"Tourists, why'd it have to be tourists?"
— Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye is an enhanced motion vehicle (EMV) dark ride at the Disney Theme Parks. Based on the Indiana Jones series, the attraction sends guests on a madcap journey through a lost temple, with Indiana himself there to guide them along the way.
It first opened at Disneyland on March 4th, 1995, being given the name Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The backstory behind the ride explains that after discovering the lost pieces of an ancient map, Indy was able to find the buried Temple of the Forbidden Eye, prompting a huge excavation of the location lead by Jones and his partner, Sallah. It's soon discovered that the temple is home to the ancient deity, Mara, who offers three possible gifts to anyone that enters: earthly riches, eternal youth, or visions of the future. The one condition being that the visiting mortal cannot look into the eyes of Mara, or else they'll be forced through the "Gates of Doom" and never be seen again.
In an effort to raise funds, Sallah begins to conduct tours of the temple for visitors all around the world; but after a series of disappearances, Indy decides to venture into the deepest parts of the temple in order to find the lost tourists, but never returns himself. Before boarding re-purposed military transports for the trip, guests are given constant reminders by Sallah to not look into the eyes of the deity, but you can imagine how well things go from there...
A mostly identical version of the ride, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull can be found at Tokyo DisneySea, which instead revolves an evil skull artifact (that has no relation to the skull from the fourth movie). It replaces the Indian setting with a South American one and replaces the lava pits with a tornado effect.
Tropes shown in Indiana Jones Adventure include:
- An Aesop: At the ride's exit, there's a sign that says "Real rewards await those who choose wisely". This is The Artifact from when the ride was originally sponsored by AT&T, as during that time it started with "True rewards" as a reference to their advertising tagline.
- Ambiguous Gender: Mara's gender is never made clear. They seem to have a feminine appearance, but at the same time has the most masculine voice you could imagine.
- And I Must Scream: Narrowly avoided, but this is the fate that both Mara and the Crystal Skull would’ve subjected the riders to had Indy not held the Gates of Doom shut in time.
- Artifact of Doom: The Crystal Skull is this in Tokyo DisneySea's version, as it's what sends the riders towards the Gates of Doom.
- Aztec Mythology: In Temple of the Crystal Skull, the giant cobra from the original is replaced with what appears to be Quetzalcoatl himself.
- Chekhov M.I.A.: The queue explains that Indiana Jones went deep into the temple to locate the missing tourists and find its power source, but never returned. Upon being sent to the Gates of Doom, Indy reappears to save the riders in the nick of time.
- Compressed Adaptation: It can be considered one for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, although many of details have been stripped away or replaced, and the boulder from Raiders shows up at the end.
- Crystal Skull: The object that Tokyo's version revolves around.
- Cypher Language: There are various messages carved into the walls of the queue, which can be translated into English. Cast members can give out decoder cards with the cypher key on them upon request, and as of 2018 the decoder can also be found in the Play Disney Parks mobile app.
- Darker and Edgier: Temple of the Crystal Skull in Japan is this compared to its American counterpart. The floor of one room in the queue line is covered in skeletons, indicating that human sacrifice was regularly practiced there. The soundtrack of the ride has less music than the original, making the whole thing feel emptier and more ominous. Most notably, however, is the titular antagonist. While Mara was at least willing to be generous towards those who did not offend them, the Crystal Skull is far more aggressive, actively trying to kill you (or worse) from the start seemingly just for being there.
- Dem Bones: Just before heading towards the rickety bridge spanning the lava/tornado pit, riders encounter several skeletons that try to jump out of them from the walls.
- Descending Ceiling: One room in the queue line has this, and is being kept from doing so by several bamboo poles propped in place.
- Disproportionate Retribution: You looked into the eyes of Mara/the Crystal Skull? In that case, please stay in your transport while the god attempts to blow up a bridge, send undead warriors/dart-shooting skulls and a giant snake demon after you, plus a rolling boulder.
- Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: In the descending ceiling room, there's a pole with a note that says, "Danger! Do not touch pole!" If you push or pull the pole, a loud crashing noise occurs, making it seem as if the ceiling is going to drop down.
- Door of Doom: The Gates of Doom appear to lead to a nightmarish alternate dimension where everlasting torment is guaranteed. And Indy was shown trying to close it shut.
- Dramatic Thunder: Occurs right when the riders are being forced towards the Gates of Doom.
- Easter Egg: Several can be found in the queue line.
- One of the troop transports from the desert chase of Raiders of the Lost Ark is in the Disneyland queue.
- Next to it is one of the mine carts from Temple of Doom.
- There's a hidden sign that was from the Eeyore Parking Lot that the ride was placed on.
- One of the crates is labeled "990 6753", the same number that was on the crate that held The Ark of the Covenant.
- Another crate is labeled "Deliver to Club Obi-Wan", a nod to the club that appears at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which is itself, of course, a reference to Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars fame. Both the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises are made by Lucasflim, which is now owned by Disney.
- Inside Indy's office, Mickey and Minnie can be seen on the cover of an issue of Life Magazine.
- The snake statues look a fair bit like the Scaled Up version of Jafar from Aladdin.
- In the ride itself, one of the skeletons is wearing Mickey Mouse ears, which has "Bones" as the stitched-in name.
- Everything Is Trying to Kill You: If one looks into the eyes of Mara or the Crystal Skull, the temple more-or-less becomes a never-ending death trap of hazards.
- Evil Laugh: Mara used to do one just before sending the riders into the Tunnel of Torment.
- Eye Beams: In the lava/tornado room, a giant stone face of Mara/the Crystal Skull shoots green rays towards the riders.
- Failure Is the Only Option: In a case of But Thou Must!, there is no way to avoid getting sent towards the Gates of Doom by the temple god in either version.
- Fluffy the Terrible: The giant cobra in the American ride was nicknamed "Fluffy" by Imagineers.
- Fountain of Youth: The Fountain of Youth is one of the possible rooms guests can be taken to in the ride. At the end, Sallah mentions that they have strollers avaliable for anyone that took in too much of the fountain.
- Fortune Teller: In the Observatory of the Future room, visitors are promised with visions of their own future.
- The Full Name Adventures: Indiana Jones Adventure.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Mara's eyes, once someone looks into them.
- Human Sacrifice: One room in Crystal Skull’s queue is littered with skeletons, heavily implying that this frequently took place here. Fitting, considering that it appears to be an Aztec temple.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Both the Gates of Doom and the Tunnel of Torment that comes before it look just as bad as they sound.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The skeleton army attempt to hurl spears and poison darts at the riders, but miss every time.
- Indy Escape: The ride's finale involves a rolling boulder, but rather than run from it, the guests and Indy instead dodge it when they plunge into a pit just before it reaches them.
- Iris Out: This occurs in Sallah's information film, closing on the skeletal remains of one man that looked into Mara's eyes.
- Jerkass Gods:
- Mara is a deity that will send anyone into everlasting torment just for looking into their eyes. For the guests, this happens immediately after they are presented with their gifts, directly in front of them, with little to no warning given so that they can look away. Jerkass indeed.
- The Crystal Skull is somehow even worse in this regard, as unlike Mara, it doesn’t act nice at any point, instead going for the kill from the get-go.
- Just in Time: Indy shows up to shut the doors to the Gates of Doom just before the riders could be forced through it.
- Larynx Dissonance: Doubly so; Mara has a delicate looking face, but is played by deep-voiced James Earl Jones. And then, once guests became used to that voice, they were (briefly) played by Neil Patrick Harris. It's as bad as it sounds
. - Lava Pit: Among the first rooms in the hazardous side of the temple is a crypt with a huge lava pit at the bottom.
- Literal Cliffhanger: Indy, on the rope in the boulder room.
- The Load: The riders are this from the perspective of the attraction's story, as Indy is forced to get himself into a whole lot of danger in order to save them, expressing much annoyance while doing so.
- Nightmare Face: With the attraction's upgrades in 2013, Mara can now do this.
- For the Observatory of the Future, Mara's face will warp and shimmer as it turns red and lightning flashes across it.
- For the Chamber of Earthly Riches, acid will drip down the metallic statue's face, tarnishing and rusting it until Mara's visage turns red.
- For the Fountain of Eternal Youth, Mara's face will crack until it bleeds, with the flowers surrounding the statue withering and shrinking as he grows angry.
- "No Talking or Phones" Warning: The safety spiel for the ride is provided via a safety film that's narrated by Sallah.
- Not Bad: One of the things Indy can say at the end of the ride is, "Not bad...for tourists."
- Nothing but Skulls: Behind the second stone carving of Mara's face is a room filled entirely with skulls. note
- Poisoned Weapons: The skeleton warriors near the end attempt to attack guests with poison darts.
- Randomly Generated Levels: At the beginning, guests can be taken to one of three rooms: Fountain of Eternal Youth, Chamber of Earthly Riches, and the Observatory of the Future. It's actually all the same room, using different effects for each scenario. There is only one actual operating door and corridor. Originally, the walls and ceiling of the room were designed to rotate across the working doorway and a set of four façades (two on each side of the real doorway), so that three "doors" are always visible at any given time. Each of the doors were lit differently based on which particular chamber had been randomly chosen, and decoy tracks leading to the other doors were used to enhance the effect. With the 2015 refurb, the machinery used to rotate the room has been deactivated and is no longer used. Instead, the transport always enters the second door in the center, and the effect of entering a specific room is accomplished using projectors hidden on either side of the chamber, which shuffle through various video effects that are superimposed onto all three doors to create the illusion that the transport is entering a specific room.
- Room 101: The location that the Gates of Doom leads to is implied to be this.
- Rope Bridge: The vehicle is sent crossing across one in the lava pit room, which Mara attempts to destroy. The bridge ultimately doesn't collapse however, subverting this trope.
- Schmuck Bait:
- The only reason why the ride doesn't end sooner is because most, if not all, of the guests will look into Mara's eyes despite the warning.
- Hey, you see the bamboo pole or rope telling you not to pull on it? Go ahead; give them a tug...
- In the Rotunda Calendar, pulling on a rope triggers responses from Dr. Dunfor Pullit.
- Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: One of the reasons why Indy went inside the temple was to try and find the people that went missing in there. Later on, the fate of the missing is made very clear: they were forced through the Gates of Doom, never to be seen again.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The queue is full of disabled booby traps, implying that Mara's gifts were meant as the prize for completing this ancient obstacle course. Even though you basically walk right through all the rest, you still get sent to the gates of doom on the last line of defense.
- Shout-Out: Mara might yell "FOOLISH MORTALS!!!" when riders look into it's eyes. Park guests are called the same thing in another notable Disney ride.
- Snakes Are Sinister: A giant cobra is among the many hazards that Mara's temple contains.Indiana Jones: Snakes...you guys are on your own.
- Spikes of Doom: The aforementioned Descending Ceiling room has spikes on the ceiling, as icing on the cake.
- Stating the Simple Solution: One of the things Indy says at the end of the ride is, "Next time, wear a blindfold."
- Story Breadcrumbs: Much of the events of the expedition before we arrive are chronicled in letters and telegrams found throughout the queue on noteboards and Jones's office.
- Stripped to the Bone: In the safety information film, Sallah warns guests not to look into the eyes of Mara, showing two before and after images of a man that looked into the eyes. In the second image, he has been reduced to nothing but a skeleton.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Tokyo DisneySea version replaces Sallah with a new character running the tours named Paco.
- Swarm of Rats: The temple features a rat cave filled with swarms of, well, rats.
- Temple of Doom: What Mara's Temple turns out to be for anyone that looks into its eyes.
- Too Dumb to Live: The fate of the aforementioned man in Sallah's instructional film. This also would've been the case for the riders had Indy not been there to save them.
- Tractor Beam: The Gates of Doom have this sort of effect, as the riders are "pulled" towards it until Indy is able to shut the doors.
- Treasure Map: In the queue video, it's said that Indy was able to find the Temple of the Forbidden Eye by finding the missing pieces of a map that led to its location.
- Treasure Room: The Chamber of Earthly Riches is filled with Mara's gold treasure.
- Two Roads Before You: On the ride, the guests enter one of three doors. The doors represent a choice of three gifts from the deity Mara: eternal youth, earthly riches, or visions of the future.
- Visual Pun: The Mara Font that is all around the walls of the temple has characters that closely-resemble their Latin alphabet counterparts (e.g. the "A" character looks somewhat like an A). However, one character resembles a circle with a dot in the center. It's an I.
- Wasn't That Fun?: Another one of the things Indy can say this at the end of the ride.Indiana Jones: Don't tell me that wasn't big fun!
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As mentioned above, Indy is too scared of the giant snakes to help out.
