EE Yeti

[PetefromRI]

I heard a rumor today that the Yeti in EE was broken and because of the 2.1 million dollar cost to fix it they were thinking of just omiting it.Is this true or just bad info?

[SBETigg]

Wow, I hope it's bad info! I have no idea.

[dumbo ears]

I haven't heard any permanent rumors yet but I rode it last tuesday and it wasn't running and I couldn't even see it but my friends said he saw it so I guess its stilll there

[JPL]

The Yeti has been broken for quite some time now. His arm is not fully attached to his body any more and he is ripping himself from his foundations. The company who created him has gone out of business. So there are lots of problems surrounding the figure and any replacemnt or repair would be costly and require shutting down the attraction for an extended period of time. One rumour that has been floating around is replacing him with a High Definition Video Screen.

[SBETigg]

Jeff, can you explain more about the company who created him? What company was it? Was he not created by Disney Imagineers? I saw a travel channel special that had a segment on the yeti creation and made it look like it was all Disney. Now I'm curious. And sad! That's a major thrill missing from the ride, albeit a quick one that goes by in a blink.

[DizneyRox]

As with most things, Imagieeering has been largely outsourced. Yes, there is still an Imagineering Dept, but it's a shadow of former self. Many times they seem to just put on a bit of paint some landscaping, and put up a big red [DONE] stamp!

Surely Imagineering doesn't have the expertise to built a 200 foot tal mountain range in the middle of florida. Think of all the real engineering necessary to do that.

Again, not that they don't have some expertise, but I suspect it revolves more around project management.

And it's broken because they don't want to spend the money necessary to fix it. Instead we'll get a cheap fix (ala video projection) and some more smoke and mirrors (maybe a strobe light or two as well).

[joonyer]

The Yeti has been broken for quite some time now. His arm is not fully attached to his body any more and he is ripping himself from his foundations. The company who created him has gone out of business. So there are lots of problems surrounding the figure and any replacemnt or repair would be costly and require shutting down the attraction for an extended period of time. One rumour that has been floating around is replacing him with a High Definition Video Screen.

Arm detached from body?
Ripped loose from foundation?
That's just poor quality engineering to begin with, and is a good reason why these kind of major components of attractions should be only performed by companies with long histories of reliable performance.

I don't know anything about who was given the contract for the Yeti, but if they got the job due to being the low bidder, well then Disney got what it paid for.

This situation is just Inexcusable. The Yeti should be re-engineered and put back into action, even if it does cost a lot of $$$$. Too bad the company that designed it has gone out of business. Now Disney has no recourse but to pick up the cost of repair itself.

Not that they'll do it, but I'd bet that if they put out a donation box with a sign that said "help repair the Yeti", that they could collect the cost of repair from ride-goers within a year.

[HollyLagrange]

So, is the ride still working and just the yetti is broken? or is the whole thing shut down?

[DizneyRox]

So, is the ride still working and just the yetti is broken? or is the whole thing shut down?

During everyday use, the Yeti is in B mode which is a strobe light effect to make him appear to be moving. A mode is a fully moving yeti that reaches out for the train car as it moves by.

The rides operates in B mode now and has for a long time. I think Jim Hill reported recently that it was in A mode when some big wigs came through as some sort of charade. Other effects that were brokenfor a while were also repaired for this visit, I'm not sure if they stayed operational or not, but the Yeti was put back into B mode.

[WOJO5794]

I guess I won't miss it much because the 4 or 5 times I've ridden the ride I never saw the Yeti. When during the ride do you see it?

[GrumpyFan]

I guess I won't miss it much because the 4 or 5 times I've ridden the ride I never saw the Yeti. When during the ride do you see it?

If lit up with the lighting, he's hard to miss! He's 25 foot tall, and tries to grab you right before you exit the mountain to return to the station.

It really stinks that he's broken. From everything I've read, it's believed that the foundation he is on is cracked or broken and movement of the Yeti makes it worse. The only fix, apparently, involves a lot of rework to the mountain and it's foundation, as it would have to be torn out and re-done, which means it would also be down for a while.

It's sad too though that this has happened. The attraction was a real achievement for Imagineering when it was completed, now it's just a sad story of an imagineering project gone wrong. Not that I blame imagineering or anything. I think this is just one of those unforseen engineering problems that was a result of forces that were not anticipated. Hopefully, someday it will be fixed.

The attraction has been running now for almost 3 years without any substantial downtime. They could conceivably schedule something in the next year or two to do maintenance. However, it has become a real draw for attendance at AK that taking it down would seriously hurt attendance. So, for now, as long as it can still operate in "B mode", without any danger to guests, it will probably stay that way. I would be real interested to hear some of the back story conversations that have taken place since the issue was discovered.

The best thing we can do for now is stop by guest services and lodge a complaint that you didn't see the Yeti. Maybe if enough people complain, they'll eventually do something.

[joonyer]

. . . It really stinks that he's broken. From everything I've read, it's believed that the foundation he is on is cracked or broken and movement of the Yeti makes it worse. The only fix, apparently, involves a lot of rework to the mountain and it's foundation, as it would have to be torn out and re-done, which means it would also be down for a while.

It's sad too though that this has happened. The attraction was a real achievement for Imagineering when it was completed, now it's just a sad story of an imagineering project gone wrong. Not that I blame imagineering or anything. I think this is just one of those unforseen engineering problems that was a result of forces that were not anticipated. Hopefully, someday it will be fixed.

I have to disagree with this statement. Anticipating forces and stress in any construction project, whether a building or theme park attraction, is EXACTLY what professional engineers do for a living. The physical and mechanical forces exerted on a structure can in fact be foreseen and predicted by proper engineering principles, and the use of computer design makes doing this easier than ever before. These forces should have been foreseen and the design made to compensate for, if the engineering had been done properly. We are not talking about unexpected/outside forces here (hurricanes, earthquakes, airplanes crashing into buildings, etc.), we are talking about the forces exerted by the operation of the figure itself, something that should have been clearly been factored in to the design of the animatronic figure. They knew what it was going to be made of, how much it would weigh, how it would move, etc. and therefore the application of proper engineering principles would have revealed how to build it structurally sound enough to continue to operate rather than tear itself apart.
If the Yeti is coming apart and coming loose from its foundation, then this simply clear evidence of shoddy engineering and/or cut corners in construction. If the company that did the design, engineering and construction was still in existence, it would be liable for the repair and/or replacement costs.

[spoonful of sugar]

I guess I won't miss it much because the 4 or 5 times I've ridden the ride I never saw the Yeti. When during the ride do you see it?

although i have seen the yeti i can honestly say that i was not impressed at all. i even found the ride to be boring.

[GrumpyFan]

although i have seen the yeti i can honestly say that i was not impressed at all. i even found the ride to be boring.

Wow, really?!?! If EE isn't exciting to you, then what is? Surely, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mtn are boring too.

As coasters go, I found that EE has some of the best theming and story in any park Disney or not. The next closest might be RnR at DHS.

[spoonful of sugar]

Wow, really?!?! If EE isn't exciting to you, then what is? Surely, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mtn are boring too.

As coasters go, I found that EE has some of the best theming and story in any park Disney or not. The next closest might be RnR at DHS.

i just feel that disney hyped up the ride so much that i was expecting a lot more i guess. i remember watching the program on tv about ee and just thinking it was going to be so much better. rnr well that's a huge rush and i didn't not get that from ee. just my opinion though.

[GAN]

i just feel that disney hyped up the ride so much that i was expecting a lot more i guess. i remember watching the program on tv about ee and just thinking it was going to be so much better. rnr well that's a huge rush and i didn't not get that from ee. just my opinion though.

I think it's as good as they could get it while attempting to make a very wide range of riders happy. It's pretty evident that the philosophy is to develop rides that all groups will enjoy -together. I've seen ages from 5 - 75 on EE, and then some... it's pretty cool to look at a grandparent having as much fun on a ride as the grandchild. Even though RnR provides a good rush, most of that is because of the initial start and being in the dark -in reality those loops aren't too scary, and it's a quick ride. It's tough to balance thrills without losing riders.

[BluewaterBrad]

The yeti rocks!!