Disney Announces the Yeti’s Actual Status

Rumors and speculation have surrounded the actual status of the Yeti on Expedition Everest for years now. Disney finally announced last week what his actual status is.

Apparently after The Cousin Mickey Doesn’t Talk About exposed what happened to Jose, the original Yeti, he was rehired and put back into the ride (see http://thecousinmickeydoesnttalkabout.blogspot.com/2009/08/yeti-sues-disney-over-breach-of.html).

With Jose back in place many thought that the original Yeti experience would return. However, nothing has changed.

“Jose is suffering from a chronic repetitive stress injury and is unable to perform his normal duties,” stated Mickey Mouse wearing a safari hat, during a press conference.

So there it is. Poor Jose goes through a legal battle to get his job back after being let go just to be sidelined by an injury that prevents him from doing that job.

Until Jose recovers we can expect to see the same old strobe light action we’re used to.

Yeti Sues Disney over Breach of Contract

Last week Jose, a giant furry yeti, filed suit against the Walt Disney Company for breach of contract.

In the suit it is claimed that Jose was under contract to appear in the Expedition Everest attraction in Disney’s Animal Kingdom for which he would be housed, fed, and groomed. The suit claims that Jose was relieved from his duties because he ate an estimated three thousand dollars of food a day and was too frightening for some of the guests.

Disney responded and said the suit is frivolous and replacing Jose with a lame stuffed animal with a crummy strobe light on it was done for liability reasons. Disney also stated that Jose was offered a job in food services which he turned down.

When asked to comment Jose stated that he turned the position down because he would have been required to wear a body sized hair net which restricted his movement and was very uncomfortable. He also stated that Disney knew this and only offered the job in an effort to back out of their original contract and force him out of the company.

Opening statements for the case are currently scheduled in November.

Getting a Memorable Ride Photo

I love ride photos. Or maybe I should say I love good ride photos. Some rides have good ride photos and some of them have awful ride photos. Here is a list of photo / interaction on different rides:

Ride Quality

Splash Mountain Great
Buzz Lightyear Bad
Expedition Everest Good
Dinosaur Good
Test Track Awful
Tower of Terror Great
Rocking Roller Coaster Good
Spaceship Earth (interaction) Great

Why is Test Track awful? It’s at the end of the ride. The exciting part is done and nothing is happening. It’s also very hard to time. I’ve never seen a good photo from this ride. Everyone looks like a doofus in these photos.

There are some rules to follow when doing a ride photo. It has to be predictable or during thrilling part. That’s why Splash Mountain and Spaceship Earth are great. On Splash Mountain you know it is coming and it’s during a thrill. On Spaceship Earth it’s predicable.

Spaceship Earth is a double edged sword. I knew the face capture was coming and I knew it was going to be used in the ending. However, I didn’t know it was going to be posted up on a massive screen at the end of the ride. Why is that an issue? Because I made a funny face. Lets just say I got my butt out of the after ride section as fast as I could.

I have a demented goal when it comes to ride photos. I’ve always wanted to get a ride photo taken when I’m wearing my gas mask. I got a cheap gas mask on eBay a while back. It’s a great gag prop. I think it would be really funny to sit in the back of the log on Splash Mountain and put it on right before the drop. There are some problems with that idea. One I don’t think I could get it through airport security. Two there is a chance Disney would block it at security. Maybe some day if I drive down I’ll give it a shot.

Yeti Virus Outbreak Shuts Down Animal Kingdom

A major outbreak of the dreaded Yeti Virus has forced Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park to close until further notice.

The virus was first detected last week when guests of the park started to display symptoms often associated with the disease. By the end of the week it was estimated that one hundred and eight people had contracted the virus.

“If you start sprouting tuffs of coarse hair all over you body, grow large fangs, and start eating people, we urge you to seek medical attention,” stated a leading expert on the Yeti Virus.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise as to the origin of the outbreak. The Yeti who hangs out in Expedition Everest said he wasn’t feeling well. He also started sneezing on the guests as they passed through his cave,” a cast member stated.

“My girlfriend got sneezed on by the yeti. She got off the ride and ran to take a shower. She was covered in Yeti boogers. By the next day she stared growing hair everywhere and then she ate my roommate. That’s when I got concerned and called for help,” stated a local resident.

The virus is only spread through direct contact and is not airborne. The Yeti has been quarantined and the Animal Kingdom is being disinfected. The park is expected to open as soon as the cleaning is complete. However, Expedition Everest will not reopen until two weeks after the Yeti’s symptoms have cleared.

The New Summit Challenge

I’d say very few people know what the Seven Summits challenge is. Unless you follow or research professional mountain climbing, don’t feel bad if you don’t know it. The Seven Summits challenge is completed when an individual successfully summits the tallest mountain on every continent. Needless to say this is a very difficult and dangerous task. Despite the risk and monetary cost, a number of people have completed the challenge.

A far more dangerous challenge is joining the 8000 meter club. To join the 8000 meter club you need to climb every mountain that is 8000 meters (24,000 feet) or higher. To my knowledge the only American who has joined this club is Ed Viesturs. The risk in doing this can be enormous. Most people think Everest is dangerous. They are right. For every 20 people who summit Everest, one person dies. To join the 8000 meter club you also have to climb a number of other dangerous mountains including K2 and Annapurna. For every five people who summits K2, one person dies. For every three people who summits Annapurna, one person dies.

Why would someone attempt either? The main reason is people like the challenge, the fame, and in some cases they get “Addicted to Danger” (Jim Wickwire).

In the spirit of dangerous challenges, a new summit challenge has emerged. The new challenge is called “The Four Peaks Club.” To join this club you need to free climb, without a rope, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the Expedition Everest Mountain.

The dangerous in attempting this is extreme. To date no one has completed the challenge.

It’s recommended that one starts with Space Mountain as a warm up, then attempt Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, and Expedition, in that order.

Many people have already been killed or severely injured in attempting to join the Four Peaks Club. Here is a brief rundown of the accidents to date:

- 8 people have been electrocuted when lightening struck Space Mountain during their ascents

- 4 people have been impaled on the thorns in Splash Mountain after falls

- 2 people were clubbed by Brer Bear after being mistaken for Brer Rabbit on Splash Mountain

- 4 people were bitten by Brer Fox on Splash Mountain

- 24 people were stung by bees on Splash Mountain.

- 5 people have been crushed by logs at the bottom of the chute in Splash Mountain

- 3 people have lost their grips and slid off of Space Mountain breaking bones and other serious injuries

- 14 people have been run over by trains on Big Thunder

- 7 people have been nailed in the crotch by a mountain goat on Big Thunder

- 11 people have fallen to their deaths trying to reach the highest point of Big Thunder

- 9 people have been run over by a train on Everest.

- 21 people have fallen from the steep slopes of Everest, 10 died, 11 were seriously injured

- 73 people have been mauled or eaten by the Yeti on Everest.

The Best Souvenirs are Free!

Disney has come up with everything you can think of as far as souvenirs go. My mom even bought me a Mickey Mouse cocktail shaker. That’s tame compared to some of the things Disney has developed to make a buck. That leads some people to question if there are any free souvenirs. You can’t really count your ticket because you paid an arm and a leg for it. A resort mug, even if you got it as part of a package is still paid for. I guess food wrappers are close but who wants to collect those? You could rip up a plant and smuggle it out of the park but that’s a crummy souvenir and you might banned from the parks. How about the soap in the hotel rooms? That’s a little better but still doesn’t fit the bill as a good souvenir and it’s not very collectable.

How about an unused Fast Pass? BINGO! It’s the perfect free souvenir. Each fast pass is different, it’s dated, and it’s collectable. The only real drawback is that you can’t get another fast pass until after the one you want to keep has expired. That’s no problem if you pick one up as you are leaving the park. They also fit nicely in a wallet which will protect them. All of the best (and some of the worst) have fast passes.

For some reason I only grabbed two on my last trip. Want to take a guess as to what they are? If you said Splash Mountain, you would be wrong. The fast pass wasn’t running during my trip. The two I have are Space Mountain and Expedition Everest.

Everest was the first one I nabbed. I didn’t plan on keeping it either. I got stuck with the fast pass because my wife felt too queasy after going on it once. She can’t go backwards without getting ill. I just stuck the fast pass in my wallet.

It wasn’t until the end of our trip that I figured that a fast pass would be a good souvenir. Our last day was in the Magic Kingdom. Because Splash Mountain wasn’t handing them out I went over and grabbed a Space Mountain fast pass. I figured if they change the fast pass with the refurbish, I’ll have an original.

So there you go. There is something free in Disney World that’s worth keeping.

The Animal Kingdom

I’ve heard some people claim that Disney’s Animal Kingdom is awful and that they just avoid it. Most of them feel that it’s just not “Disney” enough. Please give me a minute to find some cheese to go with your whine. I first went to Animal Kingdom the year Countdown to Extinction (now called Dinosaur) opened. I loved it. If you do not want to eat it’s a great park. It’s by far the best zoo I’ve ever been to. Oh sorry I forgot it’s not a zoo…I guess that’s why it’s accredited by the zoo people…go figure. I will admit that there is an excessive amount of junk in this park but the parts they didn’t cut corners on are nice.

Here is the good and the bad of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The Good:

1 – Expedition Everest: This is a great roller coaster even if you don’t like roller coasters. The only negative I’ve run into is motion sickness. I don’t have a problem with it but my wife cannot go on this more than once because of the part where it goes in reverse. One other drawback is the fact that the yeti is busted you don’t get to see him move anymore.

2 – The Safari: It’s long, it’s different, and you will see a ton of different animals. Some of the animals get very close. Sometimes the truck has to stop until an animal moves out of the way.

3 – The “Jungle Treks”: These are well designed. You get to see an amazing variety of animals. The ones that stand out the most are the mountain gorillas, the tigers, and the flying foxes. Some people think the flying foxes are creepy and gross. I like them. I’d like to have one as a pet although I really doubt they make good pets.

4 – The Tree of Life: Some people hate this icon. Others love it. I like it because of the attention to detail that went into it. It’s sheer size and the number of animals carved into it make it worth seeing.

The Bad:

1 – Dino Land: I hate this land. Everything around that awful dino roller coaster is ugly and needs to be flushed down the toilet.

2 – Yak and Yeti: Please, someone fix the food here. It’s just awful.

3 – Kali River Rapids: The two big problems with this ride are; the fact that it’s about two seconds long and you don’t just get wet you get soaked to the bone. Even if you wear a poncho you still get soaked. I don’t mind getting wet but what happens to you on this ride is excessive.

4 – It’s Tough to be a Bug: This should be a fun, upbeat 3D movie. It’s not. I don’t mind this attraction but I can understand why people don’t like it. This movie scares the young children to the point of hysteria. There is also a certain part where you get punched in the spine. That’s always fun.

The Wow Factor

Disney has tried to incorporate a main symbol that is supposed to wow people in every park. In the Magic Kingdom it is the castle, in Epcot it is Spaceship Earth, in Animal Kingdom it is the Tree of Life, and in Disney Hollywood Studios it is the Wizard Hat.

Disney also incorporates attractions it hopes will do the same thing. Expedition Everest, Splash Mountain, and the Tower of Terror are good examples of those.

Some times Disney achieves their goal. Sometimes they fall flat on their face. Most people say that the castle provides the wow factor. Some people even break down and cry when they see it. I really wish I was kidding. Walk down Main Street USA and you’ll see them. The castle isn’t bad but I wouldn’t put it on top.

I thought I’d break down some of the wow factors in Disney World just for Kicks.

1 - Spaceship Earth at Night. This one easily tops my list. The way they light up Spaceship Earth is just amazing. This is the only one that really gives me chills.

2 - The Cinderella’s Castle an night during the Christmas season. Ok let me just say that I am not a fan of Christmas decorations. The main reason is that they tend to get in the way and they are EVERYWHERE! The only exception of when Disney doesn’t overdo it is with Cinderella’s Castle.

3 - The standard Cinderella’s Castle. This one is a classic. Most people who visit Disney take a picture of it every time they go to the Magic Kingdom.

4 - Spaceship Earth during the day. It’s big, it’s white, and it’s cool looking. To get the best wow factor ride the monorail for the TTC to Epcot.

5 - The Haunted Mansion – The attention to detail that went into the Haunted Mansion is mind boggling. You hear this attraction before you see it. The howling dog is a classic sound. The outside is a perfect fit for what should be a haunted mansion.

6 - Splash Mountain – By itself it shouldn’t rank this high. What really makes Splash Mountain a “wow” is how it’s built into the park. The two bridges from which you can view the shoot are places you could sit and just watch people scream their brains out. It doesn’t really get old.

7 - The Tree of Life – The Tree of Life is a unique “wow.” I think it’s the only one that gets more amazing the closer you get. From a distance it’s cool looking. As you get closer the details start to come out. You get a sense for its size and you start to make out the shape of the animals. When you’re on top of it you see the stunning detail of every animal. You could blow rolls of film just on the carvings. Well I guess you could if you have a film camera. Wow, who still owns a film camera?

8 - The Tower of Terror – The Tower of Terror isn’t really an awe inspiring building by itself. However, Take that building and put it at the end of a long flat street and add the sound of people screaming as you walk towards it…now you have something. I’ve taken some good pictures of the Tower. The best one was from the queue. There is a great spot that you can shoot the sign through the trees. To really push a picture of this over the edge, convert it to black and white. This and the Haunted Mansion look amazing in Black and White.

Those are just a few. However, you may notice that I did not mention the wizard hat. That’s because it’s never amazed me. I think the Chinese Theater was far more impressive than the hat. The hat has too much stuff around it. You can never get a good picture of it. Even if you did it really lacks what the other symbols have. Don’t ask me what “it” is. I just know it doesn’t have “it.”