Well your wrong...same ride system but new tweaks...so just stop
I suppose I am in a unique position to comment on this since I was fortunate enough to work on both projects performing different roles for each.
First of all when you are talking about a dark ride system, when it really comes down to it, you are talking about industrial automation and equipment. What makes dark ride technology unique is the ability to place people right in the middle of it and the need to integrate art/media while hiding the technology. Those two factors, people and art, are the two most important elements that make any dark ride project a challenge. There are other aspects that throw up obstacles to overcome (the need to place an industrial robot on a moving ride vehicle in FJ comes to mind as one of the most challenging) but those two are responsible for most of the headaches.
In the epic battle between Spiderman and Indy, in my opinion, Indy wins with respect to overall exerience and the proper balance between technology and art. But, while Indy blazed the trail in terms of EMV technology, Spiderman introduced more innovations in blending show and ride elements. It also introduced the yaw rotational axis. This really allowed us to blend scenic and film with the ride in ways that had never been achieved before.
Indy's ride system is truly dynamic and capable of more than exhibited on the ride. Its design was meant to simulate the feel of an off-road vehicle that is not on a track. The track slot/tow bar design was implemented after a failed demonstration of the trackless system that involved Lucas and Eisner that almost landed them in the hospital - although they never know about the fact that they almost crashed straight into the wall and thought it was all part of the proof of concept. We realized at that time why it is so important to not only have redundant safety systems in place but also why you can't soley rely on RF to provide safety. This goes back to the "people" factor I brought up above. In designing a ride system we probably spend at least sixty percent of the time dealing with safety.
The ride system that evolved with Indy truly is a marvel. The rear follower actuators allows it to almost fishtail. The track being located beneath the ride path allows the feel and look of the ride to be more realistic and the fact that it only uses one electric motor to power the hydraulic propulsion, rear steering, pitch, roll and thrust adds to both the practical nature of the system and the authentic feel of the ride.
Spiderman introduced new techniques for blending film and audio media with a moving ride vehicle. Real-time distortion (or moving point of convergence) is the timing of the vechicle's motion with the how the media is rendered for each second in terms of perspective. Back in the late 90s that involved some complex calculations and techniques that had never been tried. Also consider the physical high-def printing techniques used for the set work that was designed to blend with the film media. That was a first and contributes quite a bit to the immersive effect that I believe adds so much to this ride.
The rotational axis of motion enabled us to introduce a disorienting effect to the ride experience that no other attraction had previously achieved. The audio mix and polyphony was unique in its design and adds more to the adrenaline rush than I think most people realize.
There are many more examples but what I'm getting at is that both rides deserve credit for innovating and introducing new technologies to the theme park industry. But to say that Spiderman is ONLY a tweak from Indy is innacurate. They both achieve what they were designed to do. Indy feels like an authentic off-road adventure through an acient temple and Spiderman feels like a ride through a comic book.
I think the point that the Spiderman crowd is making is that Disney stopped with Indy stateside and with DisneySea internationally. Nothing since DisneySea has come close to the Spiderman experience from Disney in the past ten years. Now Universal is uping the ante with FJ and the next Potter expansion. Where's Disney's anwer stateside to this? Cars maybe. At least there is significant investment in Carsland but we'll have to see if the money has been spent wisely or, like so many of the Disney projects in the past ten years, wasted on corporate BS. I promise you if I (or several others in the industry) had $300 million to design and build a ride it would far surpass anything to date in terms of innovation, experience, themeing and guest satisfaction.