10 Huge Walt Disney World 2019 Predictions

4. The End Of Disco Yeti

When Expedition Everest opened in 2006 it had the largest animatronic ever built by Disney. Unfortunately the Yeti in the ride was so complex that eventually the animatronic was forced to become stationary only months after opening. Instead Disney now use strobe lights to simulate the idea of movement. Hence the nickname, Disco Yeti.

Unfortunately the Yeti has remained broken for so long that there are few out there who remember seeing it actually moving. Because of where the Yeti is positioned within the ride it's not going to be a little job to fix it. The Yeti is so well built into structure of the ride that in order to get in there and repair the damage, it would likely require major refurbishment to huge parts of the attraction.

It's quite an embarrassment for Disney that this animatronic has been broken for 12 years. Especially since animatronics are really what they are known for. It looked for a long time that Disney were content enough with Disco Yeti and weren't looking to repair him. That is until Imagineer Joe Rohde (Mr Animal Kingdom himself) put out a promising tweet not that long ago.

A while ago at Disney's D23 event, Rohde said that the Yeti would be fixed and it seems he hasn't forgotten his promise. Rohde didn't have to reply to the original tweet so I think it says something that he did.

Making repairs to the Yeti has more than likely been low on the company's priority. There's a massive amount of construction at the park over the last couple of years with Pandora: World of Avatar finally opening last year. My guess is that if they are planning on fixing the Yeti, it's going to happen once Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is complete, perhaps not even till after 2021.