Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye



The Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye is a theme park attraction at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California.

The story, set in July of 1935, is told through twelve letters and telegrams scattered throughout the queue as well as three newsreels shown before guests board the attraction. An ancient Indian temple, buried in a flood over two thousand years ago, has recently been rediscovered by Indiana Jones. It contains countless intriguing artifacts, but the real treasures are those offered by the goddess Mara. This deity offers all who come to the hallowed site one of three gifts: earthly riches, eternal youth, or visions of the future. The only condition is that no one may look into the goddess' eyes. Although Jones’ discovery, dubbed the "Temple of the Forbidden Eye" by the media, has set the archaeological community abuzz, his funding eventually ran out, so he and Sallah began conducting tours to raise money. Good fortune has come to the tourists who survive, but some have not returned. The families of the missing tourists begged Jones for help. Jones ventured inside the temple to find them, approximately one week ago, but has not reappeared since. Jones also hoped to find the temple’s power source: the mysterious “Jewel of Power,” which Abner Ravenwood believes to be stored in an immense cavern, guarded by the Gates of Doom. Marcus Brody has asked Sallah to continue conducting the tours, in hopes that one of them will find Jones.

Plot summary
In 1935, Indiana Jones discovered the Temple of the Forbidden Eye in Southeast Asia. As news of the discovery traveled around the world, travelers came to the temple to explore the archaeological find and gaze upon the Eye of Mara. Sallah created a jeep transport to allow visitors to safely travel through the temple complex, while Dr. Jones kept the dangers of the temple at bay.

The queue
The ride’s immersive and carefully detailed queue leads guests through dimly lit caverns and eerie passageways containing booby-trapped sections reminiscent of the Indiana Jones movies.

The queue begins outside where guests walk past a 2.5 ton (2,267 kg) Mercedes-Benz troop transport truck. Disneyland's version is the actual vehicle used in the famous desert chase scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. A small mining car near the truck is a movie prop as well, used in the mine scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Guests also walk by a noisy gas-powered generator, which appears to power the lights inside the temple. Marabic decoder card handed out in 1995 and occasionally after that,Much of the queue is inside the temple itself. Throughout the bowels of the temple, messages and warnings written as "Mara-glyphics" tell visitors to the excavation site of the rewards and perils that can be found further within.[4] These can be translated into English using a simple code. In the early months of the attraction's existence at Disneyland, guests were given decoder cards; while these cards are no longer distributed, the code is easily solvable. Each symbol bears a strong resemblance to its corresponding letter in the English alphabet. The sole exception is the letter I, which, appropriately, resembles an eye.

There are a few interactive props in the queue. In the “spike room,” several bamboo poles hold the collapsing ceiling in place. When one of these poles is pushed, sounds simulating the ceiling dropping are heard and the spiked ceiling drops several inches. Similarly, there is a covered pit with a rope and a sign warning not to pull on rope as an archaeological dig is in progress. Tugging on the rope triggers one of several pre-recorded mishaps to be heard from the pit.

The ride was built on the Eeyore section of the parking lot. As a tribute, one of the Eeyore signs was hidden in the queue area.

Chamber of Destiny
At the loading area, guests board a Jeep-like troop transport. After a quick seatbelt check, the transport moves forward and turns a corner into the Chamber of Destiny. Here guests are presented with three doors which will lead to the Fountain of Eternal Youth, the Chamber of Earthly Riches, and the Observatory of the Future. One of the three doors begins to glow more brightly than the other two, and Mara announces which gift the passengers have chosen to receive. The transport heads through the corresponding door, and into the next chamber.

Hall of Promise
The troop transport randomly enters one of the doors into the Hall of Promise, and ascends along a sloped tunnel.

If guests have entered the Fountain of Eternal Youth, the tunnel is filled with blue light and scrims along the walls, lit from the front, depict people drinking magical water and becoming young and beautiful. Running water can be heard, and the walls appear to be illuminated by light that is reflecting off of the unseen water.

If the riders enter Chamber of Earthly Riches, the tunnel is filled with yellow light. The same scrims are lit from behind; making large amounts of gold and other treasures visible, while rendering the paintings seen in Fountain of Eternal Youth virtually invisible.

If riders enter the Observatory of the Future, the tunnel is dimly lit with purple light, and the ceiling above is filled with 5,000 fiber optic stars. The ride vehicles tilt upward, directing passengers’ eyes away from the unlit scrims, and towards the dazzling star field.

At the end of the tunnel, the eyes of a large idol of Mara begin to glow as she states, "Foolish mortals! You looked into my eyes. Your destiny now lies beyond the Gates of Doom!"

Tunnel of Torment
The transport momentarily appears to head toward an exit, before making a sharp turn into a large corridor. Lightning flashes along the walls, illuminating cobra statues.

Gates of Doom
The Gates of Doom pulsate with green mist and an animatronic Indiana Jones struggles to keep the doors closed. Jones scolds the tourists for looking into the eyes of the idol and instructs them to proceed up the steps to the left. The triumphant musical theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark is heard as the transport accelerates up the flight of stairs.

Cavern of Bubbling Death
The transport emerges from the passage and teeters on the edge of a vast pit of lava. A rickety wooden bridge spans the pit, and another jeep can be seen crossing it. On the far side of the cavern, there is a 45-foot-tall stone face of Mara, the right half of which has eroded in such a way that it resembles a skull. Its left eye contains a swirling flame, and shoots green rays at both transports, causing flames to erupt from wherever it hits.

Mummy Chamber
The transport turns left and enters another chamber filled with skeletons, some of which pop out toward the guests. If you look deep behind the mummy groups, you can see a very impressive mural of more mummies emerging from caverns.

Bug Room
Suddenly, all is dark; the music tinkles with chaotic violin pizzicatos. The transport's headlights flicker back on, illuminating walls swarming with thousands of beetles. Hissing sounds are heard, and riders are blasted with puffs of air.

The Bridge
The transport finally heads out of the darkness and onto the bridge which spans the pit. The transport stalls for a moment as another oncoming jeep can be seen across the pit, but it turns out of the way before reaching the bridge. The transport then accelerates across the bridge which sways and jostles under its weight. The massive stone Mara shoots beams from its eye at the bridge, attempting to destroy it. The transport safely makes it across and makes a right turn.

Snake Temple
Thousands of snakes line the walls and ground and a gigantic animatronic cobra appears to the right of the vehicle, which strikes at the riders. At this point, the tourists will hear Indiana Jones say either, "Watch out for anything that slithers," or "Snakes! You guys are on your own." At Tokyo the cobra is an Anaconda.

Mud Slide
The transport heads back toward the bridge as another jeep is in position on the other side of the bridge ready to cross. The transport takes a sharp turn to the right and passes behind the giant carving of Mara's face. Hundreds of human skulls decorate the walls, and the spirit of Mara looms from above. The transport continues downward, driving beside the glowing lava, and passes under the bridge before entering a dark tunnel.

Rat Cave
The vehicle shudders and stalls and is heard being restarted before continuing towards a hanging tree root. As the transport nears the root, many rats are seen climbing across it and falling off when another burst of speed sends the car through the tree root, which vaporizes like mist.

Dart Corridor
The transport arrives in a lit tunnel with paintings of spear-wielding skeletal warriors adorning the walls. Inside of each warrior's mouth is a small hole in the wall. Gusts of air and sounds of darts hitting the transport are felt and heard as the transport passes between the skeletal warriors, as though the tourists have set off booby traps.

Rolling Boulder
The transport then approaches a dark area and stops. Indiana Jones suddenly appears above the vehicle hanging on a rope in a shaft of sunlight. He shouts at the riders to turn their headlights on and back up so he can get in. Seconds later the light illuminates a massive 16-foot boulder rolling toward the jeep. The transport seems to back up a bit as the boulder threatens to crush Jones and the tourists. At the last possible second, the temple floor seems to give way, sending the transport crashing to the chamber below.

Finale
The transport makes a sharp turn in a dark tunnel and comes out to see Jones standing in front of the crushed boulder. Jones wipes his forehead and says one of a variety of quotes, such as: "Not bad... for tourists," or "Next time, wear a blindfold okay?" or "Tourists, why'd it have to be tourists?" (a reference to his line from Raiders: "Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?") or, "Next time, you're on your own!" A final triumphant refrain of the music ushers the guests back into the station, where they disembark into the station.

Indiana Jones Adventure Decoder Cards


When the attraction first opened cast members at the entrance gave out decoder cards to the guests as they stood in line. Three distinct cards have been given out over the years with the earliest and rarest one being shown at the top of the picture to the right. At present the practice has been discontinued. The purpose of the decoders was to entertain guests as they waited in line. The idea was to decode the Mara-glyphics on the walls using the card showing the symbols and the English letter equivalent. Even without the card the decoding is not difficult as with a little imagination it can be seen that the letters resemble English letters with the exception of the letter ‘I’ which is an ‘eye’. All of the cards have the words “Indiana Jones Adventure Disneyland” but only the earliest card had the words “Temple of the Forbidden Eye.”

Behind the scenes
The ride opened on March 3, 1995. The attraction was designed to allow for many variables in the ride experience, allowing visitors to experience the ride differently each time.

AT&T is the named sponsor of the attraction.

Harrison Ford reprises his role voice acting as Indiana Jones for the animatronic Indy.

To help promote the opening of the attraction, Disney created the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Forbidden Eye Super Bowl halftime show for Super Bowl XXIX in Miami in January 1995, complete with characters playing Indiana Jones and "poop" Marion Ravenwood.

Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Stone Tiger is part of Disneyland's 2008 "Summer of Hidden Mysteries". 

"Help as young archaeologists are invited to solve Indiana Jones™-inspired clues, complete daring tasks and decipher unbreakable codes — all of which lead to a hidden treasure of unimaginable value!
 * Join your host, a friendly and helpful female archaeologist with a dark secret.
 * Watch Indiana Jones™ make a dramatic arrival.
 * Aid young archaeologists as they outwit and trick Indy's dastardly nemesis.
 * Enjoy a show set in the exotic tropical ambience of Adventureland."

Characters

 * René Emile Belloq
 * Blumbard
 * Marcus Brody
 * Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir
 * Jean Harlow
 * Indiana Jones
 * Kauffman
 * Abner Ravenwood
 * Santa Claus
 * Norah West
 * I. M. Wooly

Locations

 * India
 * Temple of the Forbidden Eye