Disney Vacation Club Preview Announced for Reimagined Test Track at EPCOT

I agree to an extent about safety but I think people care about the high tech safety systems now. The 1.0 ABS test was kind of outdated on opening. I think the majority of new cars had ABS at least within a couple of years of the opening (even though it wasn't mandatory until 2013).

I think it's reversed. Unsafe cars are out of the norm so people would talk about a car that has a bad track record or whatever the issue is with it. Most people assume that all cars are safe so they talk about other things that differentiate them which is all the bells and whistles.

It wasn't just hindsight. Many of us thought TT 1.0 looked bad (and didn't fit the "Future World" theme) from the moment it opened.

Yes, and automobiles have achieved safety.
Safety, impact, structural standards have gone up and all manufacturers meet them.
People walk away from insane crashes nowadays.
There isn't a disparity of safety among brands that is very widespread anymore.
Like say a 90's Volvo vs a 90's Hyundai.

Agreed, and the LIDAR stuff is more about accident avoidance, so less about what happens when you crash if you can avoid the accident altogether

I don't know if this veers into off-topic or not, but I wonder if the de-emphasis of safety and the bigger focus on luxury/aesthetics in Test Track has to do with the stripping of safety requirements (or as car companies call them, "those pesky laws that make our profit margins smaller") for cars in the US? That and also, like you said, people are conditioned to focus more on the surface-level shiny new toys in a car, because that's what the companies are focusing on in their marketing (which is probably also because of law changes, companies will get people's attentions on what they want them to focus on).

Do you (or does anyone) have a video with the "7" reference? I can't seem to find one. Is the banter during the scenic drive randomized/did some previews not have it? I noticed some preview videos were oddly quiet during the scenic drive

It was a drop in reference to a ride that has been dead for about three decades. Why in the world would anyone take that as being materially significant?

Too many people just seem trapped in the past on this board. WoM was in this location, and the decision was made to go away from it. Then they build TT1.0. They could have decided to stay close to the WoM but instead went with the test track ride. They put a couple signs up, and some easter egg type references to WoM, but that was it. Then later came TT2. They could have made the decision then, when WoM was still fresher in peoples minds to go back to something closer to WoM, and again chose not to. Now thirty years later, they announce a refurbishment of TT. Not a recreation, not a rebuilding, not a tear down/replacement. What would make anything think they would be moving closer to WoM?

No kid today from 6-12 has any idea of what WoW was. No one in their twenties had any experience with WoW. No one in their thirties for the most part will have any recollection of the ride either. So what possible purpose is there to harken back to a ride that a large portion of your customer base (and all of your future customer base) have never heard of?

That's leaving aside the fact that almost all of the recent construction/refurbishment undertaken by WDW has been to replace things with newer IP, as opposed to harkening back to older rides/IP. The trend has been if anything to replace the old, not harken back to it.

So based on all that. Again why would anyone reasonably think that the new TT was going to have any major or material or significant harkening back to WoM?

Looking for it, but can't find one that references the mysterious test #7...

Disney Sets Test Track Annual Passholder Preview Dates Ahead of July 22 Opening
https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/test-track/news/30jun2025-disney-sets-test-track-annual-passholder-preview-dates-ahead-of-july-22-opening.htm

Then why not change the name too?

And sponsorhip doesn’t mean it’s the primary purpose of the pavilion. It’s to position the company brand in a positive light and raise brand awareness with the customer. It’s why all the pavilions were connected with theme - not specific products.

Kodak didn’t push disc phones on you at their pavilion… at&t didn’t have you sign up for long distance in earth station… exxon wasn’t giving away gas cards.

The point raised is what i bought up before. Safety as a frontier was a thing in the 80s and 90s. It was a major trend in the industry and ‘new’ to customers.

Now - it’s commonplace. It is the problem with all pavilions that take on contemporary topics. The world moves faster and faster now. So they date themselves way too fast

I'm really hoping a POV with the 7 reference gets posted soon. Some coworkers are at the park today for the ride previews, maybe they'll get it, but no one at the company can seem to find a POV with the 7 reference that @Centauri Space Station mentioned. Fingers crossed it's out there!
(For context, the 7 reference is a big inside joke at the company, so many have been hoping it'd be referenced in the new attraction)

I assume they didn't change the name because of branding and recognizability? A new name would've made a lot of sense for this one given you're not really testing anything. It's more "look at what the future could be"

Your wrong.

The safety things are commonplace now because many are mandatory… third light brakes, tps, backup cameras, restraints, abs, pedestrian safety, etc. it’s less of a marketing campaign because it’s expected. Fatalities in car crashes are way down vs 40yrs ago.

The next wave is automation and alt fuels and guess who is woefully behind in those categories?? GM

All the more reason the name doesn’t work

A new name would have been much more marketable too. A true NEW attraction.

I think they didn’t change the name because of trying to down sell what they did… because they knew someone looking for something entirely new would be let down