Epcot Guests Design Their Dream Wheels, then Buckle Up for Fun at the Re-Imagined Test Track Presented by Chevrolet
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| Copyright: Disney - by Matt Stroshane |
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Walt Disney World Resort guests will enter
the world of automotive design as never before, creating their own
virtual concept, then boarding a “SimCar” ride vehicle to race through a
thrilling series of performance tests when the re-imagined,
multi-sensory Test Track Presented by Chevrolet grand opens Dec. 6,
2012.
The iconic Epcot attraction, a new collaboration between Chevrolet
Design and the creative team of Walt Disney Imagineering, celebrates how
meticulous design not only shapes the look of Chevrolet cars, trucks
and crossovers, but drives their performance on the open road.
For inspiration for the project, Walt Disney Imagineers made numerous
visits to Detroit, collaborating with Chevrolet designers and touring
the inner sanctums of Chevrolet’s design studios.
Amid upbeat music, eye-popping lighting effects and a collection of Chevrolet concept and new vehicles, guests
themselves become automotive designers – and peer into the future of personal transportation in the process.
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| Copyright: Disney - by Ali Nasser |
Test Track guests enter an all-new, interactive pre-show area with a
future-focused design theme – from the fully realized Chevrolet Miray
roadster concept car and the Chevrolet EN-V to dynamic media displays
including models and sketches of vehicle design possibilities. The sleek
new “Chevrolet Design Center” invites guests to create their own
virtual custom-concept vehicle.
Car designer wannabes get to shape their own virtual car, truck or
crossover and learn how their choices perform against four important
performance attributes that guide Chevrolet designers:
- Capability – design your car to handle the roughest roads or most extreme weather conditions
- Efficiency – create a car that saves on fuel, reduces your
environmental footprint, cuts down on emissions or even uses recycled
parts
- Responsiveness – choose elements that will give you easy maneuverability through the tightest of turns
- Power – choose the gear you need to make your car a racer or a hauler
At design kiosks, rows of touch screens become canvasses for guests
to try their hand at automotive design. They can design alone or
collaborate on their design with family and friends. Even choose from
six different languages.
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| Copyright: Disney - by Ali Nasser |
Here, they can virtual-draw – stretch and shape their vehicle design
by length, width, height and engine size — and decide which performance
attribute is most important to them. Once they create – from infinite
possibilities — the design of their dreams, guests complete their
creation with even more choices. They can make a design statement with
an expressive front grill, tailored wheels of various sizes and styles,
and custom paint with graphics and other vehicle accessories. And the
crowning touch of every design – Chevrolet’s world-famous bowtie logo.
Even FASTPASS and single rider guests can choose the performance
attribute most important to them and select their virtual car’s profile
from a selection of pre-designed vehicles.
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| Copyright: Disney - by Ali Nasser |
Their virtual custom-concept Chevrolet vehicle complete, the
adventure then shifts into high gear as guests – armed with a card
encoded with their personal specs that allows their design to ride with
them and see how it performs – board their 6-person “SimCar” ride
vehicle. Ahead: a thrilling journey into a dazzling multi-sensory,
optically charged experience as guests put their personal design through
a series of performance tests – the exhilarating heart of Test Track
Presented by Chevrolet.
Along their route, riders experience changing terrain and extreme
conditions as their designs are scored at checkpoints for Capability,
Efficiency, Responsiveness and Power. How does their design stand up to
the challenging hills, switchbacks and straight-aways of the Test Track
circuit? How well does it navigate through bumpy roads, icy conditions,
turn-on-a-dime curves and other surprises? Their design skills are put
to the test – at speeds of up to 65 mph.
The fun and excitement extends to the post-show area, which continues the story of Chevrolet design:
- Scoring their design. Guests get to compare their virtual car’s
performance results to that of a baseline “SimCar” – and see how they
performed against their fellow “designers” and recent top scorers.
- Guests as freshly-minted car designers can even create their own TV
commercial – starring their virtual custom vehicle and adding location,
narration and music – and email it to friends and family.
- At a digital driving table laying out a road course, guests have an
opportunity to race their virtual custom-concept vehicles against other
guests’ designs, over changing terrains and encountering extreme
conditions.
- In another experience, guests get to pose for photos with actual
Chevrolet vehicles. Also, through green screen technology — with a few
taps on their touch screen — guests suddenly find themselves posing with
their virtual concept Chevrolet on the lunar surface, a polar
landscape, arcing across the galaxies or other thrilling scenes. The
images become easily sharable on social media, sending virtual postcard
greetings to family, friends or co-workers back home.
- New and concept Chevrolet vehicles are laid out showroom-style.
Guests can get behind the wheel of Chevrolet’s latest production models.
Chevrolet product specialists are on hand to answer any questions.
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet continues a 30-year relationship
between General Motors and Disney at Epcot dating to the opening of the
park Oct. 1, 1982 with World of Motion.
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet is included in Epcot admission.
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| Copyright: Disney - Ali Nasser |
After 9/11 things changed. Our border security was tightened and more regulations put in place. You can still cruise without a passport, but its not a good idea! Three years ago we did it! We went on the Disney Wonder and you didn't have to have a passport, an original birth certificate was all you needed. Now, you can still use your birth certificate but it won't get you back in the U.S. if miss the ship, or something happens medically and you are transported to a hospital. 
