Test Track closing June 17 for re-imagining at Epcot

Test Track Taking a Detour

The ride experience affectionately dubbed by fans as “Test Track 2.0” will drive into the sunset as Imagineers and Chevrolet once again transform Test Track as we know it. The final day to experience Test Track in its current form will be June 16, 2024.

Walt Disney World Resort announced the Test Track closing date today and also revealed a new piece of concept art (below). It did not mention a reopening timeline. The company said further details will be unveiled “soon.”

For comparison, here’s what the exterior currently looks like:

The closure will come days after the June 10, 2024 opening of CommuniCore Hall, a flex space in Epcot’s recently-renovated central plaza.

CommuniCore Hall will be home to exhibits connected to the park’s seasonal festivals, character greetings, and, during its inaugural summer, a limited-time “Encanto” show.

Test Track 3.0

Disney first shared its intent to re-imagine Test Track during Destination D23 2023, when it revealed initial concept art (below) and said the new version will integrate a “spirit of optimism” embodied by World of Motion, the defunct Epcot attraction that Test Track replaced.

When Test Track opened in 1999, the attraction, sponsored by General Motors, focused on tests endured by car safety dummies during a vehicle’s manufacturing stage.

Disney closed that version in 2012 and partnered with new sponsor Chevrolet to pivot Test Track’s focus to car design. The ride track itself — and therefore, the physical ride experience — remained the same, but the packaging was different.

For what it’s worth, in 2012 Test Track was closed for roughly eight months while Imagineers spruced it up.

What was World of Motion?

What was World of Motion, and how can we look to the former attraction to get an idea of what to expect from the new Test Track? In a way, World of Motion was to the subject of transportation what Spaceship Earth is to the realm of communication.

Looking toward the future of the then-upcoming World of Motion, a 1982 book described the attraction as “a refreshingly zany history of transportation,” from horse-drawn carriages to freeways, hot-air balloons to steam trains, plus a glimpse into the future.¹

The publication also noted the intentionality of the show building’s design:

Unlike the angular structures housing Universe of Energy and Horizons, which seem to stretch into the sky, their neighbor is sleek and circular. With its perfectly cylindrical form, it may remind us of a wheel, which is appropriate to a building that contains the World of Motion.²

Universe of Energy, Horizons, and World of Motion are all attractions of Disney history today, but the architecture of their replacements — Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Mission: Space, and Test Track, respectively — still reflect this principle.

Reflecting on the attraction of years past, a 2021 book described World of Motion’s Audio-Animatronics figures as being “on the scale of Pirates of the Caribbean.” The scenes within World of Motion, each depicting an important moment in transportation history, “were each presented with waggish irony.”³

World of Motion featured 107 Audio-Animatronics human figures and the song “It’s Fun to be Free,” most recently sampled in the “Epcot Forever” fireworks show. Disney Legend Buddy Baker led the music development for World of Motion, along with six other opening-day Epcot attractions.

Disney Legends (and former animators and Imagineers) Marc Davis and Ward Kimball came out of retirement to help Walt Disney Imagineering develop World of Motion, lightening the thorough but “academic” foundation for the attraction formed by fellow Disney Legend and Imagineer Claude Coats.⁴ The involvement of Davis, in particular, echoed history; his inclination for comical design and Coats’ serious style had previously melded to fashion both Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion into the beloved attractions they are today.⁵

1. “Walt Disney’s Epcot Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow” by Richard R. Beard, page 80. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, 1982. ↩︎
2. Beard, page 80. ↩︎
3. “A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years of the Most Magical Place on Earth” by Tim O’Day, Kevin M. Kern, and Steven Vagnini, page 195. Disney Editions, 2021. ↩︎
4. “Walt Disney’s Imagineering Legends and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park” by Jeff Kurtti, pages 53 and 133. Disney Editions, 2008. ↩︎
5. “The Imagineering Story: The Official Biography of Walt Disney Imagineering” by Leslie Iwerks, page 152. Disney Editions, 2022. ↩︎