after (I think) the place where the rats sometimes hit the transport's hood. Our jeep stalled like it does sometimes but didn't make a "sputtering" noise, it just died. So we waited in the darkness until the house lights suddenly roared to life. Apparently, our car had hit a water bottle dropped from another vehicle causing the whole ride to stop (probably as a programmed precaution). The cast members then arrived and had us exit the vehicle (which was probably a 4 or 5 foot jump) and we walked the rest of the attraction to the beginning. What was surprising was how sparse the attraction was in some places especially in the dark area where we had stopped. Another cool thing was seeing the gigantic bass speakers that create the sound of the boulder crashing. They were located at the end of the long ramp before you turn towards Indy. When we got to the beginning (or the end, however you look at it), they gave us free return tickets. . .

. . . The Indiana Jones Adventure has the best themed queue area of any Disneyland ride. The line itself could be an attraction in its own right. By the time you reach the loading area it's hard not to be completely "sucked" into the attraction's setting. You only realize how much you have been "fooled," if only unconsciously, into accepting the fantasy world when something breaks the attraction's boundaries. So if someone opens an emergency exit or a cast member enters from the backlot, the illusion is shattered. . .

pointless trivia

• The Indiana Jones Adventure is set at the Temple of the Forbidden Eye on the Lost Delta of India in the year 1935. (The Disney Magazine, Spring 1995)
• Mara offers visitors the choice of three different halls to enter: the Fountain of Eternal Youth, the Hall of Riches, or the Observatory of the Future. (Ibid)
• It is said that there are 160,000 different ride combinations that guests can experience. (Ibid)
• Indy's clothes are made out of a rubber fabric and sculpted to show stress at certain areas to provide added realism. The rubber outfit is also more practical because in the case of a mechanical leak of some sort, Indy can just be scrubbed off. His clothes don't have to be replaced. (T. Baxter Lecture)
• TEST: What is the name of the newsreel that Sallah shows in the queue area? Answer Below

related links

• Make Your Own Indiana Jones Cobra
• John's Disneyland Page: Indiana Jones Adventure
• IJC: Rides: Temple of the Forbidden Eye
• Secrets of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye!

Answer: "Eye on the Globe"

enchanted tiki room		jungle cruise