What Is the “Disco Yeti” in Disney World, and Why Is It There?

Since its opening in 2006, Expedition Everest has been one of Walt Disney World’s most beloved attractions.

The Animal Kingdom coaster has been hailed by many for its intricate theme, thrilling ride, and immense scale. However, there is one element of the ride that has left many riders feeling underwhelmed for nearly two decades: The so-called “Disco Yeti.” What exactly is the Disco Yet? Journey to the forbidden mountain with us and find out.

First, a quick briefing for anyone who hasn’t ridden Expedition Everest before, or simply hasn’t been to Animal Kingdom in a while. The attraction is described by Disney as sending guests careening “through icy Himalayan peaks on a speeding train while avoiding the clutches of the mythic Yeti.” 

The company’s website goes further in-depth on the ride’s storyline, describing it as such:

“Wander into a Tibetan village at the base of Mount Everest and board a train to the ‘top of the world.’ Beware: Some say a legendary snow monster lives deep in the mountain.”

“After a steep ascent, your train picks up speed and races into the darkness. Without warning, a broken and twisted track appears in front of you. Brace yourself as you plummet backward into total darkness. Inside the cavern, the mythical tale comes true as you see the shadow of a massive, growling beast! Race to escape the cursed mountain—before the Yeti claims another expedition.”

Suffice to say given both those descriptions, the encounter with the mythical Yeti is a massive part of the attraction. This was further reinforced in the heavy promotion for the attraction around its opening, which consisted of a media blitz including three Discovery Network documentaries and a takeover of New York’s Times Square, which included “large billboards over the sides of several buildings, depicting Everest with a coaster car careening down the mountainside and the yeti looking on from another peak, its eyes glowing red and flashing when the text message ‘Disney’ was sent to “4Yeti” as provided by Disney.”

A centerpiece of all of this press was the ride’s central Yeti animatronic, which was promoted as the most technically advanced animatronic figure the company had ever constructed. It was described as 25 feet tall, with ”skin” and fur that measured 1,000 square feet and was held in place by 1,000 snaps and 250 zippers. The figure was hyped as being able to move 5 feet vertically and 18 inches horizontally, allowing it to “swipe” at riders during the ride’s climax. 

The apex of this Yeti hype was arguably featured on one of the Discovery Network documentary’s, which featured footage of the animatronic shrouded in darkness and plastic sheets to retain its ”mystery.” While this was clearly meant to make the figure look imposing, what’s happened since the ride opened has retroactively made it rather comical. 

The Birth of “Disco Yeti”

When Expedition Everest opened in the spring of 2006, the ride and its star animatronic initially seemed to live up to its hype, with guests wow’d by the massive size and fluid movements of the Yeti. However, just a few months after the attraction opened, everything changed. Guests noticed that the Yeti’s movements were curtailed nearly completely, with the now-static figure illuminated by strobe lights to give the illusion of movement that the company referred to as its B-Mode. This led to the moniker of “Disco Yeti” as the strobe light pattern looked similar to the lighting at a dance club. 

So why has Expedition Everest’s star been locked in “Disco Yeti” mode for almost two decades? Well, while Disney has never given explicit confirmation of the exact issue, it has been confirmed that the issue has to do with the ride’s structural design. As was explained in much of the pre-opening media pieces, the attraction was actually made up of three intertwined strutters: the outer mountain shell, the roller coaster track, and a massive tower which the Yeti animatronic sits atop. Various reports have stated that the Yeti is such a powerful piece of machinery that its movements were causing damage to the mountain’s foundations, and that said issues couldn’t be fixed without a massive and time-consuming refurbishment that would require “opening up” the mountain and removing the animatronic. 

Disney Imagineering legend Joe Rohde — who was the main creative force behind both Expedition Everest and the Animal Kingdom theme park as a whole — spoke about the issue at the 2013 D23 Expo, explaining, “You have to understand, it’s a giant complicated machine sitting on top of, like, a 46-foot tall tower in the middle of a finished building. So, it’s really hard to fix, but we are working on it. And we continue to work on it. We have tried several ‘things’, none of them quite get to the key, turning of the 40-foot tower inside of a finished building, but we are working on it… I will fix the Yeti someday, I swear.”

Unfortunately Rohde was not able to keep his promise before his retirement from Walt Disney Imagineering in 2021, and as of 2023 the “Disco Yeti” mode lives on as the default depiction of Expedition Everest’s Yeti, leaving many fans questioning when — and if — Disney will ever bring the figure back to its initial and intended glory. 

Do you think it would be worth the potential long and expensive downtime required for Disney to repair Expedition Everest’s animatronic? Were you one of the few to experience the attraction before “Disco Yeti” mode became the attraction’s default? Let us know in the comments below. 

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