Originally published July 31, 2010
It is Disney's own version of the "Legend of the Yeti."
Deep inside the 20-story Expedition Everest attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom stands one of the most sophisticated animatronics Disney has ever built: a nearly 25-foot-tall, 20,000-pound abominable snowman powered by hydraulic cylinders with more potential thrust than a 747 jetliner.
And it has stopped working.
Where the Disney yeti once snarled and lunged at passing roller-coaster trains, riders in recent years have found it motionless and dark, lit only by strobe lights designed to create an illusion of movement.
Much the way scientists have debated alleged sightings of a real yeti in the wild, Disney followers now debate sightings of a moving yeti inside Everest. There is an entry on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia devoted to the subject, which claims the "last known full A-mode operation" of the Disney yeti occurred in March 2009.
It is the type of detail that likely goes unnoticed by the vast majority of the 26,000 people who visit Disney's Animal Kingdom each day. But among Disney's most passionate followers, it is a source of uncommon consternation.
The $100 million Expedition Everest, after all, has been the marquee attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom since opening in early 2006 -- and the yeti is supposed to be the attraction's biggest star.
"There is such a thing as the 'Disney Difference,'. " said Tony Crane, a 35-year-old telecommunications-company owner and Disney fan from St. Louis, echoing a phrase often used by Walt Disney Co. executives. "And to a lot of people who really try to defend that Disney Difference, it's embarrassing that this technological marvel is left ÃÂÃÂ to just sit there. It's very Six Flags-y."
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