02x03 - Indiana Jones Adventure

[bunniefuu]

[birds chirping]

[announcer] Remain seated, please.

[in Spanish] Please remain seated.

[♪ theme music]

[narrator]
In 1995, a brand new attraction…

[impersonator] It's the only way out.

…rolled into Disneyland.

And it was all thanks to a fearless hero
from the 1980s.

-Suave…
-Trust me.

-…and smart.
-I'm a scientist.

[narrator]
With rugged, handsome good looks,

and an ability to crack a whip
like no other.

This iconic character is, of course…

-Indiana Jones.
-[narrator] No. No.

Henry Jones, Jr.

[narrator]
No, no. It's… it's Michael Eisner.

Hello, I'm Michael Eisner.

[narrator] Because it was under
this heroic Disney CEO

that everybody's favorite archeologist
finally made his way to Disneyland.

-How hard can it be?
-Oh, my God.

[narrator] Actually, quite hard.

And this is the story
of how Indiana Jones adventured his way

into Disneyland and beyond.

Which brings us back to Michael Eisner…

Wow!

…who, in 1984, had just taken over
as Disney's brand-new chairman and CEO.

At his side,

also newly appointed president
and COO, Frank Wells.

They were really good partners

in the sense
that they synergized really well.

[narrator] In fact, the dynamic
between these two Hollywood titans

was not unlike the tag team approach

adopted by Walt and his brother Roy
in the old days.

[former Imagineer] Frank was the practical
business strategy guy,

and Michael was the creative side

who could be fun and storytelling
and things like that.

How did you guys get here?

[narrator] And it wasn't long
before Eisner put his creative eye

on all operations
of the Walt Disney Company.

And for the sake of this story,
one division in particular.

He took a long look at the parks
and wanted to not only build

more theme parks,

but to enhance the experience
at our parks as well.

[narrator]
But the 18 years since Walt's passing

had been a period of uncertainty
for previous Disney leadership.

So for the new leadership,
their task wasn't an easy one.

When Walt passed away,

he left a company
that's initial thought process was,

"How do we continue along the path
that Walt left us?

How do we continue to create products
that are new,

that are similar to things
that are within our framework?"

[narrator] While Michael Eisner's
thought process was quite different.

All of a sudden, Eisner comes in,
and he's worked with Spielberg and Lucas,

and it suddenly became,

"I want you to start thinking
outside the box."

[Tony] It was in every division.

He reopened animation. The Little Mermaid…

You want something done,
you've got to do it yourself.

It was clearly a culture change.

[narrator]
As for the Imagineering department…

The first week that he came, he said,

"I'm going to meet
with every division of the company,

but on Saturday,
we're going to come back to you guys."

[narrator] When he came back on Saturday,

Tony Baxter, rolling off the success
of Big Thunder Mountain,

found out just how different
Michael Eisner's Disney was going to be.

During that day,

I pitched both Star Tours
and Splash Mountain,

and he said,
"This is great. Let's do this."

And then it was like,
"Okay, fine. Now, what's next?"

[Tony] Woof! The door is closed,

and we now have more work
than we can handle for five years.

[narrator] And Star Tours specifically
wasn't just an incredible success.

For the first time in the park's history…

It was bringing in mythology

that wasn't authored
under the Disney banner.

[narrator] As we're about to find out,

Star Tours wouldn't be
the last full-scale collaboration

with this one particular
lifelong Disney fan.

George Lucas was always
a big fan of Disney.

I've always loved Disneyland.

And it was really exciting

when Disney got to work with him
on Star Tours.

[narrator] So where would this
blossoming romance take them next?

And of course, Indiana Jones is part
of the world of Lucasfilm as well.

[narrator] And it turns out,
so was Michael Eisner,

as well as a young Jeffrey Katzenberg,

who'd come on as Disney's new head
of television and movies.

They had worked at Paramount Studios,

and had been involved
in the distribution and release

of Raiders of the Lost Ark
and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

[narrator]
Under the direction of Michael Eisner,

Disneyland set off
on a great new adventure.

So with this great relationship
with George Lucas,

it just seemed natural
to add a tremendous adventure

with Indiana Jones to Adventureland.

Indiana Jones and Adventureland
go together.

It's like peanut butter and chocolate.

[narrator]
She probably means soup and eyeballs.

And so, Tony Baxter and the Imagineers
locked themselves in a room, willingly,

to plan this brand-new
Indiana Jones themed attraction

for Disneyland.

We began to flesh it out.
Like, what… what goes with this?

The mine train ride
was the most obvious one.

[screaming]

So we started with that.

[narrator] Starting's one thing.

To get something like this finished…

The time frame to create a new product,
that takes a while.

[narrator] Often years, actually.

So while Imagineers
continued brainstorming

on the best way
to get Indiana Jones into Anaheim…

-Uh…
-…Michael Eisner got the ball rolling,

so to speak,

on getting Indiana Jones into Florida,

along with countless
other classic Hollywood characters.

Because when Eisner saw plans
for a new exhibit for EPCOT,

his movie business ears perked up.

Michael Eisner saw this concept
for this entertainment pavilion at EPCOT.

[Dustin] And he thought bigger.

He said, "Why not do an entire theme park
about show business?"

-[narrator] Springing into…
-[presenter] Action.

[narrator] Disney MGM Studios
opened at Disney World in Florida

on May 1st, 1989.

Of course,
one of the real tentpole attractions

of the new Disney's MGM Studios park
in the late 1980s,

was The Great Movie Ride.

And you rode through
all these wonderful recreations

of classic Hollywood movies,

like Singing in the Rain,
and The Wizard of Oz,

and also Raiders of the Lost Ark,

the sequence
where Indy and Sallah pull the Ark.

So actually, that were the first times

that Indy, uh, showed up
in a Disney Park attraction.

[narrator] But Eisner had
much bigger plans for Indy than that.

Plans which Tony and the Imagineers
were cooking up back in Anaheim.

[Tony] The time frame to create
a new product takes a while.

[clock ticking]

[narrator]
Ah! Don't worry, we'll come back.

In the interim,

Eisner's massive expansion
of Florida continued.

And the same year

that the Great Movie Ride
opened at Disney MGM Studios,

so did another Indiana Jones spectacle,

one that didn't take
years and years to create.

The Indiana Jones stunt show.

[narrator]
Celebrating the real magic of the movies.

We're doing real stunts.
There's no CGI out here.

[narrator] And for these real stunts,
they'd need the real deal.

Because they knew they wanted to have
an amazing stunt show put together,

so they contacted
the best stunt coordinator they could,

which was Glen Randall.

And he was the original stunt coordinator
for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

You really didn't want
to direct a theme park show at that time.

[Kevin] So he said to himself,
"I'm just going to ask for the world.

I'm going to ask for a 400-pound boulder…

[shouting]

…for a plane that's gonna
blow up every day.

They're never gonna give it to me."

They called him the next day and said,
"Yeah, you got everything you want."

And he was,
"Oh, okay. Now I got to do it."

[narrator] And what he did
was nothing short of spectacular.

A stunt spectacular.

You've never seen it before,

and you see this first scene
that you see behind me

where the big boulder rolls over Indy,
and you think that was it?

[Robert]
You would probably go, "That was great."

And then all of a sudden,
these huge set pieces move,

and we have a Cairo set behind that,
a full set with two to three buildings.

And then you think,
"Oh, my gosh, that's great. Is that it?"

[Robert] And then,
there's an airport scene behind that.

[expl*si*n]

The barrel sparks a slow drip
of what seems like gasoline,

and then that gasoline
seemingly goes across to the plane,

and the audience knows
there's gonna be an expl*si*n.

"Get Marion out of that plane, Indy.
Open that window. Get out of the plane!"

Then, ka-blow!

[expl*si*n]

It's astonishing, right?

You're just,
"Oh, my goodness. This keeps going."

[narrator] The Indiana Jones
Epic Stunt Spectacular did keep going.

It even outlasted the name
"Disney MGM Studios,"

which is now known
as "Disney's Hollywood Studios,"

where you can still see it today.

So while we let it continue to keep going,
back in California,

Tony's brain was going at it
with ideas for Disneyland.

Because where he started…

The Mine Train ride.

…had since expanded
into a whole pack of ride ideas.

Things come to mind from the movies.

[Susan] There's obviously jeeps,
there's planes, there's boats.

I feel like George
almost planted a ready-made ride

in every one of those adventures.

[narrator] So instead of having to choose
from that exciting list,

Tony and the Imagineers
had a very big thought.

Maybe just do all of them?

We did start
with this very, very big concept.

[Jeanette] It was going to be
multiple attractions in one.

There was gonna be
a runaway mine train ride…

Mixed with a jeep ride,

mixed with the jungle cruise boat
coming through,

-and even the train.
-[train horn honks]

We also wanted an interactive maze,

and it would be programable
to make it hard or easy.

You know, the walls would move
so you couldn't, like, memorize it.

It would be all adjusted.

So now, it was growing and growing.

I would almost call it sort of a…
a land, if you will.

[narrator] Which meant Adventureland
would become essentially…

Indiana Jones land.

Which, like any overhauling
of a Disney park land,

would cost a few dollars.

[screams]

So we had to go through
a capitalization process,

you know, where you had to go
and… and present the project

ultimately to the group that ran the parks
and had to maintain the parks.

[narrator] When news
of this Indiana Jones themed land

filtered down to the finance department…

They said,
"We can't afford to do this attraction."

[narrator] Well, it's their job
to say stuff like that, of course.

But in the theme park business,
there are two ways of looking at things.

There's always a push and pull

as to what your investment level
should be,

things along those lines.

But if you look just at the dollar,
you might go in the wrong direction.

[Charita] So you look at
what is the impact

it will have on the guest,

what is the impact
on the future of the parks

and the organization as a whole?

[narrator] And Michael Eisner
knew this better than anyone.

So when the finance department said

they couldn't afford
to do this attraction…

He said, "We can't afford
not to do this attraction."

[narrator] Until that is,
he got out his calculator.

Enter at your own risk,
and I'm out of here.

He looked at the total
to do the Mine Car Ride,

and the maze and the temple,

and the obvious thing
was to scale it back to the big event.

[narrator] But what big event?

Because as Tony and the team grappled

with which high-capacity vehicle
would be right

for one big Indy attraction…

-Yeah.
-…some timely news arrived

from the Walt Disney Imagineering Research
and Development Department.

Research and Development
had come up with this new vehicle.

[Ric] It was a vehicle that could
travel along a path very accurately,

and keep the exact positions,

and also had a little bit
of a motion based in it.

So you could do things, like,
you'll feel like the car's going…

kind of going up on two wheels
as we round a corner,

or maybe bouncing
as it goes down the stairs.

And Indiana Jones kind of grew from that.

When that came out of R&D,
and we started to marry it to the Indy IP,

we knew what we wanted the vehicle to do,

but we also knew
that there was still a lot of learning

that needed to happen.

So within our budget,
we decided to go and build a test track.

[narrator] A place where the Imagineers

could really put this test vehicle
through its paces.

You know,
and build about a third of the ride track,

and really bring the vehicle out.

It's going to have to run
at least 18 hours a day…

[engine revs]

…every single day
over off-road conditions.

[clattering]

[narrator] As they continued to research
and develop, and essentially…

uh, stress test the ride vehicle…

You know,
their task was absolutely critical

to this being a doable thing.

[narrator] So while they waited
to find out if it was doable,

the Imagineering department
continued cooking up

some kind of major e-ticket dark ride

that they'd need to pitch
to their finance department.

An e-ticket attraction
is really the highest level of attraction

that Imagineering makes.

[narrator] Of which Tony…

Tony Baxter was our overall creative lead
for the project.

…and Susan Bonds…

My assignment was to get it down

to the e-ticket attraction
that you see today.

…were going to work out.

And with Susan on board,
things were working out well for her.

I was a super fan.

[Susan] I stood in line to see the movie.

I was a huge Harrison Ford fan.

I loved the archeological side of it.

[narrator] But as that all important
final pitch meeting approached,

Susan became a super fan
of a different hero.

We'd gotten to the budget number,
we had the creative scope,

we had the ride vehicle.

And what was very exciting for me
as a young project manager was that,

before the meeting,
Frank Wells came down to my office.

And he sat down,

and he basically explained to me
the pros and the cons,

and what people were going to bring up
in the meeting.

And the thing that impressed me the most
is he said,

"Here's what we're going to say,"
because he was really very intuitive.

He loved the creative,
he loved the Imagineering process,

and he was really an advocate for us.

And he was a real force in,

and actually
the project actually happening.

[narrator] So with the full support
of the Disney COO,

the team broke ground and dug in.

Despite all the work they'd done so far,
they still had a very long way to go.

You literally had to take the steps

and eliminate that problem
and move to the next one,

and then carve out almost two years
for the big one,

which is, can you build a vehicle
that will allow you to do that?

[narrator] Well, we'll find out.

In the meantime,
it seemed that the original mine car idea,

which had somehow been derailed…

[screaming]

…might actually find a home
somewhere else.

Such as maybe across the Atlantic,
in a far off…

-It's in Paris.
-[narrator] Uh, yeah. Paris.

As part of their Disney decade,

Eisner and Wells spearheaded the first
International Disney Park since Tokyo

in what was then called…

-Euro Disney.
-[fireworks crackling]

When Disneyland Paris opened initially,

there was an immediate need
for more capacity in the park.

So several attractions
were very quickly added.

Well, we had Indiana Jones in Florida,
the stunt show.

[narrator] And Tony and Susan
were hard at it in California…

-Yeah.
-[narrator] …still.

So it was on the radar.

And you know, I mean,
who doesn't love Indiana Jones, right?

[Tracy] So it was sort of a natural fit.

We were looking for something
that was moving, a bit of a thrill.

Indiana Jones is all about thrill.

[narrator] In next to no time…

Disneyland Paris had their very own
Indiana Jones based attraction.

Indiana Jones Temple of Peril,

which is a very fun,
very thrilling coaster.

Similar to what was in
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom…

[screaming]
Hurry up!

…where you get to get in a mine cart.

And that's a very exciting scene
from that film.

[♪ epic music]

[narrator] And an exciting scene
that wasn't in the film.

It was one of the first
inversion roller coasters

ever built at Disney.

[narrator] It was an inversion version
of an excavation.

A coaster with a big loop

that takes you through
an archeological dig.

[crowd screaming]

[narrator] And if being inverted
wasn't enough for you…

In 2000, they did something
really kind of interesting,

is that they actually
flipped around the cars,

and they let people
go through the attraction backwards.

[Rebecca] They actually kept it that way
for a while.

That, I'm sure, was very exciting.

[narrator]
Well, upside down or back to front,

the popularity of this thrill attraction
was yet further proof

that Eisner and Wells
were right on the money,

and insisting
on Indiana Jones for Disneyland.

Speaking of, by 1994,

construction was well underway
on the Indiana Jones adventure.

And just in time.

It had been five years
since the last Indiana Jones movie,

something Michael Eisner
was well aware of.

Because he said the mythology
is at a zenith with the public.

[Tony] The ride system
is stunningly state-of-the-art

and nobody's done it before.

And you cannot afford to miss
the moment in time when all this collides,

and you're the one
that gains the notoriety

for pulling it all together.

[narrator] But the Imagineers

needed somewhere in Adventureland
to pull it all together,

which wasn't going to be easy.

Because there isn't enough space
in Adventureland

for an attraction like Indiana Jones.

[narrator]
Ah, but there is here, in the parking lot.

Where we have guests enter the attraction
is in what we consider Adventureland.

But for those that don't know,

we built the showbox
actually behind the Disneyland berm.

[narrator] And for those who don't know
what a showbox is…

So a showbox is a term we use
at Imagineering

that is the building
by which we're putting an attraction in.

No different than a theater is to a show.

[narrator] And for those who don't know
what a berm is…

It keeps the outside world
visually outside.

So that guests,
when they are inside Disneyland,

they do not see downtown Anaheim.

[narrator] But there was precedent
for breaking beyond the berm.

Both Pirates of the Caribbean
and the Haunted Mansion

travel under the train tracks
to great effect.

In fact,
the necessity of going underground

led to some really cool
attraction elements.

Like this waterfall
in Pirates of the Caribbean,

and the stretching room
in Haunted Mansion.

And so we actually had to create a tunnel
underneath the train tracks,

which is where the queue goes through.

[Daniel] And the show building
is actually beyond the berm.

To go into what was then the parking lot.

So they took over part of the…
I think it was the Eeyore parking lot.

And to do that,
they also had to move the monorail track,

and they also had to cut down
a little bit of jungle cruise

to be able to fit it in there.

And so they ended up
with a very long queue line

into the attraction.

[narrator]
This one-eighth of a mile stroll

suddenly became part of the attraction.

Because after the Imagineers
had their way,

you weren't traveling out
into Eeyore's old parking lot.

You were traveling from…

Downtown Adventureland,
all the way out to 1938 Indiana Jones.

-You're ready to get in your time machine?
-[interviewer] Yes.

All right. Let's go back to the 1930s.

[Tony] And the fun thing about it,

that is when you're walking down
the final steps to board the cars,

I always ask people,
"How deep do you feel we are right now?"

And they go, "I don't know, 20 feet down."

I said, "You're absolutely at grade

at the exact same level you walked in at,
you know?"

It's mixed people up,
and gotten them, I think, into,

I'm really exploring a cavernous thing,

and I don't know
whether I'm up or I'm down."

And so, you're kind of more prepared
for an adventure like that, you know?

[narrator] In case you're feeling bad
for Eeyore, and he certainly is…

In our film room…

we have a hidden Eeyore parking lot sign
at the very back of the room.

[narrator] And that little factoid
should cheer everybody up.

So with the mood set,
and the queue finally ended…

All of it helps tell this
wonderful world of a story.

All the way through the queue,
all the way to the load area,

and once you get on the ride, it just…
everything goes crazy.

[narrator]
Indeed, that ride vehicle found its way

after a year of rigorous testing
from the test facility to Anaheim.

And it could have gone further.

People wonder, "Is it a real truck?"
Absolutely. There is no track.

[Tony] What there is, is a slot.

You can see a line
down the middle of the roadway there

that communicates
with a bundle of computer wires

down to the mainframe.

Where you are on that track
can be anywhere we want

by programming the wheels
to turn that way.

[narrator] These mega vehicles
are engineering marvels.

They're carrying literally
hundreds of pounds of hydraulics,

as well as 12 human beings,

but we have independent driving,
steering on all four tires.

[Ric] So the side-to-side motion you feel

when the car swerves to the left
or swerves to the right,

you really feel that.
It's all in the tires.

[tires screeching]

We go through those tires pretty quickly.

[Ric] The rear wheels can actually
suddenly turn to the left,

or suddenly turn to the right,

which gives the riders a feeling
of we're sliding to the side.

[narrator] But the question is,

why all the sliding?

What exactly goes on in this attraction?

I just happen to have here
the quarter-inch scale model

that was done for Indiana Jones.

It's a perfect rectangle.

And yet when you're in there,

you have no concept whatsoever
of any squareness to the design.

[Tony] And we use every inch of it.

Because when you start the ride,
you come up from the load area…

[narrator] And begin your adventure,
coming first upon…

three ominous doors.

As you enter the so-called
Hall of Promise,

it's time to collect
your reward from Mara.

-But there's a catch.
-[Jeanette] Don't look at the eye of Mara.

Because if you look at the eye of Mara,
peril will come towards you.

[screaming]

[narrator] So whatever you do, don't…

Of course,
you then look at the eye of Mara.

[narrator] Right. Never mind.

You had to look, didn't you?
Well, of course, someone had to.

[monstrous voice] You're passing now
through the gates of doom!

[narrator]
Well, this has really escalated quickly.

And by the way,
Indiana Jones has been missing.

Did you catch that? Okay. Where is he?

[narrator]
Oh, Tony knows the answer to that one.

Then we go off
to the Gates of Eternal Doom over here

where Indy directs us off to the left
as the only way to escape.

[Indiana Jones] Quick, take
the left passage.

It's the only way out.

I'll do that, Indy. Hopefully
the driver knows what they're doing.

[narrator]
And with those reassuring words from Indy,

things begin to take a turn for the worse.

What we wanted to happen
is have rocks drop.

It's like this place is falling apart.

[rocks rumbling]

The only thing that would fall
and break like a rock would break is ice.

[cracks]

Tony was like, "Well, couldn't we build
an ice machine up on there

and have ice fall down?

And it will just melt away and be gone,

but at least something
will be falling from the ceiling.

It looked darn good.
And we colored it with tea

because the tannic acid
gave it a rock look.

[Susan] But it was something
that was difficult to do,

and it was one of those things
that proved to be too ambitious.

[Tony] It was cooling all the water
down at the bottom.

And so, the maintenance guys
had to go in there in… in hip boots,

and crack the ice and break it all up.

[Tyna] So the ice machine room is a room
that has the very old attraction effect

that does not operate today.

And that didn't last very long.

Everyone said, "Well, the ride is so good,
it doesn't need that."

[narrator] Still a cool idea.

But what didn't need refrigeration
were these skeletons.

[Tony] And then it's down
into the skeletons, into the bugs.

It's a scene where the vehicle
drives through a cave,

and the headlights
light up a bunch of bugs on the wall.

[narrator]
A scene that bugged one Imagineer.

[whooshing]

In retrospect, it could be better.

[narrator]
But we'll come back to this later.

I had bugs for lunch.

[laughter]

-[laughs]
-[narrator] Moving on…

So then, we're going to go ahead
and swerve over there to the overlook.

[Kelly] We're going to see the caldera
bubbling death there in this face of Mara.

[narrator] And in this incredible scene,

you almost feel
as if you're in the Temple of Doom.

[♪ ominous music]

[evil laughing]

It was very ambitious in terms of,
"Why do we have real fire?"

It's because, well, we're really trying
to live up to being in the movie,

and walking in the footsteps
of Indiana Jones.

[narrator] But in this case, driving.

Across the bridge, into the snake room.

[hissing]

Snakes.

Why did it have to be snakes?

[narrator]
A sentiment shared by this gentleman.

-Yeah.
-George Lucas and the snake.

[narrator] Actually, it was Tony
that George had to contend with.

And the only interaction that we had
that was, um, George and me,

was the snake.

And I wanted a… a 50-foot long snake.

[narrator] But George didn't.

You can't do this because it violates
all the rules of the Indiana Jones films.

And I was kind of biting my teeth,
because seeing people melt…

[screams]

…you know, that's okay,
but we can't do a snake.

[narrator] But remember, George and Tony
did go way back to the Star Tours days.

George Lucas may own the galaxy,
but Tony Baxter's the man at Disneyland.

And I said, "Well, here's the difference."

I said, "In a ride, a full-sized cobra
would have a head about this big,

and it would be 20 feet away from you."

And you'd go, "What cobra? Where?"

So we came to a kind of a standstill,
and he said,

"All right, here's what I want you to do.
Get 10,000 snakes…

and let's fill the entire room
with snakes,

you know, crawling all over everything,
on the ceiling, on the floor and whatnot,

and then we'll open with the big one,
and then we'll see how it all works."

[narrator] And it worked like this.

[indistinct PA voice]

[♪ suspenseful music]

[Tony] When George came to ride the ride,

you see one snake,
and that's the 50-foot one.

And that's the one that when the vehicle
recoils away from it,

everyone is like, "Whoa", you know?

[narrator] And that one super-sized snake
is still there to this day,

greeting guests
as they continue on the adventure,

which is far from over.

[Tony] Down inside Mara,

and then down deep into the rat area,
the dark room.

Where darts are sh**ting at you
from both sides of your vehicle.

-Pew, pew, pew, pew.
-[Steve] It's done with the effect of air

that we're sh**ting at you.

[air whooshing]

You're just ducking.
"Please don't hit me. Don't hit me."

[narrator] And just when you think
things might be coming to an end,

you witness one of the greatest tricks
in the history of Imagineering.

The famous Rolling Ball.

[narrator] No Indy attraction
would be complete without it.

[Tony] We worked out
how that ball would work.

So while your Jeep stops and stalls,
and you don't know what's gonna happen,

and the rolling ball starts coming at you,
and you've got Indiana Jones above you.

[narrator]
As this boulder hurtles towards you,

you then escape just in time.
But here's the thing.

What many guests don't realize

is that the actual room
starts moving on you.

[narrator] Yep. The room moves.
Not the ball, and not you.

As you come in, we back the room up,

which makes it seem
like you're going fast.

[Tony] And when you get even
with Indiana Jones,

then we reverse the room
and go back that way.

And that gives you the sense
that you've backed up.

When I move the room back and forth,

you can also see that
that activates the ball to turn

in consensus with that.

And it was so easy that,
as you can see here in the model,

it's still revolving.
And this model is, like, 25 years old.

So that part of this tech
is pretty darn good.

[narrator] Not only does it provide
the iconic boulder scene

in a very satisfying way,

by moving just the room,

it gave them a chance
to add one more little thrill.

So the guests know
that if you just backed up from here,

that means that this is not a place
you can go anymore.

[Ric] But you do.

[♪ thrilling music stings]

[narrator] And people did,
by the thousands, on March 3rd, 1995,

when the Indiana Jones Adventure
Temple of the Forbidden Eye

opened at Disneyland for the first time.

Well, it's the wildest ride
I've ever been on.

Amazing. It's just amazing.
I love it. It's so much fun.

Now my heart's beating,
and I'm an old man, so I loved it.

[narrator] People were essentially
queuing up just to go in the queue.

And I cried to my mom
to let me skip school.

And I remember waiting in a long line
because the ride was so popular,

but it was definitely worth it.

The ride is like part two
of the attraction.

[laughs]
The ride is part two.

[narrator]
Michael Eisner and Frank Wells' commitment

to this Indiana Jones attraction
had paid off.

This particular attraction
was a great springboard

for the future of immersive environments.

[Charita] I think it was something
that turned a corner for us.

It's just one innovation after another.

Like the super elaborate story-based queue
and now, is gold standard everywhere.

The motion-based platform
on a moving vehicle,

the scale of scenic illusions
in this environment.

This is a real monument in the business
because it's beautifully structured,

the pieces fit together,

the physical and visual sensations
lock together very well.

It's a really a masterpiece of a ride.

[narrator]
For all of the incredible achievements

that Frank Wells and Michael Eisner
accomplished together,

Indiana Jones and the Temple
of the Forbidden Eye at Disneyland

may well rank as one of their best.

But tragically, Frank Wells didn't live
to see the opening

of this wonderful creation.

Leaving Michael Eisner
to continue without his partner.

And they were really good partners

in the sense
that they synergized really well.

-Right, Michael?
-Right.

[Susan] They… they trusted each other.

And so, it was a big time of growth,

because we were doing
really ambitious things

that were kind of getting off the ground.

And it was due to Frank Wells
and his coaching and his advocacy

that Indiana Jones actually got made.

[narrator]
These mysterious ruins in Anaheim

will stand as a monument to Frank's legacy

for many years to come.

And since 2001,
his legacy is also enshrined

within the Indiana Jones Adventure
Temple of the Crystal Skull

at Tokyo DisneySea.

Predating the film by a number of years,

this attraction shares many similarities
with the Anaheim version.

[in Japanese]
On the way to the boarding area,

you see the pictures
of the legendary Fountain of Youth,

the traps that were set on the way,

and all of these wall paintings
are a great way

to get excited for what's next.

[narrator] But where Tokyo differs

is in the improvements made
to the ride system.

The main difference with the ride system
in Tokyo versus California,

is the vehicle is actually hydraulic
that's moving the vehicle around

in California.

[Ric] For Tokyo, that was enhanced
with electric actuators.

So it's simpler, more reliable.

It's much more precise
and easier to program

than the hydraulic ones.

[narrator] The Indiana Jones Adventure
in both Tokyo and Anaheim

remains one of the most
popular attractions

in Disney parks today.

[♪ epic music]

An utter masterpiece,

and a feather in the cap
of Tony Baxter's illustrious career.

An attraction of sheer excellence
and pure perfection.

Hm…

[narrator] Even perfection
can be a little more perfect-er.

Remember that bug room?

Well…

I made the mistake of criticizing

one of the special effects
in Indiana Jones,

and it was a scene where headlights
light up a bunch of bugs on the wall.

You're expected
when you say something's bad,

to have something better to offer
in exchange for it.

[narrator] It just so happened
that Charita Carter here

could help Ric out with that.

Because Charita was leading
the Scenic Illusion team.

[Charita] This particular group

had just really amassed
different techniques

that we thought
would be really, really helpful

in realizing the creative vision
for Indiana Jones.

[narrator] And so, in 2013,

the attraction was closed for a year or so
while they updated this classic.

[Charita] There was an opportunity
for a number of scenes

to go back to the original intent
of the creative director,

and just really taking them
to the next level.

[narrator] That would be this
creative director, of course.

And so, that was a real treat,

because there was an opportunity
to realize even further

what had been imagined in the mind
of one of our senior Imagineers.

[narrator] And so with Tony's blessing…

[Charita] The team was then able

to get quite a few of these techniques
and tools developed,

one of them being projection mapping,
or as we like to say,

our lighting device that can animate.

[narrator] One of the ways they did
just that was to use new technology

to fix that one thing
that was bugging Ric.

We came up with an idea
of doing it this way.

I could get the thing to stay right
and I can track it,

and it can go exactly in front of the car
as the car drives through.

[narrator] Good one, Ric.

Upgrades and advancements in technology

will ensure
that your Indiana Jones adventure

will continue for many years to come.

It's not just the classic sense
of what's the feeling I'm giving the guest

and what's the story
that I'm immersing them in,

but also, practically,

how can this be maintained
or how can it evolve over time?

[narrator]
Thanks to people like Ric and Charita,

the future of both this attraction
and the Disney organization looks bright.

But I actually came 25 years ago.

I came to the Walt Disney
Imagineering organization

as an accountant, okay?
[laughs]

[narrator]
But Charita's history with Disney

goes back a lot further than that.

[Charita] I grew up in an area
that's about 200 miles from Disneyland.

And so my family would have an opportunity
every couple of years

to come down and experience the magic.

And my parents would always encourage
my sisters and I

to take odd jobs and earn money
so that we would have spending money.

And then my dad would pull out his wallet,

and he would supplement anything
that we were able to earn

with a 20-dollar bill.

[Charita] So it was just like clockwork,

and it would happen
every time that we went.

So it was really a lot of fun

once I started working
for Walt Disney Imagineering.

That first opportunity to take my parents
and my sisters back to Disneyland.

Of course, I had to replicate that.

I had the 20-dollar bills ready
and in hand,

and after we took our picture,
I pulled out my wallet

and handed a 20-dollar bill
to my dad and to my mom.

[laughs]

And we really just kind of joked about it,
because it was such a…

It's such a part of our Disney experience
growing up.

[narrator] The magic of Disney
and the adventure of Indiana Jones

have proven to be
one of the greatest combinations of all.

And Indy's presence in the parks
is still going strong.

Even that stunt show
at Disney's Hollywood Studios

that opened way back in 1989.

The show has been a legacy at our park,
and it requires an army to keep this up.

A couple of our performers
originally who were in the show,

now, their children are in the show.

[narrator] And it's been a fan favorite
for over 30 years.

When we ask the audience
how many people have seen our show before,

all the hands go up.

[Robert] People still come back

because they remember
seeing this as a kid,

and now they're bringing their children.

If there wasn't that emotional connection
they had with the show,

we wouldn't still be here.

[narrator] And for Robert Herrick,
who's been with the show since day one…

[indistinct chatter]
Action!

…it's a connection
that spans his entire career.

Thirty-three years later, I'm still here.

-[cheering and applause]
-Thank you. My great crew.

[narrator] Wherever Indy's adventures
take you in the world…

[♪ epic music]

…this fearless hero will be there,

guiding you
through the adventure of a lifetime.

The spirit of that ride
is speaking to everyone.

Every child, every adult,

anyone that has ever wanted
to explore the world.

[Jeanette] To discover things
that no one's ever seen before.

To know that you have the power
to be adventurous.

To, of course,
meet some element of danger.

[screams]

-[groans]
-[hisses]

And to come out of it
being able to tell those stories.

All of those things are the DNA of Disney.

[narrator] Thanks to these brave heroes,
or perhaps genius inventors…

That's the only word for them.
They're genius inventors.

…who don't chase treasure or gold.

They pursue something else altogether.

[Frank Wells] There are additional members
of the Disney team

who do not always share the spotlight.

There are almost 400 people
that worked on Indy.

I've been with these people
for years, and years, and years,

so I put their initials and their birthday
on the attraction.

[Charita] You always have to be pursuing
that next great thing,

and that requires passion.

But yes, that momentum is necessary.
You don't want to get stale.

You can't get stale
when you have the passion.

There is a hunger to always want
to discover and understand

the next great new thing.

[narrator] And just maybe,
they'll find the greatest reward of all.

A treasured memory
that belongs in our hearts.

It belongs in a museum.

[narrator] Well, wherever it belongs.

That's why we do what we do.

[♪ closing theme music]