Test Track Poll - Which version do you prefer?

[JWG]

You need to ride something to truly judge it. I think the poll should be restricted to those who have actually ridden and not watched some blogger's video.

Yea, those ride videos all blow... (I Kid... . )

 

[Jakester]

I finally got to ride today, and lemme say, IMPRESSIVE. Kudos TD.. Umm GM for making this happen. Love the idea of making your own car, and testing it on the SimTrack, Which is so awesome. Love the Tron feel it has. The bad part, Outside needs overhaul, and the On-Ride Photo is just placed wierd. It was a good idea with making the post-show interactive with the commercial designer and take your simcar for a spin. Everything about this refurb is superb. 5/5 IMO.

 

[Silver Figment]

I liked Test Track 1.0 but from what I've seen in videos I think I'll like 2.0 even more.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

2.0 is better. Much more timeless, and not stuck in the late 90's like the previous incarnation.

 

[Tom Morrow]

After the first few times riding Test Track 2.0, my reaction was "Wow! MUCH better!" But after the novelty of it being new to me and the excitement of seeing how they made it look different wore off, I'm actually torn. There are definitely things I miss from TT1.0, such as the entertaining queue with lots of kinetic energy, and the hot, cold, and corrosion chambers. Overall I would probably say I like TT2.0 better, but I feel like it still needs some tweaking and a few more enhancements.

 

[rle4lunch]

Just got back from WDW this past Saturday. Got to ride TT 2.0. After riding the 1.0 quite a few times in the past, I always found it quite juvenile in nature geared toward the new dumbed down American kid, so 2.0 was eagerly awaited...

The overall design of the queue is awesome. It doesn't resemble 1.0 at all, which is the most refreshing thing about that part of the attraction. The ride setup itself is still a bit clunky though. The CM's really don't know what they're doing yet, and the hurky-jerky lines go from hurry hurry hurry to design your car, then ultra slow while you wait for the group in front of you trying to figure out what they're looking at on the design screens.

The ride itself closely resemble all the concept art. The problem is the lack of actual plot and a very shoddy soundtrack. You can barely hear what you're stupposed to be doing at each 'test/evaluation' part of the track. Basically, it's all show and no discernable reason what you're doing. The aftershow is awesome with some great interactive things to play with, and of course a new car showroom which is nice as well.

All in all, it's a much improved ride. They really need to figure out the flow of the line though, I knew that would be a problem though months ago when I heard what they were planning.

 

[DarthGrady]

I didn't even need to watch the video (but I did anyway) to vote for the new version. TT was in such dire need of a refurb that just about anything would do. We can only watch 1994 Pontiacs in action for so long.

TT isn't true EPCOT anyway, so I didn't really care what they did to it. But from seeing the video, the new version looks okay. As others have said, its no WoM, but it'll do.

I'm sure JII will be next, lets just wait.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Here is the problem....as we all know, people are going to form their opinion based on anything.

So I figured, since the ride is JUST NOW officially open and everyone's forming their own opinion even if they haven't personally experienced it, rightly or wrongly, might as well give them a poll option for that. Everyone else can make a judgement call on if it means anything.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and there's just no substitute for the actual experience. But it is not necessary for a meaningful opinion of a ride.

I have never ridden either Dueling Dumbo's or Radiator Springs Racers, but I will say with absolutely no reservation whatsoever that RSR is the more immersive, encompassing, superior experience.

 

[bethymouse]

Guess I'll have to wait til 2014 to form an opinion.

 

[Tom Morrow]

You can barely hear what you're supposed to be doing at each 'test/evaluation' part of the track.

This is one complaint I've heard several times but don't really understand. The onboard audio is definitely louder than before, and it the narration does tell you exactly what you're doing. Unless there are some cars with low audio, I don't think being able to hear it is the issue*. I would agree that the descriptions are a little vague and doesn't really explain how it's testing the categories.

* I have already gotten a ride with no onboard audio in the vehicle. This was a huge problem prior to refurbishment to the point where you had like a 1 in 4 chance of getting a car with no audio, and I hope it doesn't happen nearly as much now. Before, the ride still made a little bit of sense without the onboard audio, but it would make absolutely no sense to a first time rider without it now.

 

[ChrisFL]

This is one complaint I've heard several times but don't really understand. The onboard audio is definitely louder than before, and it the narration does tell you exactly what you're doing. Unless there are some cars with low audio, I don't think being able to hear it is the issue*. I would agree that the descriptions are a little vague and doesn't really explain how it's testing the categories.

* I have already gotten a ride with no onboard audio in the vehicle. This was a huge problem prior to refurbishment to the point where you had like a 1 in 4 chance of getting a car with no audio, and I hope it doesn't happen nearly as much now. Before, the ride still made a little bit of sense without the onboard audio, but it would make absolutely no sense to a first time rider without it now.

I still think we're in a test/adjust period with the attraction, so it could be LOUD for one group and quiet for another. We really can't use individual rides as a judgement.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

What do you mean the hot and cold rooms don't count? Of course they do; in the new ride they've been completely stripped of detail. But, fine, Ieaving aside the hot and cold rooms....there's also the corrosion chamber (with the robots that our test crew forgot to turn off), the barrier test, and the queue. The screens and Tron lights added to where the ABS tests are purely ornamental; they don't complement the motion of the vehicle. It's way too dark in there now, too, so it feels like you're just getting randomly whipped around in the dark with no overt or implicit reason for doing so. The old scene in this area was more sparsely decorated, but it was believable, authentic-feeling, and made sense for the tests that occurred in those areas. The only section that's comparable to the original ride in terms of layered sets is the responsiveness test (the hairpin turns after the environmental chamber for anyone unfamiliar with the new ride), and that's only because the flats from the original ride are still there, just painted over.

I'm assuming the narration didn't work when you rode, or that you chose to ignore it?

Regardless, the visuals of 2.0 FAR outweigh the empty warehouse "theme" of the original. How can anybody say otherwise?

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

Having just ride 2.0 today, this post speaks my opinion. There's no story with this one at all. I don't understand what mindset I should be in during the ride Is it still a test concept? Or is it an out of control car? Or is it simply just a game and we're competing against each other? Doesn't feel as complete as 1.0, just a lot of "o0o0o shiny".

Again, did the narration not work when you rode? There's a quite obvious storyline, and you're walked through each part of the new ride step by step. I just don't see how that can be missed?

 

[TalkingHead]

I still think we're in a test/adjust period with the attraction, so it could be LOUD for one group and quiet for another. We really can't use individual rides as a judgement.

Wait, what? Didn't the ride have its grand reopening? Test/adjust stuff is supposed to be pre-opening.

 

[elfshadowreaper]

I've ridden 1.0 several times but never 2.0, I've only watched a decent video so I won't comment on the super detailed stuff of 2.0. What I will comment on is the complete theme-change when the car transitions from indoors to outdoor track. Does that seem to anyone else like the theming has been thrown away at that point and it just becomes a present day car with its top down? I imagine the outside is just the same as 1.0 but at least with 1.0 it matched what was inside.

 

[rle4lunch]

This is one complaint I've heard several times but don't really understand. The onboard audio is definitely louder than before, and it the narration does tell you exactly what you're doing. Unless there are some cars with low audio, I don't think being able to hear it is the issue*. I would agree that the descriptions are a little vague and doesn't really explain how it's testing the categories.

* I have already gotten a ride with no onboard audio in the vehicle. This was a huge problem prior to refurbishment to the point where you had like a 1 in 4 chance of getting a car with no audio, and I hope it doesn't happen nearly as much now. Before, the ride still made a little bit of sense without the onboard audio, but it would make absolutely no sense to a first time rider without it now.

Who knows, all I know is we didn't have a clue what's going on with it. This wasn't our first rodeo with TT, just the first time we rode 2.0. It doesn't make sense unless you are listening very closely. The ride feels more rushed now as well. And the truck coming out of nowhere, do they explain that at all, cuz we didn't hear it. It felt like they left that there for shock value. It's kinda dumb.

don't get me wrong, it's still better than 1.0. I kinda loathed that ride.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

Who knows, all I know is we didn't have a clue what's going on with it. This wasn't our first rodeo with TT, just the first time we rode 2.0. It doesn't make sense unless you are listening very closely. The ride feels more rushed now as well. And the truck coming out of nowhere, do they explain that at all, cuz we didn't hear it. It felt like they left that there for shock value. It's kinda dumb.

don't get me wrong, it's still better than 1.0. I kinda loathed that ride.

The truck is explained... your audio must have been acting up.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Who knows, all I know is we didn't have a clue what's going on with it. This wasn't our first rodeo with TT, just the first time we rode 2.0. It doesn't make sense unless you are listening very closely. The ride feels more rushed now as well. And the truck coming out of nowhere, do they explain that at all, cuz we didn't hear it. It felt like they left that there for shock value. It's kinda dumb.

They do explain it - the computer voice mentions "automatic crash avoidance technology" - its part of the responsiveness testing. I definitely agree that the narration is pretty vague, though. For instance:

when the car slams on the brakes and goes out of control, I expect there to be more of a cue than "pretend there's a slippery road here" suggested by an abstract animation that is not highly visible beyond my peripheral vision (and only on one side of the car) when my car is riding through the area.

This section could at least have some sort of audio queue saying "warning - avalanche detected" or whatever so you know why the car hits the brakes. The avalanche is the reason the car slams on the brakes, but it took me a couple rides to catch on to that.

 

[rle4lunch]

The truck is explained... your audio must have been acting up.

I'll have to check it out 2 years from now. That's the next time we'll be down there.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

You're kidding me, right? On what basis can you even make either of those assumptions? Just because I had a negative impression? The narration worked for me, and I was paying attention. Since you want to be so smug about it, I'm going to turn this around on you...have you actually ridden the new Test Track yet?

Test Track is not Space Mountain; you're supposed to be testing specific attributes of an automobile, not careening wildly in darkness. For instance, when the car slams on the brakes and goes out of control, I expect there to be more of a cue than "pretend there's a slippery road here" suggested by an abstract animation that is not highly visible beyond my peripheral vision (and only on one side of the car) when my car is riding through the area. (How many average WDW guests are even going to perceive that that is what is happening in that scene?) The visuals do not do a good job supporting the premise that you're testing and have a reason for driving your car this way. I'm not saying that the "computer simulation" motif would never have worked for the testing aspect of the ride, but it was poorly executed in my opinion. And, as long as we're talking about empty rooms, the environmental chambers and the barrier test areas have a lot less detail than they did before.

Yes, I have. I wasn't trying be smug and I certainly wasn't discounting your right to have your own opinion of the attraction. I just personally found the narration and explanation of each test to be pretty clear. I don't understand all the complaints about the ride not making sense, and certainly at no point felt that I was just randomly swerving around in the dark.