A feature from the LA Times goes behind the scenes of the recent Indiana Jones Adventure refurbishment, as the ride reopens today at Disneyland. Changes to the attraction include updates to increase capacity.
Indiana Jones Adventure Refurbishment
The ride is so complex it requires a yearly refurbishment. This most recent one was six weeks. In 2025, it went through two short refurbishments and its full pre-show returned. Earlier this year, the bridge effect was restored, and props at the exit were refreshed.
“Every attraction is different,” said DiBernardo. “Indiana Jones typically has a refurbishment every year just because of the size of the attraction and the amount of work that goes into keeping this attraction up. It all depends on the needs for improving show quality or maintenance reliability.”
Engineering modifications increase capacity by about 125 guests per hour — a total of 1,000 more guests per day, said Nicholas DiBernardo, an area manager for Attractions Engineering Services. The updates will also increase the attraction’s reliability, reducing downtime.
One change was to the doors that lead to Mara in the first major show scene. The doors were previously controlled by hydraulic actuators that risked spillage and would sometimes fail, leading to downtime or the doors remaining open, ruining the scene. Plus, it slowed down the ride.
Now the doors are fully electric, making them easier to maintain and more dependable.
Back in May, an adjustment was made in the loading and unloading process. With a mix of hardware and software changes made over the past year, the vehicles now park more accurately. Previously, they would sometimes miss their precise position, and operators had to send the vehicles without guests to reset them.
The door update and loading process fix both help increase capacity.
The biggest cause of downtime, however, is guest belongings.
“Our No. 1 downtime driver is guest items,” DiBernardo said. “Guests will be on the attraction, and they’ll have a large water bottle or a backpack. All the vehicles have a pouch for them to store everything, but if they don’t do that, there’s many twists and turns throughout the ride, and those articles can fly out. We’ll have to stop the ride. Not only are we working on ways we can improve maintenance reliability, we’re also working with our operations to help notify guests to store their items.”
To help with this issue, each vehicle has been outfitted with new bigger pouches that will hopefully make it easier for riders to store their items.
All the figures in the ride were dusted and repainted with blacklight paint. The Indiana Jones Audio-Animatronics were disassembled and rebuilt. Indy and all the figures are now operating with full mobility.
More large spiders and “creepy critters” were added to a tunnel. Lighting has been refreshed, making details easier to see.
Unfortunately, the reopening of Indiana Jones Adventure was delayed on Friday morning. According to the Disneyland app, it is now open. Stay tuned for further coverage.
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