Tonight at the Horizons Disney Parks Showcase Thomas Mazloum announced that they are fixing the Audio-Animatronic Yeti in Expedition Everest! I can’t believe it. This post shares the announcement before adding our own commentary. Let’s get to the news!

On the “Horizons: A Carousel of Progress” stage at D23: The Ultimate Fan Event, Neil Patrick Harris was interrupted by Thomas Mazloum, Chairman, Disney Experiences. It was time for an announcement big enough to shake a mountain to its core: “We’re bringing the Yeti back to life inside Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!” 

Cheers rocked the crowd, louder than the screech of a legendary beast. 

Before we even knew what happened, Thomas Mazloum said the words “Disco Yeti” and Gloria Gaynor was out on stage giving our long-dancing yeti an epic send-off. She paid tribute to our loveable Yeti as only she could, performing her 1978 disco hit, “I Will Survive.”

Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom

Nestled inside Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a majestic (and nearly 200-foot) Forbidden Mountain houses a legendary secret. From the moment you enter the queue, the lore of the yeti comes alive, as you peruse a trailside museum featuring evidence of campground attacks, sketches of sightings, and even a footprint mold of a giant yeti foot. 

Once you’ve boarded an old tea train car and climbed the rocky peaks, you’ll notice a few more obvious signs of the mysterious guardian of the mountain during the high-speed ride, including a few torn train tracks. Inspired by the northwest face of Mount Everest and geological elements found in Tibet and Nepal, Expedition Everest is the perfect hideout for even the most discerning yeti.

Commentary

This was the biggest surprise of the Parks Panel for me. Well, the biggest surprise was Tig Notaro showing up in a yeti costume(?) a few minutes before this. That’s neither here nor there though. The yeti is getting fixed! Frankly, I still don’t believe it.

For those unaware, the yeti has long been a funny footnote (very large footnote) in Expedition Everest’s history. The ride opened in 2006 with a moving, functional, gigantic yeti that was after the trains careening down Everest. In 2007, that same yeti broke and was immobile. Frozen in time, if you will.

Once the animatronic broke, strobe lights were added and the creature was affectionately (at least in my mind) known as Disco Yeti. The broken version still worked surprisingly well with the strobe light but it started the nearly 2 decade long question, “When will they fix the yeti?”

Joe Rohde vowed to fix it. He’s Superman, he can do anything. Well, Superman retired. Fan theories were born that the yeti was integral to the mountain’s framework. They’d have to disassemble the entire mountain to fix him? Yeah, that wasn’t true but it’s a fun theory! It turns out what stood in the way of the yeti getting fixed was probably budget and Animal Kingdom’s disappointing ride roster.

That leads us to this surprising announcement! Walt Disney World has taken on a strategy of enhancing current attractions in the last few years. Big Thunder, Buzz, Test Track, Frozen, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and more have all improved significantly from different scales of reimagining. We are huge fans of this strategy, it’s made WDW a much better place to visit.

After enhancing rides at the other 3 parks in Disney World, the strategy is moving to Animal Kingdom. I’m surprised! There are so few rides at the park and Expedition Everest is one of the more popular options. I would assume this yeti fixing (admittedly, a topic I’m not well versed in) is going to take some time. For a park with so few rides, there’s no good time to do this.

You could do it before Tropical Americas opens and just call Animal Kingdom a half day park. Make tickets half price, let people park hop, give out free lemon sno-cones, whatever it takes! For as much as I love Animal Kingdom, the current iteration without Everest is a tough sell.

Maybe they’ll wait to close Everest until Tropical Americas opens but then there’s not much to take away from the new land’s demand. Counter-programming is important to new projects and Animal Kingdom just doesn’t have much of it. That’s even when they announce a new drone show sometime next year.

I guess the wild card here is if they’ve figured out how to fix the yeti quickly. That seems very unlikely but stranger things have happened. They’ve had 20 years to figure this out, maybe someone finally cracked the code?

Whatever the logistics are, I’m really excited to ride Everest with a working yeti! Melissa and I get on Everest pretty often during Animal Kingdom’s final operating hours. I’ve only ever known Disco Yeti and, with respect to The Bee Gees, Gloria Gaynor and bell bottoms, I’m ready to see something else at Animal Kingdom.

Would I have rather they announced a brand new ride than fix the yeti? Yes, 100%. I’m not privy to the information about what the cost difference there would be. I’d also take a nighttime show over fixing Everest’s animatronic, but I’m a firm believer that the drone show is happening already and they’re just waiting until Tropical Americas is closer to ready before announcing it. If that’s not the case, my view on this project might change.

But for now, I’m excited. This was a great surprise to the Honda Center crowd and something that should make Expedition Everest even better than it already is!

What do you think of the fixed yeti plans? Let us know your thoughts, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below! Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Check out our Disney World Trip Planning Guide to help you out. This site offers discount tickets for those looking! If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate