WDW website update features Test Track concept art!

[Vader2112]

The latest update, the whole attraction has been gutted except for the ride track.

Pre-show - everything gone

post-show - everything is gone

The ride itself - everything is gone except the Semi and the ride track.

Ride vehicles - all have been shipped to Central Shops.

This has me excited ....Almost a complete overhaul with exception of the ride track. Can not wait to see more concept art.

 

[Tom]

Yes, Epcot Explorer has posted some pictures that clearly show that there is nothing to see.

http://www..com/2012/05/29/photos-to-prove-there-is-nothing-to-see-yet-at-test-track/

I think Montyz81 meant of the inside, since people are saying it's been gutted.

I guess I would just love to see it empty. I would love to see if there is any evidence of World of Motion. So getting in there to take pictures of the emptiness would be pretty interesting to me.

I can't imagine there being much from WoM left. When riding TT, you could basically see the entire skeleton of the building itself. They did nothing to hide the roof, walls or steel skeleton. Now, it's probably just a large empty "silo" with a ride track.

 

[GLaDOS]

Now, it's probably just a large empty "silo" with a ride track.

Isn't that what Test Track was?:lookaroun

 

[Tom]

Isn't that what Test Track was?:lookaroun

LOL - yeah, actually it was. Other than the investment in the ride system itself, it had to be a fairly inexpensive attraction to construct.

And now that I think about it, it's not really too impressive that they were able to demolish/remove all the show sets and props already....as there wasn't much to begin with!

 

[ChrisFL]

LOL - yeah, actually it was. Other than the investment in the ride system itself, it had to be a fairly inexpensive attraction to construct.

And now that I think about it, it's not really too impressive that they were able to demolish/remove all the show sets and props already....as there wasn't much to begin with!

Very true, in fact, I'd like to see what it looks like with the lights on and all of the props removed.

 

[Tom]

Very true, in fact, I'd like to see what it looks like with the lights on and all of the props removed.

It will look like the inside of a Pre-Engineered Metal Building with wall and roof blanket insulation and some perforated wall panels in the queue area.....with most of it painted black to make it "disappear". Basically, it would look like most warehouses, only round.

It reminded me of Imagination. The people who laid out those two rides obviously had no theater design backgrounds, or any concept of sight lines or masking. I design sets for plays and musicals (on the side) and the first thing I do is draft the sight lines to make sure the audience can't see above the shortest backdrop, or into the wings. THEN, I design the set to fit, and mask all the gaps.

These "thrown together" attractions pay no attention to that aspect. They assume the black painted walls and conduit will "disappear", or that you'll never look up or to the side. These rides aren't David Copperfield illusions, where he literally decides what you are looking at all the time. If I'm segwaying between Imagination scenes, my eyes wander and I see the wall of electrical panels and conduit, or the curtains trying to hide the set on the other side of the wall.

Test Track and Imagination are just two examples of attractions where "total immersion" went out the window.

 

[articos]

I guess I would just love to see it empty. I would love to see if there is any evidence of World of Motion. So getting in there to take pictures of the emptiness would be pretty interesting to me.

Nothing left from WoM to see. When they say TT was riding through a warehouse, it really was, concealed with clever use of lighting and darkness.

 

[montyz81]

Nothing left from WoM to see. When they say TT was riding through a warehouse, it really was, concealed with clever use of lighting and darkness.

So sad. It really is interesting to look at all the FW rides from 1982 and see what they did to them in the 1990s. I just can't believe that they couldn't use the money spent on removing and redoing the rides to improve what was already there including adding some thrill factors to the rides. It just seems like such a complete de-disnification of these rides!

 

[StageFrenzy]

The only thing interesting in that warehouse was the Heat,cold,acid test and the crash test. Other than that just biding time till you hit the circuit.

another thought* If they made the indoor section a slower moving darkride, could they increase the capacity of the ride?

 

[t3techcom18]

Nothing left from WoM to see. When they say TT was riding through a warehouse, it really was, concealed with clever use of lighting and darkness.

Technically speaking there wasn't anything left behind from WoM in terms of any set pieces or such, but there were indeed only two things left behind - one of them being an old circuit breaker panel (that, if legend is true, some CM's played with it one day and turns out some connections did indeed still connect to that panel) and a painted-on facade for a brick building that had an advertisement for either a store or restaurant in one of the sets. It was covered in black tarp next to the Ride and Handling section, so even if someone were to see it, you'd blink and miss it.

Whether either of them survives the rehab remains to be seen.

The only thing interesting in that warehouse was the Heat,cold,acid test and the crash test. Other than that just biding time till you hit the circuit.

another thought* If they made the indoor section a slower moving darkride, could they increase the capacity of the ride?

Technically speaking, yes.

If you gutted the entire building AND the track, yes. If you wanted a dark ride while Track is in there, no can do. I can tell you for a fact that Track takes up the entire building (and then some).

 

[Tom]

another thought* If they made the indoor section a slower moving darkride, could they increase the capacity of the ride?

Technically speaking, yes.

If you gutted the entire building AND the track, yes. If you wanted a dark ride while Track is in there, no can do. I can tell you for a fact that Track takes up the entire building (and then some).

I'm not 100% sure about this. The speed loop is so close to unload that the speed at which guests load and unload the vehicles (dispatch interval) determines how many cars can be on the track, since they have to be spaced out safely (block system).

You can slow down the ride inside the building, and allow more cars inside the building at once, but if they maintain the same high speed outdoor part, that governs everything. You can only load/unload so many cars in a given time frame with that system. By adding cars and making them go slower, you just end up with a Pirates or Small World scenario, where cars get backed up at unload to the point where they'd be holding cars for awkward lengths of time at the crash test hold point.

 

[Brian_B]

The latest update, the whole attraction has been gutted except for the ride track.

Pre-show - everything gone

post-show - everything is gone

The ride itself - everything is gone except the Semi and the ride track.

Ride vehicles - all have been shipped to Central Shops.

Ding dong, the witch is dead. FINALLY. I've been hoping and waiting and wishing for this since 2003. :sohappy: Best development since the heralded Wand B Gone of 2008.

Now...all they need to do is THIS to imagination and energy, bring back Tomorrow's Child and "Universe of Energy" (songs re-recorded), finish the SSE descent, kill those hideous tombstones, remove the stage and redo innoventions, and Epcot might have a shot at being a place that doesn't increase my chance of ulcer development by 50%.

 

[articos]

So sad. It really is interesting to look at all the FW rides from 1982 and see what they did to them in the 1990s. I just can't believe that they couldn't use the money spent on removing and redoing the rides to improve what was already there including adding some thrill factors to the rides. It just seems like such a complete de-disnification of these rides!

I agree. Unfortunately, there was a shift in thinking in the 90s when it came to the company as a whole. Epcot management was not immune, and the park ceased to be thought of as a whole, and began to be thought of in pieces and profit centers and guest surveys and sales/marketing opportunities. No one was looking at the park from a top-down standpoint, which allowed the crack in the dam to become a full fledged flood. It started when CommuniCore was rethought, and from there it became about individual complaints: "boring" "too educational" "not enough thrill rides" and "dated" while the ideas being generated were group value-engineered or just plain lazy. Marketing gets involved, and then things like the plaza monoliths happen, creating a new profit center with no thought as to how it affects the vista of the entry plaza. "Not enough shade" or "too much walking" becomes the clutter that is the fountain plaza now. That said, the current group within Imagineering are some of the most exciting to have worked for the company in years. I'm hopeful that the fruits of this changeover will be evident in the next 5-10 years. But for Epcot to really flourish again, the Epcot executive office needs a VP with vision who's willing to fight for the capital budget to do what needs to be done, and someone who's willing to stay long enough to oversee getting it done.

There are rumbles of time, money and effort being put into the park within the next decade. We'll see if that comes to pass. When you see people within the company who do things like hunting down the original Orange Bird from a drawer across the country in Glendale, that gives hope.

 

[articos]

Technically speaking there wasn't anything left behind from WoM in terms of any set pieces or such, but there were indeed only two things left behind - one of them being an old circuit breaker panel (that, if legend is true, some CM's played with it one day and turns out some connections did indeed still connect to that panel) and a painted-on facade for a brick building that had an advertisement for either a store or restaurant in one of the sets. It was covered in black tarp next to the Ride and Handling section, so even if someone were to see it, you'd blink and miss it.

Whether either of them survives the rehab remains to be seen.

The building shell and structural were untouched, including some electrical that was reused. The exception to that was the omnimover ramp at the start over the entry doors that was gutted out to become the queue and 2 holes that were punched in the building to give the speed track access. The interior elevators and stairs stayed in place, as did the lounge and some back-of-house. All ride spaces were gutted, but many of the set pieces ended up scattered around the parks. With regards to this redo, Trevor, the show producer, is an ex-art director on the original Epcot team. I'm positive he will work in a WoM homage somewhere. And I think the building will finally make an appearance again.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Ding dong, the witch is dead. FINALLY. I've been hoping and waiting and wishing for this since 2003. :sohappy: Best development since the heralded Wand B Gone of 2008.

Now...all they need to do is THIS to imagination and energy, bring back Tomorrow's Child and "Universe of Energy" (songs re-recorded), finish the SSE descent, kill those hideous tombstones, remove the stage and redo innoventions, and Epcot might have a shot at being a place that doesn't increase my chance of ulcer development by 50%.

Yeah, all of that would be nice, but remember that this is only happening because of GM/Chevy.

 

[montyz81]

Ding dong, the witch is dead. FINALLY. I've been hoping and waiting and wishing for this since 2003. :sohappy: Best development since the heralded Wand B Gone of 2008.

Now...all they need to do is THIS to imagination and energy, bring back Tomorrow's Child and "Universe of Energy" (songs re-recorded), finish the SSE descent, kill those hideous tombstones, remove the stage and redo innoventions, and Epcot might have a shot at being a place that doesn't increase my chance of ulcer development by 50%.

Don't forget the reappearance of the Prisms

 

[t3techcom18]

I'm not 100% sure about this. The speed loop is so close to unload that the speed at which guests load and unload the vehicles (dispatch interval) determines how many cars can be on the track, since they have to be spaced out safely (block system).

You can slow down the ride inside the building, and allow more cars inside the building at once, but if they maintain the same high speed outdoor part, that governs everything. You can only load/unload so many cars in a given time frame with that system. By adding cars and making them go slower, you just end up with a Pirates or Small World scenario, where cars get backed up at unload to the point where they'd be holding cars for awkward lengths of time at the crash test hold point.

Yeah, that's what I sort of meant. If one were to do it (and believe me, they won't and quite honestly I'm one of the peoples who prefer Track over WoM), it is theoretically possible but severe changes to the ride system/ride vehicles would have to take place.

They would have to re-engineer the system to somehow make it an omnimover AND a dispatched vehicle system at the same time (which would be a programming/creation nightmare but that's a whole different story).

All in all though, the capacity on Track to begin with is relatively big. Sure, it isn't the 2400 SSE can do, but, if all things are going well within a particular hour and if you have the CM's dispatching the vehicles like no tomorrow, the max capacity per hour you can hit is 1700.

 

[Tom]

Yeah, that's what I sort of meant. If one were to do it (and believe me, they won't and quite honestly I'm one of the peoples who prefer Track over WoM), it is theoretically possible but severe changes to the ride system/ride vehicles would have to take place.

They would have to re-engineer the system to somehow make it an omnimover AND a dispatched vehicle system at the same time (which would be a programming/creation nightmare but that's a whole different story).

All in all though, the capacity on Track to begin with is relatively big. Sure, it isn't the 2400 SSE can do, but, if all things are going well within a particular hour and if you have the CM's dispatching the vehicles like no tomorrow, the max capacity per hour you can hit is 1700.

1700/hr isn't terrible. But really, they've designed themselves into a corner purely from a dispatch interval point of view.

First, they made ride vehicles with 3-seat rows. That means the loading CMs have to assemble complete rows from two different queues every single time.

Second, it's a seatbelt ride, which means yet another step in the loading process. Fortunately, they don't actually do the safety check until they send you up to the initial holding point, which is where the computer ACTUALLY times the dispatch interval, but the long loading process means you get backups coming into unload.

It would help the situation immensely if load and unload were isolated from each other. Come in from the speed test, unload, and then the cars go into a "dead zone" and advance to load when called for. Similar to HM or SSE (granted those are omni's, but same idea....you're not loading and unloading at the exact same moment).

 

[JEANYLASER]

What are the colors for the new signage of the new test track?

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'm not 100% sure about this. The speed loop is so close to unload that the speed at which guests load and unload the vehicles (dispatch interval) determines how many cars can be on the track, since they have to be spaced out safely (block system).

You can slow down the ride inside the building, and allow more cars inside the building at once, but if they maintain the same high speed outdoor part, that governs everything. You can only load/unload so many cars in a given time frame with that system. By adding cars and making them go slower, you just end up with a Pirates or Small World scenario, where cars get backed up at unload to the point where they'd be holding cars for awkward lengths of time at the crash test hold point.

Stacking inside the ride is an option, but you're absolutely right - it would have to be before the Barrier test. There are two hold spots that are regularly used in the ride: load/unload and the seatbelt check. They're right next to each other so one effects the other from a bottleneck standpoint. Having said that, I have to assume that the dispatch interval correlates pretty closely to the distance required on the outside loop.

Yeah, that's what I sort of meant. If one were to do it (and believe me, they won't and quite honestly I'm one of the peoples who prefer Track over WoM), it is theoretically possible but severe changes to the ride system/ride vehicles would have to take place.

They would have to re-engineer the system to somehow make it an omnimover AND a dispatched vehicle system at the same time (which would be a programming/creation nightmare but that's a whole different story).

All in all though, the capacity on Track to begin with is relatively big. Sure, it isn't the 2400 SSE can do, but, if all things are going well within a particular hour and if you have the CM's dispatching the vehicles like no tomorrow, the max capacity per hour you can hit is 1700.

1700/hr isn't terrible. But really, they've designed themselves into a corner purely from a dispatch interval point of view.

First, they made ride vehicles with 3-seat rows. That means the loading CMs have to assemble complete rows from two different queues every single time.

Second, it's a seatbelt ride, which means yet another step in the loading process. Fortunately, they don't actually do the safety check until they send you up to the initial holding point, which is where the computer ACTUALLY times the dispatch interval, but the long loading process means you get backups coming into unload.

It would help the situation immensely if load and unload were isolated from each other. Come in from the speed test, unload, and then the cars go into a "dead zone" and advance to load when called for. Similar to HM or SSE (granted those are omni's, but same idea....you're not loading and unloading at the exact same moment).

1700 is a good capacity for a thrill ride. I was hearing 1400-1600 for Radiator Springs Racers and I assumed that Test Track would be similar.