Expedition Everest
| Expedition Everest | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disney's Animal Kingdom |
| Land / area | Asia |
| Type | Steel roller coaster |
| Opened | April 7, 2006 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Height req. | 44 in (112 cm) |
| Status | Operating |
Expedition Everest, in full Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, is a steel roller coaster in the Asia area of Disney's Animal Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort, Florida. Opened on April 7, 2006, it sends trains through and around a large artificial mountain representing a forbidden peak near Mount Everest in the Himalayas, guarded in the ride's story by the yeti. Built by Vekoma, it is the only roller coaster at Animal Kingdom and, at 199.5 feet (60.8 m), its mountain is the tallest structure at Walt Disney World.
History
Animal Kingdom opened in 1998 without a major thrill ride, and Everest was developed to fill that gap and give Asia a landmark. Walt Disney Imagineering, led on the park by Joe Rohde, researched the project with expeditions to Nepal, collecting photographs and artefacts that informed both the mountain and the village at its base, the fictional Serka Zong in Anandapur.
The mountain was deliberately kept just under 200 feet, since structures at or above that height would have required a red aviation warning light, which would have broken the illusion. It is not a replica of Mount Everest itself but of a fictional, more jagged peak in front of it; Everest can be picked out in the background profile of the range in some views.
The ride opened for previews on January 26, 2006, and officially on April 7, 2006. The 2011 edition of Guinness World Records listed it as the most expensive roller coaster ever built, at a reported cost of around 100 million dollars. Part of that cost reflected the construction: track, mountain and yeti figure rest on separate foundations so their movements do not interfere.
Experience
The queue passes through the offices of a fictional trekking company, Himalayan Escapes, and a museum devoted to the yeti, displaying footprint casts, expedition photographs and sighting accounts. In the story, the railway to the mountain base camp, once used by tea trains, has reopened despite local warnings about the creature protecting the mountain.
Trains, styled as ageing steam-era rolling stock, seat riders two across. After leaving the station the train climbs through jungle and past waterfalls, passes beneath a temple, then makes its main lift-hill climb inside and outside the mountain to a height of about 118 feet (36 m). Near the summit the track ahead is found twisted and broken. The train pauses while a track switch moves behind it, then rolls backwards into the mountain, spiralling down through a dark interior section. Stopping again, riders see the shadow of the yeti projected on a cave wall as it tears at the track, before a second switch returns the train to forward travel and it leaves the mountain down the main 80-foot (24 m) drop, reaching about 50 mph (80 km/h). A banked turn and further passes through caves, with the yeti heard and finally seen, bring the train back to the station. The track is roughly 4,400 feet (1,340 m) long, and the ride lasts about three minutes. Riders must be at least 44 inches (112 cm) tall.
Expedition Everest was the first Disney coaster designed to change direction during the ride, running both forwards and backwards in a single circuit using its two track switches.
The yeti figure
Inside the mountain stands a large Audio-Animatronics yeti, over 20 feet tall, originally intended to lunge toward passing trains. Within a few years its movement caused structural problems at its base, and it has since operated largely stationary, lit by strobes intended to imply motion — a condition long nicknamed "Disco Yeti". As of the mid-2020s its full original movement had not been restored, and shadow projection and sound now carry much of the encounter.