“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” ~T.S. Eliot
One of my greatest fears as a theme park fan is the designers of parks looking at big ideas that failed to work in unexpected ways, and deciding to never take a chance on something ground-breaking again. Great things from great risks, and I hope Walt Disney Imagineering -- as well as any other company in the industry -- never stops being willing to try something new just because sometimes new things backfire.
The perfect example is Expedition Everest's iconic resident, the Yeti. At nearly 24 feet tall, she is the largest Audio Animatronic figure ever built, and represented a quantum leap in building starring figures for climactic show scenes. After a little while, we had to face the reality that she was a bit too big, too ambitious, and too powerful to continue lunging at the trains in her cave.
That's unfortunate, but I really hope creatives -- and their bosses -- continue to shoot for the stars and push limits, even if sometimes they don't work out the way we hope. That's where progress comes from, and our entertainment is better for boundaries being tested. I wouldn't be surprised if some day another barrier is crossed, and suddenly the Yeti is swinging at you again, and we'll again be glad something so massive was undertaken. I'd rather have a static figure that once moved and could move again than a projection or nothing.
All that said, even with a giant, detailed static figure -- something many other attractions have -- Everest would still easily make this list based on how many thrilling and beautiful things it does before its climax, though it wouldn't be quite this high. This list, though, is about attractions at their peak moment in time, and I was fortunate enough to ride Everest dozens of times during its preview and soft opening period. I can assure you that in those days, this attraction was on another level that fully belonged with the greatest of all time.
Everest is the absolute model of immersive place-making and theme-park conflict creation and storytelling. It does so expertly, with incredibly thoughtful detail, and with a story that exists and makes sense but does not weigh down the experience with deciding to overexplain a complicated narrative.
The Everest experience begins long before you ever board the attraction, and it's mostly done so subtly that you may not even notice it's happening, but it subconsciously applies layers of reality to your suspension of disbelief and provides rewards to those who look.
We've talked in a few places about attractions that add to the land around them, and Everest is a perfect example. The Forbidden Mountain towers into the sky, adding depth and excitement from so many areas in the park, while screaming riders pull you towards its foothills to find out what's happening. Its now-iconic steam engine whistle can be heard across the park, and serves almost like the signature sound of the ride.
You leave the town of Anandapur and enter the mountain village Serka Zong, getting closer to the mountain, where you start seeing trains climbing up the mountain, then plunging out a cave where thunderous roars can be heard. A small shrine on the water lines up perfectly with the distant shape of the peak, with a figure of the Yeti in the center. The conflict of the narrative is spelled out exactly -- and creatively -- before you have even entered the queue.
Yesterday's post talked about the birth of the themed queue with Pirates of the Caribbean, and today's post may be the Walt Disney World peak of the themed queue. The Everest wait takes you through a variety of locations that are cool to look at, but also subtly set the scene for where you are and what you're doing.
You first pass through a shack operating as a tourism company, using abandoned tea shipping trains to take you over the Forbidden Mountain and to an Everest base camp. From there, you pass through shrines to the legendary Yeti -- protector of the mountain -- and around tea gardens. You enter a gear shop to get everything you need to climb the mountain. Finally, you snake through a museum that illustrates the myth of the Yeti, as well as real-world evidence of its existence, ending with a final warning that to intrude on the mountain is to tempt the creature itself.
One boarding the rollercoaster, the lesson of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, where a rollercoaster follows the terrain to justify its existence on top of its thrills, is in full display. Before everything goes wrong, you take some pleasant twists through the low land forest, then climb up through one more elaborate Yeti shrine.
That's the show of Everest. Gorgeous sites, even from outside, incredible work at convincing you that you're not in Florida, and a narrative that is ready to be understood without being in your face. Now come the thrills. The trip wild backwards through a helix has reached enough fame that it does not need to be talked about at length. With one possible exception, it might be the biggest physical thrill anywhere in Walt Disney World. Just as it feels like it's going to stop, it keeps going, and it's impossible not to grin at an entirely unique use of g forces.
If you didn't know it was coming, too, it's an incredible shock. You don't see anything suggesting a long trip backwards as you approach. You see a big drop and some big turns, and those don't disappoint, but nothing can prepare you for coming up to a broken ride path and falling backwards into the darkness for what feels like minutes on end.
Upon opening, there was even more going on. The caves were full of mist so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Waterfalls crashed down past the track, and a vulture plunged to safety as it realized you'd invited danger.
Then came the Yeti. It did not just move, it practically leaped at you, its claw seemingly coming inches from your face, as its roar echoed all around. Even if it only lasted a year, that year was absolutely worth it. Everest combined brave leaps in themed technology, incredible story telling, and wildly fun thrills to become something truly special, and the crowning achievement of an incredible park.
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