The Yeti

Expedition Everest is one of the most popular attractions at Walt Disney World. While being an incredibly thrilling roller coaster, it is also incredibly well themed, with the whole experience making you feel that you truly are in the Himalayas. According to engineers who designed the ride, they brought back countless items and statues from Nepal to decorate the attraction and surrounding area. 
Well, there was one more thing they brought back. Something they kept under wraps, at least until now. Well, now everybody knows. 
For the first few years it was open, Expedition Everest boasted having the largest, most dynamic animatronic ever built, the yeti. They kept bragging about how lifelike and scary the animated figure was, and how it would truly feel like you were at risk of being snatched out of your coaster train by the thing.
After about a year, the yeti was seemingly permanently turned off. Nobody really knows why. Online forums have been arguing about the cause for years, citing everything from a broken foundation, to the figure literally ripping the mountain apart, to Disney finding the scene too scary for young audiences.
I had just started my College Program at Animal Kingdom, and got to ride Everest when the Yeti was in what’s referred to as ‘A Show’.  I remember feeling something that I could only describe as absolute terror. A deep fear that shook me all the way to my core. I passed it off for the time being as the figure simply doing its job of terrifying people.
I did my program and even stayed after my time was up, eventually becoming a full time Cast Member on Everest. I worked in the gift shop at the end of the ride, and while I did get complaints about the ride being too scary, too fast or whatever, one stuck out to me like a sore thumb.
About a year after I started working on Everest, roughly 2007, a middle aged man and his three children were checking out their merchandise for the ride, when the man looked at me and said, “Hey man, you guys really need to check the Yeti robot. It got way too close to our train. Nearly hit my son."
I kind of chuckled. “Well it sounds like he almost got his next victim,” I said, trying to play into the whole story of the ride.
“No, I mean he really almost hit my son,” the man said. “Look at this”. He showed me the hat his son was wearing, and across the iconic face of Mickey Mouse was what looked like a claw mark. It wasn’t deep enough to damage the hat, but yet there it was, clear as day.
I didn’t know what else to say, so I just told the man I’d have a manager look into it and when I told my boss, a middle aged named Rob, he just kind of sunk into his chair, uttered “Damn it”, and told me to get out. 
I went back to work and about an hour later, Rob’s voice came over the loudspeaker: “Attention all guests, due to technical difficulties, Expedition Everest will be closing early today. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Those in line may see Guest Services for a No Strings Attached Pass for your trouble.”
After we got the ride shut down, Rob told all the employees that we were able to clock out early. I found this a tad odd, but didn’t complain since it meant an entire afternoon off. The next day I got more complaints about the yeti, only that it wasn’t moving this time.
I told guests that there was probably just a computer issue with the robot and that seemed to satisfy most people. The weeks went on, and the yeti continued to be seemingly broken, until one day in July of '08, I had a woman who came running into the gift shop screaming her head off. And not “Woo hoo I just got off a fun coaster” screaming but “My whole family was just killed in front of me” screaming. 
A coworker and I were able to get her into an office and after giving her some water, she was able to stammer out, “H…he…IT…TOOK her!”
“Who m’am?” I asked, anxiety rising. Even though kids getting lost was a common occurrence it was still one we prayed to avoid.
“The monkey thing!” she screamed. “On the ride! It took my daughter”
My coworker raised an eyebrow. “Ma’am, that’s impossible. The yeti cannot physically reach guests. And besides, it’s turned off at the moment.”
“It did!” she wailed. “Right when we were going through the cavern, it reached down and grabbed my daughter right out of the train! I saw it! Please, you have to do something!”
Eventually park security showed up and escorted the woman away. While my coworker went to get Rob, I was able to gain access to the security footage of the train the woman was on. What I saw made my heart sink.
I watched as the woman’s train looped around the final turn of the ride and rolled into the cave the Yeti is in. The woman was having a great time, and in the seat behind her was a younger woman I could only guess was her daughter. 
I didn’t have the footage of the train going past the yeti, but when her train emerged, the woman was screaming in terror and the seat behind her was empty. Overhead, I could hear Rob on the intercom, once again informing guests Expedition Everest was closed.
About ten minutes later, the ride was closed and I was in Rob’s office showing him the footage of the woman’s train. He was more pale than I’d ever seen him. “I can’t believe it,” he stammered. “It didn’t work! I was told it had worked!”
“What didn’t work?”, I asked. “What’s going on with this ride? Where’s that woman’s daughter?”
Rob just sighed, putting his head in his hands. “Come back here at exactly 9. You’ll see.” 
For the rest of the day I could barely focus on anything that was going on. We had been sent home early again but I just wandered Animal Kingdom after changing out of my CM uniform. The closer 9 grew, the more terrified I became. What would happen after I went to Rob? Was I going to be fired? Arrested? Find out what happened to that woman’s daughter? 
At exactly 9pm, as the park was emptying for the night, I knocked on Rob’s office door, and found him on the other side of the door, wearing what looked like robes that had been on display in the ride queue. “What the hell?”, I started to ask but was cut off by Rob holding up a hand.
“Follow me,” was all he said. We walked down the street of the fake village, Rob muttering to himself “I knew this was a bad idea. Why oh why? Why Joe? Why did you have to do this?” After a few moments in silence, he turned to me. “I’m sorry to do this to you Shaun.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, sweat starting to form.
“The reason I’m bringing you along is, well, in case things go sour” he said, solemnly. “We tried feeding it. Little animals. Meerkats, birds, squirrels, that sort of thing. Things the park guests wouldn’t notice going missing”
“Rob, you’re not making any sense.”
“We knew it was gaining its strength, but we figured it would work. Then the boy’s hat, the woman’s daughter. It was never supposed to come to this”. Rob turned his head towards me as we entered the official ride building. “I assume you know what I’m referring to?” I shook my head, so Rob continued. “The yeti, of course.”
I let out a short laugh at this. “The animatronic? Come on Rob! Tell me what’s going on!”
“That’s what I need to tell you, Shaun. That’s not a robot.”
I just stared at Rob, uncomprehending. Then, it slowly started coming together. “The…thing in the ride…it’s a real creature? And it…ate that woman’s daughter”
Rob nodded grimly. “Joe was adamant we bring it back for the ride. ‘Where else can guests come face to face with a real yeti and not realize it than Disney World?’ he kept saying” We walked up the coaster track and into the cave with the yeti, and I could feel my blood turning to ice. If what Rob was saying was true, there was a real monster waiting for me right around that corner.
Rob put a finger to his lips and pulled out a large metal device on a chain and began swinging it back and forth, the chime echoing in the empty tunnel.
To my surprise, a similar chime rang through the cavern, although much lower. Rob nodded and we began walking down the track, turning the corner to face the Yeti. Now that we were so close, I could see it’s fur bristling as it stood, glaring down at us with an expression I can only describe as hunger fueled by hatred. One massive hand swung in the air, grabbing for us wildly. 
I was so distracted by the yeti I almost missed the small, thin man standing on the track below the beast. He was entirely bald and wearing a set of robes that matched Rob’s. Rob made a ‘stay here’ gesture and walked to join the bald man. Both of them swung their chains, and the Yeti let out a blood-curdling bellow at the sound of the metal. I cowered and covered my ears, but the two men didn’t seem to be affected by it.
The little man began chanting in some language I didn’t understand, as Rob began to speak, looking directly up at the yeti. I couldn’t hear exactly what was said since my ears were still ringing from the creature’s bellow, but I was able to make out a few phrases, “Leave us no choice”, and“Protect our parks”.
I could tell that the longer Rob spoke, the weaker the yeti’s attempt to grab us became, and the more this seemed to enrage the creature. Its roars filled the cavern as it tried even harder to get at us, but it struggled against some invisible bond.
After a while, I could tell the Yeti was simply going through the motions I had seen it do so many times on the ride. The small man stopped chanting, and Rob stopped speaking. Both looked at one another, said something in that strange language, and looked back at the yeti.
The words they now bellowed at the yeti I understood clear as day: “We command you to kill this beast.”
The yeti began thrashing as if in excruciating pain, roaring even louder than before, and then just froze. I could see its muscles lock in position, its eyes glass over, and its roars silenced. I uncovered my ears and we all just stood in silence, staring at the frozen Yeti above us. The yeti which, until a few moments ago, had been a living, breathing creature.
“It is done,” the man said in English before disappearing into the rocks on the side of the tunnel. Rob turned to me. 
“I need you to swear that you will never tell anyone what just happened.”
I did, and we left the mountain. I put in a transfer from Everest the next day and moved to MGM Studios. To this day the yeti is still there, frozen in place. The Disney community even calls it the Disco Yeti. If only they knew why it had that nickname. If only they knew.
Category:Monsters