Oh, I've seen A-mode. Several times. Barely. It just isn't that great.
Absolutely.
I think people are already having rose-colored glasses on this one. They are remembering it as far more impressive than it was - and, they also forget that most of them knew where to look - unlike the average guest.
The essential problem with EE is the design - the epic Yeti encounter, which was primed, pumped, and advertised unlike any Disney attraction feature before (can you think of an attraction that got not only it's own TV special, but THREE of them??), was poorly designed in the first place.
Rumor at the time was that the designed the "ride by" of the Yeti the way they did so as not to seem like they were imitating Kong over at Universal - my, how I wish they had done that! Imagine that spot where you are in the cavern (looking at those lovely themed steel beams) if a GREAT BIG huge Yeti were growling at you. Amazing!
Instead, you woosh past at 50MPH (or whatever speed) and barely get a look. They spend millions of dollars on this thing, hype it to all heck, and most people went by so quick they don't even see it when it IS operating!
That's the real reason for the lack of action on this - if they spend millions more to make him work, it's still for naught because they made such bad decisions at the base of the design to begin with. When flying fast on a roller coaster at a point like that, many people close their eyes anyway or are at least squinting because of the air blowing at your face - it was just a horrid place to put him to begin with.
I know many people worship at the cult of Rohde, but his myopic attention to detail is often his downfall. It was the story with this ride, certainly, and AK as a whole. He spent so much time and money on the queue (I mean, entire television specials about world tours he made to get insignificant little artifacts/junk that 99.999% of guests will not know anything about - or probably care), yet the design of the actual ride experience is sub-par. The Yeti doesn't work, the inside portions are so sparsely themed as to almost be embarrassing (you don't see steel frames inside other indoor coasters at Disney as a general rule), and the Yeti itself, even WHEN working, is a quick flash instead of a major encounter.
Although I like what he did with the New Fantasyland at DL in '83, and of course Captain Eo, looking at his resume (Mexico, Norway, and what else besides Adventurers Club?) he's not nearly as impressive as some make him out to be. I don't hate the guy, but I think he's completely overrated - and Everest is one of the biggest attraction-related embarrassments Disney has ever had, and he is largely responsible.
o), so I know how irritating some (but definitely not all) new members can be.
