Expedition Everest

[wrightbuxton]

We are over at Easter and my son can't wait to visit AK to try the new ride.

Not sure about whether I'll participate of be the 'coat holder'[msnwink]

Julie

[big peachy]

Just back this ride looks awesome the first thing that catches your eyes when you entre the park. They were still doing dummy runs when we were there but if looks are anything to go by its going to be a great ride.

[Pluto]

Does anyone know what the ride entails.

Does it go upside down? Because if it does its another one for me to avoid[msnsad]

[floridageoff]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Pluto
Does anyone know what the ride entails.

Does it go upside down? Because if it does its another one for me to avoid[msnsad]
[/quote]We were told that it does not go upside down so I will definitely be giving it a go!

[DaveL]

No upside down but I think you do go backwards.

Dave

[CarolAnn]

We were told in October, it definately goes backwards and that there is an 80 ft drop at some point [msneek] No upside downs were mentioned[msnoo]

[blytht]

Looks like the ride wil be up and running end of the week just got to be one of the "other guests" to get on it at the moment )

Definition of "other guests" anyone?

Extract from link below: (Dated 22 January 2006)
"It's called Expedition Everest, Disney's first large outdoor roller coaster that opens to annual- and seasonal-pass holders late this week and other guests intermittently for the next month."

Full Story:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-e...,6083000.story

[floridageoff]

I found this on a Disney Blog dated January 7th:

Yesterday saw one of the first large scale runs of Everest using cast from around WDW as riders for filming of the Discovery Channel specials, set to air around April 9, 2006. The reports from riders so far has been very very positive. The immense detail of the village area is receiving high acclaim, along with the smoothness, backward portions, and interior effects. Last but not least, some comments about the Yeti audio animatronic, "it BLEW ME AWAY!!! ", "the Yeti figure is without doubt the greatest AA I have ever seen", "you won't believe how fast that thing moves!".

One word of warning though, don't expect this attraction to be an intense coaster experience. Whilst it is thrilling, above Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain, and along the lines of Rock 'n' RollerCoaster, it is not a super fast, super high coaster. What makes this attraction so incredible, is the story, theming, effects, a great coaster ride system, and the way they are all integrated together. Disney wanted this attraction to be a major draw for Animal Kingdom and Walt Disney World as a whole, in the way that Splash Mountain is for MK, and Tower of Terror is for the Disney-MGM Studios. The design plan called for it to be rideable for the whole family, and that is exactly what WDI have delivered, and to great effect.

From Mouse Guest -

The que area is nothing short of amazing. With little tiny details everywhere. There are a few things that are of course manufactured by Disney, but as a hole, you would be hard press to pin point the fakes. (other than the incredibly abious area on the que, you will know which one I'm talking about when you visit) So for starters, I would strongly suggest going through the regular Stand by que line. Fast pass line is nice, and has some of the pictures and artifacts, but there's no where near the detail that the stand by line has. Also, as with Kalhi River Rapids, there are no monitors, or audio tracks telling you what the story is. The story is written on the walls of the stand by que, and I don't mean literally. It really is an immersive story and you will experience it at it's best when through the stand by cue.

The trains are very cool looking. It sits 36 people total, with chairs arranged in pairs. Now don't go rushing to the front of the line on this one. This is not a conventional roller coster (as if Disney would even dare do something "conventional" wink*wink) so the spectacle that normally is the front row is not as important.

For those that haven't listened to the official Disney world pod-cast, the story is interesting. We are going to everest (which by the way is not the big mountain that we see as we approach the ride, Everest is the smaller peak we see to the right of the tallest peak, and it is this mountain that we have to get thru to get to everest) and to get there we must take a long track through the mountain, or take this old tea train that will take us straight there. Of course, there is a guardian of the mountain, and he's apparently not too happy with this train track been used.

The ride it self is the story, and wile the que gives you the details, and the back story, ultimately the ride will tell you this very animal kingdom tale. The ride will start out slow, as most train trips usually do. But it will take you to the top of the mountain, on your way up, if you look around, you will be able to see the center piece of every disney world park. once at the top "something will happen" and that is when the ride kicks it into hi gear. No I'm not sure of the speeds, no one seems to know exactly how fast it goes (at least no one I asked, and Joe Rohde was tight lip about this) but it certainly feels fast enough. Soon you find yourself going through the mountain and being chased by the "guardian". It isn't until half way thru the ride that you go down a major drop, but hold on to your hats when you do. The ending is of-course when we meet, face to face, the legendary "guardian" and then get spat out of the mountain.

The guard

[CorFL]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by poolman
Hi all can anyone tell me when Expedition Everest the new rollercoaster at Animal Kingdom opens to the public.
We are going in August 2006 hope its open by then.

Thanks in advance Poolman
[/quote]The Official opening date is april 7, 2006

But 2 months before that, they'll do "soft opening" which means that sometimes they open the ride and ask people in... but there are no garantees for riding on the day that you're visiting...

Hope this helps...

[Benny]

Try going over to http://www.themeparkreview.com/ on there they have upto date pics aswell as onride videos.