Disneyland’s Best Ride Just Got One of My Favorite Things Back After Finally Dropping a Post-2021 Reopening Policy

When Disneyland reopened after the 412-day closure that stretched all the way into 2021, there were a number of precautions put in place to ensure guest safety. Social distancing policies meant that some aspects of rides were changed.

Most of these Disneyland policies were dropped within the year or so after the parks reopened, but there are still some aspects of the parks that haven't reverted back.

A very fun aspect of one of the best rides at Disneyland is now finally dropping these precautions. We were worried that this neat feature would never come back, so we're thrilled to see they made the change.

Best Ride at Disneyland Just Got This Great Feature Back

Indiana Jones Adventure is one of the best rides at Disneyland and my personal favorite in the park. I'm thrilled that we are getting a new Indiana Jones attraction at Walt Disney World as part of the new land coming to Animal Kingdom.

The ride takes guests inside the temple that Indiana Jones found most recently. You are one of many tourists who have flocked here to discover the treasures of the temple – youth, wealth, and more await you. The core attraction is wonderful, but the overall immersive storytelling that begins in the queue makes this a standout experience.

The key story points were set up in newsreel-style videos called “Eye on the Globe” in one of the main rooms of the queue. The story points were interspersed with the safety spiel. During the 2021 reopening period, the newsreel videos were removed and only the safety spiel was played on repeat.

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During that period, Disney's policy was that guests could only wait in indoor line queues for so long before they rode. In the case of Indiana Jones Adventure, they held a majority of the line outside of the temple building and only moved people through the inside part of the line when they could walk continuously to the boarding area of the attraction.

Some of this actually still remains. The point where the standby line and the Lighting Lane merge is outside of the entrance to the temple. This has caused Disney to try and reduce the amount of people waiting inside the temple space where this great pre-show video plays to make the Lightning Lane worth it. Even though they attempted to not have guests stop inside the attraction, we would often hear the safety video play 3-4 times during our time waiting in that room.

Some of this crowd management has clearly changed, because as of mid December all the “Eye on the Globe” newsreels are again playing interspersed with the safety videos. This return is both better for the story of the ride and for guest enjoyment – the repeat of the safety spiel was quite tiring. I can't imagine how grading it would be for one of the Cast Members stationed right there hearing the one safety video on repeat.

Below is a video from this weekend of the video now back in the queue of the attraction. A Reddit user also shared 10 days ago that the videos were back. I hope that this is going to be a permanent return rather than something they try during the busier December time of year – there is a Reddit post from two years ago also sharing that the full version came back but that must have just been at a time they were testing this because it didn't last.

I have personally asked for these newsreels to be restored multiple times via comments at guest relations and to the highest-level Disneyland executives. I just found an email from as early as December 2021 in which I said that the room was completely filled and that we had to listen to the spiel six times while in there. This is one of those details at Disneyland that just feels off when they aren't running it in proper show mode.

Other Disneyland regulars agree with me. One commenter shared that they screamed when they noticed the return of the videos and that a Cast Member said “we've gotten that reaction a lot lately”. So, I can only hope that this positive reaction will mean that Disneyland will both keep this change and think about what other small wins they can give fans who care about the best details like this.

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Here's the full video of the returning scenes:

Here's the text of the two newsreels show from the script of the ride. Kind of fun to read while trying to do the accent!

“In the remote jungles of India’s Lost Delta — from all over the world, they are flocking here, following the strange story of the mysterious temple and gifts from the gods. The story begins one year ago. World-famous archeologist Indiana Jones follows a tattered map to an ancient edifice. Could this be the fabled Temple of the Forbidden Eye? According to Jones, the temple contains a Chamber of Destiny, where an ancient idol lured visitors with promises of gifts: eternal youth, earthly riches, or visions of the future. But any who looked into the eyes of this double-dealing deity took a detour to doom. A chilling tale indeed, but not chilling enough to cool off the hot pursuit of thousands of greedy globetrotters. They’re ready for a supernatural shopping spree.”

“The Temple of the Forbidden Eye continues to beckon visitors from around the globe! They’ve all heard the tantalizing tales — the matronly movie star made young again; the paupers who became Rockefellers in these ruins. But a darker tale has surfaced. Many visitors are claiming loved ones have disappeared inside. Could it be they looked into the eyes of the idol? The reports reach Indiana Jones, who returns to the site of his great discovery. Our newsreel camera follows Dr. Jones as he enters the temple. One week later, and still no Indiana Jones. Could Jones himself have locked eyes with the idol? Or will he solve the riddle of the lost tourists? When, and if, he does, Eye on the Globe will be there.”

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