Is the "Yeti sighting" that scary for children? Any suggestions to help him get over his fear? (He also dislikes Malestrom because of the trolls!)
Thanks.
I'm not a parent (so take the advice with some salt) but when I was a kid, I was scared of the much smaller and cheesier-looking monster in the Matterhorn, among LOTS of other things. Let's just say I'm glad I didn't have access to Universe of Energy as a kid, and I still can't ride Dinosaur or the Encounter at MK in old or tooned-up form.
As far as getting over mountain-dwelling yetis, I didn't ride Matterhorn until I was an adult (mostly because I spent my teens going to DL only once), so I'm not sure I can say any of these ideas will work. It's easy to see where the EE yeti could be scary, although the coaster itself might be worse depending on the child. Still, the whole attraction is filled with show elements building up to seeing it go by. Give EE a solo ride yourself and see what you think.
If you have ridden EE already, or plan to and decide to convince him to ride...
People might say this is blasphemy, but "spoiling the magic" might be a little bit necessary. Does your son know it's just a robot in a furry suit? Disney is generally a lot more open about disclosing the fact that their figs are in fact figs anymore. If he doesn't know anything about AAs, consider taking him to One Man's Dream at MGM. They have a basic AA there and with a panel you can make some minor movements with it's eyes, lips, arms, etc. The AA is a stripped down figure from Horizons so you can explain how this basic robot can be dressed up to look like anyone. It could be dressed up to look like a cowboy, a pirate, or whoever. The Yeti is really just another robot like this one dressed up to look scary, but just like the fig at OMD it only can do a few things and it can't hurt anyone.
Once you've settled that out, you might be able to convince him to ride and just not look at it when it comes up (you DID ride before-hand, didn't you?) It's how I deal with the giant snake attacking the car at DL's Indy. You'll know me in the car because I'm the guy physically hunched down looking at my own hands.:lol: