EPCOT Test Track to be reimagined

[mightynine]

When they're talking about WoM inspiration, maybe Zach found an old carpet swatch from the original pavilion and left a few memos? ;-)

 

[Earlie the Pearlie]

I’m so excited for this. Concept art looks great. Transportation Pavilion has such a great history of great attractions and I think this will have the best of them all.

Going to let myself be blindly optimistic here that this will be amazing and Disney will blow us away.

Sponsorship can do great things. Let’s remember that.

 

[Moth]

is test track getting two make overs in the lifetime of JIYIWF?! what are they doing, the current test track isn't as embarrassing as that trainwreck.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

This was honestly the most interesting thing announced today, which is funny considering it was more of a side note than anything.

For the people wondering why they're bothering with this, its because GM is paying for it. Also, since GM is footing the bill and its a sponsored attraction, it might actually happen within the next 5 years unlike everything else announced this morning.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Man, think of the money they can save once they strip Dinosaur of it's foliage and repurpose it for Test Track.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

The art, assuming that's physical scenery along the edge of the track and not projection, does look like it'll be an improvement over the previous versions of the ride. Almost anything would be better than the empty dark flat corridors though, or a boring industrial factory.

That said, i'm really curious to know what is supposed to be "WoM-inspired" about it. At least going from the art, it's just a a generic looking forest... Are they keeping the WoM stuff a secret, or is that just nostalgia bait and it'll only be a quick hard to spot homage hidden somewhere?

Fun To Be Free Remix

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

its kind of sounding like a version of time racers.....but with chevy involved footing the bill, I dont think its just bait or a quick spot,,,this sounds like a fully fleshed out ride concept coming.

I dunno. Time Racers was supposed to be a full gut of the entire ride system of SSE, replacing it with a roller coaster. They're keeping the same vehicles and likely track layout once again for Test Track. It's probably just set redressing and new audio along the edges. I wouldn't be surprised if what they use from World of Motion is just music. That claim about basing it off of WoM is probably just nostalgia bait, an afterthought. I doubt it'll share much in common.

The thing that made WoM unique were all of the wonderfully zany physical sets and tons of Marc Davis style AA's. The odds of them recreating any of that seems slim to none. Nor would they likely slow it down any to appreciate such scenes.

I really just wish they'd go for a more extreme conversion back into something resembling World of Motion. I don't expect them to change the ride system or vehicles, nor would they necessarily have to do so to recreate something like it. You can still do a lot with the scenery without changing those aspects, even though they'd have a lot less space to do it given how wide the track is. The ride that WoM was based on was a famous Worlds Fair attraction using vehicles designed from real car frames.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

Will be interested to see if anything actually happens with this. Feels like there is a *small* chance that it might actually be good.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

If they add dinosaurs it will almost be like a fast moving version of Ford magic skyway. I’m assuming we’ll be hearing it’s fun to be free.

 

[Mike S]

Inspiration from World of Motion sounds like a terrible idea for a Test Track… hopefully something they’re just blindly saying at a fan convention. What they really should do is combine the strengths of both versions of Test Track (actual heart and story from the first, high-tech look of the current, etc) and that’s what this concept art looks like it’s doing.

How so? Interior dark ride then you “race towards the future (outside)”

 

[celluloid]

This will happen due to the sponsorship deal. The one big buck one remaining for EPCOT.

How much changes to matter will be interesting to see.

My money is on various projections/projection tunnels that inspire the history of the road and the future is when we launch to the outside.

 

[No Name]

How so? Interior dark ride then you “race towards the future (outside)”

Because Test Track is just a way better ride than World of Motion ever was.

Someone has to say it.

 

[Big_Shakalaka]

Because Test Track is just a way better ride than World of Motion ever was.

Someone has to say it.

sometimes the truth hurts

 

[Horizonsfan]

To be fair, the original WOM had a solid number of projections.

The first half of TT 3.0 could be an abridged version of the original WOM. Then in lieu of WOM's speed tunnels, you'd have TT's actual thrills of hairpin turns and outdoor run. That's the best of both IMO

 

[doctornick]

Because Test Track is just a way better ride than World of Motion ever was.

Someone has to say it.

Eh. I think WoM is waaaaay underrated among classic Disney - I think it was far superior to all of Horizons, Living Seas and UoE - but Test Track is legitimately good in its own right. I’m actually excited by this news as something that combines the history/whimsy of WoM with the excitement and hopefully the design element of TT would be great for Epcot.

Ignoring Imagination- why aren’t they doing something there - I don’t understand why they don’t put something in WoL before shutting down TT again

 

[No Name]

I don’t understand why they don’t put something in WoL before shutting down TT again

Because GM has an image to uphold and it’s part of a new long-term contract. They change it every 12 years or so and probably always will.

 

[SplashJacket]

Super exciting and welcome surprise. Test Track is currently one of the most disappointing attractions. Potential to be a big improvement.

 

[TTA94]

I hope this is more of a major overhaul with a new ride system and track, but that’s highly unlikely. What’s there now is pretty bad so, this new version can’t be much worse.

 

[TTA94]

Can we at least get the interior queue music released? That’s about the only good part of Test Track 2.0

 

[monothingie]

Well if you want to know the about the dollar figure in the retheme, it’s less than redoing Imagination and SSE.

So it means this is being done on the cheap.

Meanwhile the can gets kicked further down the road for the legacy stuff which is rotting.