It’s safe to say that the summer holidays are one of the busiest times of year for the Disney Parks. The Walt Disney World Resort alone caters to thousands each year, but shutting down iconic rides during the peak of tourist season might be more than a scheduling conflict.
Along with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure having a mixed opening, the Country Bear Jamboree reimagined as a Nashville-inspired revue, Disney is reworking EPCOT’s iconic Test Track attraction in Future World. While Guests have been promised a sleek new design that scraps the former TRON-inspired vibe, Disney picked the worst time to board up its doors.
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Reports from EPCOT guests are pouring in that the Test Track shutdown has drastically increased wait times, many reaching nearly two hours. A recent post on r/DisneyWorld showed just how much crowd dispersal power the fast-paced car simulator truly had.
EPCOT Goes From 60 to 0
If there’s one thing anyone going to the Disney parks has to accept, it’s that they will be waiting for a long while at some point in the day. Waiting will occur whether that’s for a ride, a Character Meet and Greet, or just to use the restroom.
Related: Travel The World Without A Passport In EPCOT World Showcase!
However, Disney is normally skilled at managing those wait times, whether that’s with other attractions, live performances, or impromptu character appearances. That said, many guests are pointing out how one ride’s absence triggered a chain reaction that led to other attractions flooding out.
u/Pony_Piggy_Devoun‘s post below shows how much Test Track reduced wait times, showing that even the problematic Mission: SPACE took well over an hour.
Omg Epcot is doing so bad without Test Track
byu/Pony_Piggy_Devoun inDisneyWorld
A 75-minute wait time for a ride known for inducing vomiting is genuinely a scary sign. Especially when other guests are still experiencing the same sickening problem.
u/Dayseed cosigns onto that sentiment with,
“Why would I wait in line for 75 minutes to feel sick to my stomach for another 75 minutes afterwards?”
Comments about Mission: SPACE aside, the users above aren’t the only ones who ended up doing more waiting than riding. Wait times reaching over an hour are nothing new, but guests start to get more than a little annoyed when even the simplistic experiences get overly long.
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Further down in the comments, u/bigdee4933 shared a truly telling observation when they added,
“When Figment is 65 minutes, you know something is really wrong.”
Looking at the My Disney Experience at the time of writing, these testimonies are far from exaggerations. As of 10:32 EST, Spaceship Earth, and Frozen Ever After have wait times over half an hour, Mission: SPACE is 55 minutes, and both Soarin’ Around the World and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure are a solid hour.
Even the Character Meet and Greets are beginning to overflow with guests, as Anna and Elsa in Norway already have nearly an hour-long wait time of 55 minutes. Even so, how would Test Track really change all this?
Method to the Madness
Test Track is easily one of the biggest EPCOT staples. It was the fastest ride on Disney, and it might have been one of the fastest moving as well. Never underestimate the power of the single-rider line.
Related: Disney Brings Back Transportation for Florida Guests Following Extended Inactivity
Speaking from experience, that single-rider option was essential in getting more people on the ride, thus moving things forward at a not-so-snail pace. Because of Test Track’s draw, more guests were quickly moving through the experience, pulling crowds away from the more popular rides and reducing their wait times.
Now that the ride is temporarily off the table, guests are experiencing its absence’s side effects. That said, this is still a temporary issue.
In this writer’s opinion, any renovations or restructuring should be scheduled for Disney’s weakest part of the year. Closing off one of the most popular rides during the heat of tourist season might not have been the best move, and now guests are paying for the company’s poor decision.
How long would you wait for a Disney ride? Let us know in the comments down below!
