Expedition Everest effects status watch

[Ralphlaw]

Okay, but who's going to pay for this? Ops? WDI? Chapel?

And that's one of the main points. A great organization does not give the customer a less than great experience because of finger-pointing and budgetary squabbles, and a great organization especially does not let that finger-pointing and budgetary squabbling go on for nearly a decade.

 

[Master Yoda]

And that's one of the main points. A great organization does not give the customer a less than great experience because of finger-pointing and budgetary squabbles, and a great organization especially does not let that finger-pointing and budgetary squabbling go on for nearly a decade.

Here is the sticking point...99% of the customers simply don't care that he is static.

We can recite romantic Disney quotes about quality until the cows come home, but the harsh mathematical reality is they would need to shell out 7 figures to solve a problem that nearly all of their customers don't even know exists.

 

[G00fyDad]

Here is the sticking point...99% of the customers simply don't care that he is static.

We can recite romantic Disney quotes about quality until the cows come home, but the harsh mathematical reality is they would need to shell out 7 figures to solve a problem that nearly all of their customers don't even know exists.

I have been saying the same thing over and over. The penny-pinchers in TDO will not want to fork over money for what they consider a non-existent problem. If enough people make noise then maybe, maybe they will bend to the pressure.

 

[NormC]

Again, fur covered cardboard with a hinge and string could do the job better than what we have had in place for the better part of a decade.

Wrong. With proper lighting and strobes and fans blowing the fur around the current broken yeti is still better than a fur covered flat. It is huge and quite realistic even stationary. This dead horse has now been made into gelatin.

 

[Incomudro]

Then why keep the blasted thing there? Grab a shovel and remove the skunk. Air up the tires. Common sense tells me that a decent temporary replacement could be cheaply installed if the yeti was removed. Again, fur covered cardboard with a hinge and string could do the job better than what we have had in place for the better part of a decade. Okay. It's broken, so haul it away (if it's so easy) and put a decent looking band aid in it's place. Again, the facts of the last many years just don't add up to a conclusion that it's easily removable.

I also need to reassert how great the ride was when the yeti was fully functional. The whole thing from the line onward led up to that split second moment of the giant red eyed monster grabbing at you. IT WAS AMAZING; the current iteration is shadow of its former self.

Moving or not moving, it's still an extremely well done piece.
Nothing else will look better.

 

[Ralphlaw]

Here is the sticking point...99% of the customers simply don't care that he is static.

We can recite romantic Disney quotes about quality until the cows come home, but the harsh mathematical reality is they would need to shell out 7 figures to solve a problem that nearly all of their customers don't even know exists.

Sad, but probably true. Yet that "settle for less than great" mindset is exactly what Walt would never have abided. Why is this thread 9 years in the making with over 3,000 posts and 160 pages? Because some of us remember how great the original version was. By far, it was my favorite ride anywhere ever. Now, if I don't ride it on a given trip, oh well. No big deal.

And yet the opportunity to be great again is right there. Just cut through the budget and squabbles, and be great for greatness sake again. The current yeti is pretty much invisible and immobile. If it's easy to do, them remove it and put in a better band aid. Fur, wind, lights and other effects would be far better than the invisible disco that we sometimes do or do not have now.

 

[Incomudro]

Sad, but probably true. Yet that "settle for less than great" mindset is exactly what Walt would never have abided. Why is this thread 9 years in the making with over 3,000 posts and 160 pages? Because some of us remember how great the original version was. By far, it was my favorite ride anywhere ever. Now, if I don't ride it on a given trip, oh well. No big deal.

And yet the opportunity to be great again is right there. Just cut through the budget and squabbles, and be great for greatness sake again. The current yeti is pretty much invisible and immobile. If it's easy to do, them remove it and put in a better band aid. Fur, wind, lights and other effects would be far better than the invisible disco that we sometimes do or do not have now.

Walt settled on many things that were less than great.
We just weren't in on the decision making process.
Now we watch every step of the way

 

[Ralphlaw]

Wrong. With proper lighting and strobes and fans blowing the fur around the current broken yeti is still better than a fur covered flat. It is huge and quite realistic even stationary. This dead horse has now been made into gelatin.

I understand your point, but a cardboard figure doesn't have to be flat. For the last 7 years or so, riders cannot even see the yeti. A relatively inexpensive mannequin or projection would have been far superior to the nearly invisible immobile behemoth they have now. Face it, as is, they don't even want you to see it. If possible, remove the yeti and put in something that's at least visible and somewhat impressive in its place. That could be done for far less than the 7 figure amount that's being bandied about. However, if indeed the yeti is actually very difficult to remove, that would explain why such a handy band aid has never been installed.

 

[baymenxpac]

And that's a problem for me, buddy. I don't mean to be rude by questioning what you say. But when you won't say "Joe Rohde told me . . .", then I have nothing to hang my belief on..

LOL at this dude.

 

[NormC]

I understand your point, but a cardboard figure doesn't have to be flat. For the last 7 years or so, riders cannot even see the yeti. A relatively inexpensive mannequin or projection would have been far superior to the nearly invisible immobile behemoth they have now. Face it, as is, they don't even want you to see it. If possible, remove the yeti and put in something that's at least visible and somewhat impressive in its place. That could be done for far less than the 7 figure amount that's being bandied about. However, if indeed the yeti is actually very difficult to remove, that would explain why such a handy band aid has never been installed.

Actually you can see it quite well now with the new lighting. You could also see it before but with strobe flashes it depended on where you were looking at the time. It has never been hidden but they have experimented with different lighting effects to make it seem like it was moving or appearing suddenly. Now they have decided to just illuminate it. The detailed behemoth they have now is far superior to a cheap mannequin and in my opinion also better than a projection even if he is immobile at the moment. There are many reasons why they haven't spent the money to fix him and most of them have been discussed in this thread.

 

[danyoung56]

LOL at this dude.

Why?

 

[baymenxpac]

Why?

marni has enough of a track record here (seriously, go take a gander at his posts the last six-to-nine months compared to what was announced at D23) to be believed. people don't just come out and name sources, otherwise they wouldn't get very good information anymore.

so while you don't have to believe anything you don't want to believe, basically casting what he says as gossip or a bad game of telephone qualifies as high comedy to me. sorry, not meaning to be rude or offensive.

 

[danyoung56]

As I've said all along, Martin has an excellent rep here, and many people believe implicitly anything he says. I choose to hear what he has to say, but then also listen to others both here and elsewhere, and form my own opinion. It may be wrong, but it's all mine.

By saying that, I mean no disrespect to Martin or anyone else who chooses to campaign for him. It's good to have a knowledgeable source handy.

 

[Fantasmicguy]

People are saying the yeti can't be seen but it's a massive figure even in its static position I have no idea how it could be missed except for the rare times the light is completely turned off. So replacement with a projection would be lame to me as the broken yeti is still pretty impressive its size and detail alone.

 

[Ralphlaw]

In disco mode, it's pretty much invisible to those riders who aren't looking for it.

I refer again to my post of November 2008 on page 16 of this thread. In its original form, the yeti was huge, startling, scary, amazing and overwhelming. Disco yeti by comparison is huh?, what?, was something there?, and definitely underwhelming. I don't know what the latest iteration shows, but it is still a mere shadow of its former glory. Again, if they had known it would be down for this long, removing it and fully replacing it with an acceptable band aid would have been far superior. An average of 10 million guests have visited Animal Kingdom per year for the last 9 years. Of those, let's assume at least 30% rode EE. That's 27 million riders who have not seen the true climax of the entire ride experience. Those 27 million riders were ripped off, plain and simple, due to budgetary squabbles and ineptitude. A decent band aid should have been installed, especially if doing so would have been as easy as some respected posters on this thread are claiming.

 

[Master Yoda]

In disco mode, it's pretty much invisible to those riders who aren't looking for it.

I refer again to my post of November 2008 on page 16 of this thread. In its original form, the yeti was huge, startling, scary, amazing and overwhelming. Disco yeti by comparison is huh?, what?, was something there?, and definitely underwhelming. I don't know what the latest iteration shows, but it is still a mere shadow of its former glory. Again, if they had known it would be down for this long, removing it and fully replacing it with an acceptable band aid would have been far superior. An average of 10 million guests have visited Animal Kingdom per year for the last 9 years. Of those, let's assume at least 30% rode EE. That's 27 million riders who have not seen the true climax of the entire ride experience. Those 27 million riders were ripped off, plain and simple, due to budgetary squabbles and ineptitude. A decent band aid should have been installed, especially if doing so would have been as easy as some respected posters on this thread are claiming.

You are still conflating that "easy" also means "cheap".

 

[Ralphlaw]

You are still conflating that "easy" also means "cheap".

Perhaps, but it's still squabbles and ineptitude that have left this great Audio-Animatronic in pathetic mode for nearly a decade. A good organization simply does not allow this to happen. By the way, to me, "easy" and "expensive" are never the same thing. Raising funds for an expensive project is by definition very hard. Nevertheless, given Disney's cashflow and the importance of this headline attraction, the bickering and finger-pointing never should have gone on for 9 years.

 

[becca_]

The bird is back (!), screenshotted from a YouTube video posted July 23rd, 2017

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I had never noticed the bird before!!!! When was this function working??

 

[dreamscometrue]

I had never noticed the bird before!!!! When was this function working??

Off and on ever since EE opened. Lovingly referred to as 'Bird on a stick'.