Chapter Five: Judgement Days After waiting this long for the ride, my expectations fluttered in a lofty way--walk-through tours had shown me exactly what I could expect from the journey, but what was it going to feel like while sitting in the actual vehicle? Let alone what the keening rush of wind would do to me as we swung around the 318 foot diameter curve. The first day of public testing on December 19th turned out satisfactory. Another day of testing was arranged. Hey, noise is great--but when the load isn't happening as fast as it should--the queue is a highly annoying place to be. After boarding the six-passenger car, our group was subjected to a bit of a wait. A flashing yellow "X" was readily apparent in the tree signal of lights above the dispatch trough. A good few minutes was spent in this position while management types and attraction hosts shuttled about to solve the problem. At last, our car surged forward and we looked forward to a rough and rowdy exploration of the rigors of vehicle testing. It had been too long a wait, to be sure. And it had better be a lot more entertaining than World Of Motion, since that was the standard to be judged by. If it didn't generate at least enough yuks and good-feelings by ride's end, the whole thing would be declared a waste of time. Good golly, what was that guy doing there? "That's what we call 'evasive manuevers'", says your control hosts. As we circle the body of a crash test dummy and a smashed up car, we notice the Firebird engaging in a crash test. Rounding the corner, it's apparent that we're suppposed to go through the same exact test sequence and the pause says it all. We sunk down into the confines of the building once again, subjecting ourselves to thermal imaging that would give clues to where we were hot or where we were not. Our flushed faces graced the gridwork of a screen before we sank down at an insane rate back into the building for a recycle. Our hot faces registered clearly on the thermal screen--we weren't fooling anybody---that last whip around the track had flustered us fiercely.
Cast Member testing began around December 12th and continued until the public days started on December 19th. Rumors had spread throughout the Disney internet newsgroups, hinting that lucky holiday visitors would be able to taste the long-awaited splendor. The first day of public testing was rough, but it warranted a second day of testing on the 20th. This is when my three-year dream of experiencing Test Track came into being as friends and myself descended upon Epcot close to the planned 6:30 p.m. start time.
At 6:51 p.m. on Sunday the 20th, the ride didn't look like it was going to open. A cast member shouted from the front that they were going to hold off deciding on whether or not to open the ride for fifteen more minutes. This was a bit of a bluff, I'm thinking, since the real decision seemed to be up to the ride itself. Plans were already made to soft test the attraction, but tempermental ride operation systems kept a perpetual question mark hanging in the air. Ride crew often shrugged their shoulders and looked puzzled by the developments going on around them--this beast of theirs was something that no-one, not even the most experienced ride operators, was used to. It had taken the most desperate of Imagineers just to bring it all to the frontline. There were signs of nervousness around the queue as the 7:00 p.m. hour rolled around. The cast member responsible for shouting out updates suddenly let us know that Test Track would be closed for an "indefinite amount of time" and that anyone expecting to enjoy the holiday festivities at Epcot should continue along that merry course. It wasn't looking good.
After waiting almost two years for the ride to open, a few more hours wasn't going to faze anyone, and diehard thrillseekers held their place in line defiantly, despite cast members' attempts to disperse the crowd. At 7:11 p.m., the voice of a tower dispatch operator pierced the noisy gibberish of the crowd and a large cheer went up as a test vehicle surged past the assembly. The ride was powering up. Our chance had come. At 7:16 p.m., a large cheer went up as roll-up door number one began to rise. The first screaming riders streaked by at exactly 7:30 p.m. There's a giddy feeling of "what is going to happen to me?" when you first experience a Disney attraction, especially one that's so well-placed in the annals of Great Disney History. Though the feeling of many was that this trip would be a dud, I kept my hopes about midline, thinking that the pay-off would be so much more than just a courteous glimpse of magic. 
The queue was a mixed blessing. At first, it seemed overwhelming and full of too much information. The glimpses of vehicle testing compacted plenty of information along with an ubiquitous soundtrack and plenty of noisy, raspy door-closing, tire-running, drop-testing steel clangings and bangings. Our only respite came within the electromagnetic shielding room, where everything got really quiet and a good number of us didn't want to leave the calm shelter.
We were distinctly hoping that this wouldn't be the case. Our car crept up the spiral hill towards dispatch and we looked at ourselves in the video display unit. How personal. But seeing the hill climb in the distance seemed a distraction. What would this ride truly do to us? we wondered. Well, it launched up the hill climb with a brisk 20 m.p.h. gait and then gave us a bit of airtime as we crested the hill and then headed down the surface road testing, Belgium block, full of bumpy rectangles of concrete. The view allowed us glimpses of ABS brake-testing happening below. After speeding forward and losing control without the benefit of ABS, knocking over a few cones--we repeated this test again with ABS brakes and calmly sidled up to the video display showing the comparison of our tests. After seeing a replay of our vehicle slipping and sliding the first time, then managing the curve on a second try, it was into the environmental chambers to experience the Yin and Yang of automobile testing.
The hot came first--searing heat lamps generated temperatures that a piece of steak might endure while sitting on the line awaiting delivery to a table. Just as you're loosening your collar over that effect, a brittle cold chill descends upon the car as you pass through a chilly winter climate. This brings a new definition to the term "Las Vegas Cold" and it only gets worse as you slip forward through this area. The corrosive test smells just a little funny and features robots intent on spraying you with water. After leaving the environmental testing area, a series of hilly hairpin turns beckons. Accelerating to a very real 35 m.p.h., you switch back and forth within the confines of head-snapping turns until ducking into a dark tunnel and emerging into a dip that surprises you, but keeps you on your toes as well. 
The movement of the vehicle is nothing like the sensations of the Enhanced Motion Vehicles of "Indiana Jones" fame. They maintain their pitch and yaw, leaving the sensations to the forward movement throughout the track. Acceleration is surprising, and the soundtrack, consisting of motor noises and the amiable chattering of your control hosts, is enough to keep you pumped up during all aspects of the ride. I didn't know where to look as we sped into tunnel after tunnel. The signage along the roadside began to change to "turn your lights on" as we slipped into a forbidding portion of track that led into complete darkness. Out again, dancing about and zipping forward with great force. The track you've just traversed is laid out beneath you now as you ascend into the upper regions of the test, dipping into the darkness and then stripping through there until the blaring noise of an eighteen-wheeler truck horn brings you into full-screaming alert.
"Help, get me out of this awful contraption, this isn't funny anymore." After all of the videotaped testimonies to how terrible the notion of crash-testing is, it's only natural that most people would take serious offense to this sudden offering. Not that it's all that sudden, you've been clued into the possibility by the pre-show video. In fact, you're threatened with the thought of crashing all throughout the queue. It's one of the most brazen and non-subtle Disney approaches to manipulation in the line-up. If you're not fully indoctrinated by the time you board a car, then you haven't been paying attention. The car pauses, you view the wooden barrier with trepidation and then it's too late--the vehicle zips forward and the lights grow brighter--you're out of control and heading for the neck-snapping end to your journey. The car shoots forward, the lights burn your eyes, imminent smack-up is dangling in front of your face and why is it that this seems to delight you so? Because the Imagineers would never let you simply ram your face into a wooden barrier, would they? You begin to doubt this as you creep closer to the striped barricade.
Then, you're outside and plunging down a small grade. There's an awful lot of wide-open track out there and suddenly, it's all your own private backyard. With a whine and a not-so-subtle-shifting of gears, the vehicle shudders with a burst of energy and heads like a bat out of hell for the first right turn, a highly-banked crest. The speed increases and heads for a brilliant left turn, a quick rounder that finds you climbing the walls and speeding ever so quickly towards what is known as "Victory Lane". It's here that you feel ever-so-out-of-control, all that was so rational and acceptable to you earlier inside the structure now becomes one hollow cry of "what the hell?" as the car speeds forward at a frightening rate. Things are moving too fast, like the light poles and trees---they're all becoming a blur. 
Just when you don't think that any faster rate of speed can be attained, the car lunges forward and keeps the increase flowing. It's a credit to the sheer genius of the Imagineers that more items don't go flying out of the vehicles at this point. Although you're absolutely breaking the speed limit at this juncture, the aerodynamics of the test vehicles keeps occupants safely secure and loose articles are not nearly threatened (unless they're hats and glasses, which could easily fall prey to the high-intensity winds that kick up as you near the Victory Lap). It's an insane amount of speed that is gathered before you round out from the initial hairpin turns and settle into the final section of the Test Track. It's here that the familiar "out of control" feeling that many speed junkies get will blast into being. The car vibrates and shudders, the landscape blurs by--there isn't a faster or more invigorating thing that takes place within the Walt Disney World borders--they've tapped the vein of excitement right during this final stretch of road course.
"Oh my God, we're going to die!" I thought as we hit the banked section of curve and began our 318 foot scream around the old World Of Motion building. It seemed to past too fast, we were going way too fast to process all of the sights and sounds. Those of us who had appreciated the building when it was just Ward Kimball's gestures of whimsy were now wondering what the future held for an Epcot pavilion that was late in the coming. As the cars slowed down around the Mexico side of things and began to duck down into the Thermal Imaging Chamber, it was surmised among the carload of survivors that Disney had once again managed to mine gold from improbable sources.
My heart slowed down a tad. It had most certainly been a rush. More so than Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain or Tower Of Tower could ever deliver. It soared, it slipped, it roared and brought forth a consistent volley of screams. It was Epcot's new screammaker and it realized this.
After three years of waiting, how had the Test Track held up? Stupendously, if you're not expecting to get your socks completely knocked off. It's evident that the ride could've used a little more in the way of money influx, but that doesn't detract from the big bang delivered at ride's end. By far, it's the most exciting attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort, if only for the idea that you're not getting fed a faked-out thrill at the end of your experience. The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror gets by with a lot of psychological thrills and suggestions that aid in its reign over guests--but there is no fakery involved with GM Test Track. What you see and feel is ultimately what you get, and that's what makes the ride so worth it in the long run. Like a rollercoaster, there's a serious feeling of "what if?" that pervades the atmosphere. Knowing that so many moments have careened by with instances of car derailment and sudden, smoking-emergency stops make this ride all the more thrilling. The uncertaintys of vehicle testing are as much a part of this show as the varying speeds that are flashed at you as you negotiate the final radius curve. Every trip is different--it's just up to you whether or not this was all worth the wait. And if the ride had opened on time, would it be worth something to you then? 
It doesn't matter like that now. For as long as they can manage it--the ride will continue to soft-test until the projected March 1999 opening date. Whatever caveats and changes that come storming through will be documented here, since we've been here since the very beginning to bring you the latest news on Disney's latest and most controversial attraction. After a few days of ride testing, the word from this front is that GM Test Track delivers a good feeling, right-on experience that you need to feel with your body in order to fully understand and appreciate. Sure, it could've been done better--but how jaded are we gonna allow ourselves to get? For bringing a ride concept from design to construction and finally into the full-fledged production that it is today, the Imagineers have scored another huge volley. As our car crept back into the loading area and our computer monitors spelled out what we had just witnessed, it was clear that Epcot had seen the first signs of re-awakening. There was plenty more to come, as the attraction wasn't set to open officially until March of 1999. A lot of bugs to work out, a lot of trial runs and public guinea pig screenings. The latest triumph by Walt Disney Imagineers still has a few issues to smooth out--and until the final chapter, we're going to keep a close watch on what has easily become one of the most watched-over developments in Disney attraction history. Stay tuned.