Land Hopping Is About to Get Complicated in EPCOT

An iconic EPCOT attraction is reopening after over a year on the shelf, and it’s about to make “land hopping” around the park much more complicated.

Land hopping is the practice of moving between lands within one of Disney’s theme parks, seeing what each area has to offer in a somewhat planned route. To use EPCOT as an example, the park is broken down into World Showcase, World Celebration (Spaceship Earth, Imagination), World Nature (The Land, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Journey of Water), World Discovery (Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Mission Space, and our topic today: Test Track).

EPCOT’s iconic Test Track closed in June of 2024 for a massive refurbishment that, according to Disney, will feature the “thrill of the open road” meeting the “innovation of the future.” Guests will “zip past scenic vistas, discover how new technology is shaping the way we connect with each other and the world around us” then “get a glimpse into the future of mobility and the cities of tomorrow before zooming off on an electrifying, high-speed race that will leave your imagination soaring.”

The newly revised attraction, which fans have dubbed Test Track V3, officially opens to the public on July 22nd after a series of previews for Cast Members, Annual Passholders, Club 33 members, Disney Vacation Club members, D23 Gold members, and Golden Oak residents As videos of the attraction have come out during its preview period, this new version captures the unique charm of early EPCOT dark rides, which will surely make it quite popular throughout the rest of the year.

Disney is clearly expecting the new take on the E-Ticket to be successful as well, as the attraction will be added to the Lightning Lane Multi Pass roster of attractions as a Tier 1 Lightning Lane. A quick reminder: When you are booking your three advance Lightning Lane reservations with the Lightning Lane Multi Pass service, you can book up to one Tier 1 attraction and then two Tier 2 attractions (or you can book all Tier 2 attractions).

And this is where land hopping could become an issue. With Test Track being added to the highest tier of Multi Pass, it adds another in-demand attraction for guests to try for, so to hit every ride one wants to, a guest may find themselves bouncing between various points through the park. Suffice to say, considering EPCOT is a large park – seriously, ping ponging between say Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Test Track will probably knock out your step count for the day in one spurt – this can get especially complicated.

So, what to do? Well, the best way to approach EPCOT land hopping is likely to still go one land at a time. Try and score an early Multi Pass for Test Track, then time it with a Lightning Land Single Pass to Cosmic Rewind and a ride on Mission Space (the queue for this attraction is rarely, if ever, a long one) before moving through the other two neighborhoods that formerly made up Future World. Meanwhile, once you use your Test Track Lightning Lane, start looking for World Showcase Multi Passes for either Frozen or Remy’s for later in the day so that after you finish up in the front half of the park, you can head into the World Showcase for the rest of the day.

Test Track is BACK and arguably better than ever at EPCOT, but the ride’s reopening has made maneuvering around the park a wee bit more complicated. Stay tuned to AllEars for more EPCOT tips.

Extinct EPCOT: The History of World of Motion

Are you excited for the new Test Track? Let us know in the comments below.