Horizon West resident, Disney cast member returns to work after recovery from boulder incident

After nearly five months of recovering after stopping a 400-plus pound boulder from reaching the audience of the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Horizon West's Robert Herrick has returned to the show he considers his second home.

Herrick, a 36-year veteran of the Indiana Jones show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, was left with a gash in his head and fractures in his C6 and C7 vertebrae after the incident that went viral. 

After a successful recovery, Herrick returned to the stage Tuesday, May 26. 

Herrick's start with the Indiana Jones was as the German mechanic, 6-foot-4-inch man who beats up Indiana Jones around the airplane in the third scene of the show and spins a big scimitar. 

Over the past 36 years, Herrick returned to the show multiple times after trying to make it big in Los Angeles but realizing the City of Angels wasn't for him. He also enjoyed a 15-month stint in Osaka, Japan, working for Universal Studios Japan. 

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, or as he fondly calls it Epic, became his home away from home.

“I’m so blessed with really good people, that’s what brings me back,” he said in an interview with The Observer in January. “Disney’s given me an unbelievable opportunity to live my passion and create magic for guests every day. Who wouldn’t want to do that?”