Walt Disney Imagineering Continues Test Track Transformation with Latest Permit Filed at EPCOT

Biff215Mar 05, 2026

Pretty clear it’s unlikely to happen at this point. While disappointing, now that I’ve experienced 3.0, I’d argue they’re the least important to this version. Does anyone know if they leave the building open all night or is there a secondary door that is closed?

FigmentFan82Mar 04, 2026

I would subscribe to the Josh Eats web series

ToTBellHopMar 04, 2026

The new CEO is busy recording videos of himself enjoying new food products that have arrived in the parks.

FigmentFan82Mar 04, 2026

Any chance they’re gonna fix the doors? Come on Josh, that should be first order of business. Then the Yeti!!

TestTrack99Mar 04, 2026

I've only seen them use the 4th loading station once or twice. I believe it's because the ride is running with less vehicles on the track than it's supposed to.

Centauri Space StationFeb 27, 2026

QFTT!

DarkRideGuyFeb 27, 2026

LIDAR is definitely my favorite scene on the ride, just so visually appealing and impressive!

PlummetFeb 12, 2026

You are testing out various features for a hypothetical "road of the future". LIDAR automated driving with collision avoidance, a powered roadway to fuel an electric vehicle, at-home customization, etc. The various tests are leading up to what we currently have on market (LIDAR), what we hypothetically have the tech for but not the implementation yet (powered roads), and the distant future that is somewhat impractical but a nice what if with the at home switch outs. Then you test out many of these features on a simulated road before blasting off to the future. I will concede that I'm not in love with the sharp change in the inside to outside but I will point that if you use a little more subtext, this does make sense.

Professortango1Feb 12, 2026

TT 1.0 felt consistent and fun. TT 3.0 has some pretty sets of garages and a womp womp finale as you race from the city of tomorrow to an ugly parking lot. Which wasn't a tonal shift originally, as the whole thing was a testing facility. I'll take interesting, consistent, and purposeful over lifeless, aimless, and patchworked every time, regardless of how pretty those sheds look. What tests are on this Test Track? it's a Franken-Attraction where they changed what the parts are, but haven't changed them into anything that tells a new story. Why do we learn about redesigning our car and why is that between the sensor technology display and the discount version of RSR's opening shoved in the middle of the ride? I can tell you why the ABS Break test went into the climate test and then escalated into the racheting up with the handling test which led to a jump scare near miss and reminded us of the final test which has been built up since the start. If they wanted to ditch the reasons and storytelling of the original, they should have taken the time and effort to change the ride's anatomy. Modern Disney cleary thinks that jangling keys is easier and just as effective as actually writing something with structure and form

StarWarsGirlFeb 12, 2026

They'd need to be dressed up as sloths, though...

StarWarsGirlFeb 12, 2026

You missed out

PlummetFeb 12, 2026

Hey I mean you said it, none of those attractions truthfully fit in a "Future World", that was a bad name for the land. World Nature, Discovery, and Celebration are far more accurate to what is actually depicted among them. But the fact is it was in future world. Notice how all of those attractions are gone or have been renamed into a more fitting area. Now I will say things like Living with the Land imo should be let slide because its still actively talking about our future atleast. TT 1.0 was also just a very ugly attraction. It's supposed to be ugly but its not optimistic, the joke was you're being sent to die. Sorry but eh, it was bold but ugly and crude imo. I'm glad we got 3.0 and hoping the ride continues to update with the times.

DisneyDodoFeb 11, 2026

This is the same debate that always came up regarding DinoRama. One one hand, Disney recreated a setting that is very true to the thing it’s based on. On the other hand, that thing is kind of ugly and uninspiring, and so the replica is too. Painstaking accuracy is only valuable insofar as the location they are replicating is one that people are clamoring to go to. Hogsmeade at IOA really feels like you have been thrown into the middle of a Harry Potter film, which is so effective because that is a dream come true for many Potterheads. OTOH people who spend thousands of dollars to visit the world’s most preeminent theme park resort don’t want to be transported to a crappy carnival in a parking lot. Yes, DinoRama really felt like the thing it was supposed to be (even down to the overpriced rigged carnival games). That’s precisely why I hated it! Imagine asking someone how their Disney trip was, only for them to respond “It was incredible! I really felt like I was at a dingy, run-down amusement park!” This is similar to what they did with SWGE, except instead of location, it was the timeline they adhered to as gospel. As evidenced by the changes coming to Disneyland’s version, guests are happy to have a land that deviates from the chronology of the source material if it allows them to see the things they want to see. Disney could build an attraction called “DMV” where you walk through a building themed to a DMV. They could deploy a team of grumpy cast members (and not in the fun Whispering Canyon kind of way), artificially increase wait times so you always wait at least 2 hours, and make you fill out a bunch of forms. And some people would defend it as one of WDI’s great masterpieces because it really captures the ambiance of a DMV! To be clear, I never rode TT 1.0 and I’m not saying it was a bad overall attraction. I’m just suggesting that maybe instead of accurately recreating a warehouse, they could have leveraged some artistic license to conjure up a cooler, more engaging, “futuristic” version of a testing facility and riders would have enjoyed it even more!

AylaFeb 11, 2026

Yes. It was probably some of the best theming WDI has ever done.