Test Track

Image: DisneyThis entry applies more to the pre-ride experience than Test Track itself. The combined dark ride/roller coaster is an engaging experience on its own, but building your own vehicle is where the action is.

Guests who have FastPasses or wait in the regular line queue for Test Track eventually enter a room that simulates ride design. It’s unavailable to Single Rider guests, though, a reason why I rarely choose that option. I love designing a monstrous-looking car that seems road-unfriendly.

The menu screen for Test Track allows the user to select one of several main body designs like sports car or SUV. Then, you can stretch or tighten it to ridiculous proportions. Afterward, you’ll choose a handful of design aesthetics and eventually pick ways to improve the power or fuel efficiency of your new ride. That’s a joke, of course. Nobody ever chooses fuel efficiency over power.

Building a Test Track vehicle thrills me each time, and I take pride in the fact that none of my cars ever look the same. Each of them is its own scientific abomination, unworthy of the light of day. I work hard to build ugly, powerful super-cars. And I love that the attraction lets me do this.

Toy Story Mania!

Image: DisneyI could have just as easily selected Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin here, as the rationale is identical. Disney has added gaming elements to a couple of its attractions to make them more like the carnival games of yore. The results are scintillating, as the addictive nature of these attractions has sustained their appeal for many years now.

Toy Story Mania! embraces the carnival game aspect the most, as the ride is little more than a series of 4-D challenges that mimic classics like the ring toss and dart throw. The difference is that you pull the cord on a controller to perform the requisite action. It’s an almost hypnotic bit of immersion, as the ride is over before you know it.

At the end, everyone compares scores to prove who the best is at popping balloons and other challenges. On Buzz Lightyear, the competition involves shooting laser beams to retrieve intergalactic batteries, but the underlying appeal is the same. You get to best your friends in a friendly Disney game. Who wouldn’t love that?

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Image: DisneyThe final Disney ride with terrific repeat value is Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. And the explanation here is simple. Imagineers have randomized this attraction in a straightforward but profound way.

Once you enter the elevator shaft at the top of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, you have no idea what will happen next. You expect to drop weightlessly for a period of time, except that you have no idea how long it will happen. You’re not even sure that you’ll go down, as up is a possibility, too.

You’ll spend a few moments in breathless anticipation, anxiously trying to predict what happens next. No matter what it is, your body simply cannot prepare for it, and the elevator’s bouncing will keep you guessing for several intoxicating moments. You’ll never know which way the elevator will bounce or for how long.

The late Rod Serling builds a mystery the instant you enter his library, and the solution to this puzzle never reveals itself until the very end, leaving you breathless and giddy. There’s a reason why many consider Twilight Zone Tower of Terror one of the greatest theme park attractions ever. It embraces the chaos of unpredictability.