I would rather be riding World of Motion, actually…I really loved the old classic Epcot pavilions (I was a teen in the early 80’s so I grew up with the classic rides and miss them all!)
Glad I was able to ride the test track before they changed to the simtrack, Its one of the most memorable rides Ive been on. Such a cool concept. I remember as a kid being amazed when we went through the hot and cold rooms.
Only been to Disney World twice, and luckily I got to experience both versions. Always wondered what the sim version was supposed to portray, if it was some push to market Tron or something just seemed like a silly change, but perhaps one that was needed when the original sponsorship stopped.
I’m so glad it’s not just me. So often it seems as though it’s impossible to reach the heads at the table approving these decisions. I don’t know why they changed it, but I hope they understand that the general sentiment is that the public doesn’t approve.
something interesting about the tires design is that goodyear actually had to change the rubber to break down in chunks, unlike a normal tire. Normal tires lose grip so slowly and finely that the ride would collect huge piles of rubber dust in the grooves of the track, which was a pain to clear every day. With it breaking down in chunks it could be easily swept out and recycled.
They were just racing slicks - rubber tire "marbles" are all over the track. And under, there is PLEANTY of dust from tires but much is from the collector arm shoes. It's a composite copper that includes an embedded lubricant similar to graphite.
this ride (1.0) sparked my interest in vehicle engineering, and now I've worked as an evaluation engineer driving cars on a proving ground. I love that my life has come full circle. :)
@Art of Engineering Wonderful work on this video! As a former Walt Disney World Imagineer and one of the original team members who helped build Test Track, I greatly appreciate you sharing our story with others. Most don’t realize what went into this attraction and the long years we put into this project. This was my Swan Song with Disney and I am very proud to have been a part of it! Keep up the great work! 🚗 💨
@@thenerdyarab7622 well honestly the project was just taking too long. We had already spent over three years working on it, in the meantime an entire park was built (Animal Kingdom) in less time it took to get one ride built!
Many years ago when I was riding one of the ride vehicles had a tire fail in the middle. We were stuck on the hill climb portion for almost an hour as they pushed each car in until they got the one with the flat tire off the track. Due to the track system, there was apparently no way to get the one that broke down in the middle off except to do that. The Disney workers were great and kept everyone updated. After about 20 minutes they offered to let people off, but we had waited so long in line we elected to stay on the ride.
@Dana McCall dont want the ride starting by fault plus they likely had to let out people behind the bad car so to move it and clear the ride or repair it
Probably not a flat tire (there's a way to move those on the ride using a special mode called a "ride stop" and manually controlling the movement of the vehicle from the rear deck, and even so, when there is low tire pressure or a flat, the vehicle goes into a special mode called an auto cyxle out. When am ACO occurs, the vehicle goes to jog speed.). If something major happened before the switch to vehicle storage, we could often keep the ride up as we could get a vehicle into there in about 15 minutes. Past that switch nearly always resulted in the ride going "101" as it was a long, long way back to the maintenance bay. Simply not a way to get enough vehicles out of the way. Broken axles, similar to a CV (constant velocity) axle in a car is used and were common. So frequent, especially on the hill climb, the ride profile was changed from that area. Lower torque and acceleration made for better ride up-times, something that was a struggle through I'd say 2006-2007. We made huge changes to several systems to improve that.
@@johnrpishotta Thanks for the insight. The tire appeared flat but I am sure you are right that there was more damage than that and I can't recall if the axle might have been broken.
@@Jushwa Just stop laughing your a off for a moment, and try to increase your IQ from 10% to like 20%; What happens when something goes wrong with a car?
As another 10 year old who was scared by test track when I first went, it was more of the ride queue that ramped up the fear then the actual ride itself. Just imagine videos of collision testing littered throughout the line up until you actually step into a Test Track vehicle. The modern ride queue now is very tame compared to the original with its numerous videos of cars getting smashed up, back to back lol
How on earth did get all this detailed information like on the control systems for the ride, cars and block systems? This is so amazing. What a treat. Especially liked seeing the behind the scenes maintenance bays. These large rides like this and Indiana Jones are amazing because it takes a large crew to maintain it all.
I rode test track on a band trip in high school when it was brand new. It was probably during that "soft launch," and I think we waited about 3 hours. It was completely worth it!
I also was there on a high school band trip when it was brand new. Good chance we were there at the same time. haha. There was a 4 hour wait when we were there.
How does this channel not have more followers. Quality in-depth analysis and break down of these rides, done in an entertaining way! Always wanted to be an “imagineer” as a kid growing out but felt like engineering was out my scope. But this makes it super interesting and approachable. Would’ve been great to have these videos then!
Honestly my favorite part about this is the styrofoam doors. I always wondered what the fail safe was if those didn’t open. I love that with how technologically advanced this ride is, something as simple as styrofoam answered my question lmao
It's a fast acting servo drive that operates a belt that opens the doors. There's only been a couple of times that a vehicle went through the doors.... Ride stops, or course, on any malfunction.
I loved test track, as a kid I had wanted to be a car designer, so using the car designer in test track was like a dream come true for me. I wish there was a way of using the car designer outside of the ride as an app or something.
On our last trip there one of the screens had the app in windowed mode. I believe it was running Unreal Or Unity. Don't know how to get a hold of it, but it was fun to get a little BTS of the software for that car creator app
You gotta love just how much is put into making rides safe. I definitely loved Test Track, especially the gift shop. I was and still am a huge car nerd.
I've been watching a lot of Fascinating Horror's videos the last week, it makes me happy to take a break and watch a video about an attraction where safety is and always was the highest priority.
This just popped up as a suggested video for me, and what a treat it was. Really detailed and fascinating to understand the design process and decisions. I’m most surprised at how few views this has got, considering the quality.
Little known but very awesome fun fact about this ride is that GM employees can go to a special lounge on one of the upper floors that overlooks the loop of track that goes around the building. They have snacks and drinks there and you can spend as long as you want designing your car versus the 90 seconds or so you get in the regular line area. You can sit there and watch the cars go around the building from above and relax in some much needed AC depending on the day you go. Source: My mom worked at GM (now retired) last time we went.
When I went in 2010 I got on this and the ride shut down midway through our ride cycle. My friends who were in the vehicle in front of us has just gotten to the high speed portion of the ride. Well, they all had a mild heart attack because the ride had just started to accelerate towards the wall right when the ride came to a halt. Lmao
I miss the original test track 😢 These videos are great though! Love taking a walk down memory lane while learning something about how the rides work. Thanks for the video!
I'm from UK. I went on Test Track in 2003 when I was 12, not knowing what I was going on lol That was the great thing before the RUclips days. There wasn't really anything that could spoil the surprise, whereas now videos are uploaded instantly. Test Track1 was Disney imagineering at its finest.
Great video, we just returned from EPCOT, unfortunately did not get a chance to ride Test Track this time, but one of our favorite rides! 2006-ish, our favorite story is when my 5 year old daughter rode for the first time, was so excited and wanted to ride again, a Cast Member made her day and our trip by giving us a paper fast pass to go on again!
One of the best parts of working in World Showcase east was that I sometimes had to use the Test Track gate to get onstage and on your way to that gate is the maintenance bay (seen at 4:31) for the cars. It was always a joy just stopping to take a quick peak in if the doors were open.
Plenty of people would walk by and stop in for a chat. While many maintenance guys would be annoyed, I always enjoyed taking to other cast members who were curious on how things worked. Something I started way back with Body Wars first opened. I would sit down by one of the ride bays where people would come by for the cast preview and answer questions and such. That was what seems like a lifetime ago now.
Wife was a cast member when Test Track was coming on line . The cars flew off the two story high trac into the parking lot. After it was fixed, we (being employee) were the first to ride it before paying guests were allowed. Hinkey feeling!
Thank you for all the detail in thie video. It gives me some real insight into the operational engineering and I had some good takeaways thoughts between orchestration systems and self-guiding independent systems.
World of Motion was awesome! At its opening, it was the largest audio animatronic cast put together by Disney. There was a motorcycle cop hiding behind a billboard that always made me laugh.
Here's another tidbit about the track and ride system. Broken down vehicles were frequently pushed using a special, battery powered unit that had a wheel that was lowered into the slot. A special air break release valve was used so that the vehicle could stop. Broken down on the hill climb? There's a winch and cable system under the track that would be used to pull the vehicle to the top and then it would get pushed into vehicle storage, often times by hand. Just had to reduce the air pressure on the bogies a bit to help release the pressure on the actual track. Of all the rides I worked on (as in engineering and maintenance), Test Track is #2 only to the Monorails.
Very good review. You are quite accurate in what they were going for, and the shortcomings of the technology used to actually implement the changes made. I rode the first version of Test Track around 2000 and the latest version in 2018. While the old version fairly accurately represented the test track of GM, the new version however as an electronic design studio fails to impact the cars in any manner - it is all a computer program determining how your design will do and you cannot experience it. It is just a bunch of binary code that gives you your "results" at the end of the ride.
I used to think the sliding doors to the outside section would just break a plastic pin and swing open if a car hit them. Having them made out of styrofoam-like material makes much more sense - the impact is far less dangerous than with any form of metal. I would also imagine making them out of a soft material means, if any part of them were to fall on riders during an impact, it wouldn't be nearly as dangerous. Granted, hitting the wall would be pretty terrifying for the riders in any case... but still.
I always loved this ride because the GM proving grounds are up the road from me. Always felt special knowing the ride was based off something in my home town. Then they TRON-ified it and it's terrible.
I haven't been since 2019 but pretty much every time I go and its a lot this ride still breaks down a ton compared to any other ride in the park. I think its still down more than its up.
damn. it didn't break down when I was on it, but we stopped for maybe...felt like 20 min, perhaps less. it was right before the outside part and I'm Sqweemish when it comes to bigger rides or anything with even small hills etc. so I was nervous 🙃 first time I did it it scared me slightly but it's so quick. I ended up riding it about 9 times. LOVE it.
Before being remodeled, this was the most immersive themed ride I’ve ever ridden and the old one probably remains my most favorite theme park attraction- I would consider test track 1.0 as a core memory of mine
Yes, it was. Many physical effects over the current videos that are used. Most would not remember that "crashing car" just before the run-out of the building for the high speed portion of the ride. It was a sled system that would move a car forward, "hit" a wall and then look all dented up. Just after the ride vehicle passed, it would be pulled back and the panels would reset for the next one. It was a maintenance headache - but I always did all that I could to keep it going. It tied so closely into the show of the ride, all the way back to the "briefing room" back at the preshow. It eventually became static (no movement) and a misting smoke effect added. Another detail on the original ride that was only observable from the front row of the car - two traffic cones in the non-abs test would be across the track that appeared to sweep to the left, but the car would juke to the right. Right as the vehicle would approach, the cones would quickly move down for the car to pass over. The vehicle did not hit them. It was timed with the wayside RCC (ride control computer). One of few effects that the RCC handled over the show control computer. The crash doors being the other. This was due to those effects being a part of what is called the ride envelope - the track or on the track where a vehicle could hit the device.
At 12:37 you say it uses antennas/transceivers to communicate between the cars and track. I wonder what frequency/band these are running at. Does this mean someone could theoretically slip a signal jammer somewhere on the ride and render all the cars temporarily useless until it’s disabled? Might be difficult to diagnose too as it would appear to be a hardware failure to the engineers
I suspect that you could probably interfere with the ride's communication system using a signal jammer, but I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you want a lifetime ban from the park 😅 The ride covers a wide area, so I don't think you could take the whole system out at once, and that would help to pinpoint the location of the device. Anywhere the public can access is also monitored with cameras, so it's unlikely that you would be able to place such a device without being noticed. Most modern Disney rides utilize rf communication in some way, so I would imagine that the engineers have considered this problem and have put countermeasures in place to prevent tampering.
@@howardm2642 Yeah, it's not clear from this video. There are two controls in this video. One is connected along the bus bar (as you say) and controls the distance between vehicles. The other is connected wirelessly to the central control. 12:40 shows the wireless connection via transceivers on the left. And shows the bus controls on the right. What's nice about this system is the vehicle itself can detect a problem and shut down, or determine if it can go into the next zone. Cool system. cool video.
I’ve always had questions like this since I was young and I think it fuels engineering curiosity. Basically “how could I break this?” allows you to think of ways to prevent it in the future and is evident that such a mindset was used when designing this in the first place (albeit from a “what if this aspect broke” perspective). If I were to try to sabotage this ride though, and minimise the risk of detection, it would be via a time delayed jammer. It’s not clear from the video whether the diagrams of space underneath are to scale, but if you were able to drop a self powered device down there that were small enough not to physically jam the device (or be spotted doing so) it would then need to be powerful enough to cause issues from a reasonable range; the first thing the maintenance team might do once they’ve figured out it’s RF related is to check the immediate area where the vehicle stops, and they might not consider the fact of where it starts working again and centring in on the devices possible location. Anyway, just theorising, please don’t do this, I don’t want to be hunted down by an evil Mickey Mouse.
Test Track is one of my favorite attractions at EPCOT. I try to ride it every chance I get. This documentary was excellent and very well presented and with great graphics. I'm subscribed.
Hopefully in a future retrofit, Disney will implement ways to reclaim the electricity generated by regenerative braking. If not batteries in the car, then perhaps another set of bus bars that are send the car's generated power back for use. Disney could store that power in battery banks in the main structure to supplement their mains power.
Alternatively, if they invest in renewable energy sources then there's less need to preserve that small amount of energy. Properly harnessing solar, tide and wind power opens up such interesting changes in energy use and storage dynamics.
Disney already powers itself on your trash and other waste in the parks. And they have some huge solar arrays they've been putting on over the past couple years too.
@@tankerkiller125 The solar arrays make me mad because they cut down trees to build them. They could have spent a little more money and covered all of the parking lots with solar arrays and shaded cars at the same time.
Sorry to say, that's not really a possibility due to the way that power is created and stored. There would simply be too much loss to efficiently move the power to a wayside storage area. Then there's the maintenance... It's just not that much in the grand scheme of things. For these vehicles, that power was dissipated as heat through a special resistor pack.
As a kid Crash Dummies were my favorite toys. so you can only imagine how excited i was when as a kid i discovered this test track ride! such a shame they had to get rid of the test dummy concept
When I was a kid, I remember always getting scared the crap out of me by that semi truck, nowadays as I grew up, I always laughed during that part, knowing my younger siblings would always get scared from that part.
I remember riding both versions of Test Track! The first one on my first Disney trip when I was nine wasn’t that impressive to me, especially since I was dragged into riding it with my family. But when I returned to Disney World on my high school field trip, Mom and I agreed to ride it again for nostalgia… only to find out they refurbished the ride, so it won’t be exactly the same as before. Despite that, my mind was still blown by the new features and computer simulation theme, and the designing your “custom car” and having them “compete” with others’ by points was incredible! I still remember when we were riding the outdoor part of the tracks, and I felt the wind and the joy of the experience. All of it was so magical! My only regret was not really seeing it on my first ride on my first trip.
13:43 The excess energy isn't dissipated with regenerative braking. It is fed back to the ride "grid" through the AC bus bars and used by other vehicles that are accelerating and/or traveling at high speed.
Working there was a pain in the ass, and Test Track "2.0" sucks, but I still loved admiring the ride control systems. Opening procedures were my favorite and a little detail I loved was when control and monitor would come on during power up Wayside would bring up a message saying "I AM CONTROL, I AM MONITOR" and it reminded me of something out of a Terminator movie.
I was listening to Podcast: The Ride episode about Test Track a while ago and was curious about how it actually worked, thanks so much for this video!!
Great video! You should do one on the new ride at disneys hollywood studio for the mickey runaway railroad. I was seriously blown away at how crazy that ride was when I was there last month.
One thing you forgot to mention is the four wheel steering on the cars. Some production vehicle features this as an option. But for test track it takes it to the extreme. Thats how the cars get around the tight corners very quickly (edit unless you did unless I wasn't paying atention)
Quite honestly, the 4 load bearing tires (the rubber ones that you see), have zero effect on steering the vehicle. They are all 4 independent. Another lesser known fact, these vehicles cannot go backwards, even for short distances. There is a specific type of shock absorber called a damper in place that dampens oscillations when traveling at speed. There are 8 wheels in the bogie assemblies that actually are responsible for guiding along the track. While I appreciate the analogy, these vehicles could never be driven on a street without very major mechanical rework. Just not possible.
@@johnrpishotta While I agree they're not street-legal, I noticed all four wheels turning even at 3:30, which I thought was interesting for immersion, visual appeal, and maybe even ride quality. Do you think that's just an illusion or could some hydraulic movement be involved, even though it doesn't directly affect the steering? It makes sense considering real cars rely on visible wheels turning, and it might even prevent unnecessary wear and tear on the tires and track surface. Many of those corners are quite tight, and with vehicles traveling thousands of miles a year, not having the wheels turn could easily lead to screeching noises and potentially disturbing guests due to the sliding across the floor. While I realize some subtle screch sound still occurs, the simulated steering likely minimizes it and reduces wear and tear. In turn (no pun intended!), this system could actually be saving both components!
@@rocketbunny2677- each of the 4 wheels are independent and do move when going through a turn- tires are already chewed up by the track surface, which is coated with the same high grip, anti slip coating on aircraft carriers - they would be obliterayed if they did not move through a turn. They just don't steer the vehicle, per se - they just follow along. That's done by the bogeys below the deck where the actual track is. Nothing connected to them except the damper. And as for any tire chirp noise, anything you hear is part of the wayside (off-board) audio track. The only place you could hear tire chirp is in maintenance bay. After the roll down door that leads into the bay, the deck is not coated with the anti-slip material.
I confess to missing the original World of Motion ride as that was fun in a different way. That being said, I do recognize that it wasn't getting much traffic, so something more popular was needed. While the line in the original Test Track was noisy and thumpy to be almost a pain (the sound proof room was a relief), the ride itself made a lot more sense than the current Simtrack concept. I especially liked when the director was giving commands to the controller on which tests to include and ended with "pick one"...so she added the Crash Test 😊).
Here's a "fun fact" about Mission: Space - each ride bay (4 of them) have 10 capsules that are mounted on large arms that extend from a central hub. There is not one, single metal weld that is a part of the arm support structure. Everything is assembled with a special type of rivet. Same for the T-bar control arms (there are two) that connect the body of the Test Track vehicle to the bogie assemblies. No welds - all rivets. Why you ask? Welds can crack and break, rivets not so much.
I visited Epcot 2.0. World of Motion had long since been gone. I rode the 1st version of Test Track either 2002-03. The last time I rode it was 2008. I'm single, so single rider line in Nov. Just a 10-15 min wait! LOL!
Appreciate your graphics showing the business side of the attraction! Still hoping that one day I'll get to actually see a picture of what it looks like IRL.
Does the ride have any mechanism for steering the cars? If not wouldn't the cars be essentially skidding through every corner quickly wearing down the tires? Or do the banked turns somehow mitigate this?
The tire wear and tear is huge anyways, just have a look into the planters just underneath the track at the exit of the store. You'll see lots of small rubber specks, sometimes you can also see some on the ground but those are usually quickly swept up by a custodial cast member. It's bits of the rubber tires which fly off during the high speed portion of the ride. I always wondered how often they need to replace the tires on those ride vehicles. My guess is they are full rubber tires, so they will hold quite a while longer than regular car tires would. As for the skidding, in the video you can see that both front and rear axle are connected to the guide rail below the track, so the tires always follow the direction of the tracks.
My question is “ is there any system in place that activates when a car goes offline I.E something like a mux gate where the low select signal just takes what’s on the go rail and transfers it to the no go (assuming that the go signal can also be used as a stop signal on the other rail) while high select is how it normally deals with the read write on that bar
Excellent video. Superb details. Kudos. One think I don't understand is how the normal acceleration and braking is programmed. Is each vehicle following a predefined speed curve for the whole track and using both the encoder wheel and the radio communication to know where it is?
11:15 hey i heard about something like this from a certain dude from New Jersey who used to work at this wooden coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure....
Loved going on this track as a child, I barely remember it, but always loved going 60 on the outside track when i was like.. maybe under 6 years old? I got really confused seeing all the virtual stuff, until it was said it went through an update in 2012. Its cool to see it like that though.
Give this comment a like if you'd rather be riding Test Track right now! 🏁
Hold on, no no wait. Let me finish my dinner first. Ah shit.
First the video, then Test Track. These videos make the ride more fun!
YES. ugh I miss it!
I would rather be riding World of Motion, actually…I really loved the old classic Epcot pavilions (I was a teen in the early 80’s so I grew up with the classic rides and miss them all!)
For me it would be Radiator Springs Racers at California Adventure!
Glad I was able to ride the test track before they changed to the simtrack, Its one of the most memorable rides Ive been on. Such a cool concept. I remember as a kid being amazed when we went through the hot and cold rooms.
Only been to Disney World twice, and luckily I got to experience both versions. Always wondered what the sim version was supposed to portray, if it was some push to market Tron or something just seemed like a silly change, but perhaps one that was needed when the original sponsorship stopped.
me too! I loved the crash dummies toys as a kid too
I've also had the pleasure of experiencing both versions
I’m so glad it’s not just me. So often it seems as though it’s impossible to reach the heads at the table approving these decisions. I don’t know why they changed it, but I hope they understand that the general sentiment is that the public doesn’t approve.
I've ridden both and I love the newer version much better.
something interesting about the tires design is that goodyear actually had to change the rubber to break down in chunks, unlike a normal tire. Normal tires lose grip so slowly and finely that the ride would collect huge piles of rubber dust in the grooves of the track, which was a pain to clear every day. With it breaking down in chunks it could be easily swept out and recycled.
They were just racing slicks - rubber tire "marbles" are all over the track. And under, there is PLEANTY of dust from tires but much is from the collector arm shoes. It's a composite copper that includes an embedded lubricant similar to graphite.
this ride (1.0) sparked my interest in vehicle engineering, and now I've worked as an evaluation engineer driving cars on a proving ground. I love that my life has come full circle. :)
💪💪💪
Awesome
Just the general ride imaginearing of all the rides interested me
Same! I work in the early vehicle design side now. Fun going back and seeing the original ride recordings
@Art of Engineering Wonderful work on this video! As a former Walt Disney World Imagineer and one of the original team members who helped build Test Track, I greatly appreciate you sharing our story with others. Most don’t realize what went into this attraction and the long years we put into this project. This was my Swan Song with Disney and I am very proud to have been a part of it!
Keep up the great work! 🚗 💨
Hi! If you don't mind me asking, what part of Test Track did you work on?
Why did you leave?
@@katt58 I worked on set design and the test and adjust team
@@thenerdyarab7622 well honestly the project was just taking too long. We had already spent over three years working on it, in the meantime an entire park was built (Animal Kingdom) in less time it took to get one ride built!
Can I have your autograph 😭😭
Nothing beats the OG Test Track. The storyline made way more sense, this new Simtrack concept is just meh
Agreed, OG test track was the best
Big Facts!! They should have enclosed the outside portion if they wanted to do the sim track concept
I like tron track better.
👏👏👏
This beats the OG test track for me, it’s in future world so the future theme fits more than the industrial theme
Many years ago when I was riding one of the ride vehicles had a tire fail in the middle. We were stuck on the hill climb portion for almost an hour as they pushed each car in until they got the one with the flat tire off the track. Due to the track system, there was apparently no way to get the one that broke down in the middle off except to do that. The Disney workers were great and kept everyone updated. After about 20 minutes they offered to let people off, but we had waited so long in line we elected to stay on the ride.
Damn
20m minutes? We’re they afraid people would fall to their death? SMH
@Dana McCall dont want the ride starting by fault plus they likely had to let out people behind the bad car so to move it and clear the ride or repair it
Probably not a flat tire (there's a way to move those on the ride using a special mode called a "ride stop" and manually controlling the movement of the vehicle from the rear deck, and even so, when there is low tire pressure or a flat, the vehicle goes into a special mode called an auto cyxle out. When am ACO occurs, the vehicle goes to jog speed.). If something major happened before the switch to vehicle storage, we could often keep the ride up as we could get a vehicle into there in about 15 minutes. Past that switch nearly always resulted in the ride going "101" as it was a long, long way back to the maintenance bay. Simply not a way to get enough vehicles out of the way.
Broken axles, similar to a CV (constant velocity) axle in a car is used and were common. So frequent, especially on the hill climb, the ride profile was changed from that area. Lower torque and acceleration made for better ride up-times, something that was a struggle through I'd say 2006-2007. We made huge changes to several systems to improve that.
@@johnrpishotta Thanks for the insight. The tire appeared flat but I am sure you are right that there was more damage than that and I can't recall if the axle might have been broken.
I remember riding the original test track as a 10 year old and having my mind blown
It made me scared af
@@brodygoding5664 lmao what were you afraid of it’s a car
@@Jushwa Just stop laughing your a off for a moment, and try to increase your IQ from 10% to like 20%; What happens when something goes wrong with a car?
As another 10 year old who was scared by test track when I first went, it was more of the ride queue that ramped up the fear then the actual ride itself. Just imagine videos of collision testing littered throughout the line up until you actually step into a Test Track vehicle. The modern ride queue now is very tame compared to the original with its numerous videos of cars getting smashed up, back to back lol
I rode Test Track at 12 and absolutely loved it.
Miss your videos!!. I would love to see you do a video of how rise of the resistance works!
How on earth did get all this detailed information like on the control systems for the ride, cars and block systems? This is so amazing. What a treat. Especially liked seeing the behind the scenes maintenance bays. These large rides like this and Indiana Jones are amazing because it takes a large crew to maintain it all.
I rode test track on a band trip in high school when it was brand new. It was probably during that "soft launch," and I think we waited about 3 hours. It was completely worth it!
I also was there on a high school band trip when it was brand new. Good chance we were there at the same time. haha. There was a 4 hour wait when we were there.
I rode it last year on a band trip...
WOW! I never knew how amazing this ride is. I just thought it was a powered coaster. I have a whole new appreciation for it now.
Glad I got to ride this when it was still “Test Track”. By far one of the funnest rides i’ve ever been on.
World of Motion: They shut down my omnimover because racing is hip and cool
Haunted Mansion: *...that's rough, buddy*
Good to see you again supreme leader!
How does this channel not have more followers. Quality in-depth analysis and break down of these rides, done in an entertaining way! Always wanted to be an “imagineer” as a kid growing out but felt like engineering was out my scope. But this makes it super interesting and approachable. Would’ve been great to have these videos then!
Honestly my favorite part about this is the styrofoam doors. I always wondered what the fail safe was if those didn’t open. I love that with how technologically advanced this ride is, something as simple as styrofoam answered my question lmao
It's a fast acting servo drive that operates a belt that opens the doors. There's only been a couple of times that a vehicle went through the doors.... Ride stops, or course, on any malfunction.
I loved test track, as a kid I had wanted to be a car designer, so using the car designer in test track was like a dream come true for me. I wish there was a way of using the car designer outside of the ride as an app or something.
On our last trip there one of the screens had the app in windowed mode. I believe it was running Unreal Or Unity. Don't know how to get a hold of it, but it was fun to get a little BTS of the software for that car creator app
You gotta love just how much is put into making rides safe. I definitely loved Test Track, especially the gift shop. I was and still am a huge car nerd.
I've been watching a lot of Fascinating Horror's videos the last week, it makes me happy to take a break and watch a video about an attraction where safety is and always was the highest priority.
What's your favorite horror video?
@@bunnymanmoe8819 The Who concert, kills me to know something like that happens every year all over the US.
This just popped up as a suggested video for me, and what a treat it was. Really detailed and fascinating to understand the design process and decisions. I’m most surprised at how few views this has got, considering the quality.
Little known but very awesome fun fact about this ride is that GM employees can go to a special lounge on one of the upper floors that overlooks the loop of track that goes around the building. They have snacks and drinks there and you can spend as long as you want designing your car versus the 90 seconds or so you get in the regular line area. You can sit there and watch the cars go around the building from above and relax in some much needed AC depending on the day you go.
Source: My mom worked at GM (now retired) last time we went.
When I went in 2010 I got on this and the ride shut down midway through our ride cycle. My friends who were in the vehicle in front of us has just gotten to the high speed portion of the ride. Well, they all had a mild heart attack because the ride had just started to accelerate towards the wall right when the ride came to a halt. Lmao
jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez
This channel deserves more recognition!
I miss the original test track 😢 These videos are great though! Love taking a walk down memory lane while learning something about how the rides work. Thanks for the video!
Fact:
The OG Test Track music belongs in a museum
I didn't know WM had a museum... 😜
This channel is top notch.
I'm from UK.
I went on Test Track in 2003 when I was 12, not knowing what I was going on lol
That was the great thing before the RUclips days. There wasn't really anything that could spoil the surprise, whereas now videos are uploaded instantly. Test Track1 was Disney imagineering at its finest.
Great video, we just returned from EPCOT, unfortunately did not get a chance to ride Test Track this time, but one of our favorite rides! 2006-ish, our favorite story is when my 5 year old daughter rode for the first time, was so excited and wanted to ride again, a Cast Member made her day and our trip by giving us a paper fast pass to go on again!
I already know you're gonna do a great job man. 😃
Ayy thank you! 😅
One of the best parts of working in World Showcase east was that I sometimes had to use the Test Track gate to get onstage and on your way to that gate is the maintenance bay (seen at 4:31) for the cars. It was always a joy just stopping to take a quick peak in if the doors were open.
Plenty of people would walk by and stop in for a chat. While many maintenance guys would be annoyed, I always enjoyed taking to other cast members who were curious on how things worked. Something I started way back with Body Wars first opened. I would sit down by one of the ride bays where people would come by for the cast preview and answer questions and such. That was what seems like a lifetime ago now.
Wife was a cast member when Test Track was coming on line . The cars flew off the two story high trac into the parking lot. After it was fixed, we (being employee) were the first to ride it before paying guests were allowed.
Hinkey feeling!
8:15 Thanks for the hp conversion, super helpful
Please come back and make these amazing videos!
Sick editing. Nice to see you back.
Thank you for all the detail in thie video. It gives me some real insight into the operational engineering and I had some good takeaways thoughts between orchestration systems and self-guiding independent systems.
My grandfather helped design World
Of motion :) added I got to work on the newer version of Test Track as a cast member
World of Motion was awesome! At its opening, it was the largest audio animatronic cast put together by Disney. There was a motorcycle cop hiding behind a billboard that always made me laugh.
Here's another tidbit about the track and ride system. Broken down vehicles were frequently pushed using a special, battery powered unit that had a wheel that was lowered into the slot. A special air break release valve was used so that the vehicle could stop. Broken down on the hill climb? There's a winch and cable system under the track that would be used to pull the vehicle to the top and then it would get pushed into vehicle storage, often times by hand. Just had to reduce the air pressure on the bogies a bit to help release the pressure on the actual track. Of all the rides I worked on (as in engineering and maintenance), Test Track is #2 only to the Monorails.
Very good review. You are quite accurate in what they were going for, and the shortcomings of the technology used to actually implement the changes made. I rode the first version of Test Track around 2000 and the latest version in 2018. While the old version fairly accurately represented the test track of GM, the new version however as an electronic design studio fails to impact the cars in any manner - it is all a computer program determining how your design will do and you cannot experience it. It is just a bunch of binary code that gives you your "results" at the end of the ride.
What a great, technically complete video. Excellent work!
I used to think the sliding doors to the outside section would just break a plastic pin and swing open if a car hit them. Having them made out of styrofoam-like material makes much more sense - the impact is far less dangerous than with any form of metal. I would also imagine making them out of a soft material means, if any part of them were to fall on riders during an impact, it wouldn't be nearly as dangerous.
Granted, hitting the wall would be pretty terrifying for the riders in any case... but still.
Great video! Thanks for explaining everything so thoroughly. 😀
Finally a new video from AoE!
I actually quite like the new overlay. It feels futuristic and fits with Epcot's overall theme of future world. I also like theming and musical score
I always loved this ride because the GM proving grounds are up the road from me. Always felt special knowing the ride was based off something in my home town. Then they TRON-ified it and it's terrible.
near kensington huh? I actually drove in there once!
I haven't been since 2019 but pretty much every time I go and its a lot this ride still breaks down a ton compared to any other ride in the park. I think its still down more than its up.
damn. it didn't break down when I was on it, but we stopped for maybe...felt like 20 min, perhaps less. it was right before the outside part and I'm Sqweemish when it comes to bigger rides or anything with even small hills etc. so I was nervous 🙃 first time I did it it scared me slightly but it's so quick. I ended up riding it about 9 times. LOVE it.
Yea it's extremely complex and extremely unreliable. That tends to be a trend
No lies detected
Before being remodeled, this was the most immersive themed ride I’ve ever ridden and the old one probably remains my most favorite theme park attraction- I would consider test track 1.0 as a core memory of mine
Yes, it was. Many physical effects over the current videos that are used. Most would not remember that "crashing car" just before the run-out of the building for the high speed portion of the ride. It was a sled system that would move a car forward, "hit" a wall and then look all dented up. Just after the ride vehicle passed, it would be pulled back and the panels would reset for the next one. It was a maintenance headache - but I always did all that I could to keep it going. It tied so closely into the show of the ride, all the way back to the "briefing room" back at the preshow. It eventually became static (no movement) and a misting smoke effect added.
Another detail on the original ride that was only observable from the front row of the car - two traffic cones in the non-abs test would be across the track that appeared to sweep to the left, but the car would juke to the right. Right as the vehicle would approach, the cones would quickly move down for the car to pass over. The vehicle did not hit them. It was timed with the wayside RCC (ride control computer). One of few effects that the RCC handled over the show control computer. The crash doors being the other. This was due to those effects being a part of what is called the ride envelope - the track or on the track where a vehicle could hit the device.
At 12:37 you say it uses antennas/transceivers to communicate between the cars and track. I wonder what frequency/band these are running at. Does this mean someone could theoretically slip a signal jammer somewhere on the ride and render all the cars temporarily useless until it’s disabled? Might be difficult to diagnose too as it would appear to be a hardware failure to the engineers
I suspect that you could probably interfere with the ride's communication system using a signal jammer, but I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you want a lifetime ban from the park 😅
The ride covers a wide area, so I don't think you could take the whole system out at once, and that would help to pinpoint the location of the device. Anywhere the public can access is also monitored with cameras, so it's unlikely that you would be able to place such a device without being noticed.
Most modern Disney rides utilize rf communication in some way, so I would imagine that the engineers have considered this problem and have put countermeasures in place to prevent tampering.
If jamming occurred, you would get packet loss. If you get packet loss, the vehicle will apply the brakes. Just a guess.
From what I understand it is not a wireless system. The signal is transmitted through the contacts that are on the side opposite the power.
@@howardm2642 Yeah, it's not clear from this video. There are two controls in this video. One is connected along the bus bar (as you say) and controls the distance between vehicles. The other is connected wirelessly to the central control. 12:40 shows the wireless connection via transceivers on the left. And shows the bus controls on the right.
What's nice about this system is the vehicle itself can detect a problem and shut down, or determine if it can go into the next zone.
Cool system. cool video.
I’ve always had questions like this since I was young and I think it fuels engineering curiosity. Basically “how could I break this?” allows you to think of ways to prevent it in the future and is evident that such a mindset was used when designing this in the first place (albeit from a “what if this aspect broke” perspective).
If I were to try to sabotage this ride though, and minimise the risk of detection, it would be via a time delayed jammer. It’s not clear from the video whether the diagrams of space underneath are to scale, but if you were able to drop a self powered device down there that were small enough not to physically jam the device (or be spotted doing so) it would then need to be powerful enough to cause issues from a reasonable range; the first thing the maintenance team might do once they’ve figured out it’s RF related is to check the immediate area where the vehicle stops, and they might not consider the fact of where it starts working again and centring in on the devices possible location.
Anyway, just theorising, please don’t do this, I don’t want to be hunted down by an evil Mickey Mouse.
So glad to see a new video from you
Thanks for sharing. I've always wondered how it worked under it all. Amazed even more on it's operation and what it does!!!
Test Track is one of my favorite attractions at EPCOT.
I try to ride it every chance I get.
This documentary was excellent and very well presented and with great graphics. I'm subscribed.
Hopefully in a future retrofit, Disney will implement ways to reclaim the electricity generated by regenerative braking. If not batteries in the car, then perhaps another set of bus bars that are send the car's generated power back for use. Disney could store that power in battery banks in the main structure to supplement their mains power.
Alternatively, if they invest in renewable energy sources then there's less need to preserve that small amount of energy. Properly harnessing solar, tide and wind power opens up such interesting changes in energy use and storage dynamics.
Disney already powers itself on your trash and other waste in the parks. And they have some huge solar arrays they've been putting on over the past couple years too.
@@tankerkiller125 The solar arrays make me mad because they cut down trees to build them. They could have spent a little more money and covered all of the parking lots with solar arrays and shaded cars at the same time.
Sorry to say, that's not really a possibility due to the way that power is created and stored. There would simply be too much loss to efficiently move the power to a wayside storage area. Then there's the maintenance... It's just not that much in the grand scheme of things. For these vehicles, that power was dissipated as heat through a special resistor pack.
32800 duck power! That's a lot of power!
immediately when seeing that, I paused the video to read the comments
incredibly useful comparisons for someone not used to the imperial units
@@julioan94 Exactly! And we should measure distance in smoots.
As a kid Crash Dummies were my favorite toys. so you can only imagine how excited i was when as a kid i discovered this test track ride! such a shame they had to get rid of the test dummy concept
It is but the sim has really underrated graphics/props, like the simulated truck
I should start charging a dollar per footstep
Oh no, Bob 😭
I heard it went up to $10 this month 😉👍
When I was a kid, I remember always getting scared the crap out of me by that semi truck, nowadays as I grew up, I always laughed during that part, knowing my younger siblings would always get scared from that part.
I remember riding both versions of Test Track! The first one on my first Disney trip when I was nine wasn’t that impressive to me, especially since I was dragged into riding it with my family. But when I returned to Disney World on my high school field trip, Mom and I agreed to ride it again for nostalgia… only to find out they refurbished the ride, so it won’t be exactly the same as before. Despite that, my mind was still blown by the new features and computer simulation theme, and the designing your “custom car” and having them “compete” with others’ by points was incredible! I still remember when we were riding the outdoor part of the tracks, and I felt the wind and the joy of the experience. All of it was so magical! My only regret was not really seeing it on my first ride on my first trip.
none of the other ride engineering explanation youtube channels have graphics like yours, they make everything much clearer, thank you!
He does graphics, I do models :)
13:43 The excess energy isn't dissipated with regenerative braking. It is fed back to the ride "grid" through the AC bus bars and used by other vehicles that are accelerating and/or traveling at high speed.
Great job man! Your video should be part of the attraction line
Working there was a pain in the ass, and Test Track "2.0" sucks, but I still loved admiring the ride control systems. Opening procedures were my favorite and a little detail I loved was when control and monitor would come on during power up Wayside would bring up a message saying "I AM CONTROL, I AM MONITOR" and it reminded me of something out of a Terminator movie.
I appreciate the "Duck Power" figures, makes it easy to understand ;)
12:09 Testtrack has RMC technology confirmed
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice that 😂
Dude this was a neat vid !
I was listening to Podcast: The Ride episode about Test Track a while ago and was curious about how it actually worked, thanks so much for this video!!
So Awesome! Thanks for posting! 😃
Great video! You should do one on the new ride at disneys hollywood studio for the mickey runaway railroad. I was seriously blown away at how crazy that ride was when I was there last month.
One thing you forgot to mention is the four wheel steering on the cars. Some production vehicle features this as an option. But for test track it takes it to the extreme. Thats how the cars get around the tight corners very quickly (edit unless you did unless I wasn't paying atention)
Not mentioned, but clearly shown in the footage a couple of times.
Quite honestly, the 4 load bearing tires (the rubber ones that you see), have zero effect on steering the vehicle. They are all 4 independent. Another lesser known fact, these vehicles cannot go backwards, even for short distances. There is a specific type of shock absorber called a damper in place that dampens oscillations when traveling at speed. There are 8 wheels in the bogie assemblies that actually are responsible for guiding along the track. While I appreciate the analogy, these vehicles could never be driven on a street without very major mechanical rework. Just not possible.
@@johnrpishotta While I agree they're not street-legal, I noticed all four wheels turning even at 3:30, which I thought was interesting for immersion, visual appeal, and maybe even ride quality. Do you think that's just an illusion or could some hydraulic movement be involved, even though it doesn't directly affect the steering? It makes sense considering real cars rely on visible wheels turning, and it might even prevent unnecessary wear and tear on the tires and track surface. Many of those corners are quite tight, and with vehicles traveling thousands of miles a year, not having the wheels turn could easily lead to screeching noises and potentially disturbing guests due to the sliding across the floor. While I realize some subtle screch sound still occurs, the simulated steering likely minimizes it and reduces wear and tear. In turn (no pun intended!), this system could actually be saving both components!
@@rocketbunny2677- each of the 4 wheels are independent and do move when going through a turn- tires are already chewed up by the track surface, which is coated with the same high grip, anti slip coating on aircraft carriers - they would be obliterayed if they did not move through a turn. They just don't steer the vehicle, per se - they just follow along. That's done by the bogeys below the deck where the actual track is. Nothing connected to them except the damper.
And as for any tire chirp noise, anything you hear is part of the wayside (off-board) audio track. The only place you could hear tire chirp is in maintenance bay. After the roll down door that leads into the bay, the deck is not coated with the anti-slip material.
Best explanation channel for Disney rides✨
I love engineering sm
6:36 - Is the track-road used now inside thew building, the same ''track' used by the Omni-movers in 1982?
I confess to missing the original World of Motion ride as that was fun in a different way. That being said, I do recognize that it wasn't getting much traffic, so something more popular was needed.
While the line in the original Test Track was noisy and thumpy to be almost a pain (the sound proof room was a relief), the ride itself made a lot more sense than the current Simtrack concept. I especially liked when the director was giving commands to the controller on which tests to include and ended with "pick one"...so she added the Crash Test 😊).
Great this. The version before the current was the best, due to it being more raw.
I like how art of engineering actually chats in his own comment section.
as usual, incredibly interesting !
Amazing! You should do Mission Space. I was a cast member there and I can tell you that the engineering behind that attraction is incredible!
Here's a "fun fact" about Mission: Space - each ride bay (4 of them) have 10 capsules that are mounted on large arms that extend from a central hub. There is not one, single metal weld that is a part of the arm support structure. Everything is assembled with a special type of rivet. Same for the T-bar control arms (there are two) that connect the body of the Test Track vehicle to the bogie assemblies. No welds - all rivets. Why you ask? Welds can crack and break, rivets not so much.
I visited Epcot 2.0. World of Motion had long since been gone. I rode the 1st version of Test Track either 2002-03. The last time I rode it was 2008. I'm single, so single rider line in Nov. Just a 10-15 min wait! LOL!
Next you should explain the EMVs found on Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland and Dinosaur at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Amazing video! Excellent explanations and great graphics. I can’t wait to ride test track again knowing all of this
Worth the wait
Appreciate your graphics showing the business side of the attraction! Still hoping that one day I'll get to actually see a picture of what it looks like IRL.
My favorite ride! (If you can’t tell by my channel picture and banner) thanks for doing a video on it!
Does the ride have any mechanism for steering the cars? If not wouldn't the cars be essentially skidding through every corner quickly wearing down the tires?
Or do the banked turns somehow mitigate this?
The tire wear and tear is huge anyways, just have a look into the planters just underneath the track at the exit of the store. You'll see lots of small rubber specks, sometimes you can also see some on the ground but those are usually quickly swept up by a custodial cast member. It's bits of the rubber tires which fly off during the high speed portion of the ride. I always wondered how often they need to replace the tires on those ride vehicles. My guess is they are full rubber tires, so they will hold quite a while longer than regular car tires would.
As for the skidding, in the video you can see that both front and rear axle are connected to the guide rail below the track, so the tires always follow the direction of the tracks.
Well done! Very informative!!!
My question is “ is there any system in place that activates when a car goes offline I.E something like a mux gate where the low select signal just takes what’s on the go rail and transfers it to the no go (assuming that the go signal can also be used as a stop signal on the other rail) while high select is how it normally deals with the read write on that bar
I miss World of Motion. Test Track is a great ride and could have been added without taking away such a classic.
Excellent video. Superb details. Kudos.
One think I don't understand is how the normal acceleration and braking is programmed. Is each vehicle following a predefined speed curve for the whole track and using both the encoder wheel and the radio communication to know where it is?
Wow it's very much changed since I was last there in 2012!
i rode it in 1999 and it one of the only rides i remember
Thanks for all your hard work.
I must have went to Disney just a year or two before this opened. 😢 I would have loved it as a kid.
I think they removed the door at the end. Awesome video btw! Please come back fine sir
I have no idea why the almighty algorithm decided to nerf the views on your channel. Great content as always!
where did you go
In 2022, I went to Disney. The test track was a top attraction for me. I took that ride many times.
11:15 hey i heard about something like this from a certain dude from New Jersey who used to work at this wooden coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure....
thought the duck power thing was funny, keep up the good work.
I MISS THIS RIDE. 🙃
Great video thanks for sharing
So awesome you are won of if not my faveorite RUclips channel
Loved going on this track as a child, I barely remember it, but always loved going 60 on the outside track when i was like.. maybe under 6 years old? I got really confused seeing all the virtual stuff, until it was said it went through an update in 2012. Its cool to see it like that though.