Disney Brings Back the Legend: Expedition Everest's Beloved Yeti Returns

The Expedition Everest roller coaster at Disney's Animal Kingdom is a thrilling adventure that takes guests on a journey through the Himalayas. The ride begins in the fictional village of Serka Zong, where tourists can board an old tea train repurposed by the Himalayan Escapes company.

The queue for Expedition Everest is one of the best at Walt Disney World, with an entire village environment that introduces the mythology of the attraction before guests ever board the train. The queue features authentic and handcrafted objects from Asia, collected by Imagineers while researching and building the ride.

After passing through the queue, guests board the Anandapur Rail Service, an old tea train repurposed to carry adventurers into the Himalayas. The ride starts gently enough, with a long climb into the mountains before reaching the summit. However, things take a turn when the track ahead is ripped apart and the train starts moving backward.

The backwards section includes turns and substantial forces while much of the track is hidden in darkness, making it feel more intense than its actual statistics suggest. Eventually, the train stops again and a projection shows the enormous shadow of the Yeti tearing apart another section of track.

The ride experience continues with a big drop, reaching speeds around 50 MPH, before racing around the outside of the mountain and diving back into the darkness. The final encounter is face-to-face with the beast himself, the massive Yeti Audio-Animatronics figure that has become a Disney World legend.