That was the original Test Track, but not the original ride that was in the building. The original ride was called The World of Motion which was an elaborate onmimover dark ride that traced the history of transportation using elaborate sets and over 100 audio-animatronic figures. Here’s an excellent “documentary” about the original ride. The first 22 minutes show the development and construction of the ride (with an excellent diagram of the original track) the “ride through” starts at 22 minutes, and the last 20 minutes show all of the cool post-ride exhibits/mini-shows.
Keep in mind that home video technology in the 80s and early 90s is not what it is today, so some of the video is pretty grainy, but it still gives you an idea of how wonderful the original was.
As a kid I loved World of Motion, Horizons, the original Journey into Imagination and Spaceship Earth. There was not anything like those attractions at any other theme park. Now that they are gone (other than Spaceship Earth), there is nothing like them anywhere. And even Spaceship Earth was only spared a planned re-do due to the pandemic.
I do wonder, however, how those attractions would play with today’s instant gratification generation. I don’t think my own kids (ages 10 and 7) would enjoy those attractions nearly as much as I did. My kids rode Spaceship Earth once a couple years ago and thought it was boring so we have not been back on it.
Even back then it was a mixed bag. These attractions are cult classics because only certain personality types truly appreciate them. There was a lot of joking back then about how boring Epcot was. Disney changed it in response to guest feedback and economic realities. Edutainment doesn’t sell to a degree they need it to to make a park that size profitable.
I have not tried that one with them yet (though been on many times myself). It always seems to be the attraction that gets skipped when I need to modify our EP TPs to eliminate something for lack of time. I’d rather skip Imagination, but my kids like Figment.
I was wrong in my assumption that Soarin’ would stay at Tier 1. Looks like you are getting your wish here. I think this will make Soarin’ a much tougher LL to get. Let’s see how it plays out.
Well, I’m not sure it was my wish for Soarin to move to tier 2, but I had been asking if anyone thought it would. Now that is a tier 2, though, we’ll have to see how it plays out for availability. I have Epcot planned for the second day of our trip, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to secure Soarin to coincide with our GG reservation in the Land.
