Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of The Forbidden Eye - History

History

Because of the success of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, George Lucas decided to join forces with Disney in creating a new attraction for Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. Unlike the previous collaboration, this attraction was created with a backstory "set in the Lost Delta of India, circa 1935". Indiana Jones Adventure is the fourth collaboration between Disney and Lucasfilm, after the Disneyland attractions Captain EO, Star Tours, and Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!.

Several early concepts were considered including a walk-through adventure and a high-speed mine car adventure within a temple. To avoid a long queue, Imagineers considered using Jungle Cruise launches to shuttle guests to the loading area. According to Imagineer Eddie Sotto: One of the biggest challenges was how you get people to the attraction and where you put the attraction; it's so big you couldn't locate it anywhere except outside of the berm of the park which presented a big issue when it came down to how you were going to put people in line so I think part of this was taking out the Pirates overflow area next door and sort of using...and remember we had the concept of the walk-through with the spikes and all that, well those kind of ideas came back and became the queue to Indiana Jones, so we ended up with that same experience, but without a guide that took you all the way back to the attraction, and it's kind of funny how that worked out, a lot of people seem to like the queue as much as they like the ride, so that was an interesting innovation in itself was how the queue was hidden. Imagineers literally had to wait for technology to catch up to their technique of story telling. Many may think the star of the show is Indy himself, but the key element used in telling this story is the troop transport vehicle. The team tested key show elements in a Burbank warehouse on a full sized elevated track that resembled a freeway. This enabled the team to test set work, lighting, effects, transport clearances and motion profiles. George Lucas was amazed by the team's ability to figure out such an ingenious way to put guests into the Indiana Jones films.

Groundbreaking for the Temple of the Forbidden Eye occurred in August 1993. More than 400 Imagineers worked on its design and construction. Tony Baxter led a core project team of nearly 100 Imagineers. To create space for the 0.5-mile (0.80 km) queue area and the 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) show building, an area of the former "Eeyore" parking lot was demolished, in addition to the rerouting of the Monorail and Jungle Cruise attractions.

Disney filed for patent on the ride-system on November 16, 1995.

The Temple of the Forbidden Eye premiered on March 3, 1995. Among the invited celebrity guests were George Lucas, Michael Eisner (Disney CEO at the time), Dan Aykroyd, and Carrie Fisher. To promote the opening of the attraction the Disney Channel produced an hour-long TV program entitled Indiana Jones Adventure featuring Karen Allen and John Rhys-Davies reprising their roles from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Forty days prior to the attraction's opening, a "Forty Years of Adventure" promotion giveaway of 40 unique annual trading cards began. Guests with valid paid admission received a voucher at the main gate turnstile to exchange for the card of the day, each in a series featuring the landmark attraction of the year starting with 1955. The last card was distributed on March 2, 1995. A special "41st" card of larger issue featured the Indiana Jones Adventure on March 3. Artist Drew Struzan produced a one-sheet poster in the same theme as the films. The adventure opened to general admission on March 4.

AT&T Corporation sponsored construction of the attraction and the first seven years of operation, from 1995 to 2002. One of three styles of Marabic decoder cards was distributed to each guest, advertising their promotional campaign on the back. "It’s great to have AT&T as presenting sponsor," said Disneyland President Paul Pressler. "With Disneyland celebrating its 40th Anniversary and preparing to open its most exciting attraction, we welcome the opportunities this relationship is sure to create." Currently the attraction has no sponsor.

On September 4th, 2012, the ride was temporarily closed down for a complete refurbishment. Enhancements will include lighting, paint, figure animation and other effects, and possibly a new show feature. The ride will reopen on December 7th, 2012.