Test Track Rejoins Ride Rosters for Extra Hours
Walt Disney World has announced that Test Track 3.0 will soon be added to the extra hours attraction lineups at EPCOT. This covers details, plus our commentary about how this changes morning park touring strategy, arriving via International Gateway vs. front entrance, and more.
Let’s start with the basics, which is that Test Track will officially open on July 22, 2025 at EPCOT. Regular ticket holders have to wait another full month (almost) before taking a spin on the reimagined ride. In between now and then, there will be a range of previews and (hopefully) a few days of soft openings.
Imagineers along with teams from Chevrolet reached back into history for inspiration from the original World of Motion, and brought that spirit of optimism to the third iteration of Test Track. They’re pushing innovation forward and celebrating humanity’s enduring drive on the thrilling road to a brighter tomorrow. If you want spoilers, have at them in this Ride-Through of Test Track 3.0 at EPCOT.
Along with this, Walt Disney World has since confirmed that Test Track 3.0 will use a standby line once it reopens on July 22, 2025. This means that there will NOT be a virtual queue for Test Track–it’ll either be waiting in the regular ole queue like every other attraction (right now) at Walt Disney World, or line-skipping via the pay-to-play Lightning Lane system.
Speaking of which, Test Track will be part of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass when it reopens on July 22, 2025. It will NOT be part of Lightning Lane Single Pass, meaning it cannot be purchased on an a la carte basis. It’ll be part of the ‘bundle’ option that features two tiers at EPCOT.
Test Track will join the Tier A of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, with Soarin’ Around the World downgraded to Tier B. As explained at length in Lightning Lane & Line Changes Coming to EPCOT for Reimagined Test Track’s Reopening, both of these attractions are likely to be the most popular Lightning Lanes in their respective categories. Despite the downgrade, Soarin’ will probably become the toughest Lightning Lane in all of EPCOT as a result.
All of this has led us to wonder about extra hours, and whether or not it would be a similar return to the old normal at EPCOT…
We can now confirm that starting July 22, 2025, Test Track will be open for Early Entry at EPCOT from to
Although Early Entry times can vary by date at the other parks, that’s typically not the case at EPCOT. I cannot recall the last time official park opening was anything other than 9:00 AM. Park closing has been extended to 9:30 PM or 10:00 PM during peak seasons, but I cannot recall a time when EPCOT opened before 9 AM since…probably Summer 2022?
One thing I do want to mention here is that Walt Disney World “announced” this change with an update to the official Test Track website, which now lists Early Entry hours for July 22, 2025 and every date thereafter. As you might know, the official website has been wrong about this stuff in the past, with changes sometimes made based on assumptions and past precedent that no longer holds true.
Fearing this might be the case–that sometime in Disney IT saw Test Track reopening, that it was previously part of Early Entry, and put that together without knowing for sure–I reached out to Walt Disney World for confirmation. We’re happy to report that, yes, this schedule is correct. As always, things are subject to change until they actually happen, but Walt Disney World’s intent is to operate Test Track 3.0 during Early Entry from the jump.
We can similarly confirm that Test Track will be open for Extended Evening Hours at EPCOT starting on Monday, July 28, 2025.
Note that this is the first Extended Evening Hours (ExEH) after Test Track reopens. We’ve had a lot of posts about Extended Evening Hours scheduling recently, and the light bit of ‘drama’ about ExEH bouncing around from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in July and August. None of that impacts EPCOT, which continues to reliably host ExEH on Mondays.
July 28 is the first Monday after Test Track returns, and the ride will be open to guests during those extra hours from 9 PM until 11 PM. This is an especially big win for Extended Evening Hours. The exclusive perk is much more popular during the summer months due to high heat during the day, but if even one attraction breaks down (as happens often!) it can throw a monkey wrench into the entire evening.
Even when things are running smoothly, the other headliners are all in opposite corners of the park. That’s no exaggeration. During the last ExEH at EPCOT that I attended, I spent much more time walking between rides than I did waiting in lines. At least, until the very end when Cosmic Rewind broke down and I was stuck in line for over an hour before the queue got dumped around midnight. That was fun!
Having both Cosmic Rewind and Test Track open–two attractions that are basically right across from one another–and using standby lines for the first time ever during Extended Evening Hours will be a huge. A potential game-changer. That’s also not an exaggeration.
In addition to this, there’s a wildcard extra hours offering: After Hours at EPCOT. This upcharge event is about halfway through its ‘season’ and will have the remaining dates left on the calendar once Test Track reopens:
- July – 24 and 31
- August – 7, 14, 21 and 28
- September – 11 and 25
Currently, Test Track is not listed on the ride roster for After Hours at EPCOT. However, there are still several dates left before Test Track reopens, which could explain that. Adding Test Track to the list could create confusion, since it’s not open yet.
It’s also possible that Walt Disney World is wary about complaints from guests attending earlier After Hours nights when Test Track is not offered, so they either won’t announce until right before the 24th–or they’ll keep Test Track closed for “continuity” of the event.
I’ve also reached out to Walt Disney World about this, and haven’t received official confirmation either way. My guess is that Test Track will be open for After Hours starting July 24, 2025. If it’s open during the “free” extra hours, it stands to reason it’d be open during the paid ones. I’d put the chance of it being open at 90% or higher. Still, stranger things have happened–hence that lingering 10% doubt.
For those who are unfamiliar with the on-site extra hours guest perks, Early Entry is offered at all 4 theme parks every single day and offers 30-minute access to guests staying in on-site hotels at Walt Disney World. See our Guide to Early Entry at Walt Disney World for more info & strategy.
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours occurs only two nights per week in total–for two hours each night. This benefit is exclusively for guests staying at Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villas (Disney Vacation Club), or other select hotels (Swolphin and Shades of Green). Guests staying at Value or Moderate Resorts are not eligible for Extended Evening Hours. See our Guide to Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for more rules, eligibility, strategy, etc.
Additionally, we have over a dozen “Extra Hours” Photo Reports, with more coming later this month as a result of this change. Early Entry reports are my emphasis since they’re relevant to more readers–and also because I’ve found that it’s much more difficult to replicate results during ExEH at EPCOT due to the aforementioned breakdowns (I’ve done close to a dozen ExEH at EPCOT, and no two of them have been the same).
I would hazard a guess that we’ve done Early Entry 50 to 75 times since it debuted a few years ago. My general perspective is that fans undervalue it. We see a lot of complaints that the perk is “only” 30 minutes, which is objectively accurate. (Well, most of the time–sometimes it starts a bit earlier, especially at DHS.)
However, this understates the value of that time and just how much you can accomplish. As I’ve demonstrated in our EPCOT morning reports, I’ve accomplished multiple rides during Early Entry and also beating the regular rope drop rush to my next destination at ~9:00 AM.
Fans also underestimate the subjective value of Early Entry. By that, I mean that morning is the second-best time of the day at all 4 of the parks–behind only late nights. There’s something special about watching the sun rise over the parks, and I love savoring my strolls around World Showcase, watching the countries “wake up” for the day.
With that said, Early Entry at EPCOT hasn’t been good/great since Test Track went down for refurbishment. As a result of that closure, the bulk of the crowds are basically all heading to two destinations: Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in World Showcase or Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in the former Future World.
Some guests do head to Soarin’ Around the World or Frozen Ever After, but those have become secondary stops for the most part. At least on 5/10 crowd level days or higher, it can be a challenge to knock out 2 headliners before the rope drop rush arrives.
We are expecting Test Track’s return to change that.
My hope is that we’re basically able to utilize the “Easy” EPCOT Early Entry Plan for Low Waits at Guardians of Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, but slotting in Test Track first. That might sound backwards, which is precisely the point. Stay tuned for actual field testing results, though, because things often don’t unfold in real life as I lay them out on paper. That’s why we test the plans in the first place! I’ll be doing extensive actual testing and will report back with my results sometime later this month or in early August 2025. So stay tuned.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be doing Test Track during Early Entry or Extended Evening Hours at EPCOT? Or will you still do the Rat Ride and Frozen Ever After if entering via International Gateway? Thoughts on extra hours at EPCOT? What’s your preferred approach to mornings or evenings at EPCOT? Agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I guess we’re in that 10% for After Hours! Test Track hasn’t been included in either the July 24 or July 31 events. Hoping they get it added before our visit on August 14, but not getting my hopes up at this point…
The great thing about the new cars is they can be used over at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
All they need are whiskers.
Wow, Test Track is opening right away for Early Entry, but Tron *still* isn’t open early? Good on them for doing the right thing here, but it’s ridiculous that they still haven’t done so for Tron. Though I did see an early entry YouTube video recently where Tron started loading guests at 8:37am, so maybe they are doing soft partial early openings now? In that same video, SDMT also started running at 8:15 that morning, so it seems the early start to early entry is spreading beyond DHS, which is a huge plus (and would be huge for a Test Track and Guardians EE strategy at Epcot).
Yeah, Early Entry has been really scattershot at Magic Kingdom since spring break. I’m planning on doing more field testing there once Starlight starts, as I suspect the 11 pm closures might result in less unpublished early attraction openings. I hope that’s wrong, but we’ll see!
Last week was our first time doing Early Entry at Epcot since GotG opened (that ride was our top priority). We stayed at Pop Century but didn’t use the Skyliner. Why wake up crazy early to stand in a long line that doesn’t move until 7:30, take the chance of Skyliner delays, then get deposited on the other side of the park from the best and most most popular attraction?
We requested our Uber around 7:20 and were dropped off at Epcot at 7:34. The Uber picked us up right in front of the relatively distant 80’s building where we were staying, with barely any walk. No traffic getting to the park. It cost $8.78.
I know there are many who, on principle, would not pay that 9 bucks because they’re staying at a Skyliner resort and paying a privilege for that hotel perk. But for around the price of a stale churro, we got to sleep an extra ~30 minutes, spend much less time standing/walking, and thanks to some speed walking, be in the very first pre-show group on Cosmic Rewind (allowing us to re-enter the queue around 8:50 for a second ride).
I feel like this “front gate” early entry strategy is only going to be MORE effective with Test Track reopening. And even more so now that Ratatouille has Single Rider! The two of us did single rider twice in the late morning – the first time with zero people ahead of us, and the second with a 10 minute wait. And I ended up in the same car right behind my daughter on the 2nd ride, anyway! Trying to rope drop GotG from International Gateway is inefficient, but it would have made ZERO sense to rope drop the Rat Ride from the Skyliner on early entry. Best $8.78 I ever spent.
I think there’s a good argument to make that staying at Pop Century instead of the All-Stars is a waste of money to the point that guests there end up paying more for *less* benefits; the three cheaper Value resorts include free transportation to EPCOT’s main entrance.
We paid about $30/more per night for Pop than the cheapest All-Star I saw for our dates. I felt it was well worth it for a variety of small reasons (and the All Star buses couldn’t have gotten us to Epcot as early as we wanted). Had the difference been $75 or more I would have considered All-Stars.
My question is why people pay a premium for Art of Animation standard rooms vs. Pop Century. Just for theming that’s more officially “Disney”? Probably an obvious answer, same as “why aren’t the Swan/Dolphin the most desirable places on property for the price?” (Our short trip was based around the free water park perk, and we still would have Ubered from the Swolphin to Epcot front entrance so the location was moot).
We just did a WDW trip 2 weeks ago, 4 parks in 5 days.
Early entry was GREAT! Most days they opened up 20 to 25 minutes even earlier than the ppsted early-entry times. We were able to knock out 2 or 3 “big ones” each day before open to the public.
We found the extended evening hours at Epcot to be disappointing. Not enough food and drink options available, stores closed, etc. I guess i didn’t do proper research into this, but it was very underwhelming.
I miss the “good old days” when parks were routinely open fully later in the evenings of summer.