Five Things to Know About Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

Each park at Disney World has at least one big-draw coaster; in Animal Kingdom, you’ll go to Asia and ride Expedition Everest — Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. Expedition Everest is one of those uniquely Disney experiences: great storytelling and a thrilling ride. Here are 5 things that make it such a remarkable experience. (And if you just want to take a shortcut to the mountain top, you can skip ahead to the nuts and bolts section.)

1. The queue is one of the best in the (Disney) World.

If, like me, you don’t do coasters, I strongly recommend that you at least take in the queue for this attraction. (To avoid riding, use the chicken exit at the loading area.) This queue is a testament to the Disney Imagineers’ devotion to immersing you in a story, and wow, does this queue do the trick.

The queue winds through Serka Zong, a village in the Himalayan foothills. “Expedition Everest” is the name of the tour you’re about to take with the Himalayan Escapes Tour Company. The folks who run the company use a refurbished steam train for your tour. It’s the same vehicle Everest climbers take to their base camp, passing through the “forbidden mountain” to get there.

You’ll go through the tour company office, which is absolutely packed full of amazing touches. Then you head outdoors and go through Tashi’s Trek and Tongba Shop, chock-full of supplies for your trip.

Pay attention to displays in the Yeti Museum that document sightings and reinforce warnings about what you may encounter. These touches by Imagineers that support the coaster’s backstory really add to the ride experience. While there aren’t any interactive features in the queue, there’s so much storytelling going on, that you’re never bored.

2. Once onboard, hold onto your hats. And your lunch.

The ride lasts three minutes total, but it will go by quickly. Although there are no inversions and no loops, there is no shortage of coaster thrills in the form of drops, jerks, and lurches. Your train gets up to 50 mph, and at one point, there’s a steep 80-foot drop!

Your journey starts off well enough, but then suddenly you come to a stop as the Yeti has torn up the tracks ahead! Your train plunges backward and into the mountain.

You’ll hear the roar of the Yeti and see the silhouette as the train reverses direction and continues forward, winding in and out of the mountain and coming perilously close to the Yeti himself! (Or herself? Itself?) This forward and backward motion of the train makes your ride unique among coasters at WDW.

If you haven’t closed your eyes, the views you’re afforded during the ride are some of the most spectacular panoramas in Walt Disney World. On a clear day, you can see the buildings of Coronado Springs Resort, EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth, and possibly downtown Orlando. A ride after dark is hard to come by due to Animal Kingdom’s generally early closing, but is a very different experience.

3. A little Himalayan History.

Expedition Everest was first announced on April 22, 2003, during a celebration of Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s fifth anniversary. Imagineers spent six years taking research trips to the Himalayas, and their work certainly shows! The design of the mountain is based on the northwest face of Mount Everest and some of the geological features in Tibet and Nepal. And within the queue, everything you see is genuine; more than 8,000 items were brought back from these research trips to use as props. Three years after it was announced, Expedition Everest opened on April 7, 2006.

As mentioned above, toward the ride’s end you’ll get a brief look at the Yeti. Brief may be an understatement: it’s quick and it’s dark as well. The truth is that some riders don’t even notice the Yeti. But when the ride first opened, it was a different story. The twenty-two-foot-tall Yeti was an audio-animatronic, capable of moving and swinging his arm toward the guests as they rode by. The movement was both impressive and frightening, to say the least. But a few months after opening, the concrete foundation under the Yeti cracked, and the movements were stopped. Currently in what Disney calls “B-Mode,” Yeti is stationary and has a strobe light effect that’s meant to suggest movement. Because of the strobe, some refer to the figure as “Disco Yeti.”

4. Fun Forbidden Facts.

⭐ The photographs you see hanging in the “museum” part of the queue were taken by Imagineer and lead designer Joe Rohde on research trips in Nepal.

⭐ The Forbidden Mountain is 199.5 feet tall. Why is it that height and no higher? If a structure is 200 feet or more, it’s required to have a blinking light on top so aircraft know it’s there. But this height makes it just taller than Tower of Terror, and makes it the tallest of the five mountains at WDW.

⭐ The Imagineers used forced perspective to make the mountain look even taller than it is. It gets smaller as the height increases to achieve the effect.

⭐ When Expedition Everest opened, Imagineers utilized a mist effect to help you believe you were in a colder atmosphere as you would be on a real mountain. This was discontinued when it was observed that the mist created rust problems.

⭐ According to Disney, Expedition Everest covers more than six acres, the mountain itself being almost one acre in size. When viewed from above on Google Maps, the layout is a giant Hidden Mickey. It’s upside down in the image below, with the ears pointing toward you at the sides of the mountain.

⭐ All totaled, it’s reported that Disney spent $100,000,000 to build the attraction, making it the most expensive coaster at the time. (Since then, Disney spent about five times that amount to build Guardians of the Galaxy.)

5. The Nuts and Bolts.

Getting to Expedition Everest is a bit of a trek in itself; it’s in Asia, near the back of Animal Kingdom. As an outdoor attraction, Expedition Everest will shut down for heavy rains or severe weather. And the queue itself has outdoor stretches where overhead fans are the only (and arguably ineffective) defense against the Floridian heat and humidity.

The ride vehicle resembles a train and can hold 34 passengers, 2 per seat. Seats have hard plastic backs and individual lap bars for each guest, with a storage pocket at the front for bags and small items.

Riders need to transfer from a wheelchair or ECV, with a small step up into the ride vehicle. Service animals are not allowed. The minimum height to ride is 44 inches, and Rider Switch is offered for this attraction. But Disney notes that the ride may be scary for children; it features loud noises, fast drops, high speeds, dark places and frightening creature effects. Per Disney, riders should also be in good health and free from high blood pressure, heart, back, or neck problems, motion sickness, or other conditions that could be aggravated by this adventure. Expectant mothers should not ride.

Wait times for Expedition Everest average 40 minutes to an hour on an average day. For the shortest waits, ride early in the day (it’s open for Early Theme Park Entry), near to park closing time, or use the Single Rider line if you don’t mind being split up from your party. You can also make Lightning Lane reservations using Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Lightning Lane Premiere Pass, but you’ll bypass some of the queue.

The Bottom Line.

We think Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is not to be missed. The queue itself is immersive and a testament to the incredible work of the Imagineers. And the ride is one of the best coasters at Disney World.

Will you ride Expedition Everest on your next trip? What’s your favorite part of the attraction? Let us know in the comments.

(Originally published June 8, 2023. Last updated/republished August 14, 2025.)