New apparel and a Yeti pin have voyaged to Disney’s Animal Kingdom for anyone brave enough to face Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. Please note: while both the shirt and hoodie were spotted at Serka Zong Bazaar (at the Expedition Everest exit in Asia), the pin is at Island Mercantile on Discovery Island.
Expedition Everest Shirt – $29.99
A towering Yeti with a menacing expression stands out in this bright yellow (almost gold or mustard) shirt, with bans of red, fuchsia, turquoise, and other colors passing through a scene of the Forbidden Mountain reaching above the sky. “Disney’s Animal Kingdom” is written at the bottom.
The back of the shirt is plain.
Expedition Everest: Legend of the Yeti Pin – $14.99
Designed as a sort of artistic wall piece that may not be out of place at the Yeti Museum guests pass through in the queue before their roller coaster journey, this pin features a growling Yeti and a variety of patterns and calligraphy. “Legend of the Yeti” is written at the top, with a tiny mountain just above.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Expedition Everest Hoodie – $64.99
This hoodie has a solid blue color design on the front, with the “Animal Kingdom” logo in orange.
An artistic Himalayan landscape is depicted on the back, with a giant orange sun and clouds once again set beneath the towering, craggy Forbidden Mountain.
The drawstrings are multi-color, starting at orange near the collar and gradually transitioning to bright, icy shades of blue at the end.
“Expedition Everest: Forbidden Mountain” is written on the sleeve.
Expedition Everest
Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is a roller coaster at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, featuring backwards motion, sudden drops, twists, and turns.
The official Walt Disney World website describes it this way:
Wander into a Tibetan village at the base of Mount Everest and board a train to the “top of the world.” Beware: Some say a legendary snow monster lives deep in the mountain.
After a steep ascent, your train picks up speed and races into the darkness. Without warning, a broken and twisted track appears in front of you. Brace yourself as you plummet backward into total darkness. Inside the cavern, the mythical tale comes true as you see the shadow of a massive, growling beast!
Race to escape the cursed mountain — before the Yeti claims another expedition.
At 199.5 feet tall, it is higher than any other structure in Walt Disney World, taking over three years to construct. In 2006, it received the Guinness World Record for most expensive roller coaster ever created, due not only to the intricate track, but the incredible detail of the mountain itself and its (often beleaguered) Yeti audio-animatronic — all of which are three independent structures.
Unfortunately, the Yeti has been in “B-mode” for almost its entire existence. Just a few months after Expedition Everest opened, the animatronic’s framing split. If it were to continue operating in its moving “A-mode,” it could damage the structure further. A strobe light is instead shone on the figure to give it the illusion of movement, and its since been dubbed “Disco Yeti.”
Regarding the broken feature, Imagineering legend Joe Rohde (a creative mastermind for Disney’s Animal Kingdom at-large) made it clear the problems are fixable, just not in any simple way.
The issue is a complex interface between finance, operations, marketing, design, timing, engineering, s narrative l [sic], and…guest satisfaction. All of these need to line up to make a viable solution. There are solutions. There are not opportunities.
Everest continued to be the most expensive coaster of all time until Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure opened at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.
Would you sport any of this apparel on your next trip to Animal Kingdom, or add the Yeti pin to your collection? Let us know in the comments.
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