Sometimes, change isn't planned, it's simply the only option.
Such may be the case EPCOT soon finds itself facing given the imminent collapse of GM. While Capitol Hill and Wall Street debate whether GM will really go away or get bailed out by the government, it's clear that
GM is in deep, deep trouble. And, just as certain, a marketing initiative like GM's sponsorship of Test Track will soon seem like an unnecessary luxury.
GM was one of EPCOT Center's original sponsors, putting its money, name and ideas behind the World of Motion pavilion.
While Disney has never made public the details of its sponsorships,
though GM's website indicates that the latest contract was signed in 1994 and actually expired in 2007. Now that GM and Disney have reached the 21st century together, maybe it's the end of the road?
Will Test Track go the way of the 100,000-square-foot ghost town that used to be Wonders of Life, which mostly serves as a reminder of Disney's lack of vision for and attention to EPCOT?
Will it be razed completely so that Test Track, like Horizons, Cranium Command, Body Wars and the World of Motion before it, becomes just a memory?
Will Test Track continue to operate without a sponsor, which likely means without a real post-show, so that the pavilion becomes just an even more meaningless thrill ride, one that lacks any theme or purpose?
Will Disney act decisively to find a new sponsor, one who could bring some much-needed innovation and ingenuity to what is now a 10-year-old attraction (not much younger than World of Motion was when it was shuttered)?
Most tantalizingly, might Disney use this opportunity to stay true to the theme of transportation, but go in a bold new direction, perhaps securing a sponsor that could showcase what the future holds, not just explore the present?
Two things are almost foregone conclusions: GM won't be the sponsor much longer, and Detroit doesn't hold the keys to the future of the pavilion.
Time will tell just what it will be.
EPCOT Central hopes only that it will be
something ... and something good.
