Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom, Disneyland Paris > Reviews (2)

Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril ( Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril) is another of my favourite Disneyland Resort Paris.rides and is located in Adventureland.

The ride opened on July 30, 1993 and is based on the Indiana Jones films, visitors are taken on an adventure riding in a mining train through a lost temple.

When it was built it was the first roller coaster in any Disney theme park with an inversion and it also has the highest height requirement of any Disney theme park attraction in the world. In 2000 in order to make it a more thrilling ride two seats were added to each car and the ride was made to go backwards instead of forwards.

The ride is a short roller coaster ride that has a 360 degree (upside down) loop in it. Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril reaches a summit of around 52ft, with a total track length of 1968ft.

The ride seemed amazingly short and is over before you know it ( I'd say it is less 2 minutes long) The cars are small - 4 seats, or 8 people per car, with secure shoulder harnesses to keep you in (that can be very uncomfortable, if you accidentally pull them too tight towards you).

This is a ride that we have hardly ever had to queue for, and last time we went my daughter and I stayed on it for six times ( we could have stayed on longer but were a bit fed up by then!!)
I think the reason for the lack of queues is that the ride is surprisingly hard to find and tucked away inAdventureland, home of Pirates of the Caribbean and the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. It is actually quite a way out the back of the park, and right on the outskirts.

You begin the Indiana Jones experience by entering the queue (the first time I went on it took me a lot of courage to pluck up the courage - I didn't fancy going backwards and being inverted head-over-heals).

As you approach the ride you walk down a tropical path through abandoned base camp. You progress through a decaying temple that was at the centre of Indian Jones's archaeological dig but is now abandoned which is evident as we pass the campsite with an abandoned jeep, canvas tent, lights, selling snakes, guns, fedora hats etc. As you turn to the left the large sandstone style temple comes into sight and you can see the track going around it. As you carry on along the path you hear the thundering sound of the ride travelling through the loop and the screams of people going down the drops, then you spot the train as it turns upside down ( this is the spot where many would-be riders turn round and leave the queue!!) - my daughter kept tight hold of me so I couldn't escape!!

For those brave souls ( or foolhardy - whichever way you look at it!!) the pathway soon takes you over the station and then you are climbing a staircase onto the station platform itself. We have found (after plenty of practise) that we like to sit at the end that looks like the front but is actually the back - sitting here gives you a much faster ride.

The cars that you ride in are basically like deep wooden boxes, due to their design of high sides they are quite difficult to get into, once in and as you pull the heavy over the shoulder harness down you realise that this is going to a far faster ride than Big Thunder Mountain.

The Mayan Temple ruin is huge and very authenic looking construction and the ride climbs its with sharp corners and dramatic drops.

The train moves slowly out of the station and is tyre-driven backwards around a clockwise 180-degree turn that will smoothly feed you onto the lift-hill and as you are going backwards you get good views of the park. The temple is to your left and as you begin to look down , the train uprights and accelerates into a sharp turn.

As the train straightens out, it curls over the top of a sharp drop gaining speed as it does as it does before rising up on the opposite side of the temple before making another sharp turn. Another drop into the structure of the temple comes followed by a turn. It is at this place that your head gets shaken and knocked .

An abrupt turn and then you are dropped sharply before your head begins to be pulled forward, the incline gets steeper, and steeper as you begin to see the ground appear and disappear in a flash, the train tightly wraps around a compact vertical loop as the sky darts past in a moment before you're up righted and thrown into what I would say is the unpleasant part of he ride as you go through a small 180 degree turn to the right, the up and down a small drop, again a 180 degree turn and into the brakes! The rise, fall and turns on this ride are often so tight that you think you are going smash into the stone-work of the temple - especially just before the loop.

You might be thinking I didn't like this ride from my description but this traditional roller coaster is fun and intense but very short, unfortunately. As I said earlier - I have been on it again, and again, and again........

This ride never seems to attract much of a line, perhaps due to its out of the way location or because it looks to intense for most guests.
If the line is long, the Fast Pass system is in use on this ride.

In conclusion, this isn't one of the smoothest roller coasters and you can get a bit knocked about - especially through the loop, but hold on tight and you'll be fine! This is a good ride to go on to experience your first inversion.

Summary: A tummy turning ride....... can we go again ????