Last Thanksgiving, I took my step-daughter to the GM “Test Track” at Disney World. When we walked up to the heavy steel door, the ride was “temporarily closed” for “technical reasons.” We waited. The ride reopened twenty minutes later. We were cattle herded through a chain link channel, passing various displays designed to educate guests about automotive development: air bags, door longevity, etc. The ten-year-old displays were worn, dated and dusty. There was no branding anywhere; no mention of Buick, Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC, Saturn, Saab, Cadillac or HUMMER. When we got to the acoustic chamber, the ride broke. Not good: the chamber lacked ventilation. People started leaving the line after 20 minutes. Just before the ride, a short video (on a small TV) extolled the joys of ABS—for a Chevy Trailblazer.
The cars themselves were generic in a nostalgic sort of way (when was the last time you rode three across in the front of a vehicle?). The best part of the ride: the high speed outdoor run. The cars pulled some serious G’s. At the end of the ride, participants blew through the new car showroom as if it didn’t exist. The new plug-in electric gas hybrid Chevy Volt, which doesn’t yet exist, didn’t exist there. As a ride, my 11-year-old Rock and Roller Coaster-loving stepdaughter gave GM Test Track a 4. During the post ride comprehension test, she scored an F.
Automotive News [sub] reports that GM and Disney might close the ride. It’s certainly not the first time GM has had trouble with Test Track. The original opening was rescheduled twice, delayed by a total of 22 months. For its part, Disney now has the Cars movie franchise upon which to build auto-related entertainment. And GM has something of a cash flow/political problem . . .
Can GM walk away from Test Track, which attracts more than 7 million people a year? GM is damned if it renews its sponsorship and damned it if doesn’t. If GM renews, critics may call it a waste of taxpayer money. After all, the automaker is borrowing billions of dollars from the federal government to stay afloat.
Should GM walk away from Test Track, another automaker, possibly an import, may snatch the opportunity and sign with Disney for years, maybe decades.
For an automaker, Test Track is the perfect venue to build a positive image and woo car buyers. But for GM, those days may be over.
As one of GM’s newest investors, I’ve got nothing against GM offering a kick-ass corporate PR ride that educates consumers as to the value of the engineering underlying its products. Test Track, however, needs to be hauled over a berm and shot.
I was there last year, and thought the same thing. It was too long a wait for too short a ride, and the exhibits were not as clean as they could have been, which was amazing at Disney, the Cleanest Place on Earth. I thought that for a Disney-esque experience they could have done far better. Everyone there took a car to get there at some point. The level of entertainment and immersion from the rest of Disney made this look…lame.
GM certainly can’t be blamed for the upkeep/condition of the ride. GM pays Disney a sponsorship fee. That’s all GM has to do with it. Perhaps they should update the video with a car not on death row (TrailBlazer), but other than that, GM can’t be blamed for the bad time you had on the ride. Disney, on the other hand, has no excuse with massive profits from massive visitorship and massive charges for visiting their parks. To not keep up their rides in a decent fashion is inexcusable.
As for the sponsorship itself from a business perspective, I feel like they could drop it and not feel any pain. If it doesn’t even have individual brands mentioned, what’s the point? It isn’t going to sell a single Chevrolet, Caddy, Buick, Pontiac, GMC, etc. Nobody will buy a Volt because it’s “made by GM.” The GM “chiclets” certainly didn’t light up sales two years ago, did they? Let Toyota take it over, for all I care.
ust before the ride, a short video (on a small TV) extolled the joys of ABS– for a Chevy Trailblazer.
Remember the brake pedal on the EuroWagon said (proudly) “Disc Brakes”?
I rode it about 10 years ago when it was first introduced. I thought the whole concept to be creepy at best–a ride that simulates an auto crash? I have never been in a terrible crash, but I would most certainly feel some PTSD on that ride if I had.
My family just went to Disney last summer. My kids and I LOVED the Test Track ride. Yes the displays were a little old and dusty but the kids didnt notice or care. The ride was great.
Matthew I think you forgot that the ride isnt simulating an auto crash but avoiding one.
The newer Epcot rides seem to be nothing more than animatronic commercials. World of Motion which inhabited that spot originally had more of an educational feel to it. Horizons, which stood where Mission Space is, was 100 times better than Mission Space. I guess people didn’t want to be educated, or the companies that sponsored the exhibits wanted more company information.
Test Track is constantly breaking down. I think maybe twice of the ten times I’ve ridden it I made it through without stopping. Doesn’t really say good things for GM quality. Though GM doesn’t fix it, or have much to do with the design, a ride sponsored by GM that is always breaking down does GM no good in the public eye.
It’s actually a bit more than a simple sponsorship. GM owns a meeting facility inside the ride. I’ve been there with my brother in law who was a GMAC employee at the time… they had some conference facilities, and on-site staff, and some other goodies.
I believe they use it for business conferences. If you are a GM employee, you and your familty can get in through a back door, hang in the air conditioning, grab a soda, watch TV, etc. Oh, you can also get whisked up to the front of the line, no waiting.
If your name is on the outside of the Building then then you ‘own’ it. It doesn’t matter if Mickey does the dusting.
I thought it was just wasted space for GM. The test track was ok but after you had been on Disney’s roller coasters it was a triumph of the blah.
On the way out the only cars on view were a Lucerne and a G6… and nothing else. Nothing about where you could contact anybody to drive one or anything details about them. They could have been in storage.
This was the place to put the Volt or the Z01 or the Concept Cars in front of the US public, the latest and the greatest (such as it is) but again this is GM we are talking. (Motto; hey where did all the money go?)
Test Track has been a nightmare for Disney since the day it opened.
To begin with, for purposes of “realism” each individual car has its own:
* Motor (electric, of course)
* Real disc brakes
* Real tires
* Suspension
Note that three of those four are SERIOUS wear items. Imagine that you autocrossed your car fourteen hours a day; now you can understand what those cars go through.
Tires are reportedly replaced MORE THAN ONCE A DAY. Brakes are serviced on a regular basis. The cars are now more than ten years old so they experience mechanical failures.
The Imagineers aimed a little high on this one.
Incidentally, this is the only Disney ride that has the capacity to scare me. If I get in the car on the right side, my “HPDE instructor” mindset clicks on and I spend the next two minutes expecting the “student” to hit something :)