Disney made some pretty major anouncements during D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. However, there was one that was TRULY shocking!
©Disney
During the Imagineering Showcase, Disney announced that they would be fixing the long-broken yeti animatronic on Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. This poor thing has been broken for literal years, and now it’s getting some love. But fans had some rather mixed reactions to the news.
Folks Who Were Excited
A large portion of people were actually quite hyped about this news! On our announcement post on Instagram, we had comments like, “Excited is an understatement. I truly never thought I’d live to see the day,” and “I can’t believe it, my jaw dropped. I always thought it was too expensive and not worth it to do.”
©Disney
We got dozens of comments with various versions of “Yay!,” “Woohoo!,” and jaw-drop emojis. One fan said, “The Yeti has been building anticipation for nearly 20 years. Talk about a comeback.” This is a project that fans have requested for so long, and for many people, it’s a dream come true!
Expedition Everest ride vehicle
Of course, no fan is more excited about this update than Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro’s own mother! During a panel at D23, we learned from Josh himself that fixing the yeti has been a request his mother repeatedly made of him since he first started to climb the ladder in the Disney Parks. Now that he’s CEO, he knew he had to make it happen…all for mom!
Folks Who Were Not-So-Excited
However, even though many people were excited, quite a few were also cynical about the project. We got many, MANY comments that said something similar to “I’ll believe it when I see it.” In their defense, there have been a few times at D23 when projects that were announced never came to fruition (though those were mainly related to the pandemic or they fell into “Blue Sky” territory).
Expedition Everest
Others were disappointed that the news qualified as an announcement for D23, saying, “Yay for the bare minimum,” and “I’m not sure how them fixing something broken for almost 20 years is exciting. They should have already done this.” YIKES.
Folks Who Had…Some Questions
Then, there were some people who didn’t necessarily fall into the ‘happy’ or ‘cynical’ camps, but instead, focused on the logistics of fixing the yeti. One commenter said, “From what I’ve heard, won’t they need to literally remove the top of the mountain to get to make a proper repair/renovation? Hopefully they work it so they can actually get to the animatronic easily to make future repairs.”
Lightning Lane at Expedition Everest
Another person shared, “I hope they wait until Indiana Jones +- Encanto are open though. Not sure AK can take another closed ride at the moment.” They make a good point! There are only a few attractions available in that park right now, so it would be wise to wait and schedule another closure for after Tropical Americas opens.
Expedition Everest queue
Finally, there were several comments on posts (ours and Disney’s) wondering how the yeti is going to get fixed. For years, Disney fans have been told that this was a near-impossible feat that was simply to expensive and time-consuming to complete. So did they figure out a new solution to the problem? We’ll have to wait and see!
Expedition Everest
We’ll keep you updated with any more yeti-related news, so stay tuned to DFB by subscribing to our newsletter.
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The Yeti should be able to be fixed by installing another one in a separate location with better and lighter animatronics since the technology has advanced over the last 20 years. Disassemble the existing one without removing any structural elements that may be attached to the actual structure of the ride and hide the leftover pieces with props.
I wish they’d fix the slab-of-cement head rests while they’re at it
Not an earth-shattering comment at all, but – if Disney really wants to fix it, they have the brain power and the money to come up with the ‘right’ way to fix it. They can figure it out if that’s a goal they really want to achieve. I’m glad it might finally happen – thanks Mama D’Amaro!
Mr. Joe Rhode reminded us at an Explorers Club presentation on the Snow Leopard project, that the Yeti was in A DEEP LEVEL OF MEDITATION, and would hopefully coming out of it soon. SAID WITH THE JOE RHODE TWINKLE IN HIS EYE. I have hoped that was code for theY might have been working on the issue and had found a solution and were actively working on it. That was 4 years ago, I believe.
Watch DSNY Newscast. Jack talks about the new innovations in lightweight exoskeletons and how that, coupled with the newer animatronics will likely be used to replace the old Yeti.