Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye breakdown photos from 2003

Aug 17, 2018

I have spent a good amount of time at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. During my time visiting the parks, I have been on rides that have broken down many times. Very few of those times though have we actually needed to be taken off the ride. Usually we just sit there until the ride gets moving again.

While this could stretch on for long periods of time. I always enjoyed it because it allowed me to see some of my favorite attractions from a different angle.

In 2003, I was an annual passholder at Disneyland and was riding Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye when it broke down. We sat is semi-darkness for about 30 minutes with very little to look at, just some lights in the distance. I loved it. Then without warning, emergency lights came on and I knew we were about to embark on a new type of adventure.

Cast members approached us in their full Indy adventure garb and announced that we would need to exit the ride by foot. It was an orderly exit, even though most guests felt so cooped up, that they were almost ready to run out the door.

I took my time. Waiting and watching as long as they would permit me to linger. It took them about 15 minutes to clear our vehicles and I stood around the whole time looking around and taking photos with the camera on my Palm Pilot.

Why the Palm? Well, this was day 3 of my visit to the park and I used up all the film I had brought with me. So I decided to make this a non-camera day. Naturally that is when something really interesting happens.

The quality of many of the photos I took was potato, but I think the low-resolution graininess really works on many of them. They capture the surreal feeling of being on a broken down attraction ride. That weird twilight between the fantasy and reality.

So here are the best of the photos I took that day on Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye.