I was there when EE first opened with the yeti working, and I've also been on the updated Matterhorn many times.
The EE yeti is obviously much larger, and its positioning (above riders) is more interesting/unusual than most animated pieces on Disney attractions (think of how the vultures on Splash stand out because they're right above you, and now imagine something that looks like its 30 feet tall and lunging down at you).
That being said, the new Garner Holt -developed abominable snowmen in the Matterhorn are... excellent. The first one lunges forward at you with realistically smooth (and pretty substantial) movement, and the second one originally did something similar - but its movement profile was recently improved to look like it's standing up from behind a rock (the figure is rising up as you approach).
Indeed, truth be told, IMHO... the difference between the Matterhorn snowmen and EE's A-mode yeti isn't quite a huge as most of us seem to imagine. If Disney replaced the EE yeti with a Garner Holt animatronic similar to Matterhorn and placed it somewhere on the side rather than the yeti's current spot above, I would really like that compromise. The problem is, with all the hype about the yeti and the years of waiting, most fans would view that (relatively) minor downgrade as a big letdown, and thus would be unhappy. So, I expect that they'll have to wait until the big refurb finally happens, and then either "fix" the existing yeti, or combine a new version with other special effects that make up for any "downgrade" of the animatronic.
Also, maybe they'll add some kind of effect during the dark backwards portion. That would make the ride feel a lot more complete.
