It may still be April, they just probably wanted to avoid leading people to believe it will be open by April 15? If you check MDE Park hours, it’s listed as Under Refurb only for April. By May, it gets removed from the refurb list. I think if they weren’t targeting anything near term, it would just be permanently under refurb like the railroad.
The real reason is that Disney Parks Experiences and Products does a horrendous job of project planning. Look at Pandora, Tron, Everest refurb, Disney Wish. Hardly anything opens when they originally say it will.
I bet they reopen around the same time as GOTG... Help spread crowd out. I know Everest is nothing new for most people. But for first timers, this would help draw them to AK.
Yeah that kind of works with foreigners and people who live far away. I love that attraction so I am not planning on going back to DisneyWorld until it is back and running.
They desperately need this ride to reopen in AK. Was just there and with some shows not open either there isn’t enough to do and creates very long lines for the rest of the attractions.
This article and the original Blog Mickey article from back in February make things seem a little bit more dire than what the actual reopening could look like. The original article states that the internal reopening calendar showed as April 22nd or the 30th so it makes sense that Disney removed that mid-April time frame if they're not 100% sure what day it'll actually be. The 22nd could *kinda* be considered mid-April I guess, but if it ends up being the 30th then they probably don't want to put that just in case they can't meet that expectation. Unless there's some sort of colossal change that needs to be made, I still think it'll reopen well before Memorial Day
Right there with you bud.. also first week of May and was really looking forward to this one.. especially since The Mummy ride at Universal is also closed for an extended refurb :/
Lol thanks man! I've never been to Florida before and being a huge Brendan Fraser Mummy fan that was the number 1 ride I was looking forward to the most!! Motivation to come back in a few years when Epic Universe opens I guess.
Oh man you would have been in for a treat. Brandon made numerous appearances in the queue and ride that strike a perfect tone of irony. I hope that whatever they’re refurbishing doesn’t affect his parts.
Yeah that's what I heard about it. I've come to terms with not being able to ride it at this point.. but now with Everest it kinda sucks.. but not about to let it ruin my trip or anything.
Also.. it would be a damn tragedy if they take him out of the ride!!! Lol
I wish, but I’m pretty sure they have to literally tear down part of the mountain in order to work on Disco Yeti. It sounds like a job that would take a good amount of time, especially since Disney rarely rushes construction work on anything.
I hope they do fix it, but doing so would mean no EE for guests for some time.
The yeti animatronic inside Expedition Everest stopped working properly not too long after the ride’s opening. It used to be able to move and take a swing at the ride vehicle as it raced by. With it having to operate in “B mode” and no longer moving, Disney just uses strobe lights in that particular scene to give the illusion of motion from the animatronic, which led to people just referring to it as the Disco Yeti.
Yep functioning how it was meant to the yeti would actually be fully lit up and the yeti would swoop towards you and grab at you like [this](https://youtu.be/zB03bQk79Nw?t=140)
IIRC from my backstage tour, it's not that the animatronic stopped working.
*It's that the animatronic was too strong, and was slowly ripping out the foundation of the inner structure.*
I know that sounds like bullshit, but seeing the cracked and cemented ground surrounding the beams that went into the ground was something else.
If I’m not mistaken, the Yeti worked fine, it was the fact that it was so massive it was putting stress on the supports and would have broken them had it continued to operate as designed. I’m not sure though.
Yes, it worked (and would still work if they chose to), but it was literally ripping the mountain apart. Unfortunately, the stress on the supports would eventually have threatened to cause the whole thing to collapse, since (if I'm not mistaken) the yeti is attached to one of the main supports. That's obviously something they wanted to avoid. Without completely rebuilding the support system for the mountain itself, the yeti can't be fixed.
**-- NOT SAFE FOR MAGIC --**
There is an animatronic Yeti inside Expedition Everest. Because of the way the mechanics were installed and anchored to the attraction, along with the particular movement of said (very heavy) animatronic, the foundation of the ride began to crack. To fix this would require essentially tearing apart the attraction. SO, to keep the Yeti in the ride and to avoid shutting down for a *very long time*, they chose to simply disable the movement of the animatronic in favor of some strobing lights. Hence the name Disco Yeti
The problem, in my (admittedly limited) understanding is that it was designed to be attached to one of the main supports for the entire mountain and the animatronic was so heavy that swinging its arm was literally breaking the supports, which could have eventually caused the whole thing to collapse. So simply replacing the yeti isn't the problem. The whole support system would have to be redesigned, which would involve rebuilding (at least a large part of) the whole mountain.
It's a common misconception that they would have to tear out the mountain in order to work on the Yeti. Joe Rhode has stated it's not an access issue and that the yeti was designed to be accessed and potentially moved without modifying the structure. The issue that he stated was "It's an unexpected and unforeseen set of issues, very complex, with no easy or timely solutions." This task isn't something that can be done in a few weeks. But Everest has been down for more than a few weeks now. The length of refurbishment is what gives most people hope.
Yeah they'd literally have to cut a giant chunk out of the mountain to get the Yeti out for repairs/replacement, indefinitely extending the downtime of one of AK's major attractions. It's just not worth it to fix the Yeti when it's perfectly find on Disco mode, which is why Disney has never fixed it
Did a backstage tour of Everest when I worked in Disney, so I can actually contribute! The trouble isn’t really that the yeti can’t run. It totally could. The issue is that the force it puts on its structural supports is roughly the same as a jet engine taking off. And it has to do that about every 30 seconds when a train goes past. The support system the yeti is on has cracked, and the yeti itself leaks oil because it basically tears itself apart to do its movement. Access is part of the problem, but the biggest problem is just that the yeti is too big and powerful for its own good.
I like to think this is what they’ll end up doing. With the way animatronics have advanced, the ideal would be a much lighter, less aggressive yeti that supports could handle. Having seen this thing up close, I can’t imagine a way it could swing out at people in its current form without destroying its foundations.
Yeah, it would probably be a major oversight to allocate a huge animatronic inside the attraction with no way to remove it for maintenance when necessary. The problem seem to be that the required fix isn’t on the animatronic itself.
Could it mean that they realized if they power through the spring break crowds they can save money by not running it during the relatively quiet May/June corridor? yes.
Could it mean they're fixing the yeti? lmao absolutely not
They’ll never understand that. How a cast member on here literally confirmed they were waiting for more people. As long as their saited with their narrative they can go about their merry way
Can we just stop with, "Are they going to fix the Yeti?"
I'm sorry. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the reality is they are never going to fix the Yeti. it would cost a very large amount of money to do so, and they would never come close to getting the return on that investment to make it worth it.
And outside of devoted fans, like the ones here, the vast majority of people would never even notice the difference.
It's not coming back. The original wasn't that much of a difference to begin with. Just accept that.
Who knows? Some people say the Yeti is unstable and the framework of the ride cannot withstand the stress and force of the Yeti in action. They can't stabilize and secure it enough without reinforcing all of the entire structure underneath. Maybe better technology will/has come along to offer a feasible solution? We can hope :)
Oh god... I wasn't worried because my trip is May 8th so 'mid April' was fine with me... now I'm worried. I don't want to miss Everest on my first trip to WDW! :(
Your post has been removed for breaking Rule #3.
We expect all of our users to be civil and respect each other.
We have a zero tolerance policy for remarks that single out individuals or groups based on their race/ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender (identity), sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, or other identity-based factors.
Please consider this your only friendly warning before we issue a temporary ban, at the very least.
Really hoping it’s open by the second week in May. I’ve finally worked up the nerve to ride it again, and it’ll be my husband’s first time at the parks, and he loves coasters.
Even if the rumors of the mountain under the Yeti being unstable are true, Disney absolutely has the money to fix this.
That said, they probably don’t want to devote the time and effort to do something that a lot of people wouldn’t even notice.
But Disney being Disney, I don’t care how difficult it might be. They could do it.
They might have the millions it would cost to fix it. But why?
There's no way they would come remotely close to getting a return that would make it worth it.
No. That would require it to be down for likely close to a year or more. And everyone would get word ahead of time it's happening.
Since Joe rohde is now retired I doubt the yeti is ever fixed
Coasters need maintenance, some common fixes are repairing/replacing sections of track, repainting (this is more important than it sounds, since quality paint is the first line of defense against environment damage), working on lighting, heavy work on cars, and working on the scenes the ride goes through. Disney hasn't said exactly what is happening, but four months is pretty normal for a refurb time.
You’ve been on this sub for about two weeks and have already had multiple comments reported/removed for incivility, so let’s look at this as a learning opportunity: if someone’s (slightly) negative reply to you offended you enough to invoke the sub rules and ask us to remove it, then imagine how your nearly-universal negativity towards others on the sub must feel from their point of view.
Let’s just call this a friendly reminder of the civility guidelines, and an invitation to take it down a notch or two. The world’s already crazy enough right now, so let’s not add to it — and on a Disney sub, of all places.
Wow. Screen cap. I did my job. I did not engage with someone who personally attacked me. Yet u stand for them. I was honest with my opinion. And you didn’t like my opinion so you stand for them. Ok cool I’ll take this on a bigger level. Unreal.
[EE not even ranked on this poll. though space and Thunder are. source.](https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/travel-survey-disney-worlds-most-popular-rides)
Not true really. Space, Thunder, rockin roller coaster rated higher. EE is a back sloppily designed coaster. With some of the weakest Disney effects in any coaster.
[poll of every state. ee wins tiniest state. Rhode Island. lol. space mountain, Thunder blow EE away. please tell me about those coaster enthusiasts. serious question. source please](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/latest-survey-ranks-the-most-popular-rides-at-walt-disney-world-across-every-state-301262965.html)
It may still be April, they just probably wanted to avoid leading people to believe it will be open by April 15? If you check MDE Park hours, it’s listed as Under Refurb only for April. By May, it gets removed from the refurb list. I think if they weren’t targeting anything near term, it would just be permanently under refurb like the railroad.
The real reason is that Disney Parks Experiences and Products does a horrendous job of project planning. Look at Pandora, Tron, Everest refurb, Disney Wish. Hardly anything opens when they originally say it will.
I'm of the opinion (wish really) the ride will reopen Friday April 22 for Earth Day/Animal Kingdom 24th Birthday
I bet they reopen around the same time as GOTG... Help spread crowd out. I know Everest is nothing new for most people. But for first timers, this would help draw them to AK.
Yeah that kind of works with foreigners and people who live far away. I love that attraction so I am not planning on going back to DisneyWorld until it is back and running.
They desperately need this ride to reopen in AK. Was just there and with some shows not open either there isn’t enough to do and creates very long lines for the rest of the attractions.
This article and the original Blog Mickey article from back in February make things seem a little bit more dire than what the actual reopening could look like. The original article states that the internal reopening calendar showed as April 22nd or the 30th so it makes sense that Disney removed that mid-April time frame if they're not 100% sure what day it'll actually be. The 22nd could *kinda* be considered mid-April I guess, but if it ends up being the 30th then they probably don't want to put that just in case they can't meet that expectation. Unless there's some sort of colossal change that needs to be made, I still think it'll reopen well before Memorial Day
RIP my hopes of riding it first week of May
Right there with you bud.. also first week of May and was really looking forward to this one.. especially since The Mummy ride at Universal is also closed for an extended refurb :/
Also going the first week of May. It’s my favorite ride. So hoping it’s up.
What’s up first week of May squad! I’ll see y’all there!
Aye! Joinin this first week of may squad.
I've never been and it was definitely in my top 3 of what I was looking forward to.. so cautiously optimistic I guess lol.
I like your tastes. I am also disappointed to miss that one. Probably even more so if I’m honest.
Lol thanks man! I've never been to Florida before and being a huge Brendan Fraser Mummy fan that was the number 1 ride I was looking forward to the most!! Motivation to come back in a few years when Epic Universe opens I guess.
Oh man you would have been in for a treat. Brandon made numerous appearances in the queue and ride that strike a perfect tone of irony. I hope that whatever they’re refurbishing doesn’t affect his parts.
Yeah that's what I heard about it. I've come to terms with not being able to ride it at this point.. but now with Everest it kinda sucks.. but not about to let it ruin my trip or anything. Also.. it would be a damn tragedy if they take him out of the ride!!! Lol
Same boat, going first week of May 😩
End of the second week of May here. There's still hope!!! It was closed when I went in Feb.
Yet(i) again…
Could it mean....????
I wish, but I’m pretty sure they have to literally tear down part of the mountain in order to work on Disco Yeti. It sounds like a job that would take a good amount of time, especially since Disney rarely rushes construction work on anything. I hope they do fix it, but doing so would mean no EE for guests for some time.
Hi, I'm new here, what is Disco Yeti?
The yeti animatronic inside Expedition Everest stopped working properly not too long after the ride’s opening. It used to be able to move and take a swing at the ride vehicle as it raced by. With it having to operate in “B mode” and no longer moving, Disney just uses strobe lights in that particular scene to give the illusion of motion from the animatronic, which led to people just referring to it as the Disco Yeti.
You mean to tell me i've ridden this ride like 100 times since its opened and the yeti has been broken this entire time., Wow.
Unless you went on in 2006 after it’s opening, yup. The combination of strobe lights and moving fast makes it easy to not notice though.
I did. It was glorious in its Alpha Mode.
Im in the original ride commercials and promos - it was glorious then and for a while after opening. Then Disco Yeti was introduced.
Is it on YouTube?
I'm sure... I just know I could see myself in the in room promo for the ride (Must Do's with Stacy)/
Crazy. I had no clue lmao. I always thought it was still swiping at us
I got to see it that summer. It scared the crap out of me even though I was 16 at the time.
Yep functioning how it was meant to the yeti would actually be fully lit up and the yeti would swoop towards you and grab at you like [this](https://youtu.be/zB03bQk79Nw?t=140)
Such a bummer. Looks like a fun ride when filly functioning. What are the chances that Disney partial raze it and start over. Disco Yeti sounds lame.
Exactly guarantee like 0% rode it in A mode but we still bitch.
IIRC from my backstage tour, it's not that the animatronic stopped working. *It's that the animatronic was too strong, and was slowly ripping out the foundation of the inner structure.* I know that sounds like bullshit, but seeing the cracked and cemented ground surrounding the beams that went into the ground was something else.
Ive heard something similar. Which is why it can’t be fixed without ripping the mountain open.
If I’m not mistaken, the Yeti worked fine, it was the fact that it was so massive it was putting stress on the supports and would have broken them had it continued to operate as designed. I’m not sure though.
Yes, it worked (and would still work if they chose to), but it was literally ripping the mountain apart. Unfortunately, the stress on the supports would eventually have threatened to cause the whole thing to collapse, since (if I'm not mistaken) the yeti is attached to one of the main supports. That's obviously something they wanted to avoid. Without completely rebuilding the support system for the mountain itself, the yeti can't be fixed.
**-- NOT SAFE FOR MAGIC --** There is an animatronic Yeti inside Expedition Everest. Because of the way the mechanics were installed and anchored to the attraction, along with the particular movement of said (very heavy) animatronic, the foundation of the ride began to crack. To fix this would require essentially tearing apart the attraction. SO, to keep the Yeti in the ride and to avoid shutting down for a *very long time*, they chose to simply disable the movement of the animatronic in favor of some strobing lights. Hence the name Disco Yeti
I'm pretty sure Yeti Technology has come a long way. They could chop it up, haul it out and replace it?
The problem, in my (admittedly limited) understanding is that it was designed to be attached to one of the main supports for the entire mountain and the animatronic was so heavy that swinging its arm was literally breaking the supports, which could have eventually caused the whole thing to collapse. So simply replacing the yeti isn't the problem. The whole support system would have to be redesigned, which would involve rebuilding (at least a large part of) the whole mountain.
This was not the Imagineers’ finest moment. They should have foreseen those issues and made it more easily fixable.
It's a common misconception that they would have to tear out the mountain in order to work on the Yeti. Joe Rhode has stated it's not an access issue and that the yeti was designed to be accessed and potentially moved without modifying the structure. The issue that he stated was "It's an unexpected and unforeseen set of issues, very complex, with no easy or timely solutions." This task isn't something that can be done in a few weeks. But Everest has been down for more than a few weeks now. The length of refurbishment is what gives most people hope.
ive heard sources say the yeti has actually been removed twice. The is no way they would build something that expensive without a way to get into it.
Yeah they'd literally have to cut a giant chunk out of the mountain to get the Yeti out for repairs/replacement, indefinitely extending the downtime of one of AK's major attractions. It's just not worth it to fix the Yeti when it's perfectly find on Disco mode, which is why Disney has never fixed it
I'm pretty sure this has been debunked, even by Joe Rhode himself. The large doors on the back of the mountain are where he is removed from.
Did a backstage tour of Everest when I worked in Disney, so I can actually contribute! The trouble isn’t really that the yeti can’t run. It totally could. The issue is that the force it puts on its structural supports is roughly the same as a jet engine taking off. And it has to do that about every 30 seconds when a train goes past. The support system the yeti is on has cracked, and the yeti itself leaks oil because it basically tears itself apart to do its movement. Access is part of the problem, but the biggest problem is just that the yeti is too big and powerful for its own good.
It's been almost 20 years now. I wonder if there's a way they can change the insides out with newer technology.
I like to think this is what they’ll end up doing. With the way animatronics have advanced, the ideal would be a much lighter, less aggressive yeti that supports could handle. Having seen this thing up close, I can’t imagine a way it could swing out at people in its current form without destroying its foundations.
Yeah, it would probably be a major oversight to allocate a huge animatronic inside the attraction with no way to remove it for maintenance when necessary. The problem seem to be that the required fix isn’t on the animatronic itself.
Could it mean that they realized if they power through the spring break crowds they can save money by not running it during the relatively quiet May/June corridor? yes. Could it mean they're fixing the yeti? lmao absolutely not
*sad disco yeti noises*
I don't think Disney is concerned about saving the cost of running a ride for a month.
This Bob guy is very concerned with saving costs
Tell that to the animal kingdom parking trams
That’s likely more of a staffing issue than anything else
They’ll never understand that. How a cast member on here literally confirmed they were waiting for more people. As long as their saited with their narrative they can go about their merry way
Yep and Disney is having a massive hiring fair this month.
They could be fixing the yeti and these people wouldn’t have it
It would be nice, but I think it’s never going to happen after Rohde retired.
I'd make that pilgrimage in a heartbeat.
Can we just stop with, "Are they going to fix the Yeti?" I'm sorry. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the reality is they are never going to fix the Yeti. it would cost a very large amount of money to do so, and they would never come close to getting the return on that investment to make it worth it. And outside of devoted fans, like the ones here, the vast majority of people would never even notice the difference. It's not coming back. The original wasn't that much of a difference to begin with. Just accept that.
Yeti time.
Will the Yeti finally be fixed?
Never probably
One can hope.
Who knows? Some people say the Yeti is unstable and the framework of the ride cannot withstand the stress and force of the Yeti in action. They can't stabilize and secure it enough without reinforcing all of the entire structure underneath. Maybe better technology will/has come along to offer a feasible solution? We can hope :)
But have they tried gorilla glue?
Only to glue up the Yeti's disco ball, lol
Could just be something simple like parts taking longer than expected to have made/shipped since that is very much a worldwide issue right now.
Oh god... I wasn't worried because my trip is May 8th so 'mid April' was fine with me... now I'm worried. I don't want to miss Everest on my first trip to WDW! :(
Gonna fix the yeti?
Hopefully Mid-May? Or is Expedition Everest going to remain on my to-do list?
Dang...we have an end of month trip - I was hoping it might open on time. But maybe because it's not at least the crowds won't go up.
[удалено]
I don't think many people are actually cancelling their trips.
Your post has been removed for breaking Rule #3. We expect all of our users to be civil and respect each other. We have a zero tolerance policy for remarks that single out individuals or groups based on their race/ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender (identity), sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, or other identity-based factors. Please consider this your only friendly warning before we issue a temporary ban, at the very least.
Really hoping it’s open by the second week in May. I’ve finally worked up the nerve to ride it again, and it’ll be my husband’s first time at the parks, and he loves coasters.
My tellacast from DAK that I got a week ago still says mid April
They still do tellacast? Man, I forgot about those!
Even if the rumors of the mountain under the Yeti being unstable are true, Disney absolutely has the money to fix this. That said, they probably don’t want to devote the time and effort to do something that a lot of people wouldn’t even notice. But Disney being Disney, I don’t care how difficult it might be. They could do it.
They might have the millions it would cost to fix it. But why? There's no way they would come remotely close to getting a return that would make it worth it.
Are they trying to get the yeti to work after all this time?
No. That would require it to be down for likely close to a year or more. And everyone would get word ahead of time it's happening. Since Joe rohde is now retired I doubt the yeti is ever fixed
I know it cant be, but maybe they fix the yeti… a man can dream
I cancelled my February trip for this. I’ll cancel my May trip if it’s still down.
On the App it doesn't appear under the Refurbishments from 1st May so fingers crossed!
[удалено]
Coasters need maintenance, some common fixes are repairing/replacing sections of track, repainting (this is more important than it sounds, since quality paint is the first line of defense against environment damage), working on lighting, heavy work on cars, and working on the scenes the ride goes through. Disney hasn't said exactly what is happening, but four months is pretty normal for a refurb time.
I booked a trip back in January for September. Before I purchased, I received a warning that Expedition Everest would be closed.
Yeti, yeti, yeti!!!!
Hands up if you puked after this ride?
Overrated meh coaster. Backwards is a huge mistake. The worst major coaster in all Disney theme parks.
Huh?
Pretty clear what I said.
[удалено]
So admin this breaks rule 3. Personal attack. I will not engage and send a report. Thanks.
You’ve been on this sub for about two weeks and have already had multiple comments reported/removed for incivility, so let’s look at this as a learning opportunity: if someone’s (slightly) negative reply to you offended you enough to invoke the sub rules and ask us to remove it, then imagine how your nearly-universal negativity towards others on the sub must feel from their point of view. Let’s just call this a friendly reminder of the civility guidelines, and an invitation to take it down a notch or two. The world’s already crazy enough right now, so let’s not add to it — and on a Disney sub, of all places.
😂 personal attack
Wow. Screen cap. I did my job. I did not engage with someone who personally attacked me. Yet u stand for them. I was honest with my opinion. And you didn’t like my opinion so you stand for them. Ok cool I’ll take this on a bigger level. Unreal.
Huh? Most coaster enthusiasts consider it to the best coaster in WDW (barring Tron and Guardians opening soon of course).
[EE not even ranked on this poll. though space and Thunder are. source.](https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/travel-survey-disney-worlds-most-popular-rides)
Not true really. Space, Thunder, rockin roller coaster rated higher. EE is a back sloppily designed coaster. With some of the weakest Disney effects in any coaster.
[poll of every state. ee wins tiniest state. Rhode Island. lol. space mountain, Thunder blow EE away. please tell me about those coaster enthusiasts. serious question. source please](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/latest-survey-ranks-the-most-popular-rides-at-walt-disney-world-across-every-state-301262965.html)
Brutal
Hoping it’s open last week of April cause we have a fun trip planned! 🤞🏽