Disney theme park attractions are known for cutting-edge technology and the highest quality standards. The company’s artists are especially gifted at seamlessly blending the latest tools in service of storytelling, leveraging tech to bring a character to life. There has long been a not-so-secret exception to this rule, and it’s about to be corrected.
A key feature of a Walt Disney World roller coaster that’s been broken for 20 years will finally be fixed. Fans have been waiting decades for this announcement, and it’s hard to believe it’s really happening! Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including Magic Kingdom’s first new ride for young kids in 14 years and 13 ride reveals for Disney’s biggest projects.
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Broken Disney World Animatronic is Being Fixed
Audio-Animatronics have been dazzling guests in Disney attractions since 1963, when dozens of tiki birds first squawked and sang for guests at Disneyland. The scale of Disney’s Audio-Animatronics figures increased sizeably over time, but one character was infamously too big for Disney to handle.
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Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 2006. The roller coaster is pretty intense by Disney’s somewhat tame coaster standards, traversing forward and backward, outside and in the dark, up and around a faux Mount Everest.
Within the attraction’s story, guests are escaping the clutches of the mythical yeti that guards the mountain. Riders come face to face with the yeti in the final moments of the ride as the coaster trains whiz through a dark cavern. He’s a huge beast. The problem is, he’s been broken for almost as long as the ride has been open.
Imagineers originally installed the yeti as one of Disney’s most advanced Audio-Animatronics figures ever. The 20-foot-tall abominable snowman lunged at the coaster trains as they sped beneath him, moving with impressive fluidity given the figure’s huge size.
However, technical difficulties arose that were beyond Imagineers’ capabilities to solve, a rare situation for the usually razor-sharp technical wizards. The yeti’s foundation is reportedly built into the mountain itself, meaning any attempt to fix the figure would mean a lot more work than just tending to the yeti.
As a permanent substitute, Disney flashes a strobe light upon the motionless yeti, in the hopes that riders won’t notice it doesn’t move as they zoom past it at high speeds. This has earned the figure the fan nickname of “disco yeti”.
Now, the day many longtime fans thought would never come is finally here. Disney is fixing the yeti on Expedition Everest!
Disney announced the news at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, the company’s official convention.
When guests soon ride Expedition Everest, the yeti will be moving in all his ferocious animation, as Imagineers intended 20 years ago.
Thanks to Disney’s leaps and bounds in Audio-Animatronics technology, Imagineers have found a solution to this decades-long problem.
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Disney has not announced if Expedition Everest downtime will be required to make the changes.
The Expedition Everest yeti news is one of many Disney theme park announcements just revealed. Click here to see all the news revealed at D23 with our ongoing coverage!
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