EPCOT Test Track to be reimagined

[britain]

Rode it yesterday. I did 1.0 when I was 9, i remember it still fondly as it was my early start for my love of thrill rides. Watching POVs now I do realize I’d be a lot more critical of it today as the aesthetic was mainly just signage and cutouts through an empty warehouse. Didn’t take away from how fun the OG version of the ride was though, there was something so weird and unique about that experience that only 90s and 00s Epcot could capture.

Rode 2.0 in 2013 when I was 11 and I remember initially liking it just as much. But as time has gone on and I’ve become a bigger parks fan and purist, I came to realized how quickly the ride outdated itself. It felt slightly futuristic in 2013, but in the early part of this decade as I’ve started going to the parks more regularly, it just felt more sterile and boring the more I experienced it. The ride itself was still fun, but I felt the design studio fun every once in a while, but something easily skippable as I felt it didn’t actually add anything to the ride experience itself.

I was one of the few who was excited and pretty optimistic for a 3.0. The queue feels similar to 2.0, though one thing i noticed is how more open everything feels, the windows facing the final turn feel more open and along with the seatbelt check also being opened up by a window, give very nice kinetic energy that the 2.0 queue was really lacking. The exhibits in the first room feel very reminiscent of 2.0, but the open airiness of the room gives it more of a nicer feel. The second room where the design studio is feels a bit sparse, like they couldve added more, but the exhibits that are there give nice information about the future and sustainability, something that feels straight out of original Epcot Center which I really appreciated.

The ride itself felt like a modern day classic EPCOT Center attraction. I was initially disappointed after the incline still felt a bit like 2.0, but than the lights flash as you transition to darkness and that’s where everything gets going. The first street scene is great, with the projections smoothly transitioning into lights to create a very cool effect that goes into the Lidar sections. The house scene is what stood out to me the most. Seeing full scale physical sets of what could be a real life place felt like what 80s Epcot looked like. Having the WoM callback with the projection effect of the different car designs is cool as well. The scenic drive through the woods was awesome, as was the pine scent which is very earthy and smells almost as good as the ET forest scent over at USF. The scene leading up to the launch is really sweet, with a model of a future car transitioning into a dome screen which encapsulates the entire top 3/4 of the room. One of the cool little details I noticed is as you launch, everything around on the screen moves in sync with the launch, which is just such an awesome little touch.

All in all, 3.0 is, in my opinion, the absolute best iteration of this attraction. It is unfortunately so rare to see an example of what an 80s Epcot Center could be like in the modern day, but this iteration of the attraction felt like the closest it could be. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but if the SSE and JII inevitable makeovers are as good as this… than Epcot fans… we just might be back

Sorry for the long post but I have a lot of thoughts and very detail oriented haha

It seems like we can hope for “improved, inspired by, but still not quite as good as the original 80s version” revisions of imagination and SSE coming up. But I’ll take any improvements we can get.

 

[easyrowrdw]

Except the ride system for Guardians is third party.

What constitutes the ride system? I think it gets praise for the entirety of the attraction, beyond the precisely spinning coaster. I’d be curious to know of comparable attractions other places though, as I’m not familiar with a ton of amusement parks.

Regardless, I think Rise certainly fits your criteria.

 

[easyrowrdw]

Each queue fits for their ride. Test Track is showcasing General Moters, Guardians starts as a pavilion for Xandar which has exhibits in the next room. This feels your trying to make a bad faith argument.

I agree. Or take Smugglers Run. It looks nothing like Guardians or Test Track and fits its attraction very well. Something like Runaway Railway doesn’t work nearly as well IMO because they shoehorned the ride in.

 

[ChrisFL]

I agree. Or take Smugglers Run. It looks nothing like Guardians or Test Track and fits its attraction very well. Something like Runaway Railway doesn’t work nearly as well IMO because they shoehorned the ride in.

DL's Runaway Railway got a super nice queue from what I've seen, much nicer than WDW's shoehorned one

 

[James Alucobond]

DL's Runaway Railway got a super nice queue from what I've seen, much nicer than WDW's shoehorned one

WDW’s could be cool if they leaned more into self-referential stuff from the park’s history (in particular of GMR) instead of just plastering up posters from the existing Mickey shorts. Normally, I don’t like the references, but that’s the entire point of the shorts. Like, have one of the posters be for Wizard of Oswald and then have a nearby display case with comically large Minnie-sized ruby slippers.

 

[flynnibus]

I was around for all of those things

Your profile lists you as 22. Those experiences in the 2000s were not the same as they were in the context they were 25 years earlier.

And that’s the entire point - seeing something in isolation is different than in the setting of intent. Hearing a jingle is not the same as the connection one had through years of repeat or connecting experiences. The material’s significance is heavily embedded in the connection people had. Connections that very much are products of the time and culture.

These are things that you don’t recreate by reading about online. You don’t create the personal emotions with research.

Chuck e cheese still exists today… but getting to goto one now is no where near the impact it was in 1980. A large part of that is because of what the landscape was like in 1980 beyond CEC… that’s very difficult for people to reimagine after the fact.

So yes, I don’t expect a kid in the 2000s to have the same emotional cues to public safety campaigns that ran before their time… or relate to technology shifts they’ve not experienced… they simply will not have the same kinds of responses to content because their frame of reference is entirely different.

 

[flynnibus]

If we're going to complain about queues and discuss the nostalgia of WOM, there was practically no indoor queue for it and there was nothing of substance inside the queue.

Yes… go back a page

The reason future world queues were so basic in the past is because they basically didn’t have long extended themed queues due to their massive capacities. They were designed for high turnover.

But this is 2025

And why not one said ‘bring back ecpot 1982 queues’

 

[flynnibus]

Each queue fits for their ride. Test Track is showcasing General Moters, Guardians starts as a pavilion for Xandar which has exhibits in the next room. This feels your trying to make a bad faith argument.

So again… what is the theme or story for TT3.0?

What do you find enjoyable about this queue experience?

What about this experience strikes you as ‘only at disney…’. ?

 

[Centauri Space Station]

The idea of a worlds fair was replaced ages ago… this is themed IPcot now. If they are going to just do a theme park at least be good at it

What? Test track is a GM showcase, Guardians is supposed to emulate a classic pavilion by NOVA corps, they are literally designed with worlds fair in mind.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

So again… what is the theme or story for TT3.0?

What do you find enjoyable about this queue experience?

What about this experience strikes you as ‘only at disney…’. ?

The theme is the future of automobiles. Going through a city that turns into LIDAR detected motion, future of charging your car through the highway, customizing your car at home, and the future city with automobiles of the future.

 

[flynnibus]

What? Test track is a GM showcase, Guardians is supposed to emulate a classic pavilion by NOVA corps, they are literally designed with worlds fair in mind.

Ok ‘worlds fair land’ to you… you love it.

Meanwhile EPCOT ain’t that

 

[Centauri Space Station]

Ok ‘worlds fair land’ to you… you love it.

Meanwhile EPCOT ain’t that

lol not anymore but it still retains elements. Test track was always sponsored by GM and meant to sell you on their vehicles

 

[flynnibus]

The theme is the future of automobiles. Going through a city that turns into LIDAR detected motion, future of charging your car through the highway, customizing your car at home, and the future city with automobiles of the future.

Now support driving through the forest… and driving around the 1990s test loop… and actually try putting a story together. It’s like a random idea vinaigrette… which the queue does nothing to support either. Except… welcome to GM… expect cars!

Disney finally puts some static sets in and you all think it’s a mona lisa.

 

[Jrb1979]

What? Test track is a GM showcase, Guardians is supposed to emulate a classic pavilion by NOVA corps, they are literally designed with worlds fair in mind.

IMO that's a problem. They can't decide what Epcot is. Is it a park meant to emulate the Worlds Fair and the World or is it a park like the rest that has no real theme to it.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

The idea of a worlds fair was replaced ages ago… this is themed IPcot now. If they are going to just do a theme park at least be good at it

This comes across as a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" sort of criticism.

When they do something that is evocative of the original idea of EPCOT Center (whether they do it well or not is another issue), people repeat the same complaints of critics of the original park that it isn't as whimsical or colourful as what they had come to expect from Magic Kingdom or other parks of that nature. When they just abandon it and go full IP, people complain that whatever they do doesn't feel very EPCOT.

It always makes me think that people think that they like the original EPCOT Center, but if it opened today they would howling about the lack of 'theming'.

 

[Jedi14]

Now support driving through the forest… and driving around the 1990s test loop… and actually try putting a story together. It’s like a random idea vinaigrette… which the queue does nothing to support either. Except… welcome to GM… expect cars!

Disney finally puts some static sets in and you all think it’s a mona lisa.

After customizing the car, we are taking a scenic route. We then see what’s “Beyond the horizon” leading to the test loop.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

Now support driving through the forest… and driving around the 1990s test loop… and actually try putting a story together. It’s like a random idea vinaigrette… which the queue does nothing to support either. Except… welcome to GM… expect cars!

Disney finally puts some static sets in and you all think it’s a mona lisa.

It’s a scenic drive of our customized vehicle and the ending is a speed test outside. Vignettes so like…. Dream flight? LWTL? UOE? SSE and other beloved classics?

 

[Jrb1979]

This comes across as a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" sort of criticism.

When they do something that is evocative of the original idea of EPCOT Center (whether they do it well or not is another issue), people repeat the same complaints of critics of the original park that it isn't as whimsical or colourful as what they had come to expect from Magic Kingdom or other parks of that nature. When they just abandon it and go full IP, people complain that whatever they do doesn't feel very EPCOT.

It always makes me think that people think that they like the original EPCOT Center, but if it opened today they would howling about the lack of 'theming'.

I loved the original Epcot Center. It was unique and different than other parks. IMO it's what missing the most from the Disney parks. Epcot's original attractions were some of the best. My only thing is I wished they actually finished the park with its original plans.

I thought the original DCA was a great idea, it just needed better attractions. Now to me DCA feels like an extension of Disneyland.

 

[FettFan]

It always makes me think that people think that they like the original EPCOT Center, but if it opened today they would howling about the lack of 'theming'.

I don’t see how, as literally every pavilion had a theme.

In fact that’s one of the reasons i gave Moana praise, despite its outwardly “Animal Kingdom” aesthetic. It bridges the gap between The Living Seas and The Land.
In fact, I would argue that Moana could actually be strengthened if TLS were to move back into the direction of the old SeaBase Alpha (albeit with Nemo and Friends) and focus on science and technology rather than “here’s an aquarium”.

 

[JackCH]

We call that cherry picking because it’s picking your best instead of sticking to the actual comparison.

The point isn’t what the companies can do… it’s what they are doing

That is a lazy charge. I could easily say you cherry picked Potter which is arguably the best Uni has done, but I didn't because you were trying to make a point. I was building off the point of another poster that not all queues are meant to do the same thing and the better comparison is RotR as they are both simulating a fantastical world.