The original animator of the Yeti animatronic, Ethan Reed, spoke out about the refurbishment news that came from D23 this past weekend.

Fixing the Yeti

The animatronic on Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom has not moved since early on during the ride’s life, but Disney will finally restore it. It was affectionally dubbed “Disco Yeti” by fans because of the flashing lights used to give the static figure the illusion of movement, which Reed is also responsible for.

Following the refurbishment announcement, Reed took to Instagram to share his thoughts on the news, his regret over the strobe effect for the B-show, and how excited he is for the Yeti to come back to life:

I’m genuinely thrilled to hear that the original Yeti figure at WDW will finally be animated again.

I was fortunate to be the animator on the figure during development and pre-programming, so l spent a lot of time with this beast. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the attraction for final installation and integration because I was busy helping get the cast of characters for Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue finished up. But the Yeti was still a pretty big part of my life for a while, and I did get to see him functioning beautifully in the attraction once.

It’s been strange for nearly 20 years, knowing that the Yeti was sitting there, essentially waiting for its chance to come back to life. I’ve also carried a little regret about suggesting the strobe effect for the B-show, which ultimately replaced the motion our team created.

So I’m really happy to see the Walt Disney World and Walt Disney Imagineering teams bringing our Yeti back to life. Huge kudos to everyone involved in making it happen.

And an even bigger shout out to whoever had the genius idea to have Gloria Gaynor sing “I Will Survive” for the big reveal.

There’s a fun little full circle moment for me in all of this. I distinctly remember sitting there in 2005 with my Sony Discman, animating this beast and listening to the Man on the Moon soundtrack, including Tony Clifton’s wonderfully bizarre version of “I Will Survive.”

I’m really looking forward to seeing the Yeti move again.

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