I Met The Yeti

I woke up today asking myself "how is this my life?" It's crazy. I feel so lucky and had one of my favourite days on Monday, so settle in while we catch up...

I won one of 15 spots for an exclusive last minute 2.5 hour backstage tour of the ride Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. A random draw that my leaders set up between the Canadian and French attractions team . I was SUPER excited to win considering I was going against around 150 French cast members and 15 Canadians. So on Monday I left work at 6:00pm and raced to Animal Kingdom for the 7:00pm start of the tour. When I tell you it was even cooler than I thought it would be!!

We started with a walking tour of the land surrounding the ride, Asia. The cast members organizing the tour were very knowledgable and pointed out all the very cool detail Disney puts into their theming. Since Mount Everest is one of the most polluted places on Earth, Disney collects real articles of clothing and gear that have been abandoned on the mountain and bring it to Expedition Everest queue line making it as realistic as possible.

All based off of Nepal, Disney brought Monks from Nepal to tour the land before opening in the 90's to make sure it wasn't offensive. The Monks provided feedback and Disney listened by chicken wiring a Prayer temple within the land to guarantee guests couldn't put money in the temple and also removing Sports Illustrated magazines pinned on the walls and replacing them with general maps of Nepal. As you approach the ride you begin to see more buildings painted red. Red symbolizes danger is near. More Yeti newspaper cutouts and prayer stones become present giving the illusion you are heading into dangerous territory. The queue line is practically a museum with real prayer flags, masks and carvings allowing a fully immersive experience.

Now it was ride time! We started by riding normally. Such a fun rollercoaster, you head into Mount Everest. Halfway through the ride the track has been ripped off by the Yeti before you go backwards in the dark trying escape and end up coming face to face with the Yeti. A near miss you arrive back to base camp unscathed.

Now that we experienced the coaster normally it was time for the fun to BEGIN. The park was officially closed so we got an exclusive private backstage tour. We saw the control panel and I couldn't believe it was someones job to sit in this little room all day watching the security footage making sure nothing is going haywire.

The cast members then turned the lights on and turned the audio off on the ride, allowing us to ride totally in the light. SO COOL! We even sat single file on the train allowing everyone to have the best view of the track. During the backwards part of the ride, they advised us to look backwards so we could see how the track zigzags through the mountain. Coming face to face with the Yeti animatronic in the light was awesome.

After riding for a second time, we were taken up 14 flights of stairs to the peak of Mount Everest (where the track breaks during the ride). for an amazing arial view of all three other Disney Parks. The facade for Expedition Everest is the second tallest building in Disneyworld with Cinderellas castle being number one, so the view was amazing. Unfortunately if I pulled out my phone while being backstage would have resulted in a different blog post. I would quickly be on the next flight heading back to Canada 9 months early so I didn't risk it.

We ended the tour with a bang! We got up close and personal to the actual animatronic Yeti nicknamed Betty. 25 feet tall and about 1000 square feet including the hair, Betty is a beast. The hair is made up of yak, horse and human hair and is held together with zippers the cast members periodically remove and wash.

So back to my first sentence of this lengthy post. "What is my life". What an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity I was able to experience. With all my new knowledge of this ride and land it has become my favourite ride in the parks. It's so cool I had the chance to do this tour with just 14 other people! I would absolutely love to do more backstage tours hopefully in future.

I know little Brynn had no idea I would be able to have these opportunities. Life is crazy and I'm loving it..

Until my next adventure...

Hugs and Kisses <3

xoxo

Loving the ride with the lights on

The peak of the mountain where the track has been ripped apart by the Yeti and also where we stood for the perfect view of the other parks.

Betty the Yeti in all her glory. Yes she's even scarier in person. So majestic.

Little Brynn more than 12 years ago infant of Expedition Everest. Full circle moment.