Animal Kingdom Park has always gotten kind of a bum rap and been called a half day park. While I somewhat agree I do really like this park. There are lots of great places to just wander around and enjoy nature, but it was missing that big “must do†attraction. As soon as I heard about an Everest attraction I was excited.
2006 seemed so far away when they first announced this new attraction, but it is finally here – the big day when I got to ride Expedition Everest! I have been counting down the days for years now, checking out the construction each time I visited the park, and getting more excited every time I saw more completed!
Today I got to get in line with all of the other Passholders and DVC members and actually take the Expedition Everest challenge! It was well worth the wait!! I rode it 5 times! I love everything about this attraction. I really felt like I was right there in the Himalayan Mountains! The queue is huge and I know this will sound strange but I am sort of bummed that I got to walk through it all so fast. 
I am sure I will get plenty of chances to actually get to stand in line and enjoy all of the neat things to see in the queue once it opens to everyone else though. The ride itself is the best coaster I have ever ridden. I won’t spoil it too much for you though. The ride is very smooth and you get some really cool views of the entire Disney World area. If you look behind you at one point you can see all the way to the Contemporary! It does go backwards and is in the dark for a bit but that is about as scary as it gets, oh and I almost forgot the Yeti! I am hoping that one night the Yeti might come down from his mountain and squish dino-rama for me. I hope no ones takes offense to this but that is the only part of Animal Kingdom that I do not like. Anyway enough about that – Everest is a great attraction and I think it will be a must do for anyone over 44 inches! I know I am headed back tomorrow to conquer that mountain again!
9 Comments
Annette
Thank you for the update! I am so jealous! My family cannot wait to hit this attraction this Spring when we head to Disney. Normally the kids want to go straight to Magic Kingdom or MGM… now they are begging to start in Animal Kingdom!
Steph in nc
I got to ride Everest on Friday! It was awesome! I had an awesome time. I rode it so many times I lost count. I have to agree, it makes Animal Kingdom more than a 1/2 day park. This coaster is one of the best ever. It is a must see!
Coleen
Ok Animal Kingdom may have to stop using the phrase “notazu” becasue today that park was a zoo! It started in the parking lot where at 10:00 am there was a firetruck and ambulance blocking the way into the parking spots. After about 15 minutes cars started driving over the median to get into the parking lot another way – it was a nightmare! I was really impressed with how quickly Cast Members got into golf carts and started directing the chaos. Once parked I noticed something I had never seen before – cars were parked on the grass parts of the parking lot. It looked like Disney was expecting the large crowd and started off using the grass first and would then work thier way back through the parking lot. Good thing they did because when I left at about noon the whole lot was just about full – something I had never seen before! Next came the lines at the turnstile backed all the way to the ticket counters, and this was 10:30 am not opening time, and I heard so many people saying they had never waited to get into Animal Kingdom. Well it didn’t get any better once in the park either. Everest was still just for passholders and DVC but it was jammed. You actually had to wait at the checkpoint until people came out just to get in – all fastpasses were gone by 10:00 and the stady-by line was at least 3 hours long! The line actually went out past the check point it was so long! Thank goodness I got plenty of rides in on Thursday and Friday! If this is any indication of what the crowds will be like once Everst opens to the public I have a bad feeling the days of casually walking around Animal Kingdom without worring about crowds will be over.
Vickie
Wow!! I’m glad I was able to ride on Friday!! What an amazing ride – my new favorite! As DVC members, my husband and I were able to bring along three other guests each so we had a great time “treating” several very grateful friends and clients! Cannot wait to go again! 🙂
Michelle
Get me on this one if you can ! Actually I loved the report Coleen and I love roller coasters ! Can’t wait to get on this one too now !
Lynn
I’m very happy I was there on Friday too !!!! I’m hearing all kinds of horror stories about Sat & Sunday. I Loved EE, it’s so different from all of the others. I can’t wait to take my husband on this ride on our next trip. Vickie, Colleen, & Stehpanie it was great meeting up with you guys. We’ll have to do it again sometime. Food & Wine Festival anyone ?
Coleen
Food and Wine Fesival sounds like a yummy idea to me!
Vickie
I just might have to commit to that (F&W) – especially since my birthday and Mike’s both fall during the usual dates!
BruceC
My first run on O.E. was during the A.P. weekend…and my wait was 70 min in line…..something that I wasn’t used to. I had just driven from IL with a stopover in Atlanta, and literally drove into WDW at 2 PM, got my tail to AK and got in line! LOL
The ride is great…and the view on the first climb, looking backwards, is amazing. The queue area is themed beautifully and you do move along quickly. The ride is exciting, but the backwards section got me a little tipsy…..and I even thought we had done a corkscrew (although I knew there is none)…..I got pretty dizzy. Disney Imagineering did a spetacular job of building and theming the entire ride..and I give it 8.5 out of 10 stars. I felt perhaps there was too much riding in the dark and Disney missed the boat on adding some things to look at, going dark instead. The first car is the best ride and make sure you note the track switching to one side as you again move forward. Great technology.
My son tells me that the down time (101 status) has been minimal….a pleasant surprise after the Test Track fiasco.
Bruce