Now this tale is several weeks old taking place on the Labour Day weekend ( yes I got the pin) but I felt it worth sharing. Some of you may have been there, some may have seen us and indeed there may be one or two who were verbally assaulted by a frustrated Sak.
To set the scene it was late in the day Epcot was lit up and it was a perfect time to do Test Track. With a flourish i produced my fistful of fastpasses that i had got several hours earlier and the Saks descended on the ride.
All went well the FP Q was moving swiftly and the murmurs of discontent from the regular line sukkas was very limited, so we found ourselves in the briefing room very quickly. Once the doors opened and we moved into the last Q stages there was a couple of hold ups as TT went about its normal business of breaking down. But within about 15mins we were allocated a car and ready for the off, accompanied by an unfortunate single rider.
The alarm bells should have been ringing when we were delayed at the belt check point, and some unknown fault was cleared and we were sent on our merry way. There was much shrieking and mirth as he jolted bumped and screeched our way round the course, and the car wasnt much better.
It was during our near miss with the truck that things started to go wrong, after a particularly bumpy transit through that section we arrived in the crash test zone with another car still there and the spiel lighting etc all out of sink. Another momentary delay and we were off!! it was its usual self until we left the building and the front of the car started to vibrate as we took the big U bend. as the cars speed grew the vibrations subsided and we were building speed. HOWEVER!
As we passed under the speed sign it all went horribly wrong. At some point what i can only describe as a blow out happened. There was bang noise burning rubber smoke and a very sudden stop.
Our travelling companion was frightened that the smoke indicated a fire but I soon realised we were just burning rubber as remnants of shredded tyre lay around. however we found ourselves stuck on the high bank right above the main door, trapped by our safety restraints.
Oh the minutes of fun we provided for the wide mouthed pointing guests bellow. One of whom actually asked if we were stuck! What disappointed me was the length of time it took engineering to initial reach us and then get the car mobile, my daughter claims that we were in that position for a good 15/20 mins. When the car finally got going at walking pace we were treated to the onboard computer bellowing the word LEFT repeatedly all the way to the exit. As we got back the entire room was staring at the car and us. When we got out there was no apology but if we wanted to wait 5 mins we could ride again. Our Single rider who was visibly shaken declined but we thought why the hell not and set off on an incident free journey.
But as many people around here will tell you Test Track is just like diving your own car.......Yeah Right!!
To set the scene it was late in the day Epcot was lit up and it was a perfect time to do Test Track. With a flourish i produced my fistful of fastpasses that i had got several hours earlier and the Saks descended on the ride.
All went well the FP Q was moving swiftly and the murmurs of discontent from the regular line sukkas was very limited, so we found ourselves in the briefing room very quickly. Once the doors opened and we moved into the last Q stages there was a couple of hold ups as TT went about its normal business of breaking down. But within about 15mins we were allocated a car and ready for the off, accompanied by an unfortunate single rider.
The alarm bells should have been ringing when we were delayed at the belt check point, and some unknown fault was cleared and we were sent on our merry way. There was much shrieking and mirth as he jolted bumped and screeched our way round the course, and the car wasnt much better.
It was during our near miss with the truck that things started to go wrong, after a particularly bumpy transit through that section we arrived in the crash test zone with another car still there and the spiel lighting etc all out of sink. Another momentary delay and we were off!! it was its usual self until we left the building and the front of the car started to vibrate as we took the big U bend. as the cars speed grew the vibrations subsided and we were building speed. HOWEVER!
As we passed under the speed sign it all went horribly wrong. At some point what i can only describe as a blow out happened. There was bang noise burning rubber smoke and a very sudden stop.
Our travelling companion was frightened that the smoke indicated a fire but I soon realised we were just burning rubber as remnants of shredded tyre lay around. however we found ourselves stuck on the high bank right above the main door, trapped by our safety restraints.
Oh the minutes of fun we provided for the wide mouthed pointing guests bellow. One of whom actually asked if we were stuck! What disappointed me was the length of time it took engineering to initial reach us and then get the car mobile, my daughter claims that we were in that position for a good 15/20 mins. When the car finally got going at walking pace we were treated to the onboard computer bellowing the word LEFT repeatedly all the way to the exit. As we got back the entire room was staring at the car and us. When we got out there was no apology but if we wanted to wait 5 mins we could ride again. Our Single rider who was visibly shaken declined but we thought why the hell not and set off on an incident free journey.
But as many people around here will tell you Test Track is just like diving your own car.......Yeah Right!!
