Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

Description

Expedition Everest is a roller-coaster ride through what appears to be Mt. Everest. You get onto a train in the Andes mountains and explore the mountain where there are rumors of a Yeti roaming the hills.

Entrance

The entrance to this ride is not really near anything for reference, unless you count that really big mountain sticking out of the forest floor. The mountain is really impressive, and has been formed and painted to look a lot bigger than it actually is from a distance. If you don't know where the ride is, just head for the mountain. You'll find it eventually. There are two different entrances for the ride, one for normal riders and the other for those with FastPass tickets.

Line

As stated, there are two lines. The FastPass line gets you through pretty quick, but you will miss all of the things that have been added to make the wait bearable. In the normal line you will first get to see a small outfitters hutch, which has all of the things you could possibly need for a mountain expedition in the Andes. Backpacks and ice spikes hang from the ceiling, there are sleeping bags on the shelves, along with cooking kits and advertisements for trail guides. You are then led through a small park which has Asian religious overtones in it such as a small temple and other places for meditation. After this comes a small museum of things found in the area you are supposed to be in, along with a lot of informative material. Finally you get to the ride itself, having joined up with the FastPass express line.

Riding the Ride

Each train has about eight cars in it, and each car seats two persons. Once seated, you are whisked away into the mountain for a nice little ride. At one point the ride stops, and you go backwards for a while due to some switchgeared track that occurs. It then stops again and you start going forward. Finally you arrive where you started from. Beware the Yeti.

Exiting the Ride

When you get off, you are shuffled off into a gift store where you can purchase your souvenirs of the ride. It also gives you a chance to catch your breath and calm your nerves. The exit is located right next to the entrance, so no confusion should ensue about where you have ended up.

Opinion

This is a great ride. The amount of work put in to getting the effect of being in the Andes is amazing, and there really isn't much more that they could do aside from getting actual Sherpas to sit in the ride next to you. One thing that was a bit disturbing was the smell of vomit just inside the gift shop, or at least the cleaning solution that they apparently use to clean it up when it does happen. I felt a little woozy when I got off of it myself, and that is not normal. This only happened the second time I rode the ride... the first time I was fine.