Test Track running FP Return through full Design Studio Feb 23

[StarWarsGirl]

I happened to visit today, the first day Test Track started experimenting with a new queue pattern. Standby was unchanged, and single-rider was unchanged. But FastPass was routed around to merge with Standby in the pre-load to the Design Studio (the "dots on the floor" room).

This was done by roping off the quickie design experience in the FP line; we just walked right by it (well, stood in line next to the kiosks). The former merge spot up ahead now became a sharp U-turn, to a passageway that led down a couple of stairs and then to a doorway right next to the front (but off to the side) of the pre-load for the Design Studio. The poor CMs were working hard, but they looked frazzled by the new system.

One of them volunteered to me that it was done because there were a LOT of complaints about not doing a full design when using a FP. He further said that they are being held to move the Design Studio very fast (can't remember if he said three minutes or five), but this is where part of the stress was coming for them.

In practical terms, the new pattern meant very little line after the Design Studio. I would guess the Standby line moves more slowly now in the front queue. It did add a bit of time to the overall experience on the FP side, but of course the experience also became richer as a result.

That wasn't the first day they tested it that way. We went in early February and they were doing it that way.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Until they get the design kiosk synced correctly with the ride on a consistent basis, I don't see the point of this.

 

[Belowthesurface]

The FP line can just deal with it.

If you aren't patient enough to wait, then you should not be rewarded with the build up and rewards of the Stand-By line.

 

[t3techcom18]

To preface...yes, this is an experiment grown from complaints from those who have been in FP. This is a decision made by higher ups in Ops (not exec level but it grabbed a few execs attention, if anything a testament to how many complaints there have been) and sent down as an experiment to do some possible workarounds until a permanent solution (if any) is found.

The entire basis is to put FP through the full Design Studio experience, as many in FP feel as if they got the cheap way out by not getting the full experience. WDI originally put the windows into the Design Studio so FP guests can ask what they're doing and get into the Standby line. As a result...that plan has backfired completely. Instead of inspiring those in FP to go through Standby, its enraged them.

The CM's were looking extremely frazzled due to the fact that this experiment was unleashed on them midway through the day without any prior notice whatsoever nor with any knowledge of how to do it properly. Regardless, the way the experiment is going in terms of how it's being executed is putting them under a very heavy amount of stress. To move that many people into the colored spots in just five minutes is a massive undertaking, even with 3 people directing guests. It's also a bit of an inconvenience as the passageway guests were coming down to the Design Studio was previously a CM only passageway, but that's a minor issue compared to everything else.

As for the uploading....yes, it's true that 50% of the time guests don't do it the right way. It's also extremely true that the tech is extremely tempermental. Unfortunately, it's a multi-step process and therein lies the rub. Information goes from Point A, to Point B, to Point C, and finally to Point D. What makes the whole process not work is when those points do not relay the rest to another Point. Basically...A talks to B, B forgets to talk to C, but talks to D. That's usually what happens in that regard. No excuse for it after two months of being open, I agree, but that's the explanation.

Indeed, it was back to the "usual" pattern tonight (Sunday) of FP getting only the quickie experience. Odd that they'd run out of these plain RFID cards -- that was the point to making them plain and not something you'd want to steal. That explains why my rubber band tonight was a re-tied one that had previously snapped.

And we *did* see a CM asking for RFID chips (guest hotel cards) in the Standby line. He took up the right-hand queue for the "get used to the screens" section right before the pre-load room. Definitely sounds like they're looking for ways to save on cards.

Except, um, isn't a $10/hour Cast Member more expensive than just ordering hundreds of thousands more cards?

To put simply: Many guests have been taking the cards with them/leaving it everywhere around the park/ride path/vehicles. This is something many (for some odd reason) didn't expect to happen. In turn, the RFID white cards cost 4 bucks a pop. Those are two reasons for not having them but the biggest reason they didn't get any more is that they thought NextGen and the MagicBands would've started to have their premiere rollout and, therefore, why get more cards if their main purpose is near? With the delays, that plan has obviously flown out the window...

That and, as much as I would love to say Ops CM's get 10 an hour, we start out at about 2-3 less than that. BUT that's a whole different topic and one that usually incites civil war here so I will shut myself up before anything like that happens...

 

[t3techcom18]

The FP line can just deal with it.

If you aren't patient enough to wait, then you should not be rewarded with the build up and rewards of the Stand-By line.

Oh how I agree, but the age of entitlement and instant gratification has killed that train of thought long ago.

 

[ChrisFL]

Oh, you mean like me? Badmouthing? lol. Really, no one in my group liked it. My father even wrote a very long letter to Disney about it. We basically see it as riding on a track with lights now. My father was the one ranting about it. He said that they should turn off all the lights and make it like another Space Mountain and then it would be more exciting. We just feel as though the story is gone. We don't go out of our way to ride it anymore.

Huh? I still don't get this reaction to the changes, but oh well, everyone's entitled to their opinion I guess.

 

[Tom Morrow]

The FP line can just deal with it.

If you aren't patient enough to wait, then you should not be rewarded with the build up and rewards of the Stand-By line.

Just a reminder to everyone: somewhere around 80% of everyone riding Test Track 2.0 has used Fastpass.... or GAC cards. *cough*. So, being "patient enough to wait" means you are willing to put yourself into a very inflated and slow standby queue... because of Fastpass. Its strange to me that they would design this to where only a fraction of the riders even participate in the main point.

Everything about the design studio and the design process seems to me like something that sounded like a nice enough idea on paper but was not run by enough people to see if it really would work and be implemented well, let alone be something guests would enjoy doing. Trying to group people into the design studios seems like a challenge and there doesn't seem to be any real flow to the two studios opening up like, for instance, Tower of Terror or Dinosaur's two pre-show rooms. I suspect that this has to do with the rooms being placed before the Fastpass merge point rather than after. And then, the only thing the ride does with your design is rank it on a screen, and that doesn't even work properly. Of course, that is all just observation and speculation on my part, I could indeed be totally wrong (I'm not wrong about Fastpass, though), but it seems like they have somewhat of a mess to work with.

 

[Clyde Birdbrain]

I happened to visit today, the first day Test Track started experimenting with a new queue pattern. Standby was unchanged, and single-rider was unchanged. But FastPass was routed around to merge with Standby in the pre-load to the Design Studio

We rode Test Track yesterday afternoon (Sunday) with FastPass and we weren't routed through the Full Design Studio. I had read this thread, so I asked two CMs about it, but they didn't know what I was talking about.

 

[RSoxNo1]

To preface...yes, this is an experiment grown from complaints from those who have been in FP. This is a decision made by higher ups in Ops (not exec level but it grabbed a few execs attention, if anything a testament to how many complaints there have been) and sent down as an experiment to do some possible workarounds until a permanent solution (if any) is found.

The entire basis is to put FP through the full Design Studio experience, as many in FP feel as if they got the cheap way out by not getting the full experience. WDI originally put the windows into the Design Studio so FP guests can ask what they're doing and get into the Standby line. As a result...that plan has backfired completely. Instead of inspiring those in FP to go through Standby, its enraged them.

The CM's were looking extremely frazzled due to the fact that this experiment was unleashed on them midway through the day without any prior notice whatsoever nor with any knowledge of how to do it properly. Regardless, the way the experiment is going in terms of how it's being executed is putting them under a very heavy amount of stress. To move that many people into the colored spots in just five minutes is a massive undertaking, even with 3 people directing guests. It's also a bit of an inconvenience as the passageway guests were coming down to the Design Studio was previously a CM only passageway, but that's a minor issue compared to everything else.

As for the uploading....yes, it's true that 50% of the time guests don't do it the right way. It's also extremely true that the tech is extremely tempermental. Unfortunately, it's a multi-step process and therein lies the rub. Information goes from Point A, to Point B, to Point C, and finally to Point D. What makes the whole process not work is when those points do not relay the rest to another Point. Basically...A talks to B, B forgets to talk to C, but talks to D. That's usually what happens in that regard. No excuse for it after two months of being open, I agree, but that's the explanation.



To put simply: Many guests have been taking the cards with them/leaving it everywhere around the park/ride path/vehicles. This is something many (for some odd reason) didn't expect to happen. In turn, the RFID white cards cost 4 bucks a pop. Those are two reasons for not having them but the biggest reason they didn't get any more is that they thought NextGen and the MagicBands would've started to have their premiere rollout and, therefore, why get more cards if their main purpose is near? With the delays, that plan has obviously flown out the window...

That and, as much as I would love to say Ops CM's get 10 an hour, we start out at about 2-3 less than that. BUT that's a whole different topic and one that usually incites civil war here so I will shut myself up before anything like that happens...

Thanks for the explanation. One thing I immediately thought of was that large circular room in the post show should be used for additional design kiosks. If FP wants to go in and design, they can do so their before getting in the FP line, otherwise they get the shorter experience.

As for the syncing - I'll excuse the fact that it doesn't work because they're using a temporary solution right now, but if it doesn't work once MyMagic+ is fully integrated it's hard to call it anything short of an embarassment.

 

[freediverdude]

I rode it earlier in February in the single rider line, and did not even realize that the stand by people got a much richer design experience. I was peeved however, that the kiosks in the loading area were not working (nobody's card worked on them, and everybody was trying to hold the cards up to the Mickey and get something to appear on the screen), and nothing appeared on the in-car screens. It did rank my car though on the big screen after unloading, and my car also appeared for the different activities post-ride, so I know my car was uploaded.

All the narration during the ride seemed to be confusing, and not really be tied in much with the surroundings we were seeing. I dunno, maybe if the in-car screens are working that becomes clearer. But they definitely need to be fixing some things before it becomes a coherent experience. Getting to design a car and having it join you through the ride and each activity is very clever though.

 

[KevinYee]

To put simply: Many guests have been taking the cards with them/leaving it everywhere around the park/ride path/vehicles. This is something many (for some odd reason) didn't expect to happen. In turn, the RFID white cards cost 4 bucks a pop. Those are two reasons for not having them but the biggest reason they didn't get any more is that they thought NextGen and the MagicBands would've started to have their premiere rollout and, therefore, why get more cards if their main purpose is near? With the delays, that plan has obviously flown out the window...

That and, as much as I would love to say Ops CM's get 10 an hour, we start out at about 2-3 less than that. BUT that's a whole different topic and one that usually incites civil war here so I will shut myself up before anything like that happens...

Thanks for the detailed inside info. Definitely helps.

I was using $10/hour as a shorthand for what it costs Disney (not what it earns the worker). The "comp rate" adds 30-50% or more onto the real wage, once you calculate benefits etc as if spread out over the entire workforce. Ten years ago, the loaded rate of a front line restaurant worker was $10/hour even though they didn't earn anything like that, so I assume the imaginary loaded (spread across workers) rate today must be higher than $10.

I'm fascinated that the cards cost $4. I thought Wal-Mart moved to RFID procurement in part because the chips were a FRACTION of a penny each, when bought in bulk. Am I remembering wrong?

 

[backinaction]

Oh, you mean like me? Badmouthing? lol. Really, no one in my group liked it. My father even wrote a very long letter to Disney about it. We basically see it as riding on a track with lights now. My father was the one ranting about it. He said that they should turn off all the lights and make it like another Space Mountain and then it would be more exciting. We just feel as though the story is gone. We don't go out of our way to ride it anymore.

really? because my family feels the exact opposite of yours. We love the changes and will go out of our way to ride it multiple times. To each his own i guess, but I feel that a majority of people liked the changes and knew it was time for test track to get an update.

 

[JEANYLASER]

very interesting!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Huh? I still don't get this reaction to the changes, but oh well, everyone's entitled to their opinion I guess.

They used to take you through all of the tests, doing the bumpy roads and the incline and all. Now they TELL you that they are doing the tests, but you don't actually experience them. I feel like I'm in the middle of Tron. Seriously, if I want to ride in a car, I've got one sitting in the garage. Test Track used to be unique. Also, the design thing only works half the time. I liked the old video with Bill and Sherry better.

In all honesty, I thought it would be better from the Youtube video. But after actually getting on it a few times, my opinion changed. It's definitely more visual, but that's all it is. The magic is gone. I think they could have kept the bumpy roads, incline, hairpins and environmental chambers while still upgrading the system and making it more visual, as well as incorperating the design. I'm not saying it didn't need an upgrade; I'm just saying the upgrade was horrible.

They should change it back so my father will stop whining about how horrible it is. I'm not kidding; 20 minutes of nonstop "It sucked' after the ride. After a while, I said, "We get it. It sucked. Let's move on. Please?"

 

[StarWarsGirl]

really? because my family feels the exact opposite of yours. We love the changes and will go out of our way to ride it multiple times. To each his own i guess, but I feel that a majority of people liked the changes and knew it was time for test track to get an update.

Do you use Fastpass or Standby?

 

[ChrisFL]

They used to take you through all of the tests, doing the bumpy roads and the incline and all. Now they TELL you that they are doing the tests, but you don't actually experience them. I feel like I'm in the middle of Tron. Seriously, if I want to ride in a car, I've got one sitting in the garage. Test Track used to be unique. Also, the design thing only works half the time. I liked the old video with Bill and Sherry better.

um, no? The tests aren't the same, but YES you are doing the tests, not sure why you think that's not the case. You aren't seeing hot and cold tests, you're seeing aerodynamics tests and spectral imaging. The incline is still there, only the bumpy road was removed.

As mentioned in other threads, this is actually more what car design and testing is like these days, it isn't like the late 80's-early 90's that is portrayed in the old version of Test Track. That's horribly outdated, this isn't.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

um, no? The tests aren't the same, but YES you are doing the tests, not sure why you think that's not the case. You aren't seeing hot and cold tests, you're seeing aerodynamics tests and spectral imaging. The incline is still there, only the bumpy road was removed.

As mentioned in other threads, this is actually more what car design and testing is like these days, it isn't like the late 80's-early 90's that is portrayed in the old version of Test Track. That's horribly outdated, this isn't.

But you see, you don't FEEL the tests. To us, it's like a bunch of flashing lights. They tell you you're doing the tests, but the experience is gone.

I'm not saying that it didn't need an update, but I think they could have kept the bumpy roads, the break test, the environmental test. You go through the chamber, but feel nothing.

For the record, I'm not the only one saying this. We met guests down there who were more ed about it that even we were.

 

[EOD K9]

I was there last week and it was just ok for me. I think I was too busy trying to look at the ride more than enjoying the ride. Everyone in my car uploaded their design and nothing popped up during the ride. We were more than a little disappointed after waiting 90 minutes. We waited because I wanted to give the standby line and the design studio the benefit of the doubt. I wont miss the industrial music though.

 

[Belowthesurface]

Just a reminder to everyone: somewhere around 80% of everyone riding Test Track 2.0 has used Fastpass.... or GAC cards. *cough*. So, being "patient enough to wait" means you are willing to put yourself into a very inflated and slow standby queue... because of Fastpass. Its strange to me that they would design this to where only a fraction of the riders even participate in the main point.

Everything about the design studio and the design process seems to me like something that sounded like a nice enough idea on paper but was not run by enough people to see if it really would work and be implemented well, let alone be something guests would enjoy doing. Trying to group people into the design studios seems like a challenge and there doesn't seem to be any real flow to the two studios opening up like, for instance, Tower of Terror or Dinosaur's two pre-show rooms. I suspect that this has to do with the rooms being placed before the Fastpass merge point rather than after. And then, the only thing the ride does with your design is rank it on a screen, and that doesn't even work properly. Of course, that is all just observation and speculation on my part, I could indeed be totally wrong (I'm not wrong about Fastpass, though), but it seems like they have somewhat of a mess to work with.

Get rid of Fastpass and these unnecessary problems will go away.

 

[TubaGeek]

As to the "it doesn't seem to work properly yet" is just wrong. Stop reading the very limited hate-comments here in the forum, and go experience it yourself. It works VERY properly for 99.9% of the riders. If you do not complete the steps to activate your card on the way in properly (i.e. skipping steps in the design section) then it won't "work" when you go to activate it at ride loading. Occasionally, one of the cards might mis-fire (down the road, that will be your RDIF wristband anyway) but that is very rare. Are there glitches? Sure. Not like the furor created by one bad review in a forum.
Don't read into the few who don't like the refurb and are going out of their way to badmouth it.

I've been on it every couple of weeks since it opened and have yet to see it work properly. And this is coming from a guy who LIKES the changes... If something doesn't work, it just doesn't work. No doom-and-gloomers are needed to put a slant on something that's fact.