News Expedition Everest refurbishment in 2022

[Disstevefan1]

We shouldn’t be complaining about attractions closing for refurbishment. We should be demanding that every attraction closes for an annual refurbishment.

I wish the would finish the construction site that we used to call EPCOT.
I wish the WDW rail road was running. How many years is it down now?
I wish they would finish TRON so they can get the WDW rail road running again.
I wish they would finish Guardians. How many years ago did they close Ellen?
I wish they would get living with the land going again.
Is Donald still broke in Mexico? I know he was fixed, but he broken again. Did they fix him again?
Honest Abe was broke in the HoP, is that fixed yet?
I miss Beverly. How long will it take to re open Club Cool? Will be have to pay for soda samples when it reopens?

After all this is done. Then they should think about Everest…..

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

and now there is really nobody left with any interest to get it fixed. I don't think we will ever see it return.

What a hideous shame.

When it worked that animatronic was one of the great wonders of Walt Disney World. Blink-and-you'll-miss-it, but *seriously* impressive.

 

[Rich Brownn]

I thought Joe Rohde said in a video somewhere that it was incredibly hard to fix the Yeti. If they’ve been able to remove and put back the Yeti, what’s the reason they cannot fix him? What’s the major problem? Is it that the foundation is what needs repairing and not the Yeti itself?

I may be wrong, but I remember hearing the Yeti is on its own foundation, the coaster on it's own, and then the actual "mountain" So its a box-in a box-in a box. Which makes it difficult to restructure the foundation (The Yeti is fine. The foundation just couldn't support it)

 

[lazyboy97o]

I may be wrong, but I remember hearing the Yeti is on its own foundation, the coaster on it's own, and then the actual "mountain" So its a box-in a box-in a box. Which makes it difficult to restructure the foundation (The Yeti is fine. The foundation just couldn't support it)

The foundation is fine. Nobody would keep a figure with a deficient structure above guests. The foundations are also not within each other, just separate for the separate structures.

 

[RSoxNo1]

So the article mentions that there will be work done on the ride system. Here is an excellent video that explains, accurately and very, very in depth, why Expedition Everest has such a crazy ride control system and offers some insight on why they might be addressing it.



(Great channel for coaster fans, by the way)

Summary: Basically, Expedition Everest was designed to run 4 trains at once, but has been modified to run 5 since 2007-ish for higher capacity. It can do this entirely safely as it has more than enough block zones for it. However, with 5 trains, this only allows for mere seconds of delay at load or unload before the ride goes into what's known as a "cascade stop", where the ride initiates an auto ride stop from trains being unable to advance to the next block zone. Part of this is because, to avoid the trains constantly slamming to a stop right before the yeti animatronic scene, the ride system is told to hold the train at the shadow projection until the vehicle at unload advances to load. Holding the trains longer at the shadow projection is better since they are already stopped at that point anyway. This programming results in the control room operator constantly resetting these auto ride stops, as the ride control system is not capable of auto-resuming ride motion after one has been triggered. So, it's possible that this is being addressed.



He said something about how the yeti is a very complex machine, but was mostly beating around the bush for PR reasons. Marni is correct: both that the yeti figure has been removed on at least one occasion, and that the only reason a fix or replacement hasn't been done is because it was deemed unnecessary as Everest never lost its popularity. The B-mode strobe light fix was supposed to be used sparingly but ended up becoming the permanent solution ONLY because they never wanted to spring for a fix or take the capacity hit from shutting Everest down (though the quick removal of the figure suggests that a replacement wouldn't necessarily require significant downtime, if any).



Bingo! The designers and engineers would had to have been unfathomably stupid to design such an expensive piece of equipment but not give themselves an easy way to work on it!

There are hold / block areas as follows:

• Load
• Unload
• Broken track switch before reverse section
• Yeti projection room track switch
• Right before Disco Yeti
• Outside load station (there might be two here)

Am I missing any?

 

[Tom Morrow]

There are hold / block areas as follows:

• Load
• Unload
• Broken track switch before reverse section
• Yeti projection room track switch
• Right before Disco Yeti
• Outside load station (there might be two here)

Am I missing any?

Load, Unload, the hold before unload, just before the yeti figure, track switch 2 (shadow), track switch 1 (broken track), lift B (big lift), lift A (small lift). A total of 8 block zones.

With five trains, a delay with dispatch at load will result in a train at load, unload, the hold before unload, track switch 2 (shadow), and track switch 1 (broken track).

A delay at unload, if load did dispatch, will result in a train at unload, the hold before unload, track switch 2, track switch 1, and the dispatched train will stop at the top of the 2nd lift.

With less than 5 trains, the programming to hold the trains at the shadow projection until unload advances to load is ignored, so trains may come to a complete stop at the block brake just before the yeti figure, but this is pretty rare. If said programming were not in place with 5 train operation, however, the trains would constantly be coming to a complete stop before the yeti figure.

 

[cranbiz]

I was there for the passholder preview in 2006 (Have the lanyard hanging next to my desk). Every effect was working and the Yeti in A mode was spectacular. I believe I rode it 8 times in a row then.

Disco Yeti is a real letdown and not having the fog effects if you have seen them working is disappointing at best.

I remember once getting evac'ed one time from the backwards track. For a geek like me, walking down thru the mountain just excited me. we did get an anytime fastpass and a bottle of water for our troubles and I got the behind the scenes tour of the mountain.

 

[larryz]

(Great channel for coaster fans, by the way)

He's a chatty fellow, isn't he?

 

[lazyboy97o]

I was there for the passholder preview in 2006 (Have the lanyard hanging next to my desk). Every effect was working and the Yeti in A mode was spectacular. I believe I rode it 8 times in a row then.

I rode early March during “soft” opening. Did five times in a row my first time before I just couldn’t stomach it anymore. It’s such a shame that this attraction that is now known for broken and removed effects was a showpiece that effectively opened early.

 

[rreading]

So I'm sure that imagineering has looked at and thought through all of this, but it would seem to me that gravity could do most of the work with this animatronic. That were there a system to pull everything up after the train goes by and then just let things go slack as the next train arrives. Let the arm fall to gravity as the yeti's body is allowed to drop forward a bit. It's clear from the animatronic video that there's a complex mechanism there, but it shouldn't need something sophisticated - especially as it's a super brief effect

 

[RSoxNo1]

The yeti was a fundamental design flaw. Instead of bragging about it's seize, weight and thrust, the goal should have been making it lighter and faster. I'm willing to bet a new figure absolutely could be created that wouldn't have those issues, and probably look smoother than the current Yeti circa 2006-2007.

 

[lazyboy97o]

So I'm sure that imagineering has looked at and thought through all of this, but it would seem to me that gravity could do most of the work with this animatronic. That were there a system to pull everything up after the train goes by and then just let things go slack as the next train arrives. Let the arm fall to gravity as the yeti's body is allowed to drop forward a bit. It's clear from the animatronic video that there's a complex mechanism there, but it shouldn't need something sophisticated - especially as it's a super brief effect

Letting something free fall above guests seems like a hard “NO!”.

 

[bcoachable]

Letting something free fall above guests seems like a hard “NO!”.

Lawyers always spoil all the fun…

 

[PizzaPlanet]

The biggest mistake might've been making the yeti such a small part of the ride. If it wasn't such a "blink and you'll miss it" moment they wouldn't have gotten away with letting it sit broken for so long.

 

[Magenta Panther]

So how about this: why don't the "Imagineers" pull out the broken Yeti figure they're not gonna fix anyway, clone the Yeti from the Matterhorn in Disneyland (maybe use different colored fur, so the cloning won't be TOO obvious) and stick THAT in Everest? It'd be better than nothing!

 

[Magenta Panther]

The biggest mistake might've been making the yeti such a small part of the ride. If it wasn't such a "blink and you'll miss it" moment they wouldn't have gotten away with letting it sit broken for so long.

I don't think they've gotten away with it. I think it's the fact that there's damn little to do in AK that keeps Everest busy. It's a very mediocre ride, really. But good enough for the rubes, amirite, Cheapak?

 

[ToTBellHop]

The biggest mistake might've been making the yeti such a small part of the ride. If it wasn't such a "blink and you'll miss it" moment they wouldn't have gotten away with letting it sit broken for so long.

Absolutely. The figure it its current state has been deemed acceptable since you pass him so quickly.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

Absolutely. The figure it its current state has been deemed acceptable since you pass him so quickly.

I think something closer to some of the concept art would have been a lot cooler anyway.

 

[JoeCamel]

I think something closer to some of the concept art would have been a lot cooler anyway.
View attachment 586280

They could put in a giant screen to do that........

 

[RSoxNo1]

The biggest mistake might've been making the yeti such a small part of the ride. If it wasn't such a "blink and you'll miss it" moment they wouldn't have gotten away with letting it sit broken for so long.

I disagree. The concept of the yeti was to have it be fleeting. Have it be a "blink and you'll miss it" moment. Unfortunately, it was poorly designed, but the nature of Yeti spottings is you're not sure if you've actually seen it.