Expedition Everest—Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

The newest of Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom attractions is Expedition Everest—Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. Adding a second wienie to the Park, this breathtaking piece of Himalayan Mountain Range combines the real world with the mythical.

To the people of the mountainous regions of southwestern China, India, Nepal, and Tibet, the Yeti is more than legend. Although the creature is both mythical and real to them, the Yeti is not to be feared. He is the revered protector of the forest. “Sure, he’s going to chase you away as soon as you reach the summit, causing your train to careen wildly down the mountain. But hey, he’s only doing his job.”

Standing 18 feet tall, Expedition Everest’s Yeti is the largest Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering. And boy, is he life-like! Animal Kingdom concentrates on real animals. Since no live Yeti has been brought into captivity, Imagineers determined to create a realistic robotic counterpart. Because Guests would experience him for very brief periods of time, he had to be convincing in scale, motion, sound, and appearance.

Disney’s Yeti derived from descriptions and stories passed down from generation to generation of Asian populations in the shadow of the Himalayas. Pulling from biological research, Imagineers combined aspects of various primates to form a believable being. Gibbons, orangutans, and mandrill baboons were considered, but the Yeti’s final facial structure combined a langur skull and the sagittal crest of a gorilla. With his physique established, Character Concept Designers then completed the task of fabricating his actions so that Guests discover that the Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is real.

Today’s Takeaway:
The name Expedition Everest is a bit deceiving as this ride is more about the Forbidden Mountain and its guardian than it is about the tallest mountain on Earth. In fact, viewing the attraction from a distance, Guests may misread its forced perspective. The tallest peak is actually the Forbidden Mountain with Everest appearing shorter in the distance. This technique is used to capture the importance of the ride’s theme and to give a realistic sighting of how the mountain range would appear when viewed from a location nearer Forbidden Mountain than to Everest.

Recently, a teenage American boy became the youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest and is attempting to scale all seven of the Earth’s highest peaks. What are those seven mountains? What are their elevations? Assemble Styrofoam craft cones of varying sizes and shapes into one scale model range of the seven mountains.

SCHOOL SUBJECT: Geography
SKILL LEVEL: Elementary