Mazloum's D23 recap: the Expedition Everest Yeti moves again and Dreamfinder returns to EPCOT

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Disney Parks has posted Thomas Mazloum's D23 stage recap to YouTube, and two of the announcements in it are Walt Disney World's. The Yeti audio-animatronic inside Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom will return to full motion after nearly two decades locked in place, and Dreamfinder is coming back to EPCOT with Figment in a new journey into imagination. Disney has attached no dates to either.

Mazloum's D23 recap: the Expedition Everest Yeti moves again and Dreamfinder returns to EPCOT

Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum has posted his D23 stage recap to the Disney Parks YouTube channel, and two of the announcements in it belong to Walt Disney World. The Yeti inside Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom will move again, and Dreamfinder is returning to EPCOT alongside Figment. Neither has an opening date.

A man wearing a blue suit and a brown beard is giving a thumbs-up while holding a purple dragon-like plush toy.
A man wearing a blue suit and a brown beard is giving a thumbs-up while holding a purple dragon-like plush toy. Photo: youtube.com
Mazloum's D23 recap: the Expedition Everest Yeti moves again and Dreamfinder returns to EPCOT

Key Details

The clip Disney Parks posted

The recap runs just over a minute and stitches together the moments Mazloum delivered on stage. He frames the announcements as a response to what fans have been asking for. "We know how important this is to you," he says at the top of the clip. "We heard you and this is one more way we are putting you, all of you in the center of everything we do."

A stage featuring a large-scale model of a fairytale kingdom, an orchestra pit, and an audience in a darkened auditorium, with a speaker addressing the audience.
A stage featuring a large-scale model of a fairytale kingdom, an orchestra pit, and an audience in a darkened auditorium, with a speaker addressing the audience. Still from the source video
A stage at an event features a large screen displaying an illustration of a Yeti, with the word "LEGACY" illuminated above and the text "We're bringing the Yeti back to life" superimposed on the screen.
A stage at an event features a large screen displaying an illustration of a Yeti, with the word "LEGACY" illuminated above and the text "We're bringing the Yeti back to life" superimposed on the screen. Still from the source video
A large screen displaying a giant ape-like creature and a ship is illuminated above a stage with a sign that reads "LEGACY", while an audience is seated below.
A large screen displaying a giant ape-like creature and a ship is illuminated above a stage with a sign that reads "LEGACY", while an audience is seated below. Still from the source video
A stage is set against a vibrant background featuring a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, and illuminated fountains, with the word "LEGACY" displayed above.
A stage is set against a vibrant background featuring a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, and illuminated fountains, with the word "LEGACY" displayed above. Still from the source video
A wide shot shows a large screen displaying a parade in front of a castle, with the word "LEGACY" illuminated above it, as an audience watches from below.
A wide shot shows a large screen displaying a parade in front of a castle, with the word "LEGACY" illuminated above it, as an audience watches from below. Still from the source video

Around the fourteen second mark the two Walt Disney World items land back to back. "We are taking a new journey into imagination at EPCOT with Figment and Dreamfinder," Mazloum says, then follows it with the Animal Kingdom news: "We're bringing the Yeti back to life inside Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom." A voice on stage cuts in immediately after with "Fantastic. Fantastic news." The remainder of the reel covers announcements for Disney's other resorts, which sit outside Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line coverage.

A Yeti that has been standing still since 2006

Expedition Everest opened at Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2006 with what was then one of the largest and most complicated audio-animatronic figures Disney had built, positioned to lunge at ride vehicles near the end of the coaster's run. Structural concerns with the figure's framing surfaced not long after opening, and Disney locked it in place. Riders since then have passed a static Yeti lit by a flickering strobe, the workaround fans nicknamed "disco mode."

Disney's own image from Expedition Everest.
Disney's own image from Expedition Everest.
Two signs are mounted on a weathered wooden wall, with the larger sign proclaiming "RESPECT THE POWER OF THE YETI" in bold lettering.
Two signs are mounted on a weathered wooden wall, with the larger sign proclaiming "RESPECT THE POWER OF THE YETI" in bold lettering. Photo: Elliott R. Plack via Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Disney leaned into that history when the announcement was made at D23. Gloria Gaynor took the stage and performed her 1978 hit "I Will Survive" as a send-off for the figure's long static stretch. Imagineers, including the late Joe Rohde, had talked publicly for years about wanting the Yeti fixed, but no repair was ever announced until this one.

Dreamfinder has been gone from EPCOT since 1998

Figment has been at EPCOT since 1983, when the original Journey into Imagination opened in what is now the Imagination! pavilion. The ride has been rebuilt more than once, and the small purple dragon stayed through every version. Dreamfinder did not. The red-bearded inventor who creates Figment in the original ride's opening scene anchored the attraction from 1983 until the 1998 rebuild, and he was cut from every version that followed.

That is why his name still comes up whenever fans list what EPCOT lost, and why Mazloum's line about having heard fans was pointed at this announcement in particular. Disney has said a new journey into imagination is coming with both characters, and has not said whether it is a rebuilt ride in the Imagination! pavilion, a show, or something else.

What Disney has not said

No dates were given for either project. Disney has not published a construction timeline for the Yeti work or said whether Expedition Everest will close for an extended refurbishment, and it has not described the format or the opening window for the EPCOT experience. Guests planning trips around either one have nothing concrete to book against yet.

Disney's own image from Expedition Everest.
Disney's own image from Expedition Everest.

What this means for Walt Disney World guests

Both announcements answer requests fans have made for years, and both are still at the headline stage. The practical question for Animal Kingdom visitors is downtime: restoring motion to a figure of that size is unlikely to happen without closing the coaster, and Disney has not said when that would fall. At EPCOT, the open question is scope, because a new experience with Dreamfinder could mean anything from a full pavilion rebuild to a smaller addition. Announcements as they land are tracked at disneyparksblog.com.

Walt Disney World Epcot Spaceship Earth.
Walt Disney World Epcot Spaceship Earth. Photo: Anthony Quintano from Westminster, United States via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Originally reported by youtube.com. GenieGrove rewrote this story; the original reporting is theirs.