Hi all, a few months ago I posted my idea for a new IJ attraction. It's been slightly reimagined and adapted using ideas from the thread and concepts from the never-built Indy attraction at WDW.
Here's the backstory I've been working on.
Deep within the tropical jungles of South America, countless explorers, archaeologists and anthropologists have searched for the Lost Delta Shrine; an immense temple built as an offering to the river god Ha'ak'nom, The Water Bringer.
Rather, it should be said that what these people sought was what was inside: the priceless, golden “Idol of Rains” which as legend tells, ensures the local tribes would never experience drought nor flood. It was placed within the immense Shrine for safety, protected by powerful curses and booby-traps.
December 1934: noted explorer Colonel Edmund Swann with a substantial grant from the British Museum finally discovers the Lost Delta Shrine with his expedition team, deep within the valley of a lost Mayan people. The enormous Shrine now lies in ruins; thick vines and roots have covered the entire structure, fallen blocks and stone litter the party’s campsite. In fact the only activity in the dead area is the rushing of the river, which runs straight into the Shrine; some historians report that the Mayan people would float the bodies of the deceased downstream, directly into the Shrine.
The British Museum instructed Swann to tell them once the area had been found. Dreading the prospect of waiting months for a response and filled with impatience, he ordered his men to begin exploration of the ruins; a maze of chambers and rooms were discovered, one of the team’s jeeps drove into a chasm, falling into the thick vines of the room below. Seemingly hampered at every turn, progress was slow, several men being injured or even killed by still active traps. “This is not a cursed temple!” he roared, “The only cursed things in these ruins are you half-witted dolts!” The pace of the team’s progress irritated historian Dennis Hyde; vast tablets and carvings were going untranslated, who knows what secrets or warnings they held? His only opportunity to study the texts was whenever they stopped to erect lights, or eat. His brief studies revealed only a repeating phrase, “Seek the Idol and perish by water.”
After weeks of progress, Edmund and his team finally reached the interior of the temple, where canals of fast flowing water swept relentlessly into pitch-black tunnels, which led, as Hyde speculated, to the Idol’s chamber.
Although the museum was offering a huge amount of money to procure the statue, Swann declared, “I have more wealth than I can spend in ten lifetimes but I haven’t a single golden idol!” With a foolhardiness that comes only with vast wealth, Swann climbed into his dinghy alone and drifted into the blackness of the tunnel. Days passed and with no sign of the Colonel Mr. Hyde telegraphed the museum for help.
Knowing there was only one man experienced enough to enter the labyrinthine canals of the Lost Delta Shrine and come out alive, the British Museum hired renowned archaeologist Indiana Jones, with instructions to retrieve the Sacred Idol, and the Colonel also if time permitted…
I've done a quick sketch of the jeep, trapped above the queue. I had the idea that the engine will occasionally come to life, along with the headlights which would illuminate a mural on the wall. This mural would depict grave-robbers drowning with Ha'ak'nom standing over them.
I'll draw a better picture soon:
Here's the backstory I've been working on.
Deep within the tropical jungles of South America, countless explorers, archaeologists and anthropologists have searched for the Lost Delta Shrine; an immense temple built as an offering to the river god Ha'ak'nom, The Water Bringer.
Rather, it should be said that what these people sought was what was inside: the priceless, golden “Idol of Rains” which as legend tells, ensures the local tribes would never experience drought nor flood. It was placed within the immense Shrine for safety, protected by powerful curses and booby-traps.
December 1934: noted explorer Colonel Edmund Swann with a substantial grant from the British Museum finally discovers the Lost Delta Shrine with his expedition team, deep within the valley of a lost Mayan people. The enormous Shrine now lies in ruins; thick vines and roots have covered the entire structure, fallen blocks and stone litter the party’s campsite. In fact the only activity in the dead area is the rushing of the river, which runs straight into the Shrine; some historians report that the Mayan people would float the bodies of the deceased downstream, directly into the Shrine.
The British Museum instructed Swann to tell them once the area had been found. Dreading the prospect of waiting months for a response and filled with impatience, he ordered his men to begin exploration of the ruins; a maze of chambers and rooms were discovered, one of the team’s jeeps drove into a chasm, falling into the thick vines of the room below. Seemingly hampered at every turn, progress was slow, several men being injured or even killed by still active traps. “This is not a cursed temple!” he roared, “The only cursed things in these ruins are you half-witted dolts!” The pace of the team’s progress irritated historian Dennis Hyde; vast tablets and carvings were going untranslated, who knows what secrets or warnings they held? His only opportunity to study the texts was whenever they stopped to erect lights, or eat. His brief studies revealed only a repeating phrase, “Seek the Idol and perish by water.”
After weeks of progress, Edmund and his team finally reached the interior of the temple, where canals of fast flowing water swept relentlessly into pitch-black tunnels, which led, as Hyde speculated, to the Idol’s chamber.
Although the museum was offering a huge amount of money to procure the statue, Swann declared, “I have more wealth than I can spend in ten lifetimes but I haven’t a single golden idol!” With a foolhardiness that comes only with vast wealth, Swann climbed into his dinghy alone and drifted into the blackness of the tunnel. Days passed and with no sign of the Colonel Mr. Hyde telegraphed the museum for help.
Knowing there was only one man experienced enough to enter the labyrinthine canals of the Lost Delta Shrine and come out alive, the British Museum hired renowned archaeologist Indiana Jones, with instructions to retrieve the Sacred Idol, and the Colonel also if time permitted…
I've done a quick sketch of the jeep, trapped above the queue. I had the idea that the engine will occasionally come to life, along with the headlights which would illuminate a mural on the wall. This mural would depict grave-robbers drowning with Ha'ak'nom standing over them.
I'll draw a better picture soon:
