Whilst doing research yesterday, I came across Expedition Everest, a ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida. Wikipedia has some good background information on the ride, the mountain containing a roller coaster is not supposed to represent Everest, but the forbidden mountain of the Yeti. Everest is represented by a barren peak, on right of the mountain range. The idea of the ride is that thrill seekers travel from the fobidden mountain to the base of Everest. If you want a taster, Disney has a website for the ride.

I think it’s interesting to reflect on the perspective here, is this a generalization of the environment, a degradation of its heritage and the lives lost in the conquest of the mountains; or does it play to our basic interest in these types of environments, fear and adrenaline.

Professor Pema Dorje has a flickr folder full of images of the ride. There are also a number of videos of the ride on You Tube.

 

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Posted in Extreme Environments
Written on Sat, 12 August 2006 at 7:39 pm

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