test of my patience

by Bing Futch

We interrupt this column’s focus on local artists for a breaking story that has to do with art and a whole lot of corporate scrambling. On December 19th, 1998–after two years of construction and adjustment, Walt Disney World’s Epcot began the first public runs of the GM Test Track.

What does this have to do with artists?

Quite a lot, actually. Hidden away in a series of non- descript buildings on the east side of Glendale, California are an intrepid group of designers known as Imagineers. Back when Disneyland was being designed, Walt Disney needed a group of engineers to construct what had never been attempted before. A theme park. He turned to his moviemaking crew, his animators and live action scenery artists. Together, they laid out a script for what was eventually a blueprint for a larger series of big-budget “films”. Imagineers regularly are asked to make the impossible happen and they’ve managed to not only do so, but can do it over and over again for more than sixteen hours a day. Whatever they touch turns to gold. Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain , Alien Encounter, Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror, they were all visualized, represented in conceptual paintings, sculpted and modeled, rendered in 3D animations, scored like motion pictures, fabricated on- site with relatively little that didn’t originate from in-house and have been captivating audiences for years.

However, in order for the art to flourish, you need money, and sometimes–within huge corporations– that cash flow gets choked off from the more creative aspects of the tree. They’re told “do it the way you did before, but cheaper.” Walt never concerned himself with money, much to the chagrin of brother Roy O . Disney. Always trying to provide the guests with as much illusion and pixie dust as possible, Walt never took the shortcut and the results were always nothing short of breathtaking.

When the word leaked out that the venerable World Of Motion attraction was going to become a high-speed thrill ride, rumors of rollercoasters and simulators circulated madly. But no-one could have guessed what was to follow, specifically because perhaps not even some of the folks at Disney knew for sure. I had visited the WDI facilities and seen detailed models and drawings of the ride and it was nothing short of magnificent. But there were several directions that could’ve been taken and money dictated them all.

The ride would take folks through the rigors of automobile-testing–an experience on a General Motors proving ground. After encountering hill climbs, rough terrain, ABS brake testing and environmental changes–the guests test vehicles would zip through hairpin curves at 35 m.p.h. before heading outside of the structure to negotiate high speed turns and a blazing 65 m.p.h. finale. Real speed, no fakey projection signs or simulator bases .

It was a mammoth project and I dedicated a web site to the chronicle of its design, construction and imminent opening, starting with the death ofWorld Of Motion on January 1st, 1996. The first signs of wicked- looking steel track began wrapping around the building shortly thereafter. By summer, the area just beyond the blue walls had begun to look fairly close to finished. But behind the scenes, there were problems with the ride design. The cars themselves had to be re- designed a few times, and during testing–a few unscheduled barrier crashes brought the yellow flag out and the original opening date of May 13th, 1997 was pushed back.

And back. And back.

Walt Disney World’s 25th Anniversary came and went without the promised opening of Test Track, which was quickly creating buzz to the effect of “Disney’s first turkey”. What were the problems? Cars could be seen speeding around the 318 foot radius curve on a regular basis and talk was heard of test rides that got rave reviews. Part of the problem was the fact that tires were blowing out during routine emergency stop procedures. In fact, the tires were also discovered to be wearing out quickly thanks to the grueling series of tests that are endured along the five-minute journey. The ride track is divided into many different zones through which the vehicles travel. Using sophisticated computers on board each car, they can sense when a zone ahead is occupied and will shut down the entire ride if a violation occurs. All cars can be sensed by a mainframe computer that monitors their various locations and will likewise shut down if something seems awry. This happened a lot during testing, causing the need to power down and then power back up again–a process that takes about an hour. Draining work, no pun intended.

Personally, I think Disney Imagineers have been curtailed by the pairing up of their formally independent department with that of Disney Development Company, responsible for, among other things, creating various properties from resort hotels to company architecture. The WDI folks are brilliant, they’ve got better things to do than help raise odd-looking buildings. Diluted already by their financial resources, the WDI people also found themselves splitting time on projects like the Coronado Springs resort and convention center and plans for the heavily themed Disney Cruise Line ships.

Let them do their work, damn it.

So, in the middle of December, cast members and their families were smuggled in to do the first full-fledged cycling of Test Track and though the attraction stalled out several times, producing waits of up to three and a half hours, the reviews were mainly thumbs up. A public soft opening was planned for December 19th at 6:30 p.m. and word leaked out on the internet, creating a massive line-up of both annual pass holders and curious guests who had wandered over to see what the fuss was about.

Despite more shut-downs and delays, the night seemed to be a success and plans were made to continue the nightly trial runs until all of the bugs had been worked out of the system. It was on Sunday, December 20th that I joined the crowd and waited for my first taste of what had easily become the most eagerly awaited Disney attraction in my memory.

I was not dissapointed.

I won’t bother with telling you what it’s all about, just try to get down to Epcot soon to experience the magic that a group of people in a sweatbox in Glendale can do. It’s a triumph of the very state-of-the-art, and one shudders to think what might’ve happened if only they had been given just a little more cashola to work with. GM is rumored to be pissed about the embarrassing delay, but all of the suspense is pretty good press when you think about it. Though the ride isn’t officially scheduled to open until March of 1999, for a little while during the holidays, patient guests will get a thrilling sneak preview of Walt Disney Imagineering’s latest marvel. From concept to the wind whipping your face as you careen madly around that now-suddenly-too-small- building diameter, it’s a long and torrid story with a satisfactorily happy ending.