Yeti is indeed being fixed! Update 8/4/2014

[Mike S]

Maybe it's time to point out again Evererst wouldn't need a full closure to fix the yeti. Plans exist for this.

And shall I say the AA figure has actually been disassembled at least once already and then put back in place?

So if a refurb really is coming it's probably not just to fix the Yeti. Maybe the mist is also coming back and maybe they'll fix the light leaks and the fact you could see the ride structure during the backwards section.

 

[chiefs11]

Good to hear. My expectation would be a shut down in Jan-Feb time frame when WDW tends to be at its lightest. They can time other refurbs in the park so it is the only thing down (e.g. Kali can go down in Dec if needed). I would expect Everest to be for the Everest Race, which I think is in May.

When we were at the Everest race this year, there were a lot of rumors swirling around that they would not be having that race next year.

Perhaps because it would fall in the refurb time frame of Everest? Or more likely because they don't make enough money off that race weekend to keep it going.

 

[marni1971]

Orly?

Tell me more...

I thought it maybe time to share that. Happened a year or two back.

 

[doctornick]

I thought it maybe time to share that. Happened a year or two back.

What did they do with the Yeti when they removed it? It doesn't sound like anything changed as a result....

 

[elfshadowreaper]

I thought it maybe time to share that. Happened a year or two back.

Interesting. Was that when they put the scrim over the AA? I wonder why they put the AA back even though it wasn't fixed.

 

[dreamfinder]

When we were at the Everest race this year, there were a lot of rumors swirling around that they would not be having that race next year.

Perhaps because it would fall in the refurb time frame of Everest? Or more likely because they don't make enough money off that race weekend to keep it going.

People were learning towards the possibility of replacing it with another half marathon weekend. The numbers/demand for Everest are less than the half events and they only have so many weekends in the year that work well for races.

 

[Ralphlaw]

Let's think about this logically:

1. The yeti broke years ago, but the track is still intact.
2. Apparently it would take a major shutdown of the whole ride to fix the yeti. It can't be done during nighttime hours, and it would apparently take several months of total shutdown to fix it.
3. Animal Kingdom is a fairly mediocre park without EE. Attendance will probably drop dramatically if it completely goes down for a lengthy period of time.
4. Most people still like the ride even with disco yeti.
5. Most people would be majorly disappointed if they took a trip to Disney and EE was shutdown completely.

Given all of that, keeping it open all these years with a broken yeti makes the most sense. In my opinion, once Avatarland opens, EE will go down for a lengthy refurb.

What still burns me though is the disco part of it. Given the advances in projection technology, why can't they project something better than a $20 disco light from Ace Hardware? Many of us have seen great projection shows, especially the castle projection show. They're now all over the world. Paris slapped one on the arc de triumphe after the tour de France. Sydney Australia has them during a lights festival. You'd think something moderately cool could have been done all these years other than a $20 disco light. A startling projection? A blast of air in conjunction with a growl? Nope, let's have disco yeti. And, what, a million people see an 85% satisfying experience with no "Wow" and no boomerang memories to bring them back. Pitiful. Maybe John Travolta made the decision. Walt never never never never never would've settled for that.

 

[marni1971]

Let's think about this logically:

2. Apparently it would take a major shutdown of the whole ride to fix the yeti. It can't be done during nighttime hours, and it would apparently take several months of total shutdown to fix it.

Once again, it would not.

 

[marni1971]

Interesting. Was that when they put the scrim over the AA? I wonder why they put the AA back even though it wasn't fixed.

Partly, but I have one photo somewhere that I'm trying to find of no scrim and no Yeti.

 

[ABQ]

Partly, but I have one photo somewhere that I'm trying to find of no scrim and no Yeti.

So sad... it took 3 trips to see modified A mode and I was happy with that. We all should be seeing full A mode. DAK and TDO should be ashamed.

To clarify, I saw the Yeti lit with fast strobes, eyes red, his torso fixed but his right arm moving quite fast back and forth above the ride track. Nothing like B mode, but nothing like A mode. Apparently.

Did they dismantle the yeti to create the modified A mode effect?

 

[xdan0920]

Partly, but I have one photo somewhere that I'm trying to find of no scrim and no Yeti.

Aka doctoring a photo because you hate Disney World.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Think for a second how crazy that sounds and let me ask you this, how many times have you been to WDW in the past 7 years?

Let's say Taco Bell offers one of those Value Meals and it comes with 2 burritos and a taco supreme. You go through the drive through once and you love the taco supreme. You go through again and they don't give you the taco supreme. You visit again, and still no taco supreme . You start to complain but they still will not give you the taco supreme yet you keep coming back, they look at you and say why do you keep complaining and coming back. A few others might start to complain and maybe they even start giving out a taco now for the same price. Two Bean Burritos and one plain taco for the same price you were paying when it was a supreme. Now I come a long, I've never had the supreme, I'm happy with the taco, I don't know what I'm missing and I'm pretty happy so I keep giving them my money. You however are furious that they took away something that you enjoyed so much but through it all and still to this day you keep forking over the money for the plain old taco. Who do you think people are going to call nuts?

Now to end this analogy, I agree, complain if you want change, even better hold you money back if you want change but don't think for a second that everyone else is a sheep or nuts because they fork over their money and are happy because they are making memories or nostalgic about it. I'm not saying your nuts, and I don't even know how many time you have been to the parks in the last 7 years but you said it yourself; "I'm going to pay for a fully loaded brand new vehicle, but I'm going to take a base model that's a year old". Only thing is you know that's what you were going to get and still paid it, no one else actually knows they got the lesser model and are happy with their purchase. As a company if you can sell everyone a lesser model and they are happy even if they know they are getting a lesser model and are still forking over the money, why wouldn't you?

There are all kinds of holes in your analogy, the largest being that not everyone is ignorant of the fact it's a lesser product. I believe, certainly, that you are correct that the majority are. We all know that the core audience for WDW is once in a lifetime families, or once every 5 years. That's been said before, by Disney themselves, if I recall. I don't fault those people, because as you say, they don't know any better. I fault the people that know the bill of goods they're being sold, and aren't bothered by it... Which is a large majority of the people on this site, and the people that I'm discussing the topic with.

My problem isn't with the ignorant. It's with the willing.

And as to my park touring habits... I practice what I preach. We were a family that would spend 10 days at the parks 3 times each year, staying on site for every single trip. That stopped 6 or 7 years ago when we first visited Tokyo Disneyland. It really opened our eyes to what the parks in Florida COULD be, and where they were falling short. It became easier and easier to see the issues in Florida (while watching the prices raise), and we started taking our vacation dollars elsewhere. Since then, we've been season passholders at Disneyland, made trips to DLP, Hong Kong, and then recently back to TDL for what was the best Disney Parks trip of our entire lives. Our dollars spent at WDW have been severely cut back. We've been there once for 5 days in the past 3 years and stayed off site. We've spent days at UNI instead. We've gone on cruises. We've taken beach vacations. That trip to Tokyo changed us. We'll never look at things the same, and we're happy for that. We reward performance with our vacation dollars, and we're happier and have gotten a better value for it.

And we're fully aware we're a drop in WDW's collective bucket. We know that when we step out of line, someone else will step in. But my point is that I'm doing my part. I'm spending elsewhere. I'm getting articles written in the Sentinel about this very Yeti issue. I'm trying to open other people's eyes on a forum that is largely visited (and supported) by people that know there's something wrong at our beloved WDW. Some see it, some don't. Some that see it are so addicted they can't stop going even though they want to. Some willingly feed the addiction and don't care who knows it. Others just don't seem to understand you can get your fix elsewhere, and feel an equal (or better) euphoria. What frustrates me is I know that if enough people do what I have done, our beloved WDW WOULD be fixed. They wouldn't have a choice. I could once again call WDW my "home". But people ARE sheep, largely. Not many think for themselves. They just don't. They follow the herd. And 50 million of their fellow herd visit WDW yearly, so... It's gotta be worth it, right?? There can't possibly be a similar and better product elsewhere, right??

Frustrating.

And after I say all that... I will say there are some positives happening at WDW. More now than in the recent few years (thanks UNI!!). So it's not all completely doom and gloom. If this yeti gets restored to A mode, I'll tell my friends about it just as I've used it as the poster child for why to NOT visit WDW currently. But the list is still long, and it'll take more than a moving yeti to make WDW a better Disney Parks destination than DL currently.

 

[marni1971]

Aka doctoring a photo because you hate Disney World.

Nah. I leave making stuff up to others.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Do you think there are kids that think it is mediocre right now? Mine sure don't, they think it's the best place on earth. And, they love Mt Everest.

Have they ever experienced Radiator Springs Racers? Indy?

Hard to objectively take their word for it being "the best place on earth" if that's all they've experienced.

 

[chiefs11]

People were learning towards the possibility of replacing it with another half marathon weekend. The numbers/demand for Everest are less than the half events and they only have so many weekends in the year that work well for races.

Yep. A lot of people were expecting it to be replaced with a Star Wars race, since it is around the same time as SWW. But that race got announced shortly after as going to Disneyland and in January. Perhaps they'll add one to WDW as well. who knows? But it is hard to say it doesn't have demand when the race sold out pretty quickly with 6k or 7k runners at $120 to $150 each, which is pretty expensive for a 5k. I'm sure they could have sold 10,000 entries for it if they made them available. Or, they could always make it a multi-race weekend with the 5k and a half-marathon.

Maybe they should just raise the price even more and have the money go to fixing the Yeti ... lol

 

[Mawg]

Once again, it would not.

I know nothing about the extent of the problem but from reading on here I always thought the problem was not with the Yeti, it cracked the very foundation it was on. Can they remove the Yeti and fix it without bringing the ride down for very long. According to you it sounds like it and they have before. But it's not the Yeti itself that is broken is my understanding.

I'm just speculating here, but if rumors are true, wouldn't they have to remove the Yeti (not the hard part), then excavate all of the damaged foundation, removing what ever they have to remove in their way to do this, then create a new foundation. If the foundation has any concrete in it, wouldn't they have to wait at least 30 days for that concrete to completely cure before putting the Yeti back as to not risk damaging the foundation again and then rebuild everything around it they had to remove to get to the foundation.

Maybe I'm just giving Disney the benefit of the doubt, but I would think if they could have done this in a short 2 weeks, a month or even 3 months of down time they would have. Again, I know nothing of inside information, but I would bet that when this goes down to finally fix the Yeti that it is down for 6 months or more. Maybe in the past 7 years, they have finally come up with a plan or new materials and technology that will allow them to do this faster and it's the reason why they are finally fixing it.

Call me a pixie duster but I still have some faith in Disney that they try to do the right thing whenever they can and in this case they really had their hands tied and tried to make the best of it. With this being the premier attraction in AK and many documentaries about it, I just can't even imagine why they would have not fixed it until now. It just makes no sense at all to me unless it was in such bad shape with no short or even medium term solution other than put a disco light on it.

But, maybe I'm giving Disney too much benefit and for some reason they just don't want to fix it. If it is an easy fix it probably would not be too expensive, so it can be money motivated.

It needs a refurb, no ride should be going this long without a major one. And the park needs to be in tip top condition for the completion of Avatarland. It cannot wait any longer it must be fixed. But, I will be ed if they fix it in less than 3 months and they waited this long. Instead, I believe this will be down for at least 6 months if not longer, a time frame I do not believe they were willing to commit to and accept in the past.

Don't get me wrong though, I really enjoy all of your posts and information you share. I'm just having a hard time understanding why they would wait 7 years for an easy quick fix.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Mine do, but they're older and can remember a far better and far more affordable place..

Agreed.

My older kids are 17 and 16 now, and easily choose to visit other Disney resorts ahead of WDW, and even asked to skip a vacation in 2015 to save up to go back to Tokyo Disneyland for a third time instead in 2016.

Our 5 year old even talks about which versions of rides she likes better. Pirates in DL. F! at Disney Sea. The Subs at DL. Tower of Terror at Disney Sea. World of Color. Splash at TDL. etc.

 

[WDF]

Agreed.

My older kids are 17 and 16 now, and easily choose to visit other Disney resorts ahead of WDW, and even asked to skip a vacation in 2015 to save up to go back to Tokyo Disneyland for a third time instead in 2016.

Our 5 year old even talks about which versions of rides she likes better. Pirates in DL. F! at Disney Sea. The Subs at DL. Tower of Terror at Disney Sea. World of Color. Splash at TDL. etc.

Well...your children are lucky, aren't they?

 

[marni1971]

Don't get me wrong though, I really enjoy all of your posts and information you share. I'm just having a hard time understanding why they would wait 7 years for an easy quick fix.

Thank you.

All I can say is the foundation looked fine to me last time I saw it.

Through talking to certain people I understand the issue is above ground.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Well...your children are lucky, aren't they?

I like to think it has more to do with effort than luck... But to each their own.

Traveling internationally isn't always as difficult as people think, either. For some reason, most Americans just believe it too daunting a task... Heck, the last figure I saw was that only 10% of Americans even have passports. And of that 10%, I'm willing to be only 1% have stamps in them from someplace other than Mexico, Canada, or the Caribbean.

It's not like that in other places. Passports and international travel are fairly common.

Right, @marni1971 ?