Another ride review of Everst

[Thelazer]

First off, let me state I'm not going to be a "RaRa" this is the best Disney has ever done guy. Nope, not here.

Lets break this down into 3 parts, Queue, Ride, Gift shop.

Queue: Wow, well they did a great job. All I can say, look at the props. Look at the fake wood, that's really made of cement. Yes, I'd have to say that they must have blew allot of the budget on just the queue alone. To bad that they had nothing left over for the ride itself. Oh, and someone found some old lightbulbs on Ebay along with alot of old stuff. Damn good work on the queue.

Ride: Yes the steam effect as your train leaves the station is cool. Sadly, it's rather poorly done what with the big "CAUTION HOT STEAM" stickers all over the device. Sort of killed the illusion for me. The ride itself is okay, though I thought I was riding the Matterhorn at Disneyland for a few moments there what with the "Icey White Tunnels" and all. Sadly, we loose what could have been a great ride right at the very top. First you see this great Yeti painting and your train comes to a stop by some twisted up tracks and you see a "Plastic" bird! Good god, why? Why? WHY? Has Imagenering lost all common sense?
Couldn't we have a Yeti pop up, menace you and tear up some more tracks? That would be cool, but a BIRD? Ugh.

We now have the backwards portion. Nice, in all the best part of the ride really. As I can go on BTTM and do a helix on that.

Of course, what would the ride be without the "Yeti who is so big he's not even connected to the building" okay, well. Yea, it was NOT scary. In fact, I did not ask myself "Is this real?" no, I asked myself, "How much did we pay for that?" Oh wait; there was also a projection of a Yeti. Forgot about that, I've seen Ren and Stimpy cartoons that fit better than that did. Why was there a Yeti shadow there? Was there a hole in the wall that let light in? What about at 5pm in the winter when it's dark out? What casts the light for that Shadow effect? Get my drift. At least over at Splash it's a fireplace. Again, couldn't we have had a really cool Yeti figure? Heck, it would have enough time to really "SCARE" you to scream like a girl. But no. We only get a quick 2 sec look at something that moves it's arms really fast. Stitch is more lifelike over at Mk.

Gift shop: Yea, well done. Looks great, but we all knew that would be the case. That's where the money is made, so of course it's going to be good.

So that's it. My review. I bet plenty of Disney fans won't like it. To bad, you see this ride could have been great. I mean it, really freaking good. But, again we get a so-so eh, okay ride. Don't wait more than 45 mins for it; you'll hate yourself in the morning.

BTW- What is with the new thing of cast members wearing there ID's out when they are not working. Sorry, but your off the clock and not in uniform. So don't walk thur the park with a big yellow ID hanging around your neck. Bad show. Then again, half of them doing it were CP's makeing $5.75 a hour, so they could care less.

 

[t3techcom18]

BTW- What is with the new thing of cast members wearing there ID's out when they are not working. Sorry, but your off the clock and not in uniform. So don't walk thur the park with a big yellow ID hanging around your neck. Bad show. Then again, half of them doing it were CP's makeing $5.75 a hour, so they could care less.

Okay, just to answer that question right there, that is a new rule that has been there since about 2 years ago, and that is CM's who are offwork and are visiting their workplace/station, etc, and they have to wear that for security issues, mainly terrorism reasons and all; either that, or they're higher up peoples or managers; managers always wear suits and always wear those yellow ID's, I even saw one helping untangle the boat rope at the MGM landing on night with that one and all, so don't get surprised about that. Plus, since these are CM previews, many CM's will come during their breaks to get a ride on it.

 

[Lee]

Why was there a Yeti shadow there? Was there a hole in the wall that let light in?

You are going backwards, right?
We know why we stopped and reversed the first time...torn up track.
Why do we reverse direction the second time? Because the yeti has torn up more track behind us, forcing us to head forward, on another spur line, out of the mountain. The shadow serves the purpose of letting us know that he's behind us tearing up track.

And yes, the idea is that there is a light source making the shadow possible. What about at night? Eh...who cares? No ride can stand up to that level of nit-picking.

 

[FigmentJedi]

It could be moonlight illuminating it at night though... or some lantern in the tunnels...

 

[Montu]

And yes, the idea is that there is a light source making the shadow possible. What about at night? Eh...who cares? No ride can stand up to that level of nit-picking.

Ah but that's where you're wrong! What about Indy and the Temple of the Crystal Skull - where the light reflection in the queue (far inside the building mind you) is yellow during the day, and blue at night? They were able to get the whole concept of actual sunlight / moonlight times - so why's it impossible here?

Because the Japanese are willing to spend money for a quality product

 

[Lee]

Because the Japanese are willing to spend money for a quality product

Partly.
Still a non-issue to me.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

You are going backwards, right?
We know why we stopped and reversed the first time...torn up track.
Why do we reverse direction the second time? Because the yeti has torn up more track behind us, forcing us to head forward, on another spur line, out of the mountain. The shadow serves the purpose of letting us know that he's behind us tearing up track.

And yes, the idea is that there is a light source making the shadow possible. What about at night? Eh...who cares? No ride can stand up to that level of nit-picking.

Why bother to explain Lee :brick: ...like he is going to get it...

 

[Thelazer]

I knew some people would be all ed off after reading my review. Oh well.

BTW. Yes I do "get it" however I still say we should have had a real "Yeti" in place of a mere shadow puppet effect.

 

[::BEN::]

I knew some people would be all ed off after reading my review. Oh well.

BTW. Yes I do "get it" however I still say we should have had a real "Yeti" in place of a mere shadow puppet effect.

But then wouldn't that ruin the surprise for the big Yeti encounter at the end of the ride? I suppose the "shadow puppet effect" is just to build up anticipation to let the riders know the Yeti is near. Surely a real Yeti being there would be un-necessary when the shadow serves that exact same purpose.

I think the shadow effect is very effective indeed.

(I've not ridden it yet but will do in the summer when I come over for the ICP, I've seen the various videos that are circulating mind you.)

Ben

 

[Lee]

I knew some people would be all ed off after reading my review. Oh well.
BTW. Yes I do "get it" however I still say we should have had a real "Yeti" in place of a mere shadow puppet effect.

Not me. I don't get ed over ride reviews.
And I'd like another yeti AA, too. I'd also like an AA sherpa in the temple warning you not to continue up the mountain....

 

[dxwwf3]

To bad, you see this ride could have been great. I mean it, really freaking good. But, again we get a so-so eh, okay ride. Don't wait more than 45 mins for it; you'll hate yourself in the morning.

Sounds EXACTLY like Kali River Rapids there.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Why can't we just assume the Yeti knows how to build a fire...he's gotta stay warm up on the top of Everest somehow. All of us would freeze to death if we lived there year-round. The same part of me that accepts that there is a thunderstorm outside during the Tower of Terror preshow when I have just come in from a very sunny Florida day allows me to accept this. If you want to nitpick that, then a lot of disney rides shouldn't have ANY indoor lighting. I don't think the chipmunks on splash mountain have electricity or fire, so it should be pitch-black within the tunnels. Likewise, you shouldn't be able to see anything inside big thunder mountain...it's deserted and set in the 1800s. There would be no electricity and any lanterns would have long ago burned out. Sometimes you have to sacrifice true realism for a quality ride experience.

 

[CrashNet]

I knew some people would be all ed off after reading my review. Oh well.

BTW. Yes I do "get it" however I still say we should have had a real "Yeti" in place of a mere shadow puppet effect.

To me thats part of the story...the natural progression of a story is introduction, build up, the climax, and then a rapid end. Basically, after the climax the end of the story should follow not far after it. I think if they put the Yeti in animatronic form everywhere by the time you got to the end of the ride it would have just become commonplace. Making it so you only see the yeti itself for a very short period of time is what increases the ride's re-ridability.

About the CMs IDs: you were in an area where every person was a CM, and they were required for security reasons and because its CM Previews to have their IDs visible. And no CM (CPs included) makes less than 6.40 an hour unless you work at table-service.

I'm curious...many of these reviews that are "honest" are written very negatively, and by that I mean written in such a way that not only points out flaws, but does so in a sarcastic and unprofessional way. At this point in the previews, you obviously have to be working for Disney to have ridden it...why work there if everything is going to be picked apart and held to a standard that no attraction, no company, could ever uphold?

 

[mkepcotmgmak]

Okay, just to answer that question right there, that is a new rule that has been there since about 2 years ago, and that is CM's who are offwork and are visiting their workplace/station, etc, and they have to wear that for security issues, mainly terrorism reasons and all; either that, or they're higher up peoples or managers; managers always wear suits and always wear those yellow ID's, I even saw one helping untangle the boat rope at the MGM landing on night with that one and all, so don't get surprised about that. Plus, since these are CM previews, many CM's will come during their breaks to get a ride on it.

it is against policy to wear your ID out 'onstage' but a must to have it out 'backstage'.

great ride review! it's always nice to hear it from both ends of the spectrum. i do, however, think that so much hype was put towards a huge thrill/scary ride... when that's not the intention of E:E, but thanks for your opinion! Congrats on getting to experience it.

 

[ssidiouss@mac.c]

The original poster was onto something though:

Having the Yeti's head pop up over the mountain would be 1000x better than the bird popping up.

In fact.. there is so many more fun things that could pop up there than the bird. Yeti head of course would be best.. but I'd even like Joe Rhodes head to pop up there over the mountain, or Brer Rabbit.. anything.

 

[SirGoofy]

You want to know why they didn't put the yeti on the top of the montain? Cuz it would look just as cheesey as the bird. They couldn't put an advanced AA up there. It wouldn't last because of the weather. You would be complaining a lot more if there was a crappy looking yeti head, and at the end you see a cool looking full yeti. It wouldn't make sense.

 

[Number_6]

You want to know why they didn't put the yeti on the top of the montain? Cuz it would look just as cheesey as the bird. They couldn't put an advanced AA up there. It wouldn't last because of the weather. You would be complaining a lot more if there was a crappy looking yeti head, and at the end you see a cool looking full yeti. It wouldn't make sense.

Add to that the fact that in interviews with Joe Rhode, the research they did showed that all the legends about the Yeti have it being very hard to see. It blends in well against the background of the mountainous terrain, so having a Yeti head pop up in an obvious manner would have gone completely against the theming that they so carefully set up in the first place. A shadow being cast that makes it so you don't see exactly what it is makes more sense in the end. As for the bird, they may have considered other things to put at that point as well, but found that the thing that made the most sense with the space available there was a bird. Also, since there are only so possible animals in order to keep with the theme, you don't want to put something there that would detract too much attention. To give you an idea, snow leopards, brown bears, red pandas, and Tibetan yaks are found above the tree line—above 10,000 feet (3,050 meters). Black bears, langur monkeys, clouded leopards, and goat antelopes live in the foothills.
Based on that, if you take it that this is supposed to be above the tree line, then really the smalled of those would be the Red Panda(about the size of a large raccoon), if it is the foothills, the smalled would be a langur monkey. People would see a Red Panda and ask why there was a raccoon there. Langur monkeys are pretty small, but tend to live in groups of at least 10 members. It is not unusual, however to see a bird on its own. I have not seen this bird yet, but you have to figure that like the previous poster stated, at that height under the elements, it would probably require alot more maintenance than would be worth the trouble. People would complain if a complex AA was up there and not working half the time more than they would a static figured being up there.

 

[Thelazer]

"I'm curious...many of these reviews that are "honest" are written very negatively, and by that I mean written in such a way that not only points out flaws, but does so in a sarcastic and unprofessional way. At this point in the previews, you obviously have to be working for Disney to have ridden it...why work there if everything is going to be picked apart and held to a standard that no attraction, no company, could ever uphold?"


Disney should be held to a higher standered and many people have forgotten that. Not only do I work there, I hold the company to a higher standered than most do. When I see things that are half done, I point them out. Just as it gets pointed out to me when I do work that is shoddy.

What would you rather have me say, "I went on it and it's okay" and leave it at that. Sure, but what would be the point? I posted a review of it. Many other folks will do the same, some good some bad. I see no reason why I should not tell it as I see it or censor my review just because I feel the ride isn't up to par.

As I've said before, there is a world outside of Disney. Don't get to worked up on my review of the ride. It's not like I'm the only one who gets to post one.

 

[Thelazer]

BTW- The Yellow Id's. This was all over the park, from the parking lot, into the turnstyles, into the tree of life. All over, people CM's not in any uniform just walking around. I've noticed this more and more lately, all over the resort.

Considering starting up a new website. www.badcmshow.com, I could put pictures of them shopping in Publix in the TOT uniform. Walking around talking on cell phones, etc. Could be pretty fun.

 

[InsideOtherPark]

it is against policy to wear your ID out 'onstage' but a must to have it out 'backstage'.

No... you can wear you id "onstage" that was changed in the past year.