Disney Is Fixing the Expedition Everest Yeti, and It Sent Off the Disco Version With Gloria Gaynor Singing I Will Survive

After nearly two decades of standing still, the Yeti inside Expedition Everest is getting fixed. Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum walked onto the D23 stage on Saturday night, interrupted host Neil Patrick Harris, and announced that the figure is coming back to life. Then Gloria Gaynor came out and sang "I Will Survive" in its honor.

That is not a joke. That actually happened, and Disney put it in its own blog post.

What Disney actually said

The announcement came during the "Horizons: A Carousel of Progress" showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event presented by Visa, held Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Mazloum's line was short and it did not leave much room for interpretation.

Mazloum on stage: "We're bringing the Yeti back to life inside Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom!"

Disney's concept art for the restored figure shows the Yeti mid-lunge across the track from a train full of riders, snow and mist between them. The art carries Disney's own "Artist Concept Only" mark. Image credit: Disney

That line and the concept art are the whole announcement. Disney did not say what the repair involves, whether the figure regains its original full range of motion, or when any of it happens.

Why everyone calls it the Disco Yeti

Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain had its grand opening on April 7, 2006, and its centerpiece was an Audio-Animatronics Yeti swiping at the coaster train.

It did not stay that way. WDW News Today reports the figure "has not moved since early on during the ride's life." WDWMagic dates the failure to late 2007, less than two years after opening day, and says the forces of the Yeti's own lunging motion damaged the structure beneath it. By that account, a real repair would have meant a long closure to rebuild the floor of the show building and the figure's mounting, and Disney passed on it then.

WDWMagic on the fix that replaced it: "The Yeti stays still while a strobe light flashes on it as your train passes, creating the illusion of movement. It was meant as a short-term fix. It became permanent."

Fans named the result the Disco Yeti, and the nickname has stuck ever since.

The Yeti with both arms frozen mid-swipe beside the torn track, seen without the strobe. From a 2017 WDW News Today video of Animal Kingdom testing brighter lighting on the figure. Image credit: WDW News Today

The problem has been discussed in public before, though not by Disney. In June 2023, Disney Legend Joe Rohde, the retired Imagineer who was supervising designer for Disney's Animal Kingdom and its later expansions including Expedition Everest, answered a Yeti rumor on X: "No that rumor is not true. The issue is a complex interface between finance, operations, marketing, design, timing, engineering, s narrative l [sic], and ... guest satisfaction. All of these need to line up to make a viable solution. There are solutions. There are not opportunities."

Three years later, apparently, there is an opportunity.

Gloria Gaynor sang goodbye to a strobe light

The Disco Yeti did not go quietly. WDW News Today reports that Gaynor, the disco queen herself, took the stage to mark the announcement. She performed "I Will Survive," her 1978 hit, seated on a gilded throne in a white gown, flanked by dancers in mirrored jumpsuits and 1970s open-collar shirts.

Gaynor performing on a gold throne with her dancers under purple light at the D23 showcase. Image credit: WDW News Today

Disney's own write-up: "As beasts of legend are soothed with song, Gloria Gaynor gave our long-dancing yeti an epic send-off."

The part with no answer yet

There is no date. WDWMagic's recap of the showcase notes that "No timeline was given, but the announcement ends years of speculation about the attraction's broken figure," and its running list of upcoming Walt Disney World projects files the Yeti under TBA while Piston Peak sits at 2029 and Villains Land at 2030.

For now the ride runs as it has for years. The Forbidden Mountain still stands nearly 200 feet over Asia, the queue is still a trailside museum of campground attacks, sighting sketches and a mold of a giant yeti footprint, and the figure inside still does not move. Disney says that changes. It has not said when.

Sources

• Disney Parks Blog, "Yeti Audio-Animatronic Coming Back to Life Inside Expedition Everest"
• WDW News Today, "BREAKING: Disney is Fixing the Expedition Everest Yeti"
• WDWMagic, "Every Walt Disney World Announcement from D23 2026 - Full Recap"
• WDWMagic, "Expedition Everest Yeti Getting Fixed After Nearly 20 Years, Disney Confirms"
• WDWMagic, "Expedition Everest"
• D23, "Joe Rohde"

Image credits: featured concept art by Disney. Yeti video frame and Gloria Gaynor performance photo by WDW News Today.