Trivia / Expedition Everest

• Creator-Driven Successor: This is effectively Walt Disney World's equivalent to Disneyland's Matterhorn Bobsleds. While there are undeniable differences in layout, setting and narrative, the basic idea is roughly the same, as like Matterhorn Bobsleds, it is a roller coaster ride that goes through a big snowy mountain and features the Yeti as a prominent antagonist to the riders.
• Development Hell: A few months after the ride opened, The Yeti's frame would end up splitting due to the extreme stress of its movements, leading the staff to turn it off, putting it in a perpetual B-mode state since. While Disney does want to fix the Yeti, their plans to do so have been put on hold due to the sheer effort it would take to fix the Yeti, as it would require Disney to close the mountain for a long length of time and to get into the mountain itself in order to fix the Yeti, which according to imagineers, would be a lengthy, costly and highly difficult practice due to how the ride was designed, the animatronic in question being placed on one of the ride's main support beams (which means any screw ups can potentially destroy the attraction) and its large size, hence why Disney hasn't bothered with it.
• Milestone Celebration: The ride was originally announced during Animal Kingdom's 5th anniversary and would open as part of the "Happiest Celebration on Earth" campaign Disney had been running to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Disney Theme Parks.
• Refitted for Sequel: The Western River Expedition was a massive attraction concept that would have combined a roller coaster with a western style version of Pirates of the Caribbean. Due to the lack of a Pirates ride in Magic Kingdom initially, the western ride was never built. The complex would have included a roller coaster attraction with a section where the ride train would eventually go backwards. That backwards element (which was proposed back in the seventies) would be implemented in Expedition Everest.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Early concept art for the attraction shows that the coaster would've gone through a small village before making the climb towards the mountain.
  • The front of the coaster train was originally planned to be designed after a traditional steam locomotive like with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, as shown in this concept art◊. This designed was scrapped in favor of designing the train after a vertical boiler locomotive instead, most likely for theming reasons. The same concept also shows a different design for the mountain with a waterfall, just like the Matterhorn Bobsleds.
  • The Yeti was originally far bigger, with one concept art◊ showing it towering over the riders while dangling a train. The Yeti was likely made to be smaller in the final ride due to budgetary reasons.
  • Another◊ Concept Art of the giant Yeti shows that it originally had four arms instead of two, with its giant hand stopping the train.

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