The wait is nearly over, Disney fans! The fan-favourite Test Track ride, which has been a major feature of the park since 1999, is ready to be unveiled in its all-new version, and it looks like being a big hit.
This will be the third version of the ride in little more than 26 years and, since it closed down in June 2024, there wasn’t been a lot of detail about what we could expect from version 3.0. Well, this week the construction walls came down and the ride was in preview mode, and there was a LOT to see.
Note to readers: This blog contains spoilers – and lots of them – about the new ride. So, if you don’t want to know what’s in store when you get back on the Track (official re-opening date, July 22), don’t read much further!
First of all, the sponsorship of the ride hasn’t changed. General Motors “returns” as the promoter, but only because Test Track 2.0 was presented by GM’s mass market brand Chevrolet. For 3.0, it reverts to the parent company, so hopefully that ends the debate about whether the sponsorship is new or not (it definitely isn’t!).
If that aspect of the ride hasn’t changed, neither has the track. Test Track’s full circuit remains the same as its early days, with most of the ride tucked away ingeniously in the main show building before it bursts into a high-speed lap around the exterior. Top speed is still 65mph (although it still feels faster from the low position on the track). The six-passenger ride cars are primarily the same, too, albeit they have had an intensive makeover and are now a sleek, shiny black rather than the cobalt blue of 2.0. The basic physical structure remains unchanged.
So, what has been altered, then? How about, everything else?! From the queue to the ride story to the various show scenes along the way, this is a completely original take on the ride we have known and loved all this time. In many ways, it is unrecognisable from the previous incarnation, and it feels a lot more organic and on point for the EPCOT message of technology and the future.
The queueing area is also completely different from the previous version, which included various design stations where you could try your hand at vehicle design and sustainability on big computer screens. Those screens – and everything else from the ride’s preamble – are totally gone, and we are just left with the extremely long queue for the ride, broken down into six sections and highlighted at various points by some eye-catching concept cars that all look extremely innovative.
Intriguingly, version 3.0 has a few nods back to the ride that originally occupied this space when EPCOT first opened in 1982. That was World of Motion (also presented by General Motors), which was another transport-minded ride through the past, present and future of automotive vehicles. Many fans who went on the ride still remember it fondly and were unhappy with the big change to Test Track. Well, they now have reason to smile again as there is the distinct feeling 3.0 is dealing in the same currency as World of Motion, and that is a healthy and hopeful view of the future.
As Dan Brookwell, a senior production designer with Walt Disney Imagineering (the ride creators) explained: “World of Motion had a great kind of spirit of optimism about it, about this excitement of the future and showing how transportation is, and [how it] takes us into new opportunities. And so we really looked back to World of Motion for inspiration on how do we represent that optimistic spirit. And I think what we ended up with is something that’s just so uniquely EPCOT and so inspiring about what’s next.”
That feeling and “optimistic spirit” is definitely part of the new vibe, and it lends itself well to the whole structure of the ride, which starts with a look at smart-car technology in the present day and how AI and driver-less vehicles are changing the way we see the world. At one point, the four-minute ride switches to a “virtual” mode to demonstrate how a car’s computer control views the world about it, using a dazzling lighting package featuring 29,000 light nodes that represent future tech that is “making our cars smarter and our lives more fun.”
The accent is firmly on how we are steadily moving into a new era of autonomous vehicles and sustainable power sources, including “smart” roads, while other high-tech developments include being able to personalise our vehicles at home. The ride continues with a simulated driver-less journey through the scenic Pacific north-west, culminating in a literal zoom into the future as the ride vehicle roars through a giant screen depicting the city of tomorrow into the high-speed finale around the outside of the building.
The ride still exits through a showcase of current General Motors vehicles, which is surprisingly dull after all the concept cars of the queuing area and the futuristic wonders of the ride, but the overall experience is definitely fresher, more engaging and certainly more “Disney” than 2.0. It was fairly clear that many long-time Disney fans didn’t like the previous version very much, but they should now be much happier with the ride’s latest incarnation.
As for us, we’re just happy to see the ride back open again. It felt like a l-o-n-g closure, especially with so much happening in other parks (!), but this should guarantee that EPCOT remains our favourite Disney park for the time being.
What are YOUR thoughts about Test Track 3.0? Tell us about them on the friendly AttractionTickets.com Community Facebook page, on X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram.
