The Indiana Jones Experience is the thrilling Indiana Jones Ride found at Disneyland and Disneyworld parks. It is located in Adventureland, the only place Indy would reside in. There, you can find The Official Indiana Jones store, and, of course, the ride. Living in California myself, I have been to Disneyland many a times, and have been on the ride as many times as well.
The Indy ride is the best ride in Adventureland, and probably the best one in Disneyland/Disneyworld. Of course, if you are here, being a die-hard Indy fan, you would think so, too. The ride usually features a huge line, sometimes reaching all the way out of the beginning of the line, back to the square, near the shops, as featured on the Adventureland map above.
Although waiting in the line is always a drag, there are many things to see even while waiting in the line. The beginning of the line, which starts outside, is the outside of a huge stone temple, with many archeaological tools littlered around. There's even a little hut you can look into where an archaologist might stay. Throught the wait line, you walk inside the stone temple, see the "spike room" from Temple of Doom, the trails from "Crusade," and even pass by an archeaological dig that plays messages every few minutes. It's really a great line to wait in; very well done. It's actually sort of fun to wait in the line so you can absorb all of the work they have put into this ride for us.
One of the best things about the ride is the coded messages. When the ride was first released, Disneyland gave out little cards with the secret letters and their English counterparts. There were a few varieties, but some were given out only given out on special days. (Look at the picture below.) So even when the line is going too slow, you can take the time to decode the messages written on the walls in various parts of the ride. The last time I was there in 1999, my friend informed me that we did indeed recieve the cards, something in which I must've forgotten.
The ride itself is a thrilling ride in the backseat (or frontseat) of a Jeep. The track is the road, and it was made so it was as if you were on a wild tour almost. There is a guide that only appears to you through the speakers mounted inside the car. When you first go, there are three doors to go through, which alternate and are selected by the number of your car. At this moment, I cannot recall which doors I have gone through, and I cannot remember much about the rides, or if there was any differences to the different doors. Either way you go, the ride always ends the same way. There are times when the car will slow down, and once it even stops in the dark. When the lights turn on again, the "driver" will drive the Jeep at high speeds, and the car rocks from side to side, passing by some demonic-looking altars and sets with molten lava that resemble what was in Temple of Doom. Along the way, you pass such obstacles like dart-throwing maniacs, (which is really air quickly being pushed out through tubes in the walls) insects, skeleton armies, the famous huge rolling boulder from "Raiders," snakes, and, of course, Indy! That's right! Anamatronic Indiana Jones' can be found throughout your ride in the Jeep. There's a few Indys, in fact, and one that I can remember at the moment is one hanging from a vine before you must escape the rolling boulder. He shouts out things to you, most of which are "Get out of here!"s. Unfortunetly, the voice for Indy was not done by our friend Harrison Ford, but with all of the noise that goes on, it's hard to tell anyway.
That's another thing about the ride. There's noise. And I mean noise. Mostly, the loudest things were the sound effects, and there's also a great musical score that goes along with it, but it is usually covered up by the sound effects and the noise of the track. You can download the music from Napster or from some unknown (at the moment) CD available somewhere.
The last thing I can say about the ride is that it's... SO MUCH FUN! I love going on that ride! Oh yeah, and the line can be a bitch, too. So, the next time you decide to take a trip to Southern California, take a quick detour to Disneyland Park. You won't regret the trip.
Notes from April 30th, 2001, after a trip to Disneyland the previous day:
After an intensely immersing and exciting trip to Disneyland yesterday with my friends and family to celebrate my birthday, I made sure to arrive and leave Disneyland an obsessive and huge Indy fan. With this to drive me, I also made sure that I got the most out of my trip. Anyway, in honor of Indy and tradition, the first ride was of course, Indiana Jones. My friends and I took many pictures, but I took the most of the line and the actual ride, something that I'm sure I'm not supposed to do. But who cares, right? While in the ride (and line) I took pictures of things I thought to be great to post here, and are ONLY exclusively here at Guardian of the Grail.