Club Obi Wan

Hey guys I just got back from vacation in Disney World Florida with my family. I did go to the Hollywood Studios Park and yes as an Indy fan I did go to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. I have some great whip information to share with you all. I did see the show one of the last days we were there and it was just as good as when I first saw it many years ago, but now being a whip maker I wanted a closer look at the whip used in the show. SOOO I figured I would see what was possible after the show was dose and everyone had left. With everyone gone and cleared out I walked in the exit boldly, with some sweet talking to the people working there and giving my whipmaking background I started talking to the guy who was playing Indian Jones during the show. After talking with him for a few I asked if I could take some reference pictures of the whip to post on the Indy fan site. He said sure come on back, his next sentence being you are one of the few that get to see as far back as we are not being a cast member of the show (great honor I felt). He brought out the whip and handed it to me saying, here you can hold it, Ammmazzzzingggg I am holding the whip from the show that I saw when I was a kid. I took a few pictures of the whip (seen below) then asked, care if I crack it. With hesitation and resistance in his voice, I convinced him to let me do so. CRACCCK WOOSH CRACCCK, Yes I Cracked the whip twice and it was amazing, biggest high ever I feel. (I wish I would have got pictures of me cracking that whip to add to the cracking whip section but I was so on cloud nine, I did not even think of pictures at that point) I hope you all enjoy the first ever pictures of the whip close up. After sharing the pictures with Bullwhip Borton (DAN) before this post we both think this stunt whip was not made my david morgan (like the stunt indy thought after I said that david made the whips from the original Indy movies) we both think it is a Joe Strain whip. Hope you all enjoy.






Keep Crackin,

James

Awesome story, beautiful whip. At least they got one thing right. Last time I saw this "Indy's" fedora was terrible.

Travis

Nice!

If you don't mind, I'd like to have Dan incorporate this into the main site text.

Mike

Great story. Man, is that a beautiful whip! Thanks for sharing.

Dave

Cool story! I always loved watching the Stunt Spectacular at MGM. That whip looks really awesome too, it has the darker parts of the thong towards the end of the whip just like the Raiders whip in the SoC scenes. Looks sweet!

Here's the whip I saw in May 2008 at DisneyWorld:



From talking to the Indy character he didn't know much about it other than "It's made from kangaroo". I talked to David Morgan and he told me that they have sent whips down there in the past.

One thing that amazes me is how freely they let people handle the bullwhip if you ask, but it's a pitty that no one down at DisneyWorld can figure out how to replace a fall.

xoxo

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

Thanks for the pictures. I was there with my family in'97 and enjoyed the show. Didn't know anything about gear at the time. I bought a leather fedora and what they called a bullwhip in the gift shop and thought I was way ahead of the curve of everyone else in buying gear.

Amazing what we learn along the way.

Regards,

Soup

Excellent! Thanks for posting this James!

TheExit148 wrote:- it has the darker parts of the thong towards the end of the whip just like the Raiders whip in the SoC scenes. Looks sweet!

You beat me to it! I thought the same thing when I saw the pics. Definetly looks like it could have come off the Tunisian set - looks like a Strain whip to me too.

Could somebody redo the hitch in that whip?!!! It's driving me a bit nuts...!

Great story! How cool was that!

For what it's worth, when I saw the show, I asked the cast members about the whip and they said it was a David Morgan.

They told me that they go through about 8 whips a year because of the rough usage and fullers earth......Morgan whips at that.
This whip was made by me though and it was only about two months old when this picture was taken.
~Joe

2 months?!? Wow they must get a lot of abuse. That whip looks years old not 2 months! Crazy!

Well, you have to consider...

The show is what? 30-40 minutes? The cast rotates out, (I think they have two full casts and alternate performances to prevent exhaustion,) but the props get traded back and forth. So, they do that same show EASILY 10-12X a day....6 days a week, 12 months out of the year with only one or two days when the park is actually closed.

The outdoor stage area that they're working on is a surface that has to be roughed up enough for traction, (I never really looked. I don't THINK it's concrete, but it's not too padded either.)

On top of that, the property masters for the shows are most likely NOT whip guys, so...

Maintenance? What? (Hence that rather creative fall hitch.)

I think it certainly says something to the durability of Strain and Morgan's work! Yeah, it's obvious that they've made some "Field Expedited Repairs" to that fall knot, but look at it! The curve, the plaiting, the COLOR!

Actually they only have 4 or 5 shows each day and the surface the whip is used is padded.

Only 4 or 5? I seem to remember more than that...

But then, I think the last time I saw the show was WELL OVER a decade ago.

I know in the peak time the shows are 11:30,12:45,2:00,4:15 and 5:30 and they will add a 6:45 when really busy in the summer and around the holidays, X-mas and the 4th. winter it just 11:30 thru 4:14.

Great story!

I got to play with the fertility idol when I was there. They seem pretty cool about letting the die hards play with their toys.

Gregg