These belong in a museum!
On this day back in 1995, the Indiana Jones Adventure attraction fully opened to the public and today celebrates
its 25th Anniversary at Disneyland. In honor of this milestone, I present to you my favorite collectibles honoring this timeless and amazing attraction!
Beginning with my absolute favorite and rarest, most highly coveted collectible - here is a replica of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye that was created for the 10 year anniversary back in 2005. Only 300 of these were made and are mostly in the hands of collectors who will never give them up - these are extremely hard to come by. The detail on this piece is amazing, and everyone who has seen it in person, fan or not, comments how beautiful it is. It measures just under 10 ½” in height and the base has a diameter of almost 6 ¾”.
My next favorite Indiana Jones Adventure collectible is the commemorative ticket issued for the opening of the
attraction - unused. (Apparently I can still use this ticket for Park Hopper admission despite the major price discrepancy from then compared to the current admission price - although I have not verified this myself.) This is perhaps the most beautiful commemorative ticket ever issued - next to the New Tomorrowland set and California Adventure commemorative tickets). The artwork is amazing and gold foil stamping gives it the feel of an artifact that belongs in a museum! This ticket measures 14 ¾” and 5” and its widest point.
The next two collectibles to share are two different decoders. One is an AT&T sponsored decoder card issued when the attraction opened. These decoder cards allowed guests to decipher messages hidden within the line queue of the attraction and enhanced the storyline of the attraction quite a bit. It really was revolutionary as far as
interactive line queues are concerned - the Indiana Jones attraction was among the first - if not the first - to majorly engage guest participation as they waited in line. There was another variation of this decoder card issued that had a different image on front as well as a cast member exclusive one that is quite rare. Also, today, for the anniversary celebration, Disneyland issued a 25th anniversary version of it that park goers are clamoring to get. The other decoder I have is currently still available for purchase at traderbrandon.com - it is a wonderfully made metal pendant that has the eye of Mara on the front and the alphabet decoded on the reverse on an included neck chain. It measures 2 ½’ across. Not only is it an amazing collectible but it is very practical and can be brought to the park easily to decode the line que messages!
Up next is a Disneyland park souvenir Winnie the Pooh plush dressed as Indiana Jones. While this doesn’t have
much monetary value - it is priceless to me! Over the years my wife and I have acquired various iterations of Pooh plush dressed in attraction attire. It is pure happenstance too that we ended up with these - neither of us are major Pooh fans, lol. These were either gifted to us or we picked them up on memorable trips to Disneyland because we happened to have others - anything with ties to my amazing wife automatically gets placed in the priceless category!
Another fun Indiana Jones Adventure collectible I have has a very unique memory attached to it. At the 2013 D23 Expo there was a small booth tucked back in a corner hosted by Imagineering called Adventure Trading
Company. This was an elaborate playtest for an experience they would later host at Disneyland for a very limited time in 2014. Essentially for a small fee, in this case $5, you could choose a particular challenge that was essentially a scavenger hunt. One would follow clues and once they achieved a successful outcome they were given a juju - a relic on a beaded suede lanyard commemorating that challenge victory. My favorite challenge resulted in acquiring the Eye of Mara juju. To earn it you had to follow clues to the 2nd floor of the convention center and find an ancient tablet that had Mara-glyphics on it - the same writing found in the queue of the Indiana Jones Adventure attraction. Once you successfully decoded the message on this tablet you then earned the juju of knowledge - the Eye of Mara juju!
My last Indiana Jones collectible I have to share with you is a custom Adventureland table lamp I made myself not long
ago. When it is off, it is an unassuming bamboo and canvas table lamp - but when the switch is flipped, it turns into a flickering gem of Disney nostalgia!!! CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW OF IT IN ACTION! Each side panel has a different image from Adventureland including the Adventurer’s Club, Jungle Cruise, Pele from the Tiki Room, and of course, Mara from the Indiana Jones attraction. The top panel has the sign for Bengal Barbecue which has always been a favorite of mine. I had no choice but to include the Indiana Jones attraction on this lamp as it is very much a part of Adventureland in the sense that I can never again picture Adventureland without this attraction. As timeless as the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise are - so too has the Indiana Jones Attraction proven timeless - at 25 years and GOING STRONG! Here’s to the next 25 years!
