Have you ridden the newly revamped and re-themed Test Track at Epcot? I recently got to experience it and have a few thoughts. First of all it should be noted that I LOVED the old Test Track. I thought it was everything a ride at Epcot should be; fun, fast, educational, and entertaining.
On the old version the storyline began in the queue as you wound through the automotive manufacturing plant. No attention to detail was excluded from parts of vehicles to parts of crash test dummies, the story was visually told. When you entered the briefing room you were told of your mission to help run the test vehicle through a variety of test on the proving ground. When you boarded the ride your mission unfolded one scene after the next. The ride made you giggle, scream, and take a second look at your surroundings.
The new Test Track, in my humble opinion, just does not stack up. Everything that was part of the automotive testing experience has been replaced with neon. Now instead of being part of the testing crew, you have also joined the design crew. Instead of a briefing room, the pre-ride is now a design center where you design a vehicle. Your vehicle design is saved onto a special card. When you enter the stall before boarding the car you can scan your design card. This does not alter the performance or track of the ride. All this does is allows your design to be compared to others in your car and throughout the day. You are given these test results after each section of the ride. Confusing? It was to me. I didn’t really understand the whole thing and honestly, you get like 5 seconds to design your car. Its really silly.
Anyhow, once you are on the ride you will notice that everything is pretty much the same as the old test track in terms of the the ride track. However, gone are the charming scenes of a proving ground and in their place annoying neon lights that mean nothing to me. In fact, one of my favorite parts of the ride, the heat and cold chambers have been replaced with basically empty tunnels. There is no longer a storyline, the connection between the ride and the design process was totally lost on me and I am sure on many other guests as well.
One thing remains the same, the speed! You still get to whiz around that track at 65 miles an hour which is fun and exciting no matter what you had to go through to get there. My feeling is that this redesign is a fail. I used to spend hours contemplating where I would head when I got to Epcot; Soarin’ or Test Track. Now I know my answer, without a doubt, is Soarin’ every time.