One of the largest Audio-Animatronics figures in Disney’s history has been broken for almost its entire existence. A monstrous yeti that riders see during the finale of Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, a popular roller coaster at Walt Disney World, may seem to move, but that’s just a stage trick. It’s been broken for 20 years. Following Disney’s announcement of fixing the yeti, one of the ride’s most prominent creative voices weighed in on the future of the figure.
Former Imagineer Joe Rohde provided an update on the yeti fix coming to Expedition Everest. In this story, we’ll place Rohde’s remarks in context with what’s ahead. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including a misunderstanding about canceling Disney trips and new perks for Disney+ subscribers.
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Joe Rohde’s Insight Into Disney Fixing the Yeti
One of the last things riders see onboard Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a huge yeti lunging toward their train. Or at least, that’s what many guests think they see.
This huge Audio-Animatronics monster, positioned in a dark cavern, was originally programmed to move its arms and torso as trains quickly pass underneath it. However, the figure broke shortly after the ride opened in 2006, and Disney never fixed it. The yeti’s foundation is reportedly built into the mountain itself, meaning any attempt to fix the figure would amount to a lot more work than just tending to the yeti.
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As a makeshift solution, Disney placed a flashing strobe light in the cavern, in the hopes that the yeti would still appear to be moving to guests.
Fast-forward to August 2026, and Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum announced that Disney was fixing the yeti to an arena full of Disney fans who roared in approval at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.
Joe Rohde has now commented publicly on the yeti announcement. Rohde was the creative executive and supervising designer for all of Disney’s Animal Kingdom before his 2021 retirement. He spoke about Disney fixing the yeti during an episode of Welcome Home: A Disney Parks & DVC Podcast in October 2026.
“To be clear, they’re going to replace the yeti,” said Rohde. “If they could fix the yeti, they would have fixed the yeti.”
This is new information, as Mazloum’s August announcement didn’t mention how Disney would “fix” the yeti, just that a fix was coming. His exact wording was: “We’re bringing the Yeti back to life inside Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!” It seems that Imagineers will remove the existing yeti and install a completely new figure.
Disney has not announced a timeline for the yeti change.
With his signature, multilayered perspective, Rohde continued to extrapolate the deeper meaning behind the yeti moving on the Welcome Home episode. “The purpose of the yeti, within the context of that story, is to establish that it is alive. That is its job: to establish that it is real and that it is alive. In order to do that, it needs to move, right? That’s really the core story point.”
There are many components to the project that have made “fixing” the yeti a challenge without a solution for two decades. Some of these factors may still be at play for the current Imagineers tackling the replacement.
“The problem, the reason this takes forever,” said Rohde, “is it is exceedingly complicated to be able to come up with something that you can afford to do in a window of time that is expedient to do it … that does not present the kind of challenges that are going to impact schedule. Because if you miss your schedule, now you can’t do it again, right? It’s really, really complicated, and that’s all beyond the logistics of getting the old yeti out and a new yeti in, and all that stuff, on a ride that, frankly, is very popular despite the fact that the yeti doesn’t move.”
Rohde also said the yeti’s movement profile may be different than what it was originally. “What it does is immaterial to me. I don’t actually know what it’s gonna do. I only know that they believe they have found a solution.”
He concluded his remarks on the subject by saying addressing whether current Imagineers will involve him in the replacement process. “They might, but there’s no obligation,” he said, emphasizing his retirement.
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Expedition Everest recently discontinued its single rider line following a new process.
Rohde recently released his book Floating Mountains: The Art of Imagineering the Impossible. I’m about halfway through it, and it’s filled with equal parts insightful leadership reflections and backstage Disney stories that anyone familiar with Rohde’s passion for philosophy and storytelling will enjoy. The book’s title refers to the “floating” mountains that tower above guests in Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
See Mickey Visit’s interview with Joe Rohde for insight behind the creation of Animal Kingdom and other Disney projects across Rohde’s career.
Elsewhere in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, construction is underway on the new Tropical Americas land, which will open in 2027 with new Encanto and Indiana Jones rides.
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