Suppose you were a project manager for Disney.

Based on the information in this case, what critical success metrics do you think the company uses when designing a new ride? That is, how would you prioritize the needs for addressing project cost, schedule, quality, and client acceptance?

What evidence supports your answer? One of the newest thrill rides to open in the Walt Disney World Resort may just be the most impressive. As Disney approached its 50th anniversary, the company wanted to celebrate in a truly special way. What was its idea? Create a park attraction that would in many ways serve as the link between Disney’s amazing past and its promising future. Disney showed that it was ready to pull out all stops in order to get everything just right.

In 2006, The Walt Disney Company introduced Expedition Everest in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park at Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Expedition Everest is more than just a roller coaster. It is the embodiment of the Disney spirit: a ride that combines Disney’s trademark thrills, unexpected twists and turns, incredible attention to detail, and impressive project management skills.

First, let’s consider some of the technical details of Expedition Everest:

• With a peak of just under 200 feet, the ride is contained within the tallest of 18 mountains created by Disney’s Imagineers at Disney parks worldwide.

• The ride contains nearly a mile of track, with twists, tight turns, and sudden drops.

• The Disney team created a Yeti: an enormous, furcovered, Audio-Animatronics monster powered by a set of hydraulic cylinders whose combined thrust equals that of a Boeing 747 airliner. Through a series of sketches, computer-animated drawings, sculptures, and tests that took more than two years to perfect, Disney created and programmed its Abominable Snowman to stand over 10 feet tall and serve as the focal point of the ride.

• More than 900 bamboo plants, 10 species of trees, and 110 species of shrubs were planted to re-create the feeling of the Himalayan lowlands surrounding Mount Everest.

• More than 1,800 tons of steel were used to construct the mountain. The covering of the framework was done using more than 3,000 prefabricated chips created from 25,000 individual computer-molded pieces of steel.

• To create the proper color schemes, 2,000 gallons of stain and paint were used on rockwork and throughout the village Disney designed to serve as a backdrop for the ride.

• More than 2,000 handcrafted items from Asia are used as props, cabinetry, and architectural ornamentation.