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Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is an elaborately themed roller coaster at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park on the Walt Disney World Resort property in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. According to Disney, the attraction occupies 6.2 acres in the park's Asia section and the mountain itself is just shy of one acre.One of the highlights of the attraction is an encounter with a large Audio-Animatronic yeti, which Disney claims is one of the largest and most complex figures it has ever built. Joe Rohde, the lead Imagineer for Expedition Everest, has noted that the yeti featured in the attraction is extremely lifelike and based on extensive research into the cultural legend.Expedition Everest often is compared to the 1959 Matterhorn Bobsleds roller coaster at Disneyland, which features a snowy mountain setting (though much smaller) and a far more primitive "abominable snowman" figure throughout the ride.Although moderate by contemporary roller coaster standards, Expedition Everest is unique for having its trains travel forward and backward as a result of the yeti's interference with the journey. This is accomplished through two sets of rotating track segments on pivot before and after the backwards segment. In its publicity material, Disney pointedly has described the attraction as a family thrill ride.Expedition Everest is the tallest of the artificial mountains at Walt Disney World Resort, joining Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mount Gushmore, Space Mountain and Splash Mountain on the list of Disney-built peaks. If the Expedition Everest mountain were real, it would be ranked fourth on the list of the highest points in Florida at 320 feet above sea level. According to Imagineering, it is Disney's 18th mountain-themed attraction.The artificial mountain is not a reproduction of Mount Everest; it is the fictional "forbidden mountain" guarded by the yeti in the attraction story created by Walt Disney Imagineering. Everest is represented by the barren background peak on the far right, which is meant to suggest it is far in the distance (an example of forced perspective). The attraction's conceit is that the roller coaster is a passenger train offering a speedy route through the Himalayas to the base of Mount Everest.Expedition Everest celebrated its grand opening on April 7, 2006 in ceremonies led by Disney CEO Bob Iger and theme parks chairman Jay Rasulo. It had been operating for invitation-only previews and public soft openings since January 2006. The attraction first was announced publicly on April 22, 2003, during an event to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Disney's Animal Kingdom.
