Lee and I went up to Disneyland on Memorial Day to meet up with AllEars’ Deb Wills and Linda Mac, and also to see some of the new Indiana Jones Summer of Hidden Mysteries stuff that started over the weekend. You can read more about it in this Disneyland Press Release.

We arrived in time to see the first Indiana Jones and the Secret
of the Stone Tiger show at 10:30. This is held in The Oasis, where the Aladdin and Jasmine StoryTale Adventures show used to be. We arrived about 10:05 and there was already a huge line (something I never saw for the Aladdin show!), but we got into the theater – a Cast Member said it holds about 250 people.

As you can see from the picture below, the sign outside The Oasis makes it look like more of a lecture by Dr. Jones. But of course how interesting would *that* be? 🙂

As with the Aladdin show, there’s a large area right in front of the stage where kids are encouraged to sit on the floor. The stage is filled with a variety of interesting-looking archaeological artifacts.

Dr. Rachel Flannery comes out and informs the audience that Dr. Jones isn’t available – he’s disappeared while searching for a powerful artifact associated with the stone tiger, and she’s trying to interpret the clues he has left in his notes to find him. Which requires a lot of help from the junior members of the audience. (At least 6-8 different kids get to participate in a variety of tasks.)

With everyone’s help, the Stone Tiger portal opens, and Indiana Jones himself appears in a cloud of smoke, bearing the artifact. Which he then has to fight Dr. Flannery for. Kind of a fun fight scene – Indy gets to use his
whip. After vanquishing Dr. Flannery and thanking the audience, Indy takes off
for his next adventure – no photo ops after this show.

Not long after the show ends (10 minutes maybe) the Random Acts
of Indy (I love that term!) begin in Adventureland. Indy and a “bad
guy” show up at various places throughout Adventureland and they are
fighting over possession of a treasure map. They engage in several
fight scenes up high – on top of Tropical Imports, on the balcony above
South Seas Traders, and, my favorite, on the rope bridge of
Tarzan’s Treehouse. Both of them are miked so you can hear their
dialog, and there’s accompanying Indiana Jones background music, too.
The “bad guy” definitely gets the worst end of it. 🙂
Indy also is out among the crowds in Adventureland at several points
during this time, as well. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Here’s a link to a short movie I shot of the fight scene at Tropical Imports.

Another aspect of the Summer of Hidden Mysteries is the Indiana Jones Adventure
Map. These are free (CMs were handing them out as we waited in the
Stone Tiger show queue). There are symbols scattered around
Adventureland, and the map has a list of symbols and their translations (though more symbols
are identified than actually exist, otherwise it would be way too
easy!). Find the symbols and use the map to decipher them and reveal
the message. I was a little disappointed in this – once you knew what
to look for the symbols (as you can see in the photo below)
were really obvious and very easy to find. And
the “message” is hardly news to anyone who has ridden the Indiana
Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye attraction! 🙂

There’s also some Indiana Jones relics that have been left along the
way in the Jungle Cruise attraction, but we didn’t get a chance
to do that.

I think it’ll be a fun addition for the summer months – I think the kids
especially will enjoy the show, and probably the map hunt, also. We got
a kick out of the “random acts”, though I am concerned that when the
park is crowded the traffic in Adventureland will come to a standstill,
and that place is enough of a bottleneck as it is (I avoid
going through there most of the time).