Expedition Everest

Today Disney's Animal Kingdom, at Walt Disney World, officially opened Expedition Everest. The new attraction has been unofficially opened for the past couple of weeks and I have NOT heard one bad review. Here is the storyline behind the ride: You board a steam train in a small village in the Himalyain Mountains. This steam train is owned and operated by sherpas. The train is supposed to take you on a trip to see the sights of the Himalayan mountains. Unfortunately someone flipped the switch and you travel on the old tracks that lead up Mount Everest, there you encounter the Yeti (abomidable Snowman). That is as much as I am going to givem, but trust me I have seen a video of the whole ride and it is AMAZING...

Now in Honor of Expedition Everest Officially being open Here is some Expedition Everest Trivia


Mountain peak: At just under 200 feet, the tallest of 18 mountains created by Disney Imagineers at Disney parks worldwide.
Chilling thrills: A careening adventure including an 80-foot drop, plus frightening encounters with the mystical yeti.
Length: Nearly a mile of track as riders encounter harrowing twists, tight turns and drops.
Ride vehicle: Modeled after an aging, steam-engine tea train; 34 passengers per train.
Yeti, Guardian of the Mountain: The mammoth-sized Audio-Animatronics yeti has a potential thrust, in all of its hydraulic cylinders combined, of slightly over 259,000 pounds force -- potentially more instantaneous power than a 747-400 airliner.
Forced perspective: To create the sense of an enormous mountain range, Imagineers painted a "mural" of shadows across the face of the mountains. The range with its glaciers and valleys is a canvas of rockwork, carvings and painting creating a forced perspective where closer-in objects have a massive look while appliqués trick the eye into perceiving far off objects.
Bringing the Himalayan environment to Florida: More than 900 bamboo plants, 10 species of trees and 110 species of shrubs were planted to re-create the lowlands surrounding Mount Everest.
Steelwork: 1,800 tons of steel were used in the mountain structure. That is about six times the amount of steel used in a traditional office building of this size.
Mountain make-up: The mountain is crafted with more than 3,000 pre-fabricated "chips" created from 25,000 individual computer-molded pieces of steel.
Color palette: 2,000 gallons of stain and paint were used on the rockwork and throughout the village. The color scheme has ritual meaning to the Himalayan culture.
In the Himalayan regions, villagers commonly preserve yak dung and dry it out on village walls. They later use the hardened material as fuel in their homes. Disney Imagineers recreated the look of these walls in the Serka Zong village area.
Artisans at work: Artists from Imagineering used hammers, chainsaws and blowtorches to "age" wood and buildings in the village, giving them the appearance of being longstanding parts of the landscape.
Hillary step: The famous final ascent of Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 is represented in Disney's man-made mountain. The coloring of Mount Everest differs from the rest of the mountain range because at more than 29,000 feet elevation, hurricane-force winds often blow the snow off its peak, revealing a raw sheet of rock.
Authentic detail: Some 2,000 handcrafted items from Asia are evident in the props, cabinetry and architectural ornamentation.
Height restriction for ride: 44 inches.
Seating: 17 rows of two-abreast seating .
Restraint: Lap bar.
Disney's FASTPASS: Expedition Everest features Disney's FASTPASS, the innovative system which allows guests, at no additional charge, to avoid lengthy waiting in line.




Now all this being said I MUST tell you about the TV Specials this week Honoring the Immagineers that went to Mount Everest and the Himalyain Mountains several times in the past couple of years to get the theming correct. Also there is a show with Jeff Corwin and the scientists that work at Disney's Animal Kingdom... They discovered 22 new species on their trip.


Expedition Everest: Journey to Sacred Lands

Expedition Everest follows an amazing quest for detail as Joe Rohde, Creative Executive for Walt Disney Imagineering, travels through Nepal to study every nuance of its culture, architecture and customs. Providing unprecedented coverage of this artist's journey to reveal the secrets of a complex and unique region, Expedition Everest covers the miles traveled to research and replicate so accurately the culture, architecture and customs of Nepal for Disney newest attraction.
Sunday April 09, 2006 from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Channel - Travel Channel


Building a Thrill Ride: Expedition Everest

Get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the technology, engineering and creativity harnessed to build one of the most elaborate thrill rides in theme park history — "Expedition Everest" at Disney's Animal Kingdom. See the transformation of a five-acre sleepy cow pasture into a 200-foot mountain and Nepalese village. This special reveals the step-by-step creative process behind the construction, culminating in the unveiling of the replica of one of the most mystical and majestic mountains in the world. Viewers will also meet the revered protector of the mountain, the Yeti, brought to life through awe-inspiring technology and painstaking detail, down to the individual strands of hair in the creature's pelt.
Wednesday April 12, 2006 from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Channel - Discovery Channel


Corwin's Quest: Realm of the Yeti

(TVKirby note - I am including this show in the listings as Animal Planet is one of the Discovery Networks and the show is linked off of the Expedition Everest page at http://dsc.discovery.com/everesttheexperience/ . In all Likelihood they will somehow link this show to the Expedition Everest attraction's Yeti.) Jeff Corwin joins an elite team of top scientists on an adventurous mission to search out new animal species in one of the most mysterious regions on earth. This region of Nepal is a remote and unexplored area of the Himalayas, in the shadow of the highest mountains in the world. Under Mount Everest's looming presence, Jeff encounters the area's diverse and exotic wildlife much of which has never been captured on film. Jeff also meets the locals, hears their stories and sees evidence of the creature called “the protector of the mountains.” Real or imagined, the Yeti has a profound conservation influence where huge swathes of land are left untouched because the locals believe the Yeti resides in their depths.
Saturday April 15, 2006 from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Channel - Animal Planet