Artist concept art of the yet animatronic from Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.
Disney
It’s not everyday that a live crowd goes wild for an animatronic yeti.
But the audience at Disney’s D23 Expo isn’t just any old crowd, and its superfans are central to Disney’s strategic parks investments — some $60 billion planned over a decade.
“We are bringing the yeti back to life,” Thomas Mazloum, chairman of Disney Experiences, announced to 12,000 Disney parks fans Saturday night during the division’s D23 showcase in Anaheim, California.
The repair he was referencing is within the Expedition Everest attraction at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom theme park. Since 2006, the ride’s yeti has been stationary. At the time the figure was unveiled it was the largest and most complex audio-animatronic that Walt Disney Imagineering had ever built. But after only a few months, it broke.
Its location within the…
