VIDEO: New Changes to ‘Disco Yeti’ at Disney World’s Expedition Everest

A new video posted by one Disney fan reveals something strikingly different about “disco lighting” during the Yeti encounter in the Expedition Everest attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Longtime Disney Parks Guests will know all about the infamous Yeti who calls Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain his home. First installed back in 2006, the 25-foot-tall figure held the title of Disney’s largest audio-animatronic.

Built in the Asia section of Animal Kingdom Park, it was the largest attraction at Walt Disney World and the first coaster by Disney to include both forward and backward movement. Of course, with so many groundbreaking developments, fans expected a lot from the attraction, especially the Yeti, capable of five feet of horizontal movement and a foot and a half of vertical movement.

Unfortunately, the Yeti has not been so monumental since about two years after Expedition Everest. Disney placed the animatronic into a permanent “B-mode” due to a functioning problem with the Yeti’s structural support, completely halting any movement in order to prevent a long-term issue with the attraction.

While Disney could repair the concrete base holding the Yeti, allegedly this would require a months-long extensive refurbishment at a high cost for a piece of technology that already consumed more than half of the ride’s initial construction budget.

However, because Guests only glimpse “Disco Yeti” for a few seconds each ride anyway, Disney saw fit to just add a few strobe lights atop the Yeti scene to “simulate” his once impressive movement. As a result, it’s earned him the affectionate and somewhat ironic nickname of “Disco Yeti” by longtime fans.

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Now, has Disney finally implemented a real change to the Yeti’s situation? A video by @ThatDisneyBoi on Twitter seems to show a change to the Yeti encounter. The video shows a close-up of the Himalayan Yeti audio-animatronic bathed in a bright beam of light coming from overhead in addition to the typical strobe lights Expedition Everest riders know:

New Disco Yeti lightning: https://t.co/cUrFPUxSwx pic.twitter.com/4AyizHetCk

— Ethan 👻 (@ThatDisneyBoi) December 1, 2022

 

However, many replies in the comments on Ethan’s video note that they’ve experienced this phenomenon before, typically when a maintenance Cast Member leaves on one of the work lights that are only used when the ride is not in operation. That is to say, we don’t think this particular change was intentional refurbishment, nor a permanent change on Disney’s behalf.

Despite this, the left-on lightning does draw even more attention to the glaringly obvious fact that the Yeti figure has not been functional in years. Perhaps this video circulating might be the final push Walt Disney Imagineering needs in order to greenlight the repair of Joe Rohde’s iconic contribution to Animal Kingdom Park.

Guests wishing to ride Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain at Disney’s Animal Kingdom can check updated wait times with the My Disney Experience App.