Hey guys. As an avid and drooling fan of both Indy and Tokyo DisneySea, I was wondering if any of you had a detailed play-by-play of the new Indy, little differences and all, either from a first-hand view, or third-hand view?

Any news and info would be rockin'! Thanks!

-BJM

I'll refer you to, and I'll reprint this excerpt from my trip report. In it I discuss the differences. If you have any questions after that, just ask.


-Kuzcotopia

Lost River Delta.


This land represents the very back of the park, and is along the narrowest part of the waterway. The Lost River Delta consists of 3 attractions, Indiana Jones Adventure:Temple of the Crystal Skull, Mystic Rhythms (a stage show featuring music and dance) and the station for the Transit Steamer Line (the boats that take you around the park).

The land is a rich tropical zone meant to represent a lush Latin American jungle. One side of the river has settlements with restaurants, shops and the stage show, and the other has the large pyramid and temple, and a very large que area. This ride is one of only three attractions currently offering Fastpass.

Crystal Skull is a near direct lift from Disneyland, although strangely their que isn't nearly as well themed as ours, and it has no interactive elements. The pyramid is more dramatic than some of our que, but still I greatly prefer the feeling of ours. Indiana Jones's presence is everywere in the line in Disneyland, as if he had secured all the traps in advance of your arrival. In Crystal Skull, he seems more scarce.

After the que, the ride looks identical. The track layout is exactly the same, with a crystal skull directly where the forbidden eye would be. My wife and I joked that the voice over would be the same, but with some other person dubbing over the words "eye" with "Crystal Skull: "INFIDEL! YOU HAVE LOOKED INTO MY ___crystal skull____. YOUR PATH NOW LEADS YOU TO THE GATES OF ___crystal skull.___" The ride vehicles have been updated to be electrical rather than hydraulic, and my wife mentioned that these felt tamer. I didn't really notice it much.

************************************************** **spoiler zone, but if you've ridden Indy at Disneyland, it's mostly already spoiled


They seem to have taken out all the elements of randomness from this ride. While the cars have individual personalities (some have bad brakes, some stall...) at Disneyland, these seem to be all the same. There is only one door of Destiny in Crystal Skull, and I wouldn't be surprised if Indy always said the same thing to each car. Instead of the chamber of Destiny, there is one room decorated with skeletons of the people who presumably didn't make it so far. After the sharp left turn, it's identical to Forbidden eye with some small differences. When you cross the bridge, instead of a pit of lava there is a tornado of smoke that spins on your right. This is done with a wind-tunnel effect, and is pretty, but not especially scary. The giant head of Mara is now a giant skull, the giant cobra is a giant anaconda, or some other type of serpent, there is no spirit in the sky within the skull room, and less fire is there. There is no rat room, but instead there is a skull at the end of the hallway that spits a ball of flaming plasma right at your head. It's really just a ball of stage smoke, lit well, but it hits you right in the face and it got a similar laugh that the rats get. The hallway where you dodge blow-gun darts is actually sculpted stone rather than just painted-on warriors, and when the big ball falls they take your picture with some of the brightest strobes I've ever seen (I'm still seeing them, I think!).

***** END SPOILERS ***********

Indy speaks Japanese only in this ride, and instead of Sallah, there is a Latino gentleman who provides safety instruction (I forget his name).

The ride had a five-hour wait on the Tuesday, but on Monday when it rained we rode it with about a 30 minute wait. If you've ridden the Disneyland one, you can safely skip this one. Of course if you want a ride souvenier photo, it's not available in Anaheim!

Thanks very much Kuz, that's some nifty stuff right there. Couple of things....

What takes the place of the Tunnel of Torment, where Indy usually holds the gates of doom shut? Is it just more skeletons littering the floor?

I heard that the fire effects and laser beam coming out of the skull's eye in the main chamber in Anaheim have been done away with in the TDS version. True?

Overall, which version do you think is better? Should I be happy with the one here in SoCal, or do you think the TDS version warrants a visit sometime soon?

Again, thanks a lot.

-BJM

Originally posted by BiggJakeMoney
Thanks very much Kuz, that's some nifty stuff right there. Couple of things....

What takes the place of the Tunnel of Torment, where Indy usually holds the gates of doom shut? Is it just more skeletons littering the floor?

I heard that the fire effects and laser beam coming out of the skull's eye in the main chamber in Anaheim have been done away with in the TDS version. True?

Overall, which version do you think is better? Should I be happy with the one here in SoCal, or do you think the TDS version warrants a visit sometime soon?

Again, thanks a lot.

-BJM

Hmmm.... the Tunnel of Torment looks absolutely identical, with the possible exception that the decoration of the doors and things is Mayan in design. There were no more skeletons. The whole skeleton thing was similar in design and was in the location of the Observatory of the Future, just before the first incline.

I think that the eye-laser beams weren't there, but I could be mistaken. I seem to recall noticing that I didn't see them, but I only rode it once.

I think that ours is better. If you are a real Indiana Jones freak, you may want it for the ride photograph, but honestly there are no improvements and only minor variations. And the three-doors gag is so neat, I was sad to see that they eliminated it in Tokyo. Also the rolling ball gag didn't seem synchronized as well as ours, which gave away the gag. I have to say that I think ours is better.

Thanks, Kuz, very helpful. Now I don't feel nearly as bad that I'm going to have to wait until February to go, as the new Indy was one of the main reasons I was making the trek.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I read somewhere that the Crystal Skull is awakened when your car backfires, or something to that effect. I assume that the backfire, and consequent waking of the skull takes place where you would usually look into Mara's eyes in the Observatory of the Future here in Anaheim. Correct?



-BJM

Don't know... you'll have to ask a Japanese speaker for that question. I'm not sure what the story point was about not disturbing the spirits....

Hehe....okay. I think they need those little headphone things that translate for you. I just can't imagine Indy speaking Japanese.......too weird.


-BJM

I noticed the ball effect(actually the drop down under the ball)never quite working properly the several times I rode Indy at TDS as well.

The very first time I rode it at TDS we stopped as the ball came rolling down toward us(similar to the stalling effect in DL)and then when we did not dramatically drop down into the tunnel straight away, the lights just went off above us, obscuring the sight of the boulder. After about another five seconds the car dropped down and we were off.

It completely ruined the sense of surprise and drama(which I already knew about from riding it in Anaheim about fifteen times over a ten day period!).

The other four or five times I rode it in Tokyo it never worked EXACTLY right, like in Anaheim-the timing and sequence of events(that, as we know all happen very quickly)need to be really reviewed and choreographed properly for TDS.


Oh and by the way, once my MAMMOTH trip report(with photo and video)gets posted on TPA you will learn EXACTLY who rode Indy in Anaheim with me AND gave me a tour of the backstage facilities there in the control tower(and took me to Club 33 for dinner AND showed us THE dining room with the microphones in the chandelier AND the AA birds that were meant to interact with guests having dinner!!!).

I will give you a clue-he recently was awarded a life time service award for his contribution to theme park and attraction design!


THANK YOU Mr. Baxter.

:D

Mr. Baxter, eh? Very very cool.

I can only imagine how fun it must be going on an e-ticket ride with the guy who created it.

Can't wait for your trip report, too, by the way.

-BJM

Our party was in the back seat and what was even cooler was, at the end of the ride, tapping the shoulder of the guy in front and saying,

"You have just ridden this ride with the man who designed it."


The young guy looked like he was going to pass out.


I got my photo taken in front of the jeep with Tony.


Mega cool.


What was also cool was standing in front of the CBJ and Tony expansively gesturing with his arms, showing us where all the different elements of the new Pooh ride were going to go, then taking off for a walk through of the park with him, an impromtu entourage forming behind us.


Memories I will NEVER forget.

KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL.

Wish I had been there.

-BJM

For Indiana Jones fans, get the Tokyo DisneySea official album...

You can usually find it on Ebay.

It has the full musical soundtrack of the ride! It's identical, or nearly so, to the Anaheim version.

It's just like riding it, only not as much fun!