Test Track and Mission Space are each in a unique situation. Both replaced beloved attractions that had been part of the park since it opened (Horizons and World of Motion), both are major E-ticket attractions, and both really do not have a lot to do with the future. My solution would be to give each attraction a series of tweaks and updates in theming and storyline to help tie them in better to the overall theme of Future World while still keeping the thrill aspects of the attractions that guests enjoy.
Disney recently announced that Test Track will be undergoing a major refurbishment beginning at the end of this April and extending into the Fall, but gave very few details about what updates would be taking place. Personally, this is what I would like to see. My new Test Track would pay tribute to the original attraction housed in this location, World of Motion. To start, I would remove the giant canopy in the front of the building because it really takes away from the beauty of the structure itself.
Here is a look at the pavilion now:
Here is the pavilion when it was World of Motion:
The interior of the ride would change significantly. Rather than focusing on the various test that new cars go through before being put onto the road, I would focus instead on the evolution of transportation. This indoor portion of the ride would be reminiscent of the original World of Motion. Guest would travel past a series of scenes depicting advancements that have been made in the history of transportation starting with the invention of the wheel to horse drawn chariots, wagons, and carriages to railroads, the first cars and airplanes, and finally the future of transportation.
One of the final scenes in the original World of Motion was a city of the future complete with lighted roads and highways curving around tall skyscrapers.
I would use this scene to segway to the high-speed loop outside with the narrator telling guests that “with each new technological discovery and innovation we are racing into the future of transportation.” With the completion of that sentence the vehicle would be launched into the high-speed exterior portion of the ride.
Mission Space replaced the much beloved Horizons, but unlike Test Track replacing World of Motion, the entire look and theme of the pavilion changed. Mission Space, however, is much more futuristic in theme than Test Track and thus requires only some minor tweaks. I would change the queue portion of the attraction as a way to pay tribute to the history and evolution of space exploration. In many ways, the queue would become more of a walk-through museum with various artifacts and displays designed to give guests a greater appreciation of all the advancements that have been made in space exploration. In fact, Disneyland had something along these lines with an exhibit in Tomorrowland called The American Space Experience.
With the ride itself I would make only a couple of minor changes. The first change would be to give guests the option of experiencing multiple missions instead of always going on the same mission to Mars. Guests in each pod would now get to decide which planet they will travel to, allowing them to have a variety of different experiences. I would also update and improve the graphics to create a more realistic and immersive experience.
Universe of Energy presents an interesting challenge because the type of ride system it is now limits what you are able to do with it and basically forces the attraction to be as long as it is. It is the ride’s length that is the main problem with the current Ellen’s Energy Adventure. Many guests avoid it because they do not want to be stuck on one ride for almost 45 minutes. Thus, any change to the attraction will require a major overhaul of the ride system itself.
My new version of the attraction would keep the same basic theme of the current Ellen’s Energy Adventure, beginning by taking guests back into the past to see where the enegy we use today came from, bringing guests into the present to look at the various forms of energy available, and then looking into where we might be able to get our energy from in the future. I would, however, completely overhaul the ride system replacing the current slow-moving vehicles with vehicles similar to those used in the Spiderman attraction at Universal. This would allow for a greater range of motion and movement, faster speeds, and an overall more thrilling experience for guests.
The building that was originally occupied by the Wonders of Life pavilion has been sitting empty for years except when being used during the Food & Wine and Flower & Garden Festivals. This is a large piece of under-utilized space that could make for a great addition to Epcot and Future World.
Rather than restoring a Health-themed pavilion I would completely shift direction to a Weather-themed pavilion that would incorporate a series of attractions and exhibits looking at the study of weather, its evolution, and advancements that could take place in the future. The headline attraction of this new weather pavilion would be a flight-simulator to take the place of the Body Wars attraction that used to be a part of Wonders of Life. This new attraction would be based upon the Stormrider attraction at Tokyo Disney Sea in which guests would travel into the middle of a violent storm and experience its full fury.
Here is a glimpse of the Tokyo attraction:
Also included in this weather pavilion would be an experience similar to Storm Struck currently found in Innoventions. My new version of Storm Struck, however would be more akin to Twister at Universal but with a few enhancements. Guests would first get to choose what type of extreme weather they would want to experience (hurricane, tornado, or blizzard) and then be subjected to the full brunt of that storm, not just viewing it on a screen but actually experiencing the wind, rain, and snow right in front of them. The rest of the pavilion would be filled with different interactive exhibits devoted to how meteorologists study and predict weather patterns as well as advancements that are being made in this field.
Overall, these changes to Future World East would improve upon the attractions that are currently there, provide new experiences for guests to enjoy, and bring the whole area more in line with the theme of Future World.
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