A look at the new Test Track at Epcot in Disney World

The re-imagined Test Track in Epcot at Disney World will be a new kind of virtual//physical experience, Imagineer Melissa Jeselnick said during a live chat on the Disney Parks Blog yesterday.

Disney rendering of new Test Track sign.

From what Jeselnick said this sounds as if Disney has taken the concept of Sum of all Thrills from Innoventions — where you design your own thrill ride through an interactive touch screen and then get into a simulator to test the ride — and incorporated it into an E-ticket experience. But it also sounds as if it is still a redressing of the physical space.

Jaselnick walked everyone through the ride — which is scheduled to re-open Dec. 1 — from start to finish. The queue area has changed its focus from testing to design. This area will look at Chevrolet’s Automotive Design process. “We’ll have actual items, sketches, cars, models from GM that have never been seen before by anyone outside the Chevrolet family,” she wrote in the chat.

Next you come to the Design Studios where you will use an interactive kiosk to design your own vehicle based on the concepts of Capability, Efficiency, Responsiveness and Speed.

Then you get into the sim car (which is the physical ride itself). There are four “show scenes” in which there is interaction. “Capability is where your car is tested for rough road and weather conditions. Efficiency tests your car design’s environmental footprint. The Responsiveness phase tests maneuverability, and finally, Speed is tested,” she said in the chat.

Now, these show scenes sound a lot like the scenes used in the original Test Track, so how much is going to be “virtual” and how much “physical” is something we will have to see. However, there is definitely one physical area which will remain, she said: the high-speed loop.

Remember those cars you designed? Jaselnick said that as you go through each scene you will be able to see how your design stacks up against the sim car. And once the ride is over you’ll be able “to keep interacting with your ride vehicle,” she said.

The post-show area will show off the scores from everyone throughout the day and you’ll be able to “play with your design with multiple interactive elements,” she wrote. “The show room space will still be there with the Chevrolet cars, and we’ll have our own photo ops with different concept cars.”

Other things will remain the same: This will be a FastPass ride and there will still be a single-rider entrance.