Credit: DisneyA legendary Disney Imagineer recently shared some insight into the issues regarding one of Disney’s most notorious rides.
Disney World
At the Walt Disney World Resort, Guests will find a head-spinning amount of things to do. From thrilling rides and attractions at the Parks to delicious food and exquisite shopping at Disney Springs, Guests can have their Mickey Bar and eat it too!
Of course, Magic Kingdom is by far the most popular Park, but EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom are all worthy of your time too. Guests will find plenty to do at EPCOT, especially in the coming months as Disney finalizes the Park’s transformation.
Currently, Disney is completely overhauling a large chunk of EPCOT, with new attractions on the way. One of the most notable additions will be a Moana-themed attraction that allows Guests to walk through a beautifully detailed new area.
In 2022, EPCOT also received its first-ever roller coaster, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. This ride replaced the infamous Ellen’s Energy Adventure, which had been a staple of EPCOT for several years.
This exhilarating ride takes Guetss on a mission to “guard the galaxy” side-by-side with Marvel’s loveable crew of ragtag heroes like Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is still running strong off the success of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which opened in 2019. Here, Guests can live out their very own Star Wars adventures and stories as they traverse the fictional planet of Batuu.
The land features two incredible rides, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Both of these rides are incredibly immersive, with the latter being one of Disney’s most ambitious attractions to date. Guests can even enjoy some green and blue milk!
Of course, Guests can also experience some of the more “classic” Park rides such as The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Star Tours.
Over at Magic Kingdom, things are heating up as well, with the brand-new TRON Lightcycle/Run now open in Tomorrowland.
This roller coaster was first announced back in 2017, meaning the journey from announcement to actually hopping on a Lightcycle took nearly six years. This attraction first opened at Shanghai Disneyland, with Disney revealing shortly after that a version would be making its way to the Magic Kingdom.
This new adventure is located just next to Space Mountain and is a thrilling, if not short, addition to the Magic Kingdom.
However, if you’re looking for pure thrills, look no further than Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom specifically features some of Disney World’s most intense and thrilling rides, including DINOSAUR, Flight of Passage and of course, Expedition Everest.
Expedition Everest is one of Disney’s most impressive attractions to date, standing tall at a whopping 199 feet. The ride is thrilling, taking Guests on a journey through the fictional “Forbidden Mountain Range” as they encounter the terrifying Yeti.
Expedition Everest opened on April 7, 2006, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, breaking several records upon its grand opening. Expedition Everest was the most expensive roller coaster in the world when it opened, coming in at a whopping $100 million.
The ride also featured one of the most expensive and advanced audio-animatronics in the world, the Yeti.
The Yeti
Disney Imagineering really outdid themselves when bringing this mythological creature to life. The Yeti stands at a whopping 25 feet tall, with its “skin” composed of 1,000 square feet of fabric.
Its range of movement is controlled by 19 different actuators, and its roars were acted by Fred Tatasciore who has done work as The Incredible Hulk as well as other animated films. The Yeti animatronic is truly terrifying, an incredible feat of not just Disney Imagineering but engineering in general.
Unfortunately, this incredible piece of machinery caused issues for the ride, resulting in Disney limiting its movement shortly after the ride’s opening.
Funnily enough, Expedition Everest isn’t the only Disney attraction to feature Yetis. The Matterhorn Bobsleds ride in Disneyland features many Yeti animatronics, although these are much smaller and a lot less scary. These were updated fairly recently and are really cool to see while riding the legendary Disney coaster.
While the exact cause of the issue is unconfirmed by Disney, basically, what is assumed to have happened is that somewhere within the huge Yeti animatronic’s support base a sort of structural issue took place, causing the structural integrity of the animatronic figure and ride itself to be at risk. Not only could further operation of the Yeti cause damage to the ride, but it could also be disastrous for Guests underneath the huge arm of the Yeti.
Expedition Everest has operated longer without a moving Yeti than it has with it, with lots of Guests not even realizing there’s a giant monster at the end of the ride.
For years, Guests and fans alike have debated and theorized what exactly went wrong with the Yeti, but Disney has never made any public statements regarding the project.
Of course, legendary Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde has promised Guests that one day he will “fix the Yeti,” though these hopes were dashed upon revealing his retirement in 2021.
Fans have essentially been left in the dark for years, always wondering if Disney would ever eventually fix the Yeti.
Recently, a discussion broke out online, with fans again theorizing what went wrong with the Yeti on Expedition Everest.
It’s not uncommon to see Joe Rohde share his thoughts on Twitter, and this topic drew his attention, of course. The former Imagineer shared a few thoughts as well as some insight into the problem, revealing that it has much more to do with financing than Guests may have thought:
No that rumor is not true. The issue is a complex interface between finance, operations, marketing, design, timing, engineering, s narrative l, and … guest satisfaction. All of these need to line up to make a viable solution. There are solutions. There are not opportunities.
No that rumor is not true. The issue is a complex interface between finance, operations, marketing, design, timing, engineering, s
narrative l, and … guest satisfaction. All of these need to line up to make a viable solution. There are solutions. There are not opportunities. https://t.co/lozrHfBSbw— Joe Rohde (@Joe_Rohde) June 20, 2023
An Explanation
Rohde explains that the Yeti problem is far more complex than most Guests realize, as Disney can not simply shut down the ride and fix the issues.
He explains that the problem presents multiple issues for the theme park, including financial burdens as well as Guest satisfaction. This makes sense when considering that Expedition Everest is by far one of the most popular rides at Disney World, let alone at Animal Kingdom.
Rohde also explains that the Yeti is a problem for engineering teams as well as marketing teams, saying, “There are solutions. There are not opportunities.”
This statement may spark hope in some, but the situation involving the Yeti is still quite dire.
As for what this means, it’s anyone’s guess. We would love to see the Yeti get fixed one day, as it’s not only one of Disney’s most impressive feats but one of the coolest animatronics on the planet.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom is notorious for having a wide selection of great animatronics. Guests can encounter terrifying dinosaurs on DINOSAUR, as well as an incredible Na’vi animatronic on Na’vi River Journey in Pandora – The World of Avatar.
Many fans thought when this Avatar-themed land opened in 2017 that Disney would take this opportunity to shut down Expedition Everest and give the Yeti the treatment it needs. This, of course, did not happen, but we still hold out hope that one day, this magnificent creation will return to its former glory.
This expansion saw the addition of Satu’li Canteen, a fantastic quick-service restaurant, Na’vi River Journey, a relaxing boat ride, and Flight of Passage, an incredible state-of-the-art attraction that places Guests directly into the world of the Avatar films.
Do you hope to see the Yeti get fixed by Disney? Did you see it move? Let us know in the comment section below!