| A Touch of Reality ...or, just what ARE we actually doing here? |
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| I first came up with the idea for the Spirit of Adventure Project sometime in mid-2003. At the time, I was in High School, and I did a lot of improv work with my friends at the time, and I had an keen interest in the Indiana Jones Adventure (IJA) ride at Disneyland. Seeing as my mother was, and still is an employee for Disneyland, I found myself there a lot. As I rode on the Indy ride several times, I started to notice things. Back when Indy was new, back in 1995. There was a legendary line. At least 3 hours on a good day. And you had to wait, step by step, walking through this queue, which was set up like a real temple, with lost of hidden little sights along the way. With all that waiting around, Disney Imagineers designed specifically for the line supplement the ride's "storyline" and to be entertaining. Such examples include the crowd activated "traps" and of course the Marabic enscriptions to decode. It was truly a spectacle of a line. Then, sometime in the 2000's, FastPass was implemented into IJA. The line was split, so people waited outside for an hour or so, and FastPassers kept walking through the line, never stopping to look and see what I used to see back in 1995. When the regular guests reached the front of the line, they breezed through as well. I thought this was a shame. People were being funneled through with no real idea that there was a story going on with the experience they were about to share. What's worse, it seems that no one really cared. They just wanted to go in, and see whatever cool thing was inside. I felt that a ride as grandiose as IJA needed this "briefing" in some way. Thus, I created what was then called "The Guerilla Entertainment Project". After searching the internet for the backstory, fan-created and otherwise of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, I proposed my initial plan. Using our improv skills, my friends and I would dress in 1930's period garb, and plant ourselves in the regular line for IJA, and roleplay out scenes. These were intended to mostly be comedy, and at specific spots in line, we could actually step aside from those funneling through, and have set-piece scenes, next to landmarks in the line, such as Marabic inscriptions. I even had entire backstories written down for my character, and for the history of the excavation. At the time, it sounded like a fun, "under-the-radar" thing to do. My friends and I never really got organized, and to date, the only successful Spirit of Adventure session was performed solo, by me. I came dressed in my best Captain Josh garb. It even got people to believe I worked for Disney. But I didn't, I was just a guy, dedicated to a ride. It sounds, silly, but it was fun. And that is what was most important to me. Eventually, I renamed it the Spirit of Adventure Project. Since my initial inception of Spirit of Adventure, Disney has remedied the need somewhat for my act, by splitting the line so guests at least line up at a point inside the temple where some backstory is explained. So now, instead of having a "high and mighty" cause, that is to inform people of what is sorely lacking, the purpose of Spirit of Adventure is mostly personal. I've somewhat mellowed, straying away someone from the concept of "guerilla entertainment". If people want to be entertained by us, then by all means, let them watch, let them have fun. To me, right now, I'm doing the Spirit of Adventure because I love being Captain Josh. I love to play my character. And I may not have my old high school buddies with me anymore, but I have people who love costumes and playing characters just as much as I do, and we're planning on having fun. |
| ~ "Captain" Joshua Loy, Founder, Spirit of Adventure |