Walt Disney World has announced the dates of Cast Member previews for the reopening of the reimagined Test Track at EPCOT. We have the details, plus how to potentially “pre-register” for Annual Passholder previews of Test Track 3.0, tips & tricks for increasing your chances of success, and speculation about soft openings.
Let’s start with the basics, which is that Walt Disney World announced that Test Track will officially open on July 22, 2025. Enjoy a joy ride through scenes focusing on onboard technology, customization and personalization. Followed by a trip through a scenic outdoor route reminding us all of the joys of driving, taking in the world around us and spending quality time with friends and family.
Walt Disney World also teased that fans keep an eye out for more information to share in the coming weeks about special previews for Cast Members, Annual Passholders, Disney Vacation Club Members, Golden Oak residents and Club 33 Members to ride Test Track 3.0 before the attraction officially reopens. Well, the first piece of the puzzle has now fallen into place, as we have Cast Member preview dates.
Walt Disney World has confirmed that Cast Members previews of Test Track 3.0 will occur from June 27 through July 10, 2025. Eligible Cast Members should stay tuned to internal communications for further details. But you’re presumably not concerned about the nuts & bolts of Cast Member previews if you’re reading this blog, you’re wondering how this will impact the other previews.
In all likelihood, the timing of CM previews pushes back AP, DVC, and other guest previews of Test Track 3.0 until July 11, 2025 at the absolute earliest. Cast Member previews are almost always done first, and have become a hybrid ‘test & adjust’ and preview period in recent years.
The reasons for this should be fairly self-evident. It’s a nice job perk for Cast Members, but not only that, they’re an easier audience. Most Cast Members have experience working in the service industry, so they’re more forgiving of guests and less entitled. The idea should be similar with APs and DVCs, but sometimes the opposite is actually true.
In any case, I was digging back through the DTB Archives because I thought maybe Cast Member previews and AP/DVC previews had occurred simultaneously for a recent ride opening. I could’ve sworn that, in fact. As it turns out, this was correct. When Tiana’s Bayou Adventure reopened last year at Disneyland, Cast Member and Annual Passholder previews overlapped completely, with almost identical sets of dates.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World was a different story. The Magic Kingdom version of the attraction held Cast Member previews June 3-7 and June 23-26, giving Cast Members and up to two guests a chance to experience the ride before any regular guests.
However, Annual Passholder and Disney Vacation Club previews occurred in the middle of those dates–on June 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 20 for APs, and June 12 & 19 for DVC Members. This wasn’t the big thing that caught my attention, though.
Despite remembering the overlapping dates, I had somehow forgotten the biggest twist to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure previews. It wasn’t done by pre-registering for a specific date and showing up for that ‘event,’ but rather, by making a park reservation and then trying for a spot in the virtual queue!
To refresh your recollection, here’s how that worked last year for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure:
- First, make a park reservation to Magic Kingdom park on a preview date to have the opportunity to join the 7:00 AM virtual queue for that day. Or, you can make a park reservation to any theme park on a preview date to have the opportunity to join the 1:00 PM virtual queue.
- On the date of your reservation, request to join the virtual queue by using the My Disney Experience app. There will be 2 opportunities to join each day of previews.
- The 7:00 AM virtual queue will be available to Passholders with a park reservation to Magic Kingdom park for that day.
- The 1:00 PM virtual queue will be available to Passholders with a park reservation to any theme park for that day. As a reminder, Passholders must enter the theme park where they have a reservation prior to visiting Magic Kingdom. Or, on June 13, 14, 17, 18 or 20, they can enter Magic Kingdom park without a reservation after 2:00 PM.
- Passholders do not need to have entered a theme park when they request to join the virtual queue.
Important Information
- Passholders must have a Walt Disney World Resort Annual Pass with valid admission on the preview date. Applicable pass blockout dates apply. Park reservations are limited and subject to availability.
- Each Passholder can request to join a virtual queue no more than once per day.
- Passholders may hold boarding groups for the preview virtual queue and an attraction virtual queue at the same time, when available.
- Joining the virtual queue does not guarantee the ability to participate in the preview. Boarding groups for a virtual queue are limited, subject to availability and are not guaranteed. Not all boarding groups may be called to return, based on availability of the attraction. Learn more about virtual queues.
- Offering, dates and hours are subject to change or cancellation without notice or liability.
Now, it’s entirely possible–probable, even–that Walt Disney World will revert to the pre-registration system for Annual Passholder previews of Test Track 3.0. That the virtual queue approach was a one-off for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure because that attraction was incredibly unreliable during early testing, and they knew it would need a virtual queue to pulse demand.
There were widespread reports of downtime during Cast Member previews, and it took some people several attempts over multiple days before successfully riding. I probably don’t need to recap the saga of the virtual queue for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which ended up lasting far longer than originally anticipated because the ride was so unreliable and breakdown prone for so long. So the decision to use the virtual queue as opposed to registration could’ve been made once those downtime woes became apparent.
However, it’s also fair to point out that there have been a lot of complaints about the AP registration process over the years. We started alerting guests via email update way back with Pandora – World of Avatar in 2017, and then Toy Story Land in 2018, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2019, etc–because only one of us was receiving the email notifications, and we heard from many readers who weren’t getting them at all. Those complaints morphed from “not receiving the emails” to “not receiving the emails until after the event is full.” It’s been a whole thing, and for almost a decade now!
One way to “solve” that is to simply allow anyone with a park reservation to attempt at joining the virtual queue for Test Track 3.0. There will still inevitably be disappointed guests, but hey, at least they’re already at EPCOT and potentially spending money on food & beverages to drown their sorrows. (Bob and Josh approve!)
Last year, park reservations for Magic Kingdom were fully booked within an hour or so of the announcement about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure previews. However, all 3 other parks still had availability for several days (sometimes right up until previews actually started), suggesting that a lot of Annual Passholders didn’t read the fine print.
This was despite NOT needing a Magic Kingdom park reservation in order to participate. That was definitely strategically advantageous, but you could still attempt to join the 1 p.m. virtual queue–which tended to have better availability, anyway, no matter which park you book. Not only that, but you didn’t even need to have entered Magic Kingdom or any park to attempt to join the 1 p.m. virtual queue. It didn’t work like normal–you could try your luck from the comfort of home!
With all of that in mind, our recommendation if you want to hedge your bets and try to potentially “pre-register” for Test Track 3.0 previews would be to make park reservations for EPCOT from July 11 through July 19, 2025.
To be abundantly clear, these are NOT confirmed or even rumored dates–I’m simply taking last year’s TBA preview dates, subtracting the media event, and overlaying them onto the timeline for Cast Member previews and the official opening of Test Track 3.0. It’s an educated guess, at best.
If it were me and I didn’t care about being first, I’d probably target July 13-18, 2025. I would hazard a guess that those are the dates most likely to have AP previews, and if you’re wanting the best hedge, multiple reservations during that window will probably have you covered. Of course, that’s assuming the previews use a park reservation and virtual queue system, and I really think it’s about 50/50 at this point.
I wouldn’t bother with park reservations for EPCOT on July 20-21, 2025. The number of simultaneous reservations you can hold is finite, and it’s best to keep them in the sweet spot of likeliest dates.
While it’s possible that previews continue until the absolute last minute, I doubt it. There probably won’t be a big gala media event given the last minute nature of the announcement and this being smaller-scale than a fully-fledged new attraction, but I’d expect a couple of private events for media and General Motors executives.
To each their own, but if it were me…I’d probably make multiple days of park reservations to hedge my bets. I would want three cracks at the virtual queue. That’s the smart play, and you better believe other Annual Passholders have the exact same idea. Given that, it wouldn’t surprise me if the success rate for this theoretical Test Track 3.0 preview is under 50%. Maybe it’s closer to 25% or 33%?
It’s also possible that the Annual Passholder and Disney Vacation Club preview window is even tighter, leaving more room for soft openings. I’m skeptical of that, though. I think it’s probably more attractive to Walt Disney World to lure locals out to EPCOT during Diet EPCOT than it is to increase capacity for tourists who are already visiting, regardless.
Aside from TRON Lightcycle Run, which was an anomaly since Disney clearly timed previews in such a manner to allow for soft openings during spring break, Walt Disney World hasn’t done soft openings for a major attraction in several years. It’s all been these controlled previews for select guests. Test Track 3.0 is even more of a ‘known quantity’ less in need of previews since the ride system is unchanged from its predecessor, so I’m inclined to bet against soft openings in this case.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think? Which is more likely for Test Track: pre-registration or park reservation plus virtual queue previews? Will you be making park reservations for the potential Annual Passholder preview date(s) of Test Track at EPCOT? Agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
