Disney hits new heights with Everest

The Associated Press takes a look at Walt Disney World's new Expedition Everest attraction. "'Respect tradition -- beware,' warn yellowed posters and weathered totem poles surrounding a 200-foot peak. Inside lives the biggest, most fierce creature Walt Disney ever built

-- and a mile-long runaway train ride through the Himalayas that brings visitors face-to-face with a mythological legend. In Nepalese lore, the mysterious yeti is thought to protect the pristine east Asian mountains and forests."

"At Walt Disney World's new Expedition Everest attraction, it's a howling animatronic beast with more potential thrust power than a 747 airplane -- and the center of the theme park giant's first big-ticket attraction here in two-and-a-half years.

Everest, set to open April 7 in Disney's Animal Kingdom, features a train navigating an 80-foot drop, rumbling over bridges and through valleys backward and forward to escape the monster, which has twisted and broken the tracks.

With no upside-down turns, Everest isn't as white-knuckling as some new coasters. But it could help Disney draw visitors to the Animal Kingdom, which has long lagged in popularity behind sister parks Epcot, the Magic Kingdom and Disney-MGM Studios."