Wondering how Scary Test Track is and whether or not it’s a good ride for your crew? This quick guide will tell you everything you need to know.

Test Track was made to take guests on a simulated test track, similar to what car manufacturers would do for new vehicles before launching them to the public. It sounds scary yet intriguing to people who’ve never ridden it and we’re here to give you all the details.

Is Test Track Scary?

Test Track puts guests through high speed tests, brake tests and weather tests similar to a car manufacturer’s test track for new vehicles. While each guest should feel protected within the ride vehicle during this experience, it can be scary for younger audiences.

Test Track is the closest you’ll come to a vehicle road test without actually powering the vehicle yourself. During the experience, your “SIM” car (short for simulator car) will climb high hills, slam on the brakes, soar at high speeds and barrel around tight corners.

The vehicle is open, similar to driving with the top down, with high walls and secure seat belts to keep each guests restrained and safe throughout the journey. It’s extremely popular and is consistently one of our top picks for ride passes in Epcot.

Most people will find this ride to be thrilling and enjoyable without much to fear, but younger children and those prone to car sickness may want to steer clear of Test Track. If you or your child enjoy these kinds of thrills, though, it could be a very fun family ride.

At the beginning, your party will get the chance to design your own sim car. You’ll come to the Chevrolet design room where you’ll choose the shape, stance, color and wheel type for your test vehicle. From there, it’s off to the races.

Throughout the Test Track experience, your custom vehicle will be given ratings for how it performed in certain trials. If there are other parties in your ride vehicle, they’ll be pitted against one another and given 1st, 2nd or 3rd place for each trial, with a final rating at the end.

The overall concept for Test Track is pretty ingenious – how often do you get to do legal road tests and car races? If this sounds like a good time and not a scary experience, then Test Track is a great place to start your Epcot journey.

The Test Track Experience

Test Track is a one-of-a-kind roller coaster ride, designed to put guests and their custom designed vehicles through speed, weather, braking and rough terrain trials.

We actually filmed a POV ride through Test Track at nighttime, so that may help you get a better idea of what you’re dealing with:

Recommended Age

Disney’s recommended height for Test Track is 40 inches or taller, which is about the size of the average four year old. We feel that you should explain the ride or show your child a video of the ride before boarding to be sure that they are prepared for what’s coming.

If your four or five year old is a thrill-seeker or loves cars, then they shouldn’t have a problem and should be tall enough to see out of the vehicle and enjoy the sights and sounds that accompany the coaster.

Theme

Test Track is presented by Chevrolet and is therefore full of Chevrolet’s own current cars and designs, as well as those that are in the testing or design phase at the company. They also have a lot of futuristic styles preparing for the age of alternative fuels.

Starting with the line queue, you’ll head into a room with the more futuristic vehicles and concepts, with a video playing on the wall of Chevrolet’s thoughts and ideas behind what is to come. Then you’ll get to design your own car before heading to the track.

The car theme is pretty standard with a slight futuristic vibe to the entire experience, featuring neon lighting, sleek designs and electric blue and silver everywhere. The ride itself is not what you’d imagine an actual test track would look like.

Once the ride gets started, you’ll blaze through trials in the dark, lit up by the lightning strikes of stormy weather, flashing lights of semi trucks, neon strips of roadway paint and glow-in-the-dark terrain. The vehicle is then propelled into the open air for the speed trial which takes place on the outer rim of Test Track’s building.

Finishing up, you’ll head out to Chevrolet’s show room filled with cars that you can buy today, but not to be purchased on Disney property. They even have a rating of each of the best performing guest designs of the day and a station where you can create commercials featuring your car design from the ride.

Make no mistake in thinking that this coaster is strictly for the car enthusiasts. Anyone who loves thrills and fun roller coasters will appreciate the theme and enjoy the overall ride.

Speed

Some people think that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios (another ride that can be scary for some) is the fastest roller coaster on property, hurling your vehicle from 0 to 57 mph in 2.8 seconds. While Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster has the fastest take-off for sure, Test Track is actually achieves the highest speed on property, racing at 65 mph.

The 65 mph speeds occur during the speed trial of Test Track, which is at the very end of the ride. Your sim car will go through what you think will be a “crash test”, when in reality hidden doors open to the outside and send your car speeding into the speed trial.

For the majority of the ride, however, you won’t be going that fast. And the 65 mph is not an acceleration like Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster; it’ll take a little longer to reach that speed and sustain it for about 10-15 seconds before slowing back down for the finish line.

Drops & Maneuvers

Test Track does not have anything that would be considered a drop. Since the ride is based on testing an actual vehicle, these roads tests do not include dropping the car. But you will go through many different maneuvers that you won’t find anywhere else.

These maneuvers include a rough terrain test where the car will bump around on the road, a turning test where you’ll quickly and slowly go through turns, a brake test where you nearly collide with a semi truck, and the speed test which ends the ride.

All of these are about what you’d expect based on this brief explanation. There’s nothing too crazy that will throw you for a loop (literally). The sim car may be set on a steel coaster track, but it sticks to pretty basic driving patterns that you’d find in the car you drive on a daily basis.

Ride Vehicle

The ride vehicle itself is called a “sim car” and seats up to six people in two rows (three per row). It’s designed like a blue sports car with an open top so you can feel all the elements of the experience.

The sim car is programmed to perform the way your custom vehicle would perform under the pressures of each of the tests it goes through. It will use the custom design of the car you created in the line queue in each trial and tell you how that design competes with other designs people created in your same vehicle.

The sim car has actual wheels that are set on the track’s road so it feels as though you’re actually hugging the curves you turn through, jolts when you’re braking and slips when you encounter rain.

Conclusion

By now you should have a nearly perfect vision of what Test Track would look and feel like even if you’ve never ridden it yourself. Hopefully this has given you all the details you need to know in order to determine if it’s a good fit for you and your traveling party.

Still Planning Your Trip to Epcot?

We’ve compiled numerous details to help you plan your trip to Epcot. Curious about the cuisine? Check out our

Just looking for tips while planning what to do during your visit? We recommend our 30 Insider Epcot Tips & Secrets as a good starting place. Then, take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Epcot Dining and our Epcot ride ranking and pass guide.