Everest Really Is A Theme Park...

Why bother trekking all the way to Nepal to see Everest when you can catch much the same thing in, erm, Florida from this spring onwards?

The latest forthcoming attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort is 'Expedition Everest' no less, a theme park recreation of the world's highest mountain complete with, well, a mountain and a recreated Nepalese village called Serka Zong complete with a hotel, internet cafe and trekking supply store - all traditional Nepalese buildings, erm, obviously.

It may all seem faintly ridiculous, but Disney designers, called 'imagineers' were dispatched to the Everest region to ensure a certain amount of authenticity for the new six-acre ride. You can laugh, but apparently the village is built so it accurately reproduces authentic Nepalese building techniques and distressed for added authenticity.

Then there's the botanic side of things with more than 900 bamboo plants, ten species of trees and 110 types of shrub being planted to create an authentically himalayan feel.

The man from the Mirror went there and was suitably impressed by the project which has reportedly taken around four years and £14 million to put together describing it as 'quite possibly the ultimate in theme-park attractions.'

What else? Well, obviously you'll be taking a train up Everest, duh, you can't walk at that altitude without adequate acclimatisation you know, and there's a huge, animatronic Yeti which the Mirror reports has "the power of a 747 jumbo jet".

More information and pics of Expedition Everest at www.themeparks.com. It's also Everest month at Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom... More pics and building info at www.wdmagic.com

So there you go, a family holiday and a trip to Everest all in one, ahem... :-)

And for the last word, see www.disneyeverest.com complete with sound effects...