News Test Track to be reimagined

[Mickeynerd17]

Concrete footers are being poured for the new canopy. Photo from blogmickey.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

Journey of water, Cosmic rewind, space 220, Awesome planet, Ratatouille, Canada far and wide, Luminous are all solid to me.

Ok, an argument can be made for Rat, awesome planet, canada, and to a much lesser extent JoW, but thats it.

Space 220, while a very cool idea that was well-executed, should've been saved for a new and larger space pavilion to replace M:S. What we got was essentially another Coral Reef but with screens instead of a water tank.

JoW is a great idea in the wrong location. It would've made more sense placed between the Land and the Seas. it is all about the water cycle, which involves both the ocean and the land. It would've been a much more natural fit there. Additionally, JoW plays into the much larger disaster of the hub redo.

Cosmic Rewind looks like a fun attraction, but 1. Wrong location for the IP IMHO, 2. They could've had the energy theme in the ride utilizing the opening scene of the second film while not bending over backwards to ground the attraction in the park and keeping separation of themes instead of 2 space pavilions like we have now, and 3. The coaster building is UGLY. No way around it. It will remain an eyesore until the day its torn down. No amount of sky blue paint can hide that behemoth.

Lumious would be an excellent show for another park like DCA and WDSP. While it is an improvement over Harmonious, it doesnt even come close to Illuminations. While Illuminations was designed off of the spirit of human cooperation and optimism that created EPCOT in the first place, Luminous doesn't have that. Nothing in Luminous to me communicates those themes and I consider that a loss.

Don't get me wrong, Its not a bad show. I just consider the entire debacle completely unnecessary when all that was needed was some tech upgrades to IROE and perhaps a new globe barge.

The hub area is another complete mess I won't go any farther into.

So yes, the new Test Track to me is the most positive EPCOT thing to happen in a good bit. I pray I'm not wrong about that because we really need this ride to work or more of this wonderful park will be mangled just like DCA and WDSP have been.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

Was World of Motion really popular enough to warrant more than just some winks and nods in this? Genuine question not at all trying to be sarcastic.

I was not alive to ever see it so I can only go by what people talk about in regards to old EPCOT. It’s not usually one of the ones I hear brought up a ton, at least not to the extent that Horizons and the original Imagination do.

World of Motion was EPCOT's second most popular attraction in the early 90s, only behind Spaceship Earth (which makes sense considering it was the only attraction you *had* to walk past when visiting the park back then). Part of that is likely because it was the highest capacity thing at EPCOT and rarely had a wait, but yes, it was very popular.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

I wasn’t alive for World of Motion and have no doubts it was great. But not making the transportation pavilion a thrill ride from the beginning was a wild choice. Maybe the technology just wasn’t there yet…

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

World of Motion was EPCOT's second most popular attraction in the early 90s, only behind Spaceship Earth (which makes sense considering it was the only attraction you *had* to walk past when visiting the park back then). Part of that is likely because it was the highest capacity thing at EPCOT and rarely had a wait, but yes, it was very popular.

Thank you for the info!

 

[Bocabear]

It's not that they couldn't have made it a thrill ride, the park focus was different then...It was based on a World's Fair model... The story of transportation and how we got here was the gist, and that attraction thrilled millions it it's time. We all suffer from a super short attention span these days...sadly.
WOM was one of the most popular in the park and ALWAYS was packed.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

Was World of Motion really popular enough to warrant more than just some winks and nods in this? Genuine question not at all trying to be sarcastic.

I was not alive to ever see it so I can only go by what people talk about in regards to old EPCOT. It’s not usually one of the ones I hear brought up a ton, at least not to the extent that Horizons and the original Imagination do.

I'd personally say that WoM doesn't get talked about as much because test track was a much more solid replacement than other attractions in future world (Imagination, Horizons, etc).

 

[J4546]

Journey of water, Cosmic rewind, space 220, Awesome planet, Ratatouille, Canada far and wide, Luminous are all solid to me.

Id add the new entrance with fountain and Points of Light, and communicore store are much better as well.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

World of Motion was EPCOT's second most popular attraction in the early 90s, only behind Spaceship Earth (which makes sense considering it was the only attraction you *had* to walk past when visiting the park back then). Part of that is likely because it was the highest capacity thing at EPCOT and rarely had a wait, but yes, it was very popular.

Was Horizons third? Or Imagination

It's not that they couldn't have made it a thrill ride, the park focus was different then...It was based on a World's Fair model... The story of transportation and how we got here was the gist, and that attraction thrilled millions it it's time. We all suffer from a super short attention span these days...sadly.
WOM was one of the most popular in the park and ALWAYS was packed.

And Education, infact WOM had the most animatronics if I'm correct.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

I feel like they are going to get you with nostalgia here and there, but the overall product will be underwhelming...

I can't of any project even imagine how you can put World of Motion reference with Test Track together without it be cheesy, only unless this was The Back To The Future Test Track for Universal!

 

[DarkMetroid567]

I feel like if there’s heavy WoM nostalgia happening, it’s because of the Imagineers themselves being obsessed with classic EPCOT. You have to imagine that the amount of park guests with nostalgia for WoM is very very, very low, and it’s not a cult-following ride like JII.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Lumious would be an excellent show for another park like DCA and WDSP. While it is an improvement over Harmonious, it doesnt even come close to Illuminations. While Illuminations was designed off of the spirit of human cooperation and optimism that created EPCOT in the first place, Luminous doesn't have that. Nothing in Luminous to me communicates those themes and I consider that a loss.

The only thing we have in common in Luminous is our voices and our heartbeat. We come together as one, no spirit or optimism of We Go On, Promise, "Hope!"

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

I feel like if there’s heavy WoM nostalgia happening, it’s because of the Imagineers themselves being obsessed with classic EPCOT. You have to imagine that the amount of park guests with nostalgia for WoM is very very, very low, and it’s not a cult-following ride like JII.

Is that a GM/Chevrolet decision. Is the entire ride going to be like a timeline journey through the evolution of Motion travel, I feel they are drawing inspiration back to Spaceship Earth with their's being Communication. I was going to sat you don't hear anyone mention World of Motion as you would Horizons or JII nor Communicore over Innoventions.

 

[britain]

If I had to guess I’d say it simply needed a refresh, WDI thought about how ugly and dated a lot of the recent Test Track additions had become, and they felt like the most timeless move would be to return to the simplicity of WoM’s aesthetic wherever possible. Clean lines, sets pretending to be outdoor locations, straight forward modernism, etc.

It’s still the Test Track concept, just redressed with a little more class.

I predict that’s all there is to it.

 

[Bill in Atlanta]

World of Motion was EPCOT's second most popular attraction in the early 90s, only behind Spaceship Earth (which makes sense considering it was the only attraction you *had* to walk past when visiting the park back then). Part of that is likely because it was the highest capacity thing at EPCOT and rarely had a wait, but yes, it was very popular.

I would've had Horizons, Figment, and Maelstrom ahead of WOM in terms of popularity, personally. But, it's been a long time and my memory has gotten a bit fuzzy!

 

[CoasterFan27]

I also often feel we as fans romanticize the past a bit much. We remember them better than they were.

Imagine some of the peeps on here commenting on the opening day Let alone the average ride experience in say 1980.

It's like dining in a michelin star restaurant every day, eventually you're going to get fed up of it and complain the chef's having a bad day, the staff were snippy one day, that's what happens when people get obsessed about a single thing and lose all perspective... Unfortunately those same people are most likely to lack any kind of personal introspection into their patterns of behaviour.

 

[UNCgolf]

I'd personally say that WoM doesn't get talked about as much because test track was a much more solid replacement than other attractions in future world (Imagination, Horizons, etc).

I think that's definitely a part of it.

World of Motion was better than Test Track 1.0, but Test Track 1.0 was still a very good ride. The Imagination replacement was a tremendous downgrade, and Mission: Space, while an interesting concept, was never as good or popular as Horizons.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

Was Horizons third? Or Imagination

Imagination was a close third. Horizons, depending on whether you consider popularity to be the amount of demand or the total percent of park guests visiting, was either fifth or sixth (behind Living Seas and Body Wars).

I feel like if there’s heavy WoM nostalgia happening, it’s because of the Imagineers themselves being obsessed with classic EPCOT. You have to imagine that the amount of park guests with nostalgia for WoM is very very, very low, and it’s not a cult-following ride like JII.

I think this is worth emphasizing as well. Just because WoM was popular 30 years ago does not mean it has a cult following today. Plenty of people with fond memories maybe, but it doesn't get looked back on like JII or Horizons.

I would've had Horizons, Figment, and Maelstrom ahead of WOM in terms of popularity, personally. But, it's been a long time and my memory has gotten a bit fuzzy!

I'm going purely by hard numbers. It may shock you to learn that Maelstrom was actually less popular than the majority of the Future World attractions!

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Imagine some of the peeps on here commenting on the opening day Let alone the average ride experience in say 1980.

I wasn't there in the 80's or the opening but say imagining if I were I don't think just my guess belief I would see what was there then as different to say the late 90's or 2009 with Future World. I've not experienced the original JII so that in itself maybe an exception but at that time I don't know if I be raving about it because I'm not a fan fan of Figment but who knows it doesn’t mean I wouldn't appreciate everything's original conception! Aside World Showcase and Spaceship Earth I don't know how I would feel about Epcot probably on awe with just smaller things like the monorail being an identity to the park itself. Also I don't think Communicore was better than Innovention's I have no experience of either except I was at Epcot while Innovention's existed!

 

[Streetway]

Imagine some of the peeps on here commenting on the opening day Let alone the average ride experience in say 1980.

Yes. I agree. We all think it was so different back in the day, but even back then similar things, maybe on a smaller scale, were happening with ip replacing original things (hi star tours replacing inner space) and abandoned spaces being left to rot (hi 20,000 leauges under the sea!). I think we all take for granted all the modern things we have at the parks now, including new attractions. We all need to be more appreciative of what we have that’s good today instead of what we lost that was good.

What we want is often at odds with what the guests want. You can say “guests would like this and this if they kept it up” but they didn’t, and guests unfortunately clamoring for the alot of the defunct rides and other things (like educational Epcot) we miss. People want characters they know. I disagree with the sentiment it should be only that, but that’s not in my control. It pains me to say this as an Epcot nerd, but we all need to be more accepting to change, even if it’s hard for us. We need to start swimming or we’ll sink as a fandom. Just as they did in the Eisner era, the times are-a changing.

No communicore hall, harmoniUS, mission space, and imagination, you do not count