In this indoor thrill ride, guests journey back through time to 1935 to accompany intrepid archeologist Indiana Jones on a quest for the Jewel of Power. They encounter ominous ruins in the dense jungles of India’s Lost Delta and enter the legendary temple of the Forbidden Eye. The key element in telling the story is the troop transport vehicle that takes guests on a turbulent, high-speed adventure through eleven frightening scenes from the film.

Disney Imagineers recreated the show sets in a Burbank warehouse on a full-sized elevated track with hills, dips, and curves that simulated the actual ride. This enabled them to test set work, lighting, special effects, transport clearances, and motion profiles. They developed a new technology for the ride called enhanced motion system. It’s an array of movement generators mounted on each tour jeep that simulates a bumpy, out-of-control trip. The adventure is almost never exactly the same twice. Twenty-seven versions are chosen randomly by computer, and 160,000 variations are possible.

MLA worked with Disney engineers to isolate adjacent scenes within the ride by limiting the size of passage openings and incorporating absorptive materials into the sets such as absorptive rockwork. We also helped control the noise generated by the ride vehicles. Treating the overall room reverberation in the large underground cavern was also a challenge since many of the scenes opened onto this space.