Blockbuster Adventure - A Celebration of the 80s and 90s - Park Concept

This is a theme park dedicated to summer blockbuster movies of the 80s and 90s, what I think of as the golden age for that kind of film. Spanning studio, company, and genre, these films are instead united in their time period, style sensibilities, and lasting pop culture impact. Most simply put, this is a park of many of my favorite movies. I grew up in the 90s and was raised on the classic blockbuster hits of that decade and the decade before. The inspiration for this park came while at a concert of John Williams music, where the scores to Raiders, Jurassic Park, and E.T. conjured such vivid images of the worlds of those films and made me want to explore how to bring those places and the stories I love to life.

I considered many films and franchises for this park, some that have already become theme parks and many that haven’t, but I eventually was able to narrow the scope down to 7 stories, the ones that are most important to me personally. That final list included Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park as the largest anchor lands, Ghostbusters and E.T. as medium lands, and Aliens and The Terminator as small lands.

Some notes about the choices and what I left out. Star Wars would absolutely count in my favorites from this time period, but I decided that was too big and could deserve its own full park, so that is missing here. I was tempted to reach back into the 70s as well and use Jaws, but decided that a narrower focus would help keep this park from being too large. I acknowledge that really only 1 of the lands is a true 90s franchise, but multiple of the others had later installments in the 90s so that is why I used this concept and feel comfortable calling this a celebration of the 80s and 90s equally. Lastly, this is not intentionally meant to be a Universal park even though I know it comes close to being all classic Universal. Just a coincidence based on the hits of the 80s and 90s being a lot of Universal!

My goal with this park and my philosophy for the design is to place guests into the middle of the classic stories and experiences we all love from these movies without just presenting a beat for beat recreation. Instead the idea is that we step into familiar worlds and see familiar characters but live out new stories that sit around the stories we know. These lands take place in the scenes in between or after what we have seen in the classic films, as if these are supplemental stories and scenes cut for time but always meant to be there and a part of the real story. Guests are given a chance in each land to participate in a classic action of the film, that experience that you saw in the movie and always wanted to try out yourself. Here that happens, and guests ride in a DeLorean as it speeds up to 88 mph, sit in a Jurassic Park Jeep as it passes under the gateway, race away from the rolling ball with Indy, shoot proton beams at ghosts from the Ecto-1 vehicle, and fly into the sky with E.T.

Now with the general concept explained, we can now start going through the park, land by land.

Entry Garden and Town Square

Through the park gates, guests find a garden of large water pools and fountains that present a continual show through the day with music from films of the 80s and 90s. Raised circular fountain tiers on either side that cascade water down to ground level are meant to resemble classic film canisters overflowing. Round buildings on the left and right hold park services and retail while straight ahead is a retro train bridge building that sits above a pedestrian tunnel. Guests pass through this tunnel to enter the main hub land of the park and are transported back to the years of the blockbuster movie.

The central land of the park is a bustling retro downtown centered around a classic town square. A neon adorned movie palace is located at the head of the plaza, serving as the park icon. Guests first walk down a retail street that opens up to the central plaza, which holds more retail and also multiple dining and snack locations of all kinds, including quick service, table service, a buffet, a bakery, ice cream parlor, and more. Many of the retail stores and restaurants are references to stores, locations, or characters from famous movies of this time period.

The Neon Palace Theater on the square is the park icon and holds a movie theater attraction. There are 2 theaters inside the building that present a 15 minute compilation of the best of the summer blockbuster, edited together as a celebration of the genre. Each night, these theaters also have a showing of a rotating film from the collection that inspired the park. The exterior building also serves as the canvas for an end-of-day light show, where first the neon of the downtown comes to life and then expands with projections on all the buildings of the downtown to present a musical voyage through 80s and 90s cinema with the downtown as the movie screen.

From the plaza, 6 streets branch off towards the lands of the park, in addition to the 7th that leads back to the park entry. For each, the street points directly at a feature fountain that marks the entry to each of the lands. These fountains are similar to the ones at the entry of the park but also feature bronze statues of iconic moments in the movie on top, with the water flowing out from the statues bases. They all have periodic fountain shows that use music from the films.

Though there is not a train station in the hub land, I wanted to mention it here since it crosses through all lands of the park. The train makes a clockwise loop of the park and stops at 4 total stations, spread between 3 lands. The train has no engine car, just passenger cars, and the general design of the train itself is inconspicuous since it needs to blend into each of the different stories and settings, but large digital signage and detail panels on both sides of the train change as it passes from land to land to fit in the themes.

Jurassic Park

This land is set in the second attempt at the Jurassic Park theme park on a second island complex, after the events of the first incident on Isla Nublar. Many lessons have been learned and this now is ready to operate as a functional park for the first time. The land begins with a pair of thatched roof retail buildings that frame the view down to the new Welcome Center. The land is divided into 3 areas and in-theme signage leads guests between them: The Welcome Center, The Aviary, and The Plains. Behind the Welcome Center and acting as a visual draw from all 3 areas is a lagoon with a rocky waterfall cliff side behind it, and a pair of huge brontosauruses standing in the water peacefully eating all day long. Small dinosaurs that are carried around can be found throughout the land and a larger walking Triceratops makes occasional appearances for educational sessions.

The Welcome Center building is a recreation of the original, complete with the interior dinosaur skeleton, and includes retail, a cafeteria style quick service restaurant, a table service restaurant on the second floor that overlooks the lagoon and is themed as Hammond's private dining club, and the entrance to the primary attraction of the land. This is the classic Jurassic Park jeep tour right out of the movie, and it begins with loading right outside the rear of the Welcome Center and overlooking the lagoon. The jeeps first pass through the iconic gate, then continue into an indoor projected overlook over the plains of the park, filled with dinosaurs. Next it passes through 2 paddocks and past a hatching station, all featuring up close encounters with AA dinosaur figures. Lastly, it enters the T-Rex paddock, staged as exterior inside a show building. Here a close encounter with a raging T-Rex occurs as it threatens to break out of its habitat once again and come after the jeep, but the jeep safely continues and makes it back to the Welcome Center just in time.

To the left of the Welcome Center is a lab building that holds a musical family dark ride where Mr. DNA tells the story of how dinosaurs have returned to walk the earth. To the right is the modern retail and dining area, which includes a food-court quick service with Caribbean and Latin menus and a carousel with dinosaur figures. The park loop train passes by on overhead monorail-like tracks, separating this first area from the other 2 areas.

The Aviary is to the left and is clearly dominated by a huge curved enclosure wall at the back, labeled as holding for flying dinosaurs. In front is a smaller circular habitat that is called the rehabilitation enclosure. Netting on the sides and top allow guests to see into this space and a ramp leads up to a second floor entrance. Inside guests look out over a small habitat that holds a pair of pterodactyls on the rocks below, a spinner attraction that is themed to a flight training device for injured dinos, and an entrance to an aviary rehab walk through attraction where guests can get close to multiple dinosaur AA figures while learning from the doctors and trainers. To the right of this area is a helicopter on a raised pad, marking the entrance to the next attraction. The queue leads into the field operations center of the main aviary where guests are invited to ride on a helicopter into the aviary to help locate a newly hatched dinosaur. This attraction is a flight simulator with a unique helicopter vehicle that "flies" up into a projection dome, and is supplemented with wind, smells, and water spray. This area also includes a quick service restaurant and a small outdoor plaza where small dinosaur demonstrations take place.

A path at the lagoon level leads across to the other side of the land and the third area. The Plains are where the majority of the dinosaurs in the park live and features a pair of attractions that get guests as close to the animals as possible. To the left is a roller coaster attraction where guests can speed through one of the paddocks of the park and come up close to a few dinos along the wild ride. This coaster features a launch and a top hat at the rear of the paddock and a loop over the lagoon as main elements. To the right, marked by a tall observation tower structure, is a multi-part walk through attraction where guests view multiple animal habitats. The walkthrough leads first through an interior briefing room before entering a wooded paddock where a few small AA dinos can be found. Then guests stop at an educational outpost where a park trainer introduces us to an interactive small dinosaur. After that, guests enter a building and move to the second floor for a glass tunnel walk above another paddock, giving guests the chance to be face to face with some larger dinosaurs below. Finally, guests are led to a simulated elevator up to the top of an observation deck for a view over the whole park. This indoor projected 180 degree overlook shows guests a time accurate view of the park and information tablets let guests learn about many of the areas and dinosaurs that are visible. Back outside, this area lastly includes a Jurassic Park Jeep photo op.

Ghostbusters

This land is set in Manhattan during the period when the Ghostbusters were at the peak of their fame and business. The whole city seems to be haunted, and the Ghostbusters are there to save the day one call and one ghost at a time. The land begins with a retail street that includes a corner Bodega quick service, and leads underneath an elevated bridge for the park loop train before opening up to the main view of the Ghostbusters HQ firehouse ahead on the corner. To the right is a force perspective street that gives a view far beyond into the city. To the left is more retail, a diner quick service that is a cheesy knockoff haunted restaurant to take advantage of the Ghostbusters popularity, a small area of Central Park, and an imposing apartment tower at the end of the street. Ghostly apparitions may pop out of windows or storefronts around the land if guests look close enough, and Ecto-1 makes periodic drives through the land on the way to a call.

Inside the Ghostbusters HQ is a trackless shooting dark ride where guests board Ecto Vehicles and are sent out on a ghost hunting shift in the streets of New York. After rounding up ghosts on the streets, guests end up joining forces with the Ghostbusters team to take down a particularly elusive apparition and we eventually witness it being captured by a Trap. The targets throughout the ride are primarily physical figures and props, supplemented with projected backgrounds. Down the street, the imposing tall building is a drop tower attraction, set inside an apartment building infested with dark and terrifying ghosts who love to scare residents away by interfering with the elevators. Guests try to survive in the tower long enough for the Ghostbusters team to answer the call and trap the ghosts.

The Central Park area includes a peaceful lake and tree-lined pathways surrounding it. On the lake is a swan boat ride, but spirits in the lake enjoy popping out of the water to startle riders. Across the park, accessed through a drainage tunnel, is a special effects show where guests witness a scientific demonstration. Set in an eerie haunted sewer under the city where a river of green ectoplasm has been discovered, Venkman leads a demonstration that goes slightly wrong. The ectoplasm has an unexpected reaction to his tests and a familiar green ghost appears once again to terrorize the team. The ghost is captured soon enough after an impressive display of lighting, water, wind, and pyro effects, including an explosion of ectoplasm goo.

Aliens

This land is entirely set indoors and takes place inside Gateway Station and at Hadley’s Hope, the exo-moon terraforming colony where the Alien carrying ship crash landed. This is during the period before the colony was wiped out by the Aliens but after the known existence of the threat. The entrance leads through a futuristic docking bay and into the double height central spine of the space station, filled with retail. The park loop train passes through, inside of an elevated tunnel with look out openings down to the space station floor. Above, a glass ceiling is tinted and treated to look like the dark starry sky of space. At the end of the hall, another docking bay is labeled as transport to the exo-moon colony. Guests walk through it past huge vehicles and supplies being sent to the colony and emerge from the other side at the final destination on the surface of the exo-moon.

Guests walk out into the exterior work yard of the colony, staged completely inside with a dark starry sky above. The buildings around the yard hold retail, a cafeteria quick service, and a laser tag combat training experience where guests can try to keep up with the standards of the colony commandos in a series of combat trials. The main entrance to the underground complex ahead leads to the main attraction of the land. While receiving the new arrival orientation, an unexplained and brutal attack in a remote area of the complex is discovered. But guests are assured they will be safe and are sent out in a trackless shuttle vehicle to their new posts. The dark ride begins calmly but quickly another attack is reported, the power begins to malfunction, and the Alien is spotted for the first time. The shuttles quickly begin to reroute us to a secure holding room, but our route leads right to a face to face encounter with the Alien, leading to a fast and exciting escape through the maze of the colony complex, all while trying to survive. Finally, guests disembark in a secure holding bay while hearing reports that the Alien has disappeared completely, at least for now.

Back to the Future

This land is set in the courthouse square of Hill Valley during 3 different years: 1955, 1985, and 2015. The stories present in the land are new adventures that take place around and during the events of the original movies, but are initiated by acts in the future after the end of the film series. Years after returning from the old west and resettling in Hill Valley, Marty and Doc Brown are forced to go back again through their past adventures after the DeLorean is taken on a joyride by Biff after washing it. He now has accidently jumped to the past and is taking the opportunity to change his personal history. Luckily Doc has built a new model time machine, also in a DeLorean of course, so they begin to chase him down and revisit both the past and the future and we are tagging along. The park loop train passes through this land and rides on an elevated berm that separates the 3 areas, and it stops at train stations in 1955 and 2015. The train passes through an indoor tunnel between the stations where it passes through a time travel vortex and jumps to the future.

From the hub land, the first of the three courthouse squares is set in 1985, but not the original 1985 as seen in the first movie. This is the cleaned up, idealized version of the city that Marty returned to after things were fixed in the past. The square is filled with active businesses, not boarded up storefronts, and the square is a park, not a parking lot. The buildings here hold retail and a quick service BBQ restaurant. One building holds a movie theater, where there is a special showing of the new 3D adaptation of "A Match Made in Space", the bestseller by George McFly. This is a 15 minute 4D movie that takes guests into the wildly successful story that revitalized the fortunes of the McFly family. Around the corner from the square is Doc Brown's workshop, similar to the shop he had at the start of the first movie, but expanded with support from Marty and his wife Clara. This is a walk through attraction where guests can interact and play with a variety of science experiments that do fun and impressive things.

Back in the square, the primary attraction of the land begins at the courthouse, where a museum dedicated to the city is located. Guests pass through galleries with photos and artifacts of the town, and also pass by an open door to a hall where Doc and Marty can be seen down the hall discussing something in what looks like a panic. Guests then enter a small enclosed gallery for a pre-show. Ahead is a display case with some historic newspapers and a TV screen that starts to show a documentary about the town. But as guests watch, the newspapers in the case start to slowly fade away and the documentary jumps to static, before both start to slowly return with a different story about the history of the town, including a story about Mayor Biff winning his first election at the age of 22. The doors open and guests continue into a back storage room that is a second pre-show where a musion effect shows Doc Brown and Marty in conversation. They are talking about how the DeLorean is missing and now history is suddenly changing and it must be connected. They spot us and say that we've already heard too much so we might as well help. Doc says to follow him to his secret workshop across the street, and guests continue through the queue out into an alleyway and into a lab space hidden away in a storefront. This queue is a high tech space where Doc Brown is building a group of new time machines, and we are going to get to ride one in just a moment. Final queue videos give us instructions, that we have to help go find Biff whenever he is and get him back here before too much changes. Doc can track the ripples in time that show when his DeLorean has been, so we are being sent to follow that trail.

Guests then load into a DeLorean that is a slot car dark ride vehicle with motion capabilities and speed out of the garage into the streets. From there, the car enters a projection dome, "hovers" up, and shoots off at high speed into time. The fast paces attraction jumps the vehicle through many scenes in different times while trying to calibrate on Biff, including the old west, 1955, and 2015. Scenes combine physical sets, projection extension, and projection tunnels to create the varied settings and the time jumps between them. Along the way, we see both young and original Biff conspiring in 1955 but he gets away into the future before Doc Brown can arrive. Later in 2015, in a portion that relies more on projection domes, our vehicle is hover chasing Biff's DeLorean through the sky along with Doc and Marty. They magnetically latch to him and jump back to the present. We try to follow but our time circuit was accidentally shorted from a rough hover collision in the crash, so we end up in 1955 again instead.

After a full system restart, the computer comes back on line and is ready to make another attempt. The climax of the ride happens as we make this final jump back to the present. We just happen to be on the street leading to the courthouse square, so our vehicle speeds up along the dark interior street towards the interior recreation of the square and hits 88 mph exactly while passing the courthouse, sending us back to the present in a flash of light and spark. Guests unload at the lab and are thanked for helping save history.

To the left of 1985 is the 1955 version of the square, but this is not the same as the movie since Biff has been here and started to interfere. Tunnels under the park loop train berm lead guests to this retro downtown Hill Valley. The area to the south of the square includes retail, the local train station, where the park loop train makes stops, and an auto garage building that holds an indoor bumper cars attraction where guests ride on junked retro cars. Ahead, in the main square, there is more retail, Lou's Cafe quick service restaurant, and two attractions. In the downtown theater, the local high school prom is taking place. In this version of 1955, a water main break at the school gym forced a relocation, so guests are able to walk into the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance and participate in a music and dance show featuring a live band.

Across the square, the other attraction is a trackless dark ride where guests are chased around town by Biff and his pack of greasers. Guests enter into the local car dealership and load into test drive cars in the back alley before rolling off into the back streets and neighborhoods of the city. We enter a dark alley where we encounter young Biff in his hot rod, who accuses us of scratching his car and says we are going to pay for it. Our vehicle quickly zooms away and a chase through downtown begins, where our vehicle zooms through the streets and repeatedly encounters Biff and his friends. This includes simulated speed tunnels and other freely moving trackless car vehicles that we weave around as we evade Biff. Just as we think they have us trapped in a dead end alley, a flying DeLorean appears in the sky ahead, distracting everyone and allowing us to escape back to the rental car dock and unload.

On the other side of the land is the 2015 version of Hill Valley, also accessed through tunnels under the berm. This future is similar to the one from the movies, but with references to Biff's 20 year run as mayor and current position as senator. The area south of the square also holds the train station and retail, but these buildings are much more modern and inventive than those of the last two time periods. Digital "hologram" screens and kinetic movement are all over. Ahead, the courthouse square features a pond at the center and is surrounded by retail, a quick service restaurant, Cafe 80's from the second movie, and a table service steakhouse restaurant in the courthouse. On the second floor of a building overlooking the square is a modern jetpack style spinner flat ride that is enclosed in a geodesic dome frame, taking guests high above the city and serving as an iconic piece of architecture for the time.

Behind the courthouse is the Hill Valley Art Museum and it holds a dark ride attraction through a reassembled, though inaccurate, history of past society. Inspired by the artifacts from the Blast to the Past Store, the dark ride takes guests through a comedic history story, featuring high tech "holo projectors” that place guests right in the scenes from the past. The final attraction is set in the Hill Valley Transit Department and is a flying theater voyage through and over the city of the future that is interrupted by a hovercar chase between Biff and Doc Brown.

The Terminator

This land is another that is set entirely indoors and takes place in the Cyberdyne Systems Headquarters and factory. This is set in the future, just as the T-1000 robot is being unveiled for the first time. Guests enter into a huge modern lobby with a glass roof above, which holds retail. The park loop train passes through on an elevated suspended bridge. The lobby hall leads forward and opens up to a formal factory atrium space, where suspended assembly lines fill the atrium above, with terminator parts moving along continuously. This is a clean modern space, meant to showcase the might of the company. The whole complex is decorated with banners promoting the release of the new T-1000 model. The atrium holds more retail and a quick service restaurant that looks over it all.

Off the atrium, there is a showcase room that is holding a release day demonstration of the new model. This is an animatronics special effects show where guests witness a demonstration of the abilities of both the T-Unit Terminator and the T-1000 as they face off in a simulated battle, culminating with a classic Terminator being consumed in a ball of flames. Back out in the factory atrium, the main attraction is an indoor coaster that begins as a walking tour through the factory before being interrupted by members of the Resistance who have broken in as an attempt to sabotage the rollout of the new Terminators. We are being drawn into the fight and asked to plant an EMP in the center of the factory. They usher us to a backroom where they load us on their vehicles and send us out on the mission. The indoor coaster speedily takes guests through the depths of the factory, but the presence of the resistance has been discovered and security is on high alert. Terminators have been activated all around the factory and are coming for us. The coaster narrowly avoids attack many times before finally reaching a lift platform that leads to the heart of the factory, the main server room. At the top of the lift, the vehicle stops but a T-1000 Terminator rises out from the floor in front of us to attempt to put a stop to our plans. At that moment, the EMP is activated, cutting out power all around the train, including the lift we are on, and sending the train in a free fall down a level. The train then escapes back to the back room we started in, where the resistance thanks us for helping slow down the roll out of the new Terminator.

E.T.

This land is set in the neighborhood that E.T. sought refuge in and in the redwood forest where his ship originally landed beyond, and takes place during the Halloween season of the following year, when E.T. returns for a visit and a restocking of Reese’s Pieces. The land begins with a small neighborhood retail street with a local cafe quick service, all dressed for Halloween. The park loop train track sits on a berm ahead, separating the retail area from the neighborhood beyond, and an elevated trestle bridge sits above the road going deeper into the land. In the neighborhood area, straight ahead is Elliott’s house, to the left is more neighborhood houses, and to the right is a small Halloween carnival set up for the kids of the town. A path to the right of Elliott’s house leads up into the woods behind the neighborhood, where there is a campground and the landing site for E.T.’s ship.

The neighborhood area holds two attractions. Inside Elliott’s house is a dark ride through the house, where E.T. has built contraptions that do amazing things all over the place, like the makeshift communicator he originally built. The contraptions build a musical score that fills the house and the ride ends with the welcome party that the family has thrown for him to celebrate his visit. At the Halloween carnival down the street, there are carnival games and a scrambler flat ride with spinning pumpkin vehicles. The houses in the neighborhood area are also decorated for halloween and guests can trick or treat at them in the evening.

The forest area of the land takes guests into a thick redwood forest above the town below. A campground complex is located in this forest, including a log cabin style building, a bike storage shed, a watch tower, and multiple tents and small cabin buildings. The main building holds retail and a quick service restaurant themed to the camp mess hall. The bike storage shed along the path is the home of the next attraction, a flying bike family coaster, where E.T. has used his powers to allow for all the bikes to fly around the forest. The lift hill takes the train of bikes up to the watch tower and then they loop and weave through the trees on their way back down to ground level. Through the trees farther on in the forest, guests can see glimpses of a silver spaceship parked in a clearing ahead, and at night it glows and flashes with impressive lights. This is the return ship that E.T. took to visit Earth, and guests are invited inside. The queue leads through the forest outside before entering right through the front gangway and continuing through the interiors of the ship. Guests then board individual small spaceships that are suspended dark ride vehicles for a trip through space and back to E.T.’s home planet for our own visit and welcome party. Guests land back in the forest at the end of the ride and exit through a cabin where there is more retail.

Indiana Jones

This land is set in a trio of international destinations that Indy visited at various times on adventures during his prolific years of exploration. The land begins with a retail street right into the heart of the markets of Cairo, and splits from there to 3 areas in this land: Cairo, India, and South America. At the transition between each area, large red dashed lines are suggested in the pavement, as if designating our international travel.

Cairo is formed mostly of the streets and markets of the bustling city. Straight ahead, we can see two layers of transportation: the park loop train passing by above on a raised rickety wooden bridge and jeeps passing by below on a slightly raised terrace level of the market. The streets here include a variety of retail to match the setting and ends at an open plaza that continues left and right. To the left is the elevated train station, a teacups flat ride where guests ride in colorful market baskets full of fabrics, more retail, and a quick service food court style restaurant with a variety of Middle Eastern and African menus. To the right, at the edge of the market, is a dig site walkthrough/play area where guests can explore the excavated caves in search of treasures.

The last element of Cairo is the main attraction of the land and begins in Omar's Garage. Guests are invited by Sallah to board jeeps for a trip out into the desert to see the latest treasure that Indy has uncovered. The jeeps leave the garage and cross under the railroad track above, weave through an area of the Cairo cityscape not accessible to guests, and then enter the main show building for the trip out to the desert. Once there, guests are thrown right into a classic Indiana Jones adventure as the Scarab Idol that he discovered has brought with it a cursed force that has possessed the local diggers and is intent on trapping those who disturb it in a sandy tomb. Indiana Jones saves the day and sends us back to Cairo, where jeeps emerge back into the city streets and find their way back to the garage.

From the center of Cairo, the area to the left is India and is set in a fertile river valley where a lost temple has been discovered. The rear of the area is dominated by a mountainside with flowing waterfalls, including one with a raft flume coming down it to splash down in the valley below. This area by the splash down contains retail and dining, including both a quick service and a table service restaurant with garden seating overlooking the jungle river. After loading at the makeshift dock, the raft flume ride takes guests swiftly through the jungle and around the discovered temple before entering the caverns dedicated to the Bengal spirit that was revered in this valley. Inside, the rafts continue through menacing caves and pass tiger statues before traveling up a ramp and into a ceremonial chamber. Here a huge bengal statue comes to life in front of us and swats at the raft, sending it off along a tunnel of rapids and over the edge of the falls. The raft splashes down in the jungle, floats back through another cave, and unloads at the dock.

Across the jungle pathway, the bengal temple is a walk through ropes course attraction where guests can climb up through the temple ruins and step carefully across a suspension bridge over the river and back. Down the path, a mine that has been thought to hide a priceless ruby idol holds the last attraction of this area. A wild mine car careens out of the caverns in the jungle beyond, drawing guests towards the attraction. Guests board mine cars for an uncontrolled trip through the depths of the dangerous caves in search of a clue to the ruby idol. Partway through the ride, the cars hit a switch that disengages directional lock and allows the cars to spin freely for the second half of the mine escape.

Back passing through Cairo, the other side of the land is South America and is set in the deep jungles where Indiana Jones was led to on his search for the golden fertility idol. From the Cairo entrance, straight ahead through the jungle, a tall stone temple entrance tower pokes through the trees. This first area is an outpost village on the edge of the wilderness and holds retail and quick service dining. Across the path is a lagoon with a seaplane parked in it, and coaster track zooming through the jungle behind it. Also visible is a large stone platform quickly shooting back and forth through the vegetation. This is a disk-o flat ride that traverses the track through the jungle and one one side peaks above the trees and a ceremonial plaza below, and on the other side enters into a cave opening and peaks above a bubbling lagoon of fire.

The stone temple that is visible is the entrance to the last attraction of the land. A tunnel leads from that entrance back towards the show building, where guests board archeological utility vehicles in the ruins of a lost temple. The coaster is a multi-launch terrain coaster that races through both indoor scenes of the temple ruins and the outdoor jungle, all while dodging various booby traps that are still active, including darts, fire, and of course a rolling ball at the end.