Opinions about Test Track 2.0?

[TIMtationX]

Well it is appropriate to point out the hypocrisy coming from people who rave about Toy Story Mania and the new Little Mermaid ride. One is entirely screens and the other is vastly flawed in execution with the mechanical components showing (which the DCA version doesn't have as badly).

So to claim that this upgrade to standards is bad while those are "amazing" is really disingenuous.

There's a difference between having an educated and for that matter - your own - opinion and just repeat fallacies as if they were facts and using them to justify a point of view you adopted from other people.

If folks can explain why Test Track 2.0 is a downgrade without using false information to support their beliefs then they're free to believe what they want. False information presented as fact will be challenged.

Going around having the "opinion" that the sky is polkadotted doesn't make it a real valid opinion that should be respected. You can't hide misinformation under the guise of opinion and say those can't be challenged and all are valid.

I've never done Toy Story (the lines have been way too long each time we've been there), so I can't speak to that, and I also wasn't that impressed with the new Mermaid ride (another basic MK dark ride).

I certainly wouldn't call 2.0 a downgrade, there are several things that are improved over the original that I liked (the new queue, music, and car designing). But I just didn't think the inside portion of the "sim track" was that exciting considering all the hype and the money spent. Yes, there are still vehicle tests, but I don't think they have the same impact as before, and the best ones (heat, cold) are completely gone (and the extreme weather test is a joke) I thought the car designing was very neat using the touchscreen, but it literally had no effect on the ride at all, and I think a lot of new riders will assume it does, and I noticed people in my car didn't really understand the vehicle design scoring, even after they got off the ride. I heard a lot of "what do the numbers mean?"

I get the idea they were going for, and TT did need an upgrade, but I think Disney could have really gone all out with this update. Why not add more animation and less cardboard cutout displays? Why not enclose the speed portion with more videoscreens? Why not change the ride vehicles instead of just painting the old ones?

I didn't hate it, I just prefer the original.

 

[twokids0204]

Going around having the "opinion" that the sky is polkadotted doesn't make it a real valid opinion that should be respected. You can't hide misinformation under the guise of opinion and say those can't be challenged and all are valid.

I don't think incorrectly (or correctly) quoting the type of lighting used, is the same as saying the sky is polkadotted (when it is clearly striped)...

Therefore rendering all other opinions (other than yours) valid and acceptable.

And to all those with valid opinions... mousermerf apologizes. (there I did it for you)

 

[afwdwfan]

Therefore rendering all other opinions (other than yours) valid and acceptable.

Still trying to figure out this comparison between Test Track and Toy Story. Sure it is all screens but what you see in one is nothing like what you see in the other (2d effects vs. 3d video for starters). Not to mention the interactivity of the gameplay in Toy Story. I like them both anyway, but whatever...

Test Track looks more like Space Ranger Spin anyway. They both have them there fancy space lights.


Again, as I've said, I have ridden the new Test Track and do like it better with the upgrade. I'm just less than impressed with the on ride scenery/lighting. It was kind of a let down to see it after being as impressed as I was by the queue and design areas.

 

[webcs]

Rode it first time today Xmas Eve, complete review:

QUEUE: Clean and crisp. Gone is the shop mechanic areas and crash dummies. The inside looks more like soaring with sharp blue and chrome.

The queue also moves faster now with no intro-videos which were a great idea 15 years ago but now that every ride uses them, they have gotten boring. The queue really moves now even in the packed Xmas traffic.

QUEUE GRADE: A

INTERACTIVE QUEUE: You are invited to build a car to compare to other cars. unfortunately there is little explanation and we and almost every other person was confused. There was also no incentive to do this pre or post and me and the whole family thought "well why even do it". I have to agree. I see no real reason, that is readily apparent. If I am wrong then disney is not presenting this well at all.

INTERACTIVE GRADE: C

BRANDING: CHEVY is laced everywhere but it is done tastefully and is in the spirit of Epcot. I was afraid it would be too much but it was not.

Branding grade: -A

RIDE: It is visually stunning. But every single turn reeks of TRON and you spend the whole ride depressed that they do not have Tron music playing. It would take exactly 2 hours to transition this ride to a Tron theme. All of the colors and presentations are direct from the Tron movie. It is like they had a Tron ride ready to go but someone (Chevy) paid them money not to theme the ride. So you feel empty inside when you are done as you can imagine what this ride could be with a minimal amount of work.

The first half of the ride is SLOW with almost nothing in the way of features. A failed conversion is when you know there are walls on the sides blocking the scenery that was once there instead of creating new scenery. That is what happens. You just get room after room of nothing for some reason. They really need to add stuff ASAP! Doesn't make sense.

During the second half the ride gets much better. Bottom line, they could have still done Chevy with a Tron theme and Tron music and this ride would be one of the best in Epcot. Instead it is iffy. We may see them theme it in the next few years.

RIDE: B-

Overall score B .... would be an A with Tron theming and tron music cranking into the car like they do in Rocking Rollercoaster. The ride line would be twice as long and it would have staying power.

 

[DOOM1001]

I get the idea they were going for, and TT did need an upgrade, but I think Disney could have really gone all out with this update. Why not add more animation and less cardboard cutout displays? Why not enclose the speed portion with more videoscreens? Why not change the ride vehicles instead of just painting the old ones?

I didn't hate it, I just prefer the original.

Enclosing the outside portion was one thing I was afraid they would do since the ride has to close in the rain,luckily they must have heard me because enclosing that outside portion of the ride would have been a sin.It simply would lessen the sense of speed you feel with the ride out in the open,riding Test Track when it's cold outside and coming back to the loading station with a frozen face is one of my favorite things to do at Disney.

 

[laplbl@aol.com]

Rode it first time today Xmas Eve, complete review:

QUEUE: Clean and crisp. Gone is the shop mechanic areas and crash dummies. The inside looks more like soaring with sharp blue and chrome.

The queue also moves faster now with no intro-videos which were a great idea 15 years ago but now that every ride uses them, they have gotten boring. The queue really moves now even in the packed Xmas traffic.

QUEUE GRADE: A

INTERACTIVE QUEUE: You are invited to build a car to compare to other cars. unfortunately there is little explanation and we and almost every other person was confused. There was also no incentive to do this pre or post and me and the whole family thought "well why even do it". I have to agree. I see no real reason, that is readily apparent. If I am wrong then disney is not presenting this well at all.

INTERACTIVE GRADE: C

BRANDING: CHEVY is laced everywhere but it is done tastefully and is in the spirit of Epcot. I was afraid it would be too much but it was not.

Branding grade: -A

RIDE: It is visually stunning. But every single turn reeks of TRON and you spend the whole ride depressed that they do not have Tron music playing. It would take exactly 2 hours to transition this ride to a Tron theme. All of the colors and presentations are direct from the Tron movie. It is like they had a Tron ride ready to go but someone (Chevy) paid them money not to theme the ride. So you feel empty inside when you are done as you can imagine what this ride could be with a minimal amount of work.

The first half of the ride is SLOW with almost nothing in the way of features. A failed conversion is when you know there are walls on the sides blocking the scenery that was once there instead of creating new scenery. That is what happens. You just get room after room of nothing for some reason. They really need to add stuff ASAP! Doesn't make sense.

During the second half the ride gets much better. Bottom line, they could have still done Chevy with a Tron theme and Tron music and this ride would be one of the best in Epcot. Instead it is iffy. We may see them theme it in the next few years.

RIDE: B-

Overall score B .... would be an A with Tron theming and tron music cranking into the car like they do in Rocking Rollercoaster. The ride line would be twice as long and it would have staying power.

Thank you for your full opinion. I especially enjoyed how you rated it with letters.

And thank you all who attempted to get their opinions across. I appreciate it them all!!!! Even though some of you disagreed with each other it is interesting to see what others think about this upgrade. 9 days and I can't wait!!!

Feel free to continue posting, I do enjoy reading all of them . They are both entertaining and factual to me!

Thank you again and Happy New Year!

 

[mousermerf]

There ar eno walls in th first half of the ride "blocking scenery" - any sense. There was no scenery in the first half of the original ride.

Again, what on earth are you talking about?

Hill climb - no scenery, now has scenery. ABS 1 and 2 - no scenery but cones and barrier walls, now giant pieces of scenery - what on earth are you talking about?

 

[twokids0204]

There ar eno walls in th first half of the ride "blocking scenery" - any sense. There was no scenery in the first half of the original ride.

Again, what on earth are you talking about?

Hill climb - no scenery, now has scenery. ABS 1 and 2 - no scenery but cones and barrier walls, now giant pieces of scenery - what on earth are you talking about?

This post will not be taken as fact, and completely stricken from the records due to spelling errors alone.

 

[ChrisFL]

For some reason it feels faster as well.

Its interesting, on here and other message boards people have said it feels faster, but the side-by-side comparison videos show that it isn't faster, so its curious about why it feels that way.

 

[RunningGirl]

Very disappointed in this redo. It's a great concept, but full of bugs. The first time we rode it, we were all able to design our cars, but got the wrong data along the screens on the ride. The second time we did it, our design computer crashed and there was not a cast member in the design room to help. So we missed out on the real gyst of the ride. The next cast member we saw was at the vehicle boarding station. Again, the screens along the ride had the wrong car's data. And the screen in our car was not functioning. We won't be in much of a hurry to do it again.

 

[mike the canuck]

I loved it. The themeing is a much better fit to Future World
Here is a video I took of the new Test Track
http://youtu.be/-F4DRnUg2Fs

 

[Tinkerboy00]

We were really disappointed in it.

Luckily we got a FP for it and came back. I would have been really, really upset if I waited in line for it which was over an hour wait right as the park opened. We got in to Epcot at 8:30 because of Extra Magic hours and there was already a line and it wasnt even up and running yet. So we got the FP

The FP/Single Rider line is very cramped, and where you pick your car creates a HUGE bottle neck. The last two computers were being used, but the others were not, so you couldnt get to them. So we had to push our way through to get to them.

You can not create your car in the FP/Single Rider line, you can only pick one of a few that are already created. Its not very obvious about how to do it, where your card goes etc, or where your car is in the line up of other cars during the ride, until at the very end. Its a confusing set up.

It looked like there was more room if you went through the regular line for creating your car, and you could do more of the options and kind of create it from the tires up.

Things we didnt like:
1.Line was boring - none of the fun things to watch and look at that there used to be

2.All the cars are blue - we used to always try to guess our car color while still in line

3. There is nothing happening on the screen during the ride like there used to be

4.The whole ride is basically just glowing things and flashing lights

5.there is no real obvious story like there was before (road test, condition tests, etc) those things are there suppossedly but its not really obvious, and its just a lot of flashing lights, so we were kind of like "whats happening?" "What was the point of all that?"

6. The thing like the lab with the hidden Mickey is gone

Improvements that we liked:
1. The line is easier to get through. We hated before when the rooms were full adn then opened into a tiny little line, and everyone pushed through. It has a nicer flow now

2. Some of the more interactive things at the end where they have the cars on display

Overall we were really really disppointed. Test Track was one of our favorite rides and we always rode it when we went to Epcot. I dont think we will ever ride it again.

I can see if you have kids how it would be cool for them, or if you have never ridden the old TT you would think this was awesome. But it doesnt have the same character and fun appeal that the old ride did.

 

[afwdwfan]

1.Line was boring - none of the fun things to watch and look at that there used to be

I really think they did some good things with the line, but as you said, the single rider/FP line is pretty bland. I hope you'll give it a chance and try the standby line sometime (when the wait isn't so bad) because I really feel like there are a lot of interesting things to see and do as you wait, and the design element is much, much better than the FP line. I think some of the other things might make more sense to you after going through the standby line also, but I do agree that they could have done something to make the FP/Single Rider line better.

 

[Tinkerboy00]

I really think they did some good things with the line, but as you said, the single rider/FP line is pretty bland. I hope you'll give it a chance and try the standby line sometime (when the wait isn't so bad) because I really feel like there are a lot of interesting things to see and do as you wait, and the design element is much, much better than the FP line. I think some of the other things might make more sense to you after going through the standby line also, but I do agree that they could have done something to make the FP/Single Rider line better.

Yeah good point. The FP/Single Rider line is really short, I would skip picking a car if I went through there again.

We might give the ride another go when we go back in April, so we will do the regular standby line then and see.