Test Track's Sliding Doors Are Working Again 13 Months After a Ride Vehicle Hit Them, but They Now Open Early and Most of the Near Miss Is Gone

The wall of doors at the end of Test Track's final indoor scene is closing again, and that has not been true for more than a year.

WDW News Today rode the EPCOT attraction on Thursday, July 30 and reported that the sliding doors leading out to the high speed outdoor loop are operating once more. They had been switched off since a ride vehicle hit them during Cast Member previews last summer.

Riders head down the roadway toward the lit archway and tunnel that leads to the wall of doors. Photo: Disney via Blog Mickey.

What happened in June 2025

A Test Track car hit the doors of the ride's climactic scene during Cast Member previews on Monday, June 30, 2025. Blog Mickey reported that the vehicle struck them "after the doors failed to open properly." The doors are built from breakaway foam, WDW News Today notes, "in case of this exact incident."

Blog Mickey, reporting on July 1, wrote that "Four guests were treated on site for injuries sustained when their ride vehicle hit the door" and that "No guests were transported to the hospital." Disney removed the doors for Cast Member previews that day. Blog Mickey wrote at the time that it was "unclear if the effect will return at a later time or if Disney will operate the attraction without the sliding door effect."

For the next 13 months, it was the second one. The doors were disabled, leaving what WDW News Today describes as "a continuous view to the outside," and the ride ran that way from then on. Disney had already announced a July 22, 2025 reopening date for the reimagined attraction, and the effect was already switched off when the new Test Track opened to the general public.

The effect is back, but it is not the old effect

The doors are working, but WDW News Today reports the effect no longer plays the way it once did.

On the original Test Track, which opened to the public in December 1998, the doors closed out what WDW News Today calls "the climactic barrier test." Vehicles accelerated toward a closed wall of doors that, as WDW News Today puts it, "dramatically opened at the last second before sending guests outside into the sunlight."

The reimagined version does not tell that story anymore. "On this newest reimagining of the ride," the outlet writes, "Test Track no longer tells that same story, and the only practical purpose of the doors is now to keep the outdoor light from illuminating the final interior scene."

And that shows in how they behave. From the July 30 ride through: "We noticed on our ride through today that the doors open much earlier in the acceleration sequence, now reducing much of the near-miss thrill of the previous effect."

Blog Mickey floated that possibility at the time, noting it was "also possible that the effect timing could change in an attempt to mitigate the possibility of this happening again." Thirteen months on, that is what the timing looks like.

So the doors move again. They just no longer wait until the last possible second to do it.

The attraction's marquee at EPCOT, carrying its current General Motors presenting sponsorship. Photo: Disney via Blog Mickey.

A ride with a history of hitting walls

Test Track opened to the public at EPCOT in December 1998, with its official grand opening the following March, replacing World of Motion, an opening day EPCOT Omnimover that closed in 1996. WDW News Today notes that the attraction "had a difficult testing period," with a car even flying off the tracks and hitting a wall. The outlet adds that the car was filled with sandbags and had no riders.

Inside the Magic also reported the doors' return on July 30, citing video of the doors in operation posted to X by Nick Palermo.

Neither WDW News Today nor Inside the Magic reported a statement from Disney about the effect going back into service at the attraction, officially Test Track presented by General Motors. Disney did not announce the shutoff last summer either. Blog Mickey reported that one the day after the preview incident.

Sources

• WDW News Today, "Sliding Doors Have Returned to Test Track Following Crash at EPCOT"
• Blog Mickey, on the June 2025 incident and the effect being turned off
• Inside the Magic, on the effect being restored
• Disney Parks Blog, announcing the July 22, 2025 reopening of Test Track presented by General Motors

Image credits: Featured finale scene photo, WDW News Today. Ride vehicle approaching the tunnel and attraction marquee, Disney via Blog Mickey.