Sentinel writes article on broken yeti!

wbc

New Member
They pull him out the same way they took him in...in pieces.
The yeti wasn't lifted up in one piece by crane and "flown" in (Murray the dragon style). He was taken inside the special part of the mountain built for him, and assembled/installed.

There are large maintenance doors on the south side of the mountain's show building that will allow for his removal.

Wow. I could have sworn I watched a TV Special and it said that the structure was built around the Yeti. :zipit: I guess my memory served me incorrectly.


Those doors don't look that big. Must have been small pieces. Looks almost like one door too. (the red one)
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
I seriously doubt that if even a couple hundred Disney fans skipped AK entirely attendance would be significantly affected. 9,590,000 people visited the park last year resulting in a 0.5% increase in attendance over the previous year despite nothing new and a broken Yeti.

I will continue to hope that nothing new with AK and new offerings elsewhere (HP) attendance will eventually be hurt. Even if it's just 1% less, that would mean 95,900 less customers spending their money within the park. That would hopefully be large enough for Disney to take some action and do something with the park (fixing the Yeti or otherwise).

A more major newspaper like USA Today running a similar story would be a great thrill, but the fact that a news outlet did post the story resulting in Disney admitting to the yeti being broken is a great first step.
Quite true. Our numbers are simply not great enough to make an impact but the way I look at it everyone that continues to get on E:E knowing that it is bad show is part of the problem. The only way Disney will act is if the guest counts drop and the complaints increase.
 

Lee

Adventurer
Just for fun, I scanned a page from an old Pirates operation procedure book from the 1970's.
It clearly says what show conditions would send the ride 101, including the auctioneer or the captain in the well scene not working.

Times...how they have changed.
 

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ERich2010

Member
Wow. I could have sworn I watched a TV Special and it said that the structure was built around the Yeti. :zipit: I guess my memory served me incorrectly.)

i think i remember a TV special saying the mountain was built around the TRACK. like they had to build everything from the ground up, not one before the other.

no worries, i thought the same thing
 

MarkTwain

Well-Known Member
I just don't see them shutting down EE to fix the Yeti, which they'd have to, since there aren't any other rides in AK to pick up EE's slack. Attendance would drop big time if EE was shut down.


... And that's another BIG problem Everest and Animal Kingdom as a whole is facing: no park should rely as much on a single attraction as AK does with Everest, that the ride can't even be taken down for necessary maintenance. Imagine if Space Mountain were the only major E-ticket at th Magic Kingdom, and you start to get an idea of just how badly AK needs expansion. TDO maybe even ought to consider fast-tracking one of WDI's proposals for a new land (you know they have them), just so some of the attention can be thrown off Everest for a while and it can be repaired.
 

Atomicmickey

Well-Known Member
Yeah. The phrase I heard was "damage control mode.":D


Well, that's exactly what the Yeti needs, lol. Damage control.

Again, to my point--there must be good people in the organization that care about this. The fact that nothing has been done means things are pretty seriously messed up with our furry friend.

I do hope that bringing Disco Yeti into the light, and compared and contrasted with the glowing reviews that Harry Potter Land is getting,
could shake some money loose for AK. I do love that park as it stands right now, but also see how it could use more attractions, and a fixed Yeti. Maybe this will shake things loose.

Let us know if you hear more, Lee. Specifics are hard to come by, of course.

Seriously, I wonder what "damage control mode" is? What could you do in
"damage control mode"? How would you do it? Beats me . . . . .

"Yeti does not exist in this dojo.

Love,

TDO"
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I love how there are two comments slamming Martin and I. Hysterical.:ROFLOL:
What am I.... someone who makes gay videos of attractions I don`t like? And a tool? I guess there are some less-than-full pint-pots still in the world. Interesting if he dosn`t like my edits how he knows about them. And leave my sexuality out of it! I`m happily hetro :) What an Idiot. Hopefully he`ll tell me to my face if he sees me around next month.

And Tool are a great band!! :D

hey martin and lee i suspect you know this guy from the sentinal? i also suspect he posts on here....
Nope. Don`t know him. And I havn`t often agreed with his articles. He contacted me after a suggestion from Tony, and I was happy to give my personal thoughts as both a fan and a foriegn tourist.
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
The glimmer of hope right now is Harry Potter. I've been saying this for a while, but I truly believe that if Harry Potter is going to cut into Disney's attendance, it's going to be Animal Kingdom's. While it does have two new additions from 2006 (Everest and Finding Nemo the Musical), Hollywood Studios has the more recent attendance driver (Toy Story Mania, and to a substantially lesser extend American Idol) and it also has Star Tours 2.0 to look forward to as well.

Given the current timeline to build a D/E ticket attraction, the earliest anything will be coming to the Animal Kingdom seems to be 2-3 years down the road. There's no sense of urgency to have the build cycle for these types of additions be accelerated. However if TDO sees that Animal Kingdom starts losing appeal then the new additions become more necessary in the eyes of the suits, and ultimately a repaired Yeti could follow.

If I had my way to quickly "fix" the Animal Kingdom, while still addressing the concerns/tight pursestrings of TDO, here is what I would do.

1. Add thematic elements to the Discovery River that feature mythical animals. Re-open the Discovery River Boats with these new animal encounters. If done well, this could easily be a D ticket at the same level as Jaws over at Universal Studios. You can encounter the Kraken or Lochness Monster, a Dragon and a Unicorn as originally intended, and a substantial amount of the infrastructure/planning has already been done.

2. Once the Discovery River Boats re-open start the Expedition Everest refurbishment. Restore the Yeti to it's original state, work out the other effects, and dare I say, add some new effects.

3. After Expedition Everest's refurbishment is complete, do the same thing for Dinosaur. Return some of the missing effects, add some new ones.
 

Atomicmickey

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I keep wracking my brain as to how they could effectively bring the boats back. While I'm in the park, I look at those landings and wish I could ride a boat. I know when they opened it was not a decent attraction, but the infrastructure is there for them to create something fun and relaxing with less investment than a full-blown show building.

The problem in my mind is inevitable comparison/contrast with the Jungle Cruise. I suppose a team of Imagineers could come up with something pretty quickly, though.

So, good idea to bring back boats in some form, IMO.
 

joel_maxwell

Permanent Resident of EPCOT
Was just watching this last night with my daughter. The video on Walt Disney World site that highlights Animal Kingdom. She says " look Dad, they fixed the Yeti".


Is that false advertising?


http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/animal-kingdom/
I would say misleading. I dont expect them to reshoot a promo video.

Had Disney bitten the bullet and shut down E:E 2 years ago and fixed the Yeti the article never would have been written. IMHO it serves them right. I know it never will, but I would love for this article to get picked up nationally. With FJ being hailed at the best theme park attraction in the world this might be the swift kick in the sack that Disney needs.
Yep. Hate it for them. If they dont like what it has been affectionately nicknamed, fix it.

Or hell, at least turn off the disco strobe light and just turn on the show lights without movement. Why is that a bad thing.

Wow. I could have sworn I watched a TV Special and it said that the structure was built around the Yeti. :zipit: I guess my memory served me incorrectly.


Those doors don't look that big. Must have been small pieces. Looks almost like one door too. (the red one)
He is obviosuly big, but if broken down into major components (legs, torso, arms), I think he is manageable from a handling standpoint without a crane. An average forklift can handle 3-4000 pounds. I wouldnt imagine a single arm, leg etc individually would weight more than that.
 

Pumbas Nakasak

Heading for the great escape.
I know when they opened it was not a decent attraction, .

It was certainly not as bad as some of the fan boy drama queens made out. It may have been misinterpreted by some guests but to me it felt similar to TTA except on a boat.


But having read that article you do have to admire Disneys ability to generate blind acceptance of its decision making by some worshippers of the mouse its a bit of a faith thing I guess. :shrug:
 

prberk

Well-Known Member
... And that's another BIG problem Everest and Animal Kingdom as a whole is facing: no park should rely as much on a single attraction as AK does with Everest, that the ride can't even be taken down for necessary maintenance. Imagine if Space Mountain were the only major E-ticket at th Magic Kingdom, and you start to get an idea of just how badly AK needs expansion. TDO maybe even ought to consider fast-tracking one of WDI's proposals for a new land (you know they have them), just so some of the attention can be thrown off Everest for a while and it can be repaired.

I don't think that AK is completely dependent on Everest. Most people come for the animals, or because they are on vacation to "Disney World" and have a park-hopper that they were advised by friends to get (or got because they learned last year when they only got to visit MK that they should visit the other parks).

While it would be somewhat of an inconvenience not to operate Everest for a while, I completely disagree that it would make any serious dent in attendance or the experience for most of the people. It wasn't there in previous years, and DAK did just fine. And, of course, there are still animals to see (and shows and fake dinosaurs....).

They can take down Everest for maintenance just as easily as they took down Space Mountain for its upgrade.

Paul
 

_Scar

Active Member
The glimmer of hope right now is Harry Potter. I've been saying this for a while, but I truly believe that if Harry Potter is going to cut into Disney's attendance, it's going to be Animal Kingdom's. While it does have two new additions from 2006 (Everest and Finding Nemo the Musical), Hollywood Studios has the more recent attendance driver (Toy Story Mania, and to a substantially lesser extend American Idol) and it also has Star Tours 2.0 to look forward to as well.



Went to DAK today...

  1. Yeti still disco-blall. It looks pathetic, but it fooled my parents. :brick:
  2. I never overheard anyone comment on the actual yeti not working. I've been in the EE area for a few hours today, too.
  3. The park was absolutely packed and so was EE. In comparison to DHS, DAK seemd around 20% more people. Seems like people are still coming.
 

Bravo 229

Member
At least they haven't resorted to putting someone in a Yeti mask inside the mountain and saying "boo" when you ride by! I don't believe I've ever noticed the Yeti working when I've ridden EE (1st time in 2007), but it is still a good coaster without him.
 

misterID

Well-Known Member
I don't think that AK is completely dependent on Everest. Most people come for the animals, or because they are on vacation to "Disney World" and have a park-hopper that they were advised by friends to get (or got because they learned last year when they only got to visit MK that they should visit the other parks).

While it would be somewhat of an inconvenience not to operate Everest for a while, I completely disagree that it would make any serious dent in attendance or the experience for most of the people. It wasn't there in previous years, and DAK did just fine. And, of course, there are still animals to see (and shows and fake dinosaurs....).

They can take down Everest for maintenance just as easily as they took down Space Mountain for its upgrade.

Paul

Oh, I think it would have a huge impact. It would be like MK shutting down Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates and HM all for about a month or 2.

Actually, I think MK could still get by better in that scenerio than AK if it had to shut down E:E.

Like I said before, the whole reason E:E was built (or why TDO said okay) was because of how bad attendance was and how low guest polling at AK was. It's been getting much much better all because of E:E.

I think that AK would be the park tourists would pass on to spend a "Disney day" at IOA for Potterland. Imagine how big that would be if guests knew E:E wasn't open.
 

PirateFrank

Well-Known Member
Quite true. Our numbers are simply not great enough to make an impact but the way I look at it everyone that continues to get on E:E knowing that it is bad show is part of the problem. The only way Disney will act is if the guest counts drop and the complaints increase.


This is the issue that resonated with me the most from reading the orlando sentinal article....

...so 300 fans signed a petition. Big freakin Whup! Wow. By the article's same fact pattern, 2000 people get sucked up by this ride every hour. The amount of people that are theoretically up in arms about this ride, represent 10 minutes of EE riders over the course of an entire day.

Don't blame TDO for not taking notice at those numbers....I dont think any well run business would take notice at such insignificant dissent.



Seriously folks, the way to make them get up an notice, is to get proactive. I have a suggestion:

While I don't have a hair on my asscott to do something like this....perhaps some others are....

...go to cafepress. Make T-shirts and wear them at the park.....heck, superimpose the Yeti's head on John Travolta's body in Dance Fever...and paste THAT on a T-shirt....and wear them to AK. People will ask...people will notice.

Get people talking. The Orlando article is a good start....but if your average park visitor knows somethings broken, they'll demand TDO take action.


This is the plight of the fan-boy. It exists in every walk of a fan-boy's life. This is sorta like music fans....imagine the rush fans that have been to every Rush show since John Rutzy left the group ...and listen to them complain that the band doesn't play "I think I'm going Bald" anymore. You think Rush cares? Perhaps they do...but they're not going to add it to the setlist unless the whole freaking stadium chants it....and for that to happen, the whole stadium has to buy the album.


Same goes for this issue.


Make the average family, who spends 4-7 days in WDW, every 3 years....buy the album!
 

BrerFrog

Active Member
Just for fun, I scanned a page from an old Pirates operation procedure book from the 1970's.
It clearly says what show conditions would send the ride 101, including the auctioneer or the captain in the well scene not working.

Times...how they have changed.

That is very interesting and awfully sad at the same time. Maybe something of the sort is written on EE's procedure book, but someone decided to ignore it. :lol:
 

the-reason14

Well-Known Member
I have to be honest. At first, I would have said the yeti in it's current state wasn't a huge deal as it is made out on here. And that it doesn't screw up my trips to Everest. But it is very sad indeed to witness. I honestly can not remember when was the last time it moved the way it was made to. Even though when it did move the time you got to see it was brief, that brief time is what made it more of a realistic encounter and could be one of the reason to get back in line to see it again. I wouldn't mind if they closed E:E for months to get it fixed. I would miss it, but more than likely I would just skip AK that particular trip. I really hope they get off their butts, and do whatever it takes to fix it.
 

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