Under / over on the Disco Yeti being fixed by 2030?

If by "bringing the Yeti back to life," Disney means covering it with a screen animation of a Yeti... six months.

The monkey's paw curls.....

In that vein, the new night time spectacular at Animal Kingdom could be projected on the Yeti’s body and park goers could view it in incremental milliseconds. It would defiantly encourage more visits and also the ever-so-safe practice of holding out your phone on a roller coaster. The first influencer to piece together all 9,766,356 milliseconds to form the actual video would be awarded the Golden “Like” Statue at Burning Man. Just spitballing here folks.

Disney has confirmed they’re repairing the original animatronic. As for timeline… I assume Everest goes down for a much needed refurbishment after Tropical Americas opens. So … 2028? Maybe?

@NB: if memory serves I believe I read a tweet from Joe Rohde refuting the mountainside removal as a necessity for repairs to the yeti. If I can find that tweet I’ll happily post the link here.
In terms of downtime I’d wager it’d probably be about as long as the recent refreshment of BTMR. I’m sure WDI will inevitably tweak and refresh other ride elements, as they are wont to do, in the process as well.

With no specific evidence, I'm going to guess Everest misses much of 2029 and potentially the first part of 2030 for this, with the downtime beginning following the 2028 holiday season. My reason for that is by then, Tropical Americas will not be the newest thing at the resort as I full expect the Monsters, Inc. coaster to be open by then and Piston Peak to debut in either 2028 or 2029, so draws to other parks of the resort will take the pressure off DAK a bit and allow them to go without one of their few E-tickets for an extended duration. I think the goal will be to complete the work in an 8-9 month timeframe (returning the coaster to service for the fall/winter), but I could see it stretching longer than that depending on the amount of work that is needed.

AJ's estimate seems on point.

By the way, fixing the Yeti is the ultimate Small Ball move. Once it's up and running -- supporting the new Tropical Americas expansion -- the Yeti is gonna be a gate crasher.

@TH - "Gate crasher" - You're kidding, right? People don't go to Disney for a single animatronic, and I would wager that 80+% of the people that ride Expedition Everest have no idea that the Yeti is supposed to move. How long has it been "Disco Yeti", 20+ years? That's an entire generation of visitors who only know Disco Yeti. The retrack of BTMRR at MK wasn't a gate crasher, and simply fixing a single animatronic will not have a substantially different effect on EE, assuming it is accompanied by a similar full retrack.

When it comes to timing, I would agree with others that this is likely something that is at least 3-4 years down the road. Disney cannot take EE down for an extended closure until Tropical Americas opens because they can't cut the park's attraction count any further than it already has. Given that it sounds like Tropical Americas might be trending towards a 2028 opening, Disney might not be able to take Everest down for an extended refurb until late in that year, and perhaps targeting mid 2029 for its reopening. From all available information, the repairs to the Yeti will necessitate a clearout of structures inside the mountain that could only happen with a full retrack of the coaster, similar to what was done to BTMRR. However, there's no guarantee that WDI is going to actually be able to get this fixed, especially considering that the Yeti was specifically designed as a completely separate structure due to its size and power that ultimately tore itself apart. Does Disney even have a fix, or are they simply going to try to fix it only for it to tear itself apart again after another year or 2 of operation? If nothing else, I would hope that Disney will reconfigure the track support structures to allow easier access to the Yeti so they can perform repairs more easily or have the ability to swap it out with a less dynamic figure that at least moves instead of the current one that's frozen in time.

I've ridden EE since it opened, and so saw the moving Yeti many times before it gave up the proverbial ghost.
I rode EE many times after that as well, and to be honest it made the ride no less enjoyable.
Sure, it was 'cool' to see it move, but more times than not you'd never notice it, as you blasted off down the mountain.
In other words, EE is just as good with or without the moving Yeti.
Maybe it's one of those things that'll turn out to be ... "seemed like a good idea at the time"
We wait and see. Certainly it won't get me rushing back on to see the Yeti move again

I think once the Yeti is fixed, it will be a big deal for a while, but no one is going to plan a vacation just for this fixed animatronic.

The fact they are celebrating fixing this after all these years is truly baffling. Those forced gasps and cheers at D23 are laughable. Do they have an applause sign like at 30 Rock?

"The fact they are celebrating fixing this after all these years is truly baffling. Those forced gasps and cheers at D23 are laughable. Do they have an applause sign like at 30 Rock?"

The ones during the DCL portion of the program were ridiculous. Do people really wait with baited breath to hear what characters are going to be on the bow and stern of a cruise ship or what statue is in the Grand Atrium? Do those superfluous announcements push people to spend thousands of dollars on a cruise? I get the excitement for the new ship class that should allow for an expansion of itineraries and different platforms for Disney to theme its ships, but the applause and amazement from the audience at Tinkerbell, Buzz, Woody, and Moana being included on the Believe was indicative of a certain segment of the fanbase that's wound a little too tight and probably the same ones giggling uncontrollably at every single one of the Lorcana jokes..

people who spent thousands of dollars to go to a disney convention are really excited about the things they announced at the disney convention. i don't think it's all that wild lol.

True Jacob, but are those fans really excited at nonsensical stuff because they're truly superfans, or because they spent thousands of dollars to go to a Disney convention and feel compelled to be excited because of that investment?

If they're doing it right, the Yeti refurb will also involve mild retracking work, refurbishment of lost effects, and maybe even a queue update or extra props on the stretch between the 1st and 2nd lift hill. If they're doing it wrong, it'll be a mild improvement to what is already my favorite coaster at WDW.

I saw it once a long time ago. It was great, and Disco Yeti does not compare. If you're not into theming and purely into the sensation of the coaster, then no big loss. When the ride first opened and they marketed it as the largest animatronic ever, that's what got me to book a trip, and no doubt it will get people to book trips again... how many? I'm not sure, as it does take a certain type of nerd I imagine. That said, you really do only see it for a second, and if you chopped off it's arm and replaced it with a light weight inflatable arm covered in hair that swings at the train using a pully mechanism, brought back some animation in the face, I don't think anyone would notice if it's full body wasn't animated.

>> People don't go to Disney for a single animatronic, and I would wager that 80+% of the people that ride Expedition Everest have no idea that the Yeti is supposed to move.

“People” don’t, but Disney fanatics…..

Considering it was designed and constructed 26 years ago, the effect was amazing.

@Russell I mean, what's the difference? They spent all that money because they're excited about the experience, right? I guess I just don't think it matters that much haha.

@Jacob - Chicken or egg conundrum I suppose.

Very true