Disney today hosted an online chat with Imagineer Melissa Jeselnick about the new Test Track. Even though Disney screened the questions, it seemed to me that participants were having trouble understanding just would be different about this version of Epcot's ride through the process of designing a car.
Ultimately, from my reading of Jeselnick's responses, I think the answer is "nothing" - in terms of the ride itself. It'll be the same ride track, with the same ride vehicles as before. What will change is the show experience, and especially the pre-show experience, which Disney will infuse with a competitive video-game-like element.
In the queue, you'll use kiosks to design a digital version of a Chevrolet vehicle. Then, on the ride, your digital design will be tested and scored in four stations - for Capability, Efficiency, Responsiveness, and Power. The highlight of the ride will continue to be the 65 mph "speed test" around the outside of the Test Track building. And in the post-show, you'll get to see how your specific design fared.
Be warned, though. Although the ride will continue to have FastPass and single rider bypass lines, people using those lines will not get to customize their own vehicle design, according to today's chat. Instead, they'll simply get to choose from one of a number of pre-designed options to "test" during the ride.
It sounds as though much of the show within the ride will now be screen-based, mostly to reflect the increasingly digital nature of vehicle design. (Heck, attraction design's the same way.) But that will give Disney's Imagineers the opportunity to do some cool Tron-type visuals within the ride.
You can't truly judge a ride during the concept, design, or even the construction phase. Only when you ride will you know how well the attraction works, or doesn't. But nothing I've heard about Test Track excites me. Watching people test a digital prototype of a mass production car fojhe2djn1wejdedjn…
Sorry, I fell asleep just typing that.
People spend big bucks to go on vacation to escape their desk jobs - not to watch people do pretty much the same thing. What Disney's describing here sounds like a great attraction for a GM factory exhibition in Michigan. But Disney World ought to offer us something more exciting than that. If it must devote an attraction to car design, let it be for high-end, super-performance vehicles, such as IndyCars or Ferraris. Or if it wants to plug Chevrolet, let us ride a prototype Chevy (that changes every year) through a dream "roadtrip" across America of our choosing. (Like the "choose your adventure" option on the old Horizons, times 10!)
Test Track illustrates what frustrates me about Epcot. Instead of bringing us into epic tales of human discovery, with heroes and villains battling over human advancement, we get stuff like people designing mass-production cars, trying not to barf on a spaceflight simulator, and watching sitcom stars yuck their way through a trip back to the time of dinosaurs.
Okay, that's fun, but it's not epic. It's not the heart-tugging, lump in my throat, my heart's racing excitement that Disney can deliver. That's the stuff I can't wait to ride.
I hope Test Track turns out well, and that Disney surprises me with its execution of this concept. But I gotta admit, this isn't high on my list of attractions I'm eagerly awaiting. How about you?
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I think Disney Imagineers are missing opportunities both with this "automotive" attraction just as they are with the Tomorrowland Speedway.
The Tomorrowland Speedway should be targeted for a makeover to a Cars Land type attraction that could really add to the Fantasyland expansion without really taking much from Tomorrowland. Let's face it...The Speedway really isn't looking into the future anymore, is it? Besides getting a much needed re-theme, Disney could get rid of of the exhaust producing gas powered machines and green the place up with newer technology.
Sorry I kind of went all over the place with this comment. Good article Robert!
Brian
The worlds fair approach to EPCOT is like work, but I did enjoy it to a certain extent. I worked in manufacturing and I worked in the Space program. Test Track and Space did have some appeal to me. There are the communications ride, the agriculture ride, and the energy ride. They are all about work AND conservation. There are Innoventions exhibits sponsored by various captains of industry. Very boring since it is all about marketing.
Hollywood Studios has tons of animation exhibits. Is it interesting? Sort of, but it is less interesting these days since animated movies are about digital animation rather than the mechanical cells. I don't enjoy the Movie ride. Movie sound stages are boring. The false facades are for photography and not interesting if they are not filming.
Test Track needed to be updated to have real interaction with the guest, but it appears to be half-hearted. They didn't go far enough. Perhaps one day they will dump GM and its sponsorship. Go with a total makeover into Carsland. While the focus on work may be boring, usually the payoff is with the final product. It should be the most interesting part of the effort, which is to see the car performing as expected.
(I can't believe I am defending a revamp that the Disney die-hards are not happy about)
It could be worse.... there could be a huge Doritos logo on it or something....
I'm somewhat intrigued about the new version, but with concern because I am afraid they may actually make the ride less fun than it already is. I'd hate to ride the new version and immediately think..... wow, I miss the old version.
If they want to upgrade something that seriously needs it in Epcot though...... they could clean or replace the screens in Soarin. Last time I rode it I found the dirty or stained sections on the screens such a distraction.
Most of us agree that Epcot needs fixing, but Test Track really isn't the problem. Sure, at some point in the lifecycle of every attraction there needs to be downtime for fixes and upgrades, but I'll be happy when this project is complete and Disney moves on to bigger, better, and newer things.
The positive (or negative) is nothing at EPCOT is really there for only entertainment sake. Each attraction teaches you a subject. The only one I can't think teaches you anything is Captain Eo.
I like Test Track for that reason. Its a thrill ride that teaches you something.
As a point of reference, how is the Cars ride superior? To me they look nearly identical
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