Walt Disney World is going through various changes right now. Significant portions of multiple parks have been, or soon will be, closed to make way for new WDW attractions, and some fan-favorite rides will be closed forever. However, another ride, Epcot’s Test Track, is about to reopen after a 13-month closure, and when it does, I’m really looking forward to checking it out. That's odd because I have never been much of a Test Track fan until now.
This morning, Disney World announced that the reimagined Test Track will reopen on July 22. When that happens, the ride that’s been around for over 25 years will debut its third unique design. We got our best look yet at what the actual new ride will look like in a pair of videos, and I have to say, I like what I see so far.
This looks really cool. A visualization of modern safety technology in your car looks particularly sweet lit up like this. We see a recreation of a normal-looking street transform into thousands of light nodes; it’s all quite impressive.
A lot of Disney World fans were actually excited that Test Track was closing to be reimagined. That's because a lot of people didn’t love the second iteration of the ride. However, I honestly didn’t mind Test Track 2.0 all that much due to the fact that I wasn’t that big a Test Track 1.0 the first time around.
The original Test Track from 1999 was a simulation of automobile testing. With that, guests took on the role of crash test dummies on a course designed to test an automobile’s capabilities. This included putting the ride vehicle through tight turns, sudden stops and a high-speed thrill section.
The second version of Test Track, which debuted in 2012, was more focused on automobile design. Guests were given a chance to design their own vehicle in the queue, and that machine was then put through various capability tests on the track. The new ride mostly took place in the dark and had a simulation feel similar to Tron (though without the Daft Punk soundtrack).
As somebody who didn’t love the first two versions of Test Track, I honestly hadn’t been concerned with the new version all that much, but I’m enjoying what I’m seeing so far. In addition to the cool lights, another video posted to Instagram shows how the ride will focus on the “pleasure of driving,” including recreating outdoor environments inside the ride.
Ok, Test Track, you got me. I’m now officially excited for the reopening on July 22. Epcot has always been my favorite park at Walt Disney World, and now it looks like it may actually get even better. Here's hoping this refurbished ride proves to be as exciting as it appears to be.
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