The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is renowned for its pulse-pounding action and behind-the-scenes look at movie magic. But what happens when the magic hits a snag? Recently, Walt Disney World Resort guests got a unique and unexpected twist during the famous Indiana Jones stunt show when a special effect failed. Luckily, a quick-thinking performer ensured the show went on.
The incident occurred during one of the most iconic moments of the show: the recreation of Indiana Jones’s daring escape from a massive boulder, a scene straight out of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). In this carefully choreographed sequence, the giant prop boulder is supposed to roll toward Indy, who narrowly escapes into a hidden trapdoor. But on this occasion, the boulder failed to move as intended.
Reddit user u/TheLastGunslinger shared photos of the mishap, which show the performer handling the situation with grace. The guest wrote, “I’ve never seen the boulder fail before. ”
I've never seen the boulder fail before
byu/TheLastGunslinger inWaltDisneyWorld
Instead of breaking character or panicking, the actor stayed on stage, keeping the audience engaged and improvising until the technical crew resolved the issue. At one point, the performer even pretended to “use the Force” to reset the boulder, much to the crowd’s delight–and it worked!
A History of Thrills and Adaptations
The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! has been a staple of Disney’s Hollywood Studios since its debut in 1989, just months after the park opened. Over the years, the show has undergone various changes to keep up with evolving Disney Park guest expectations.
Gone are some of the original elements, like Nazi symbols and prop guns, and audience participation ended during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the show’s heart—high-energy stunts and movie magic—remains unchanged, delighting thousands of Walt Disney World Resort guests daily.
Despite its long-standing reputation, occasional technical hiccups remind audiences that even Disney magic isn’t immune to real-world challenges. Disney Parks fans on Reddit chimed in with their own stories of mishaps during the stunt show.
“It failed when I went in October of ’22, I have seen the show MANY times and never seen that before,” u/KiefKommando wrote. “…I thought it was super cool how they incorporated it into the show and tried another take (still failed to roll) and they used it as an opportunity to explain so movie magic stuff and then scrapped the scene and moved on to the next.”
Another user, u/swiftekho, added, “We were there on Wednesday and it failed! I don’t remember it ever happening but Indy did the same thing! (Using the force to raise the pillar)…The director came out and ‘reset’ everything so I just assumed it was added to the script.”
Have you ever seen a live entertainment fail at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park? Share your story with How to Disney in the comments!
