Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain: attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Walt Disney World — live wait times, operating status, and planning data on MouseHub.

Wait time history

Historical wait patterns for Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain accrete daily as MouseHub records waits every 15 minutes. Charts appear here once enough history exists.

The MouseHub take

Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is the roller coaster at Disney's Animal Kingdom, running in the park's Asia section since April 7, 2006. The story puts you in Serka Zong, a Himalayan village whose name means fortress of the chasm, boarding an old tea-company train bound for the roof of the world. The train climbs, picks up speed, and runs straight into a stretch of broken and twisted track. From there it plummets backward into total darkness, past the shadow of a growling beast, and finishes with an 80-foot drop down the mountain face. Sharp turns and sudden drops arrive both forwards and backwards, in and out of dark tunnels.

It competes with Avatar Flight of Passage for the top of an Animal Kingdom day, and it is the easier of the two to plan around: Everest sits on Lightning Lane Multi Pass, while Flight of Passage is Single Pass and has to be bought on its own. The height minimum is 44 inches, and there's a Single Rider line for anyone willing to split the party. The riders who come off unhappy are usually the ones who get motion sick, the ones who dislike the dark, and the ones who came for a Yeti that moves.

At a glance

Best for
Thrill riders and older kids who clear 44 inches and want the biggest coaster at Animal Kingdom.
Skip if
Backward motion in the dark makes you queasy, or you're traveling with kids who scare at loud noises and a growling monster in a cave.
Ride type
High-speed roller coaster train through a Himalayan mountain, running forwards and backwards
Intensity
High. An 80-foot drop, a backward run through total darkness, sharp turns, loud noises, and a growling Yeti.

The good

  • The backward run in the dark gets everyone
    The train stops at a length of broken and twisted track, changes direction, and drops backward into total darkness. There are no inversions, so the surprise is doing all the work, and first-timers rarely see it coming.
  • The queue is an actual museum
    The Yeti Museum in the line was curated by Professor Pema Dorji and holds maps, photos, paintings, and artifacts, part of more than 2,000 handcrafted wood, stone, and metal pieces supplied by artisans in Asia. Riders consistently say the wait goes faster for it.
  • Single Rider gets you most of the wait back
    Guests willing to be split up and dropped into an open seat report boarding far ahead of the standby line, which is the difference between one ride and three on a busy afternoon.
  • The lift hill hands you the whole park
    The climb is slow and high enough to see well past Asia before the track turns. Riders who expect only a coaster tend to mention the view first.
  • Twenty years on, it still rides smooth
    Everest opened in 2006 and the track has aged better than most coasters that old. Riders report speed and pull without the jarring and head banging that shows up in complaints about other steel coasters.
  • The mountain is 199 feet of set dressing
    It's the tallest mountain at any Disney park, and the exterior rockwork and rooflines read as a real place from across the water in Asia, not as a coaster with a facade bolted on.

The bad

  • The Yeti stopped moving a long time ago
    A strobe light does the work now, and the animatronic itself stands still as you pass. Longtime visitors bring it up constantly, and first-timers often miss the figure entirely in the flicker.
  • The backward helix turns stomachs
    Spinning through a dark helix with no horizon to fix on leaves a fair number of riders dizzy and queasy at unload. Disney's own warning names motion sickness as a reason to sit this one out.
  • The line bakes in the Florida afternoon
    Long stretches of the standby queue are outdoors with no air conditioning, and the heat and humidity are the complaint that shows up most in summer reviews.
  • Storms shut it down with no warning
    The track runs outside and open, so an afternoon thunderstorm closes it. Visitors who built a Lightning Lane window around it are the ones who write about it afterward.
  • It's over quickly for the wait it commands
    The ride is short relative to the standby line in front of it, and that gap is the most common source of disappointment among people who waited an hour or more.
  • The restraints don't fit every body
    Disney states outright that the seating and restraints may prevent guests of certain body shapes or sizes from riding, and there is no test seat out front to check before you commit to the line.

Veteran tips

  • Take it in the first hour or skip the morning
    Rope-drop crowds head for Pandora - The World of Avatar and Flight of Passage first, which leaves Everest walkable for a while. Miss that window and standby climbs through the middle of the day.
  • Single Rider is the real shortcut here
    The entrance is at the main attraction queue, and it drops you into whatever seat is open. Your party gets separated and you don't choose the row, which is the whole trade.
  • Spend one of your three Multi Pass picks on it
    Animal Kingdom doesn't split Multi Pass into tiers the way the other three parks do, so you choose any three from one list and Everest is on it. Flight of Passage is Single Pass and cannot be one of those three.
  • Rider Switch covers anyone under 44 inches
    Everest is on Disney's Rider Switch list, so the whole group checks in at the entrance and the second party rides after. Only two people ride in that second group, service animals cannot board this attraction at all, and children under 7 need someone 14 or older with them.
  • Ask for the back row on the way in
    The rear car gets pulled over the 80-foot drop rather than led over it, and riders who chase airtime ask the loading cast member for it. Expect to wait one or two more trains.
  • Wheelchair and ECV users transfer at the station
    Disney classifies this as must transfer from wheelchair or ECV, with a transfer access vehicle available at the load area. Tell a cast member at the entrance rather than at the platform.
  • Hand your loose items to someone not riding
    Hats, sunglasses, and phones come loose on the backward section and the drop. Anything not zipped into a pocket should go to a non-rider or into a bag before you reach the platform.

MouseHub editorial, written from visitor reports and official Disney sources. Last reviewed .

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