Indiana Jones "101"

As much as I wish this was a post about the history of this incredible attraction, unfortunately, it's more a rant about our inability to ride it.

First, let me explain this somewhat misleading title. While it sounds like a college course on the history of Indiana Jones, it is also the code Disney uses in the parks when an attraction goes out if service, something I'm sure they are hearing all too often.

This is one of my favorite attractions at Disneyland Resort, but it seems it is "101" far too often. While I am an annual pass holder, I don't live in Southern California so our trips are months apart not days, unfortunately. Even while visiting every couple of months, everyday that we visit Disneyland Park, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye is closed for some period of the day. Disappointing since we love this ride. On our most recent trip, we noticed that the vehicles were running surprisingly faster than usual, so it wasn't too surprising when the cars got backed up towards the end of the ride at the dark rat room. Although this time, the ride was so backed up, there were a couple vehicles queued up for the hallway of spears, and I have never seen a vehicle ahead of us stop in the middle of the hallway. Then, when we got to the boulder, the whole ride froze, Indy stopped mid-sentence, and after about 10 seconds, it reset and the ride continued to the end. And, surprise, surprise, by the time we walked out to the exit, the attraction was closed, 101. Now, Indiana Jones Adventure is one of the most popular rides in the park with a long line all day long, and in this case, it would seem that the Cast Members may have simply been running the vehicles through too fast, and the ride shut itself down.

Now, obviously I am not a Cast Member so I don't know the ins and outs of how the attraction works or park policies, but it would seem to me that if you have an attraction that is that sensitive, you would maybe be a little more careful with how you load guests. I would think a running attraction with a long line is better for park capacity than an attraction that doesn't work at all.

Admittedly, it is a very complex ride system, with each vehicle having its own on-board computer. I have heard that it takes about 4 hours to get the attraction started up every morning. However, Indy's counterpart is Dinosaur at Disney's Animal Kingdom, which, except for scenery and theming, is an exact copy of Indiana Jones. Even though it opened only a few years after Indy, it has no where near as many problems. According to someone who frequents both parks, while parts of Dinosaur's sets will regularly not work, the whole ride itself rarely goes 101. In those three years, the computer system may have been upgraded to allow for easier control of the ride, but if that was the case, I would think that after 17 years of operating Indiana Jones, Disneyland could have upgraded Indy's system. I would certainly be able to tolerate Indiana Jones being closed for a period of time, if that would cure it of its problem of breaking down all the time. It's not like it's helping park capacity by being down all the time anyway.