We ended up riding it twice - once in the daytime and once at night. Both were absolutely thrilling. It was a clear day, so in the daytime, you had a great view of the surrounding areas. At night, you had an amazing view of everything all lit up.
I absolutely loved this ride, and I think it became my favorite Disney coaster. It was a great coaster, AND it had a great theme. We weren't able to use Fastpass because they were already all gone, but we didn't mind waiting in stand-by. The line wasn't terribly long, and the queue had so much to look at that we didn't even get a chance to see everything. It was the same feeling I got when I first went on Star Tours or Indy at Disneyland, with their amazingly detailed queues. The queue for Everest was even more elaborate - they basically recreated a Tibetan village, and as you went further through the line, there were various outposts for travelers, and you also learned about the legend of the yeti and what it meant to the locals.
I loved the backwards section of the ride, and I loved the shadow view of the yeti, but I especially loved the yeti himself. In all the commercials, they never showed him, so it was a great payoff when you actually saw him on the ride.
A friend of mine managed to get great video from the front seat, and he has given his permission for me to show it here. Thanks, Mox!
Two things to note about the video:
1. At the broken track section, right before you go backwards, I remember an eagle (or some kind of similar bird) rising up next to the twisted torn track. I didn't see that on his video, and I'd heard that the bird sometimes didn't work, so maybe it wasn't working at the time he took the video.
2. The animatronic yeti wasn't working during his ride, but he said they had a strobe effect going that made it look like it was moving, and he said it was really cool. You'll get just a few short quick glimpses of the yeti because of that. When I rode it, the yeti was working just fine, and I was screaming and ducking out of its way. Both times. Yeah, ok, so I'm a coward and an idiot. :p
Expedition Everest from Jeffry Moxley on Vimeo.
As with Star Tours, the ride exits into the adjacent merchandise store. They had a lot of cool stuff, including a great t-shirt that I ended up getting, but my favorite was that they had a yeti as part of the roundie collection. You don't really have to ask if he came home with me, do you?
I can't believe it's been a whole year, and the only consolation for me about not being at WDW this year is that since this particular bout of feeling completely like crap has lasted a couple months now, there would be no possible way I could go on Everest at the moment, so I'd probably be even sadder to be there and not be able to ride it. Or I'd ride it anyway and feel even more like crap. Blech.
But it'll be there next time I go back. Everest calls, and Everest waits.
If you want to read my trip report notes from the WDW trip, go here.
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