Indiana Jones and the Summer of Hidden Mysteries - Part II

Continuing with the fun of the Indiana Jones summer promotions, they staged some good ole Indy fight scenes to occur around Adventureland several times a day. with Indy music in the background.

The basic story line was that Indy had found a map and appears above the Tropical Imports snack stand. He is accosted by a "bad buy" and a fight over the map ensues. Of course, he wins the fight, knocking out the bad guy and getting the map. He leans over the railing and tells the kids in the crowd, " When he wakes up, tell him Indy won!"


Indy then disappears and the bad guy wakes up, which the kids have been waiting for and they start yelling, "Indy won! Indy won!" He kind of growls and heads off to find Indy.


Soon Indy reappears and asks crowd members questions about the map and such, then disappears across the "street" into the second floor of the Bazaar.



Not long after he is followed by the bad guy.


Indy reappears on the balcony above the South Seas Traders and holds the map out. He yells out questions to the crowd and responds to their responses.



Meanwhile the bad guy sneaks up behind him and he is barely saved by the screams of the crowd. Another fight ensues and



Indy loses the map! When he comes to he asks the crowd for help. They tell him where the bad guy went.


The crowd tells him they saw the bad guy go up into the tree, so Indy goes in pursuit of him!




Aha! They meet again! A true Indy-style fight occurs on the bridge leading to Tarzan's Tree House. Indy even brings out his whip!


And of course he is once again victorious!



He exits to the cheers of the crowd and tells the kids not to let the bad guy through if he ever wakes up.


When the bad guy wakes up, he tries to get through the crowd and the kids are pulling him and trying to find ways to keep him from following Indy. He grumpily mumbles under his breath, "I hate kids!"


This was a really cute way to spend 15 minutes! We enjoyed watching the little fight scenes and watching the little boys in the Indy hats interact with Indy and the bad buy. Very fun!

Remember, add a comment to any or all of my Indy posts and I will add you in a drawing for an original Indy twinchie. You can use it on a card, layout or just add it to a twinchie collection. I'll try and finish it and post a pic in the next installment.

Indiana Jones and the Summer of Hidden Mysteries - Part I

With the fourth Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull coming out this summer, Disneyland had an in-park promotion. As small and crowded as Adventureland is, they set up several things throughout the area to promote the movie and pique interest. Fortunately we got to see everything several times, and now that it is over, I thought it would be fun to share some things in several posts.

First, when you entered Adventureland, just past the Tiki Room there was a photo area set where you could take silly photos "Indy Style":





Then you could ask a CM in front of the theater area (used to be Storytime with Jasmine or something like that) for a brochure. If you click on the pictures below they will open to be a bit larger and easier to read. The back of the brochure describes some things in the queue for the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Most are things you probably have already noticed if you are a Disney trivia buff. If not, they are great to look for as you wait in line. I'll show you these in another post.

Then they list 12 things from the four different Indy movies. As you ride the Jungle Cruise, you are to look for 4 of the 12 items and see if you can find them hidden along the route. They said our tour guides would mention something along the tour, but none of ours ever did.



We found the following four items:

Crate with the Ark of the Covenant (Raiders of the Lost Ark)


Dr. Henry Jones Sr.'s Umbrella (Last Crusade)


Mola Ram Ceremonial Headress (Temple of Doom)


Crystal Skull (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)


Then you could follow the map and clues in the center of the brochure and spot the hieroglyphics around Adventureland to read the hidden message. Click on the map to make it bigger and see if you can figure out what the secret message says by using the photos below:



A


B


C


D


E



F




Okay, so, what does it say?

If you said, "Tamera's Disneyland blog is the best," as true as that may be, you would be wrong.

If you said, " Choose wisely and get a fast pass for the Indy Ride," again , it may be true, but it is also incorrect.

If you said, "To survive the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, beware the eyes of Mara," then you would be correct.

What do you win??? If you post a comment on this message, I'll put your name in a drawing for a "Tamera Original" Indiana Jones Twinchie.

Stay tuned for more info on the Summer of Indy at Disneyland.

Adventure Thru Inner Space - presented by Monsanto

I got together with some friends this week and one of them, Josy, brought some vintage Disney memorabilia for us to look at. Among them was a booklet featuring Adventure Thru Inner Space. She held it up and asked it any of us remembered it. The funny thing is that I had recently been looking at some things on Flickr and found some pictures of it.

So, I decided it might be fun to do a few blog posts about some long lost Disneyland attractions that hold fond memories for me....and apparently for many other people as well.

These are some of the pictures I found on Flickr by ATIS547 and one from Yesterland.com

The Inner Space ride was opened in 1967 then discontinued in 185 and turned into Star Tours. The silver facade to the right of the entrance is still there.



This large projection screen is still in place, but now it show scenes of the many places you can vacation via Star Tours.



You would enter the ride in the lower left corner of this picture. Disney used the same ride design as in the Haunted Mansion but instead of Doombuggies, they were called Atommobiles.


Wikipedia does a great job of giving the narration and synopsis of the ride, but here is a small portion from the beginning:

"The attraction was designed to simulate shrinking to a size smaller than an atom (the "inner space"). As riders wait for their journey into the atom, they were able to see other riders entering one end of the Mighty Microscope. The other end of the Mighty Microscope had a glass tube in which miniaturized riders could be seen moving toward the end of the microscope. The end of the microscope was aimed at a panel beyond which snow could be seen falling.

Upon boarding their 'Atommobiles', riders are greeted by the voice of an unseen scientist (Paul Frees) who explains, "I am the first person to make this fabulous journey. Suspended in the timelessness of inner space are the thoughtwaves of my first impressions. They will be our only source of contact once you have passed beyond the limits of normal Mag-ni-fi-ca-tion."

The Atommobile enters the Mighty Microscope and begins to shake back and forth as the riders enter the darkness.

As their vision returns, the riders see giant snowflakes all around them, some still spinning as they fall. As they continue to shrink, the narrator says, "I am passing beyond the magnification limits of even the most powerful microscopes. These are snowflakes — and yet they seem to grow larger and larger. Or can I be shrinking — shrinking beyond the smallness of a tiny snowflake crystal? Indeed, I am becoming smaller and smaller!"

This giant eye near the end used to scare me. I was so sure I was never going to get big again and was forever consigned to being the size of an atom.




This is the Twinchie (a 2"x 2" square used in card making or scrapbooking) I used foil tape and dry embossed it to mimic the facade near the entrance. Then used a couple of the pictures I found on flickr. I really love it.



I didn't realize until I did a little research that this was a well-beloved ride and that there are websites dedicated to it and even several things posted on YouTube where you can experience the ride.

A Great Photo Spot and Hidden Mickey

There is a great Kodak photo spot in front of Thunder Mountain to the left of the entrance and exit. We have taken several pictures here over the years.

Awwwwwww! So young! This was back in 1996.


These were taken this Spring 2008


If you wait for just the right time, the train will be in the background of your photo.


Then just to the left of the photo spot, look for the Hidden Mickey (there is also one just over my shoulder in the picture above)

I took these photos and sent them to Steve Barrett the Hidden Mickey Guru. He put a poll on his site and the viewers voted it in as legit. Woo hoo! (You can check out his site by clicking on the link in the right hand column)

Disneyland Silhouettes

I went to Disneyland last Friday with my friend Kim. We decided to do some things she normally wouldn't do when she was there with her DH and DS. On the top of her list was getting her silhouette done.

So we stopped by first thing in the morning to check on prices and times. I thought it was done with an electronic machine and Kim insisted that it was done by hand and in less than a minute. But seeing as it wasn't open until 10 am, we would have to wait.

The studio is on Main Street between the cool porch building and the Crystal Arts building.


First, take some time to peek at the photos in the front window and find the Hidden Mickeys in the frames.




Then when you go inside, this very nice lady, Bonnie, will have you sit down and look straight ahead as she deftly cuts your silhouette BY HAND (Kim was totally right!) and in less than one minute for a mere $9.

I did ask her if she could please leave out my double chin and she happily obliged, jovially letting me know that there were no double chins in Disneyland.


Bonnie is so quick and so sure of herself she can chat with you while she works! We asked and she has been hand cutting silhouettes for 34 years at Disneyland.




When she is done cutting the silhouette she passes it to the cashier who pastes both copies onto the frame papers. Once you pay, you can ask that they hold them for you until you are ready to leave. That way you don't get them wrinkled. For an additional $9 you can add a Mickey silhouette behind yours, or you can have the entire family in the silhouette (it is $9 per head)


This was a great way to spend one minute and $9. I would do it again in a heart beat. I think on our next Disneyland date I'll see if DH wants to do one by himself and one with both of us in it.