One of my more popular posts in this blog is "My Aborted Trip To Walt Disney World" from 2012. Yep, the reservations were made, the plane flights booked, the itinerary all mapped out - 10 days of glorious Disney World Magic over the Christmas holidays. Then came illness, followed by a surgery, followed by recovery and finally, the whole trip got permanently scrubbed.
And in the meantime, since writing this blog, I've come to realize, for good or bad, that there are more similarities in the East Coast and West Coast Disney Parks than differences. Yes, Disney World is much larger, much grander, much more resort-like, and as one blogger put it "has more filler entertainment", but underneath it all, there are a lot of similarities.
Not completely though. I thought that over the next few weeks, as Disney Parks are in full summer swing, I would take a look at some of the Walt Disney World attractions I am most envious of being a west coast Disneyland kind of guy. And as I've written before - it starts with Expedition Everest which sits in Disney World's least popular park - Animal Kingdom.
Mrs. DisneylandTraveler's old boss made a trip to Disney World a year or so ago and he said he went on Expedition Everest 5 times. I could absolutely see myself doing that. Expedition Everest is by all accounts, a great ride on all levels. Theming is great, the ride drips with grandeur and imagination, and yes, there are thrills even if the giant Yeti has almost never worked as advertised.
Well, Disneyland people counter the Expedition Everest attraction by saying "we have the classic Matterhorn - it's kind of the same thing". Yeah...they're both mountain roller coasters and the Matterhorn has some history behind (Walt Disney oversaw the construction, first steel tubed coaster built, has a basketball court inside the mountain) but for a pure big time moutain coaster ride in a classic setting, it's hard to beat Expedition Everest and the Matterhorn shrinks in its presence. The Matterhorn has even lost ground to the Florida snowy peak when Disney park management boobs went with the bone crunching, space confining ride sleds, replacing the immensely charming tandem sleds.
Yep. If I had to make a checklist for ride attractions planning a trip to Walt Disney World - Expedition Everest will be at the top of the list. Envy? You bet.
Although moderate in height and length by contemporary standards, Expedition Everest is unique in having its trains travel both forward and backward.
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