In this post we give an overview of Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, a roller coaster at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Walt Disney World. We cover the basics of the ride, how to ride it, and our thoughts on the experience before closing with an FAQ section. Read on to learn more!
Related Posts
This post is a quick guide to Expedition Everest, but we have related content that dives deeper into topics. Our Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane post covers Lightning Lane strategy in depth. The Animal Kingdom Rides and Entertainment Guide gives brief introductions to all the park’s offerings. For putting together your day at the park, we have a One Day Plan for Animal Kingdom.
And, just like this guide, we’ve got guides to each of the rides at Animal Kingdom:
Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain (you are here)
Expedition Everest Basics
Expedition Everest is a roller coaster at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Expedition Everest:
offers rider switch
is a part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass
has a single rider line
is about 4 minutes long
Disney warns that persons not in good health and expectant mothers should not ride. The ride is an intense roller coaster (more spoilers in the description below).
Because it has a height requirement (44 in), it offers rider switch. There isn’t much immediately nearby to pass time while doing a rider switch, but you might consider the nearby Finding Nemo show.
Where is Expedition Everest Located?
Expedition Everest is located in Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the Asia land. Entering the park, you’ll want to walk on the right, past the Tree of Life, and then make a further right to get all the way to the back corner of the park.
How to Ride Expedition Everest
As with most rides at Animal Kingdom these days, you don’t have to overthink scheduling too much. The park isn’t quite booming with crowds, and its early hours mean that arriving early and checking things off one-by-one is a fine enough strategy. That said, we’ve always got time for some tips…
Option 1: Go Early
Expedition Everest is usually a part of Early Entry at Animal Kingdom, but it doesn’t attract huge crowds because of its remote location far away from Pandora and the front of the park. Guests entering at park open will usually find short waits once they get over there.
Option 2: Lightning Lane Multi Pass
With Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you’ll have zero trouble booking Expedition Everest almost any day. The Lightning Lane does skip most of the queue, which is among the best in Walt Disney World.
Option 3: Single Rider
Single rider is also available and does not usually have too long a wait. As with the Lightning Lane, the single rider line skips most of the queue. Remember, your group will be separated if you ride via single rider.
Let’s Get That Yeti!
This section contains spoilers.
The Everest queue is considered one of the best queues in Disney World. The queue is built to mimic the office of a travel agency specializing in these sorts of trips to the Himalayas. The queue contains a booking office, Yeti shrine, and Yeti museum.
That might not sound immediately exciting, but everything in queue is filled with details—with the overwhelming majority of the items having come from Nepal or the Himalayas. There are a few patently fictional items, but the bulk of the items are authentic.
The roller coaster itself is thrilling and offers great views of Walt Disney World. The ride does not go upside down, but it does go backwards. You can view a video of the ride here.
Everest is one of the best roller coasters in Disney World, and I definitely wouldn’t argue with someone who put it in the top spot. It’s fun with great story and a good Yeti animatronic.
Okay…the Yeti. This isn’t necessary information. In fact, it might even be detrimental to your ride experience, so maybe stop reading now if you don’t know where I’m going with this.
See, the Yeti used to be a fully functioning animatronic that swiped at guests as the coaster went by. Now the Yeti no longer moves and a strobe light is used to simulate motion.
I’m not 100% sure how many official details of the Yeti’s problem are out there. So much rumor has come and gone, and (former) Animal Kingdom lead Imagineer Joe Rohde has commented on it numerous times in small nuggets, making it tough to track down precisely what’s been said.
My understanding, which I believe is from about 95% official sources and 5% reasonable rumor, is that the Yeti sits on its own foundation, separate from the rest of the ride, basically right in the middle of the ride (i.e. surrounded by coaster and mountain). The movement of the Yeti was unexpectedly detrimental to the foundation, and had to be turned off.
Everest certainly isn’t as good without the moving Yeti as with it. But, not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, it’s safe to say this is a great ride, and a must-ride.
Bonus: Everest Is Not The Forbidden Mountain
While we’re on things only theme park nerds care about, let’s talk about the fact that the Forbidden Mountain is not Mount Everest. If you head opposite the lagoon to this shrine:
You’ll also see this guide to the view nearby:
That guide clearly indicates the mountain in the middle is the Forbidden Mountain—Mount Everest is actually just to the right of it. If you scroll back up to that shrine picture, you can see Everest clearly right of middle.
Expedition Everest FAQ
Does Expedition Everest go upside down?
No, Expedition Everest does not go upside down.
How tall is Expedition Everest?
Expedition Everest is 199 feet, 6 inches. At 200 feet, it would have to have a warning beacon for aircraft.
How fast does Expedition Everest go?
Expedition Everest goes up to 50 miles per hour.
How much did Expedition Everest cost?
Expedition Everest cost approximately $100 million to build, which was a record at the time.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
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Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
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Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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