As many of you know, EPCOT’s Test Track has been closed for several months while it undergoes reimagineering. A Frog Family favorite (as well as just about everyone else’s), Test Track is expected to reopen in late fall as a Chevrolet-themed car design experience. Guests will be able to design their own custom cars and then take them on a test drive through the hills and switchbacks of the Test Track circuit.
Disney hosted a live chat today with key Imagineer Melissa Jeselnick, and here is what we learned:
- The focus moves from testing to design, including the queue.
"We'll use the space [queue] to introduce guests to Chevrolet’s Automotive Design process - how it starts with a line and ends with the cars you can buy on the showroom floor. We'll have actual items, sketches, cars, models from GM that have never been seen before by anyone outside the Chevrolet family."
- It's the same track layout, but everything around it will be different.
"In the studio, you have a chance to design your own custom concept vehicle. That design follows you into the ride, which is still the same physical ride that our guests know and love. You'll ride in our sim car. As you move through the space, your custom design will be scored in areas such as Capability, Efficiency, Responsiveness and Speed." (Pictured is the point before Speed.)
- There will be FastPASS and Single Ride lines, but guests in them will not have full customization of their vehicle.
"The full experience allows you to do a lot of customization with your vehicle; the FastPass and Single Rider lines allow for an expedited queue experience and select you a custom vehicle of your choosing to take with you on your ride all the way through the post show."
- Why the change?
"The whole automotive design process has evolved since Test Track opened and things have moved into the digital realm, and the same has been true for WDI's design process. It updates the automotive story to reflect what is happening today."
Click here for the full transcript from the chat.
As always, keep track of all of the Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando refurbishments and closings here.
Miss the old Test Track? Watch the video Tad shot during the ride.
Here’s looking forward to December!
