Test Track ??s

[heather13]

We haven't done TT in previous visits so they're interested in trying it this time but looking at the wait times app the ride seems to be down an inordinate amount of time. Is it an unreliable ride? I've read that it's due to weather, but isn't it indoors?

If we FP it looks like we won't be able to design a car - correct? Is that part of the fun for a first time rider? (my girls are 9 and 11 and interested in STEM-type activities so it seems cool, but there also appears to be some negativity about it)

How much time should we plan for the car design phase?

Is it possible to just do the design part and skip the ride? We'll be with my mother in a wheelchair, and if it's roller coaster-esque she won't ride but I'm sure she'd like to see the kids designing. It would be nice if we could do something like a ride-swap for my mom, then we won't abandon her for an hour to enjoy more adventurous things!

 

[mesaboy2]

We haven't done TT in previous visits so they're interested in trying it this time but looking at the wait times app the ride seems to be down an inordinate amount of time. Is it an unreliable ride? I've read that it's due to weather, but isn't it indoors?

If we FP it looks like we won't be able to design a car - correct? Is that part of the fun for a first time rider? (my girls are 9 and 11 and interested in STEM-type activities so it seems cool, but there also appears to be some negativity about it)

How much time should we plan for the car design phase?

Is it possible to just do the design part and skip the ride? We'll be with my mother in a wheelchair, and if it's roller coaster-esque she won't ride but I'm sure she'd like to see the kids designing. It would be nice if we could do something like a ride-swap for my mom, then we won't abandon her for an hour to enjoy more adventurous things!

Part of the ride is indoors, part outdoors. Rain and weather does impact operation. Guests with FPs can still design their car, and yes it is possible to design but not ride--nowhere are you committed to ride anything.

 

[scrapquitler]

If you FP you can design a car. The car design part is after the FP line merges with standby.

The end part of the ride is outdoors, that's why it closes in rain/thunder

 

[Cinderella94]

The ride has an outdoor portion and that does cause it to shut down frequently due to weather. I think it's also someone temperamental even aside from that (when we were there this summer for Extra Magic Hour morning it didn't open for about a half hour after opening - no explanation other than "delayed opening." It was beautiful weather).

I'm honestly not sure how it would work to skip the ride in a wheelchair after doing the design a car part. Without a wheelchair, I would say she could just walk through the car to the other side of the track and exit and wait for you in the gift shop, but I'm not sure logistically how a person in a wheelchair would exit. I would imagine there is a way to do it, though. But it would not be a ride swap kind of option where someone waits with her.

 

[sky13]

The car design phase can be kind of cool the first couple of times (but it can get old after a few rides). As others have mentioned the FP/standby merges before the car design phase so everyone using FP/standby get to design a car. There's a timer, I think it's around 3 minutes 30 seconds (might be off by a bit), once this is up everyone will exit the design room together.

(If you do single rider you can skip the car design phase altogether, so these days I actually prefer single rider to FP...)

 

[JenniBarra]

I think it's also someone temperamental even aside from that (when we were there this summer for Extra Magic Hour morning it didn't open for about a half hour after opening - no explanation other than "delayed opening." It was beautiful weather).

I have not been on the "Tron Track" version, but I have ridden the original many, many times. I am assuming that, when the attraction was refurbed into the new version, it did not change the mechanics of it. If so, what I heard a long time ago is that the ride has very low tolerances, meaning it was designed with an average load time before vehicles being sent off and will shut down if that window stretches out too long. This same thing was one of the fatal flaws of the short-lived Disneyland attraction Rocket Rods. I believe Radiator Springs Racers (in California Adventure) also uses this tech, and, alas, is temperamental as well.

Aside from the load issue, at least in the past, Test Track suffered from a multitude of quirks. On one trip, every single time we rode it, we experienced a different failure. (It actually became amusing to us after a while!) The first time, the audio was out. Another time - the funniest failure of all of them - when the speed was supposed to be gradually increasing in the handling test in the hills, we starting going slower... and slower... and slower... while the audio still talked about how much percentage increase we were doing in speed.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We haven't done TT in previous visits so they're interested in trying it this time but looking at the wait times app the ride seems to be down an inordinate amount of time. Is it an unreliable ride? I've read that it's due to weather, but isn't it indoors?

If we FP it looks like we won't be able to design a car - correct? Is that part of the fun for a first time rider? (my girls are 9 and 11 and interested in STEM-type activities so it seems cool, but there also appears to be some negativity about it)

How much time should we plan for the car design phase?

Is it possible to just do the design part and skip the ride? We'll be with my mother in a wheelchair, and if it's roller coaster-esque she won't ride but I'm sure she'd like to see the kids designing. It would be nice if we could do something like a ride-swap for my mom, then we won't abandon her for an hour to enjoy more adventurous things!

Yes, TT goes down a lot. We haven't been able to ride it on our last two visits because of rain and other, I assume, mechanical difficulties.

As others have said, if you get FP+, you still go through the design room. If you would like someone to stay with your mom, I would suggest staggering the FP+ (for example, get some for 10 am and others for maybe 10:20 am or so) so while the first group rides, the others can wait with your mom and then when the first group gets off, the second group can ride. You can always wait in the TT exit "showroom" area of the attraction. In this area, you can also design a car without riding the attraction. If you go this route, I would suggest group 1 getting on TT while group 2 enters through the TT gift shop to the exit design/showroom area. Group 2 can look at the cars, design a car, etc. Then group 1 can meet them there after the ride, experience the exit/showroom area while waiting for group 2. I hope that makes sense!

 

[heather13]

As others have said, if you get FP+, you still go through the design room. If you would like someone to stay with your mom, I would suggest staggering the FP+ (for example, get some for 10 am and others for maybe 10:20 am or so) so while the first group rides, the others can wait with your mom and then when the first group gets off, the second group can ride. You can always wait in the TT exit "showroom" area of the attraction. In this area, you can also design a car without riding the attraction. If you go this route, I would suggest group 1 getting on TT while group 2 enters through the TT gift shop to the exit design/showroom area. Group 2 can look at the cars, design a car, etc. Then group 1 can meet them there after the ride, experience the exit/showroom area while waiting for group 2. I hope that makes sense!

This makes great sense. Perfect timing - I'll be making FP reservations this weekend

Thank you so much everyone - helps immensely!

 

[Beth Pagan]

This makes great sense. Perfect timing - I'll be making FP reservations this weekend

Thank you so much everyone - helps immensely!

It is not a scary ride at all. It is like driving in a car with the top down very fast.