The Anticlimactic Reopening Of Spaceship Earth At EPCOT - Riding NEW Test Track & Disney After Dark
EPCOT Oct 2025
Transcript
0:03
Today's adventure begins as the
0:03
recording of this Sunday, October 19th,
0:06
2025.
0:08
700 p.m. on the nose. Headed to Epcot
0:11
Center and there is a storm a brewing.
0:17
Sun is setting. Also,
0:24
weather park closed at 9:00 tonight.
0:24
Well, the fireworks happen across the
0:25
lagoon at 9:00. Gift shops stay open
0:27
till 10:00. the future World Gift Shops.
0:30
I probably might not even pop into World
0:33
Showcase,
0:35
but I heard that even though it is not
0:37
officially opened, they have reopened.
0:40
There's no wait times on the app, but
0:53
supposedly is open after a brief reverb.
0:53
So, I'm going to ride some Spaceship
0:54
Earth. See the Mickey Power Pole there.
0:56
see the new road construction that's
0:57
going to be happening down here over the
0:59
next few months. You look off in the
1:01
distance over there.
1:03
Sun
1:05
is setting. Very beautiful.
1:08
Oh, it feels great out. It feels so good
1:10
out. It's going to be a rainy, windy
1:12
night at Epcot.
1:15
Let's do it.
1:26
Approaching Epcot. The new speed bumps
1:26
or speed humps right here is approaching
1:29
the little parking center area.
1:32
Definitely not a mad rush to get in at
1:34
this time of the night. 7:10
1:36
right now.
1:46
Oh, that's because I could just drive
1:46
right through. Oh, there's no cast
1:48
members on duty.
1:51
I nearly forgot about that. But before
1:55
I think it's two or three or three hours
1:56
before the park closes, they stop
1:58
charging for parking. Now, being a
2:00
passholder like I am, you don't have to
2:01
pay to park cuz that's included in the
2:03
price of the AP, but usually they'll
2:06
stop and at least check.
2:08
But yeah, it's 7-Eleven right now. Park
2:10
closes at 9:00. So, you just drive right
2:13
in.
2:15
This is the status of the parking lot at
2:16
this particular moment.
2:19
Spaceship Earth was lit up, but
2:23
there it goes.
2:45
>> Should be a get a couple of track couple
2:45
attractions in
2:46
>> before close. And I doubt any of the
2:48
attractions in Future World will have a
2:51
wait time more than a walk-on. It'll be
2:53
a straight walk-on.
2:55
It's a definite beauty. One of the one
2:56
of the beautiful things about being a
2:57
passholder living 10 minutes away, 11
2:59
minutes away. I think I left my place at
3:01
7:00. Got over to the parking lot at
3:03
7:10 7-Eleven
3:06
is just popping in, seeing when the wait
3:08
times are low. Checking the My Disney
3:10
Experience app going, "Oh, there's not a
3:11
lot of wait times for the attractions in
3:13
Future World. Let me head over there.
3:20
and today. So, you look through the
3:20
shrubs here or look through the the moss
3:23
and the foliage. I did bring my
3:26
umbrella. It would be foolish not to.
3:31
Welcome everyone out of the woo here.
3:32
The wind's already starting to pick up.
3:34
I'm inviting you to join me for a rainy
3:36
windy day. There goes the Montreal.
3:37
There goes the Montreal at Epcot.
3:44
Caught me by surprise.
3:44
Join me.
3:47
Let's have a couple hours in a very wet
3:50
Epcot,
3:52
shall we?
3:53
>> What?
3:53
>> Now watch. Soon as I have now that I
3:55
have the umbrella up, it'll stop
3:57
raining.
3:58
It's just how it goes.
4:01
>> Hi.
4:01
>> Hey, how you doing?
4:10
>> I could have taken the tram, decided to
4:10
walk. There are two people total and
4:13
then the cast. So, four people total,
4:15
driver, cast member, and two others on
4:17
the tram.
4:22
A guy just walked by me, said that
4:22
Guardians, it's temporarily closed. So,
4:25
we'll not be going to Guardians if
4:27
that's the case. 79°, it feels great.
4:31
Right now, it's raining.
4:33
This showed storms for the next couple
4:35
hours, but now that I got over here and
4:36
opened up the umbrella, and I put
4:38
celebration in cuz it's, you know, four
4:41
miles away, but same general area. Let's
4:43
look at the
4:45
Let's look at the current status of the
4:48
weather patterns.
4:50
719.
4:52
Here you go. For all the me former
4:54
future meteorologists out there and have
4:56
interest. I've never seen a cast member
4:57
almost like they're on the tarmac with
4:59
an airplane. He's got the little
5:02
things like you have on the tarmac.
5:11
It's cool.
5:11
I guess for people to be able to walk
5:13
across that little walkway there. See,
5:15
there's like a little walkway.
5:21
I guess the cross over maybe because of
5:21
the inclement weather. Maybe they're
5:22
just doing that all the time now.
5:26
That's new. Let's look at some weight
5:29
times. 15 minutes for Soar and 5 minutes
5:31
for the land. 5 minutes for Nemo.
5:33
Guardian isn't Guardians is in fact,
5:35
according to the person that walked by
5:37
me, down. Test track is down. 45 minutes
5:42
for frozen. I'm not even going to step
5:44
into World Showcase. I'm just going to
5:45
do Future World. But you'll notice even
5:47
though there are strong rumors that
5:49
Spaceship Earth has reopened, there is
5:51
no wait time. This 35 minutes here is
5:52
not for Spaceship Earth. That is for the
5:55
Mickey and Pal's meet and greet. But
5:57
Spaceship Earth,
5:59
>> let's see if it's open. Hopefully that's
6:00
a walk-on also. But you look at So yeah,
6:03
you got Figment over here. Five minutes.
6:05
I'm a big fan of Future World. last
6:07
hour, hour and a half of the park being
6:09
open, they're always always walkons. All
6:12
right, from what I can tell, it is in
6:14
fact open. You kind of pan over here, I
6:17
can see a queue starting to formulate.
6:19
There are people in line, so it means
6:21
Spaceship Earth appears to be open. And
6:23
the line doesn't look like it's going to
6:24
be too terribly bad. Here is my typical
6:27
photo in the mirror here, or video, I
6:29
should say, in the mirror underneath the
6:32
little stansions that hold Spaceship
6:34
Earth together. Yeah, this is probably
6:36
going to be a 10-minute wait. Not bad.
6:38
10 minutes.
6:41
It was moving pretty quick, but now it's
6:42
kind of stopped. So, it might be a
6:43
little more than 10.
6:49
Should probably do this first just in
6:49
case it isn't running the rest of the
6:51
night.
6:53
They kind of rerouted everything.
6:54
There's a split in the line right there.
6:58
There are another cast members going up.
7:00
So, I don't know. I think maybe Oh, no.
7:01
It's It's moving again. It's moving
7:03
again.
7:05
success. One thing I'm kind of curious,
7:07
I kind of wonder what all they did on
7:09
this. And I have to wonder if they have
7:11
turned the paper boy back around like
7:13
how it used to be. It's been facing a
7:14
wall for years. This is only down for
7:16
like what, a few months or 6 months.
7:18
Couldn't have done too much of an
7:19
overhaul. I don't recall if that was lit
7:21
up, illuminated around the border of the
7:23
sign there or not. In fact, to be
7:25
honest, I can't really recall if it was
7:27
or not, but it looks good now
7:29
nonetheless.
7:32
And as amazing as this attraction is,
7:34
probably the best in Epcot. Just stands
7:36
the test of time. It does need a little
7:38
TLC TLC and a little, you know,
7:41
monstrous refurb at some point. I'm sure
7:43
they've cleaned it up a little bit, but
7:44
I feel like it definitely needs a
7:46
complete overhaul at some point, but
7:48
just think of how great this slowmoving
7:50
dark ride is. There's two other ones
7:52
that were similar to this that were lost
7:54
at Epcot that have been replaced. So,
7:56
you got World Emotion and you got
7:58
Horizons. Imagine if we still had World
8:00
Emotions and Horizons.
8:03
I mean, World of Motion is now test
8:05
track, which is still pretty good, but
8:07
what is Way Horizons is is, in my
8:09
opinion, a complete travesty to get rid
8:12
of an amazing dark ride. So, anyone that
8:15
thinks how great this is and how much
8:17
they love this, just imagine two more
8:19
slowmoving dark rides similar to this
8:21
that I've got.
8:27
I need to remain seated with my hands,
8:27
arms, feet, and legs inside the vehicle.
8:30
push whatever language I want to touch
8:32
the language and head up into the most
8:34
magnificent sphere that Epcot has ever
8:37
created. This is one of the best
8:39
attractions of all time for a Disney
8:41
park. Definitely top 10, maybe even top
8:44
five. Definitely top 10. Classic,
8:48
vintage, beautiful, and absolutely
8:51
amazing. I love Spaceship Earth. I love
8:53
it. You know, I can't really tell if
8:55
they did a whole heck of a lot of
8:56
anything to it. I mean, I still love it
8:58
even if it even if it does need the
9:00
complete overhaul and to be fixed up a
9:02
little more than what they did during
9:03
the few month 3 to 6 month I can't
9:06
remember exactly how long it was down
9:08
for reverb, but I I couldn't really tell
9:10
any major any major differences on what
9:13
they did throughout the course of the
9:14
actual ride itself through the
9:16
attraction on the ride [music] vehicle.
9:18
Couldn't really tell if they really did
9:19
a whole heck of a lot. And I'm here to
9:21
report that the guy that's holding the
9:24
newspapers, a kid holding the
9:25
newspapers, is still up against the back
9:27
wall. He's not in where he originally
9:29
was many, many years ago. He used to be
9:31
right by the, you know, by right by the
9:32
ride track. You can see his face and
9:34
everything. Now his face has been
9:35
sticking up against the back of the
9:37
wall. So, I don't know what's going on
9:39
with I don't know what's going on with
9:41
that. But also, at the very end where
9:44
they do the photos where you take the
9:46
photo at the beginning, I had a pretty
9:47
pretty clear view of the the camera. I
9:50
uh smiled for the camera and all that
9:51
and wasn't able to get the photo the
9:54
photo was not working. So, a big thumbs
9:56
down on the fact that they cannot get
9:58
the photo the the photo thing to work
10:01
correctly. Some people get it to work,
10:02
some people don't get it to work, but I
10:04
feel like the descent is probably uh
10:07
probably long overdue for for being
10:10
changed.
10:12
All right, Spaceship Earth, the updated
10:16
version, which I couldn't tell much of
10:17
an update, completed.
10:20
I still love it, though. I will always
10:21
love Spaceship Earth, but I I feel like
10:24
nothing was not a whole heck of a lot
10:26
was done done to it. Usually, when a
10:28
reverb is only a few months, you know, a
10:31
major reverb takes like a year, year and
10:33
a half, they're going to completely, you
10:35
know, completely redo something
10:36
dramatically. This was such a a short
10:38
one. I wasn't expecting a whole lot of
10:41
changes. But look at this little
10:42
spaceship brick right here. Here's the
10:44
Montreal track. That's probably a
10:47
version of Progress City.
10:49
Walt's vision of what a Epcot originally
10:52
was going to be. This is an artistic
10:53
rendering of someone's interpretation of
10:56
what they thought Walt thought Progress
10:58
City would be. But yeah, you know, it's
11:00
still an hour before the park closes.
11:02
Test track just reopened. 60-minute wait
11:04
time, but they do have a single rider.
11:06
What if I go over there and see what the
11:08
And I've only ridden the new test track
11:10
once and my batteries ran out so I
11:12
didn't really get a good documentation
11:14
of it. So maybe I'll head over to test
11:15
track, try to do the single rider and
11:17
get on that tonight. A little post rain
11:20
test track test track 3.0. And I just
11:23
checked and Guardians is still still
11:27
down
11:29
there. No Guardians.
11:31
There's no single rider on Guardians.
11:32
Yeah, Horizons was right over there. And
11:36
World Emotion is right here where Test
11:38
Track now is. I do like Test Track a lot
11:40
though. I do like Test Track. Getting in
11:41
Single Rider at 806. 806 getting in
11:44
Single Rider over here. Right here. All
11:46
right, that's the standby line down
11:48
there. Single rider. Looks like it's
11:50
going to be a 5minute wait. 5 minute
11:52
wait because I am rolling solo today.
11:54
So, I'm guessing I'll be on by I don't
11:56
know in just a couple minutes. Got in
11:58
line at 806.
12:01
What exactly is Test Track? As presented
12:04
here by their explanation, test track is
12:06
a turbulent thrill ride showcasing the
12:08
future of automative technology.
12:09
Features rapid acceleration, sudden
12:12
breaking, sharp turns, and don't forget
12:14
steeply banked curves.
12:31
It'll be about 10 minutes total weight
12:31
time on this.
12:34
9 minutes. 9 minutes. And now I'm just
12:37
got placed in my spot in line. Single
12:39
rider row number five. Call it 10
12:41
minutes.
13:12
I love you can see down into the queue
13:12
now.
13:15
>> What are you doing?
13:16
>> Sounding futuristic.
13:17
>> Don't just be yourself. We've always
13:19
been dreaming about looking at the world
13:21
of today a little differently. [music]
13:24
>> That's where I come from. Let me show
13:26
you how I see the world.
13:34
>> Constantly scanning the road ahead,
13:34
helping to prepare us for any surprises.
13:39
>> Hang on.
13:42
>> Woo! Nicely done.
13:43
>> Surprises.
13:51
Power [music] transfer complete.
13:51
>> Smart roads are just the beginning.
13:54
Imagine being able to customize your
13:56
vehicle at home. [music]
13:58
>> H.
14:00
What about this one?
14:03
>> Good choice. Now, let's see how it
14:05
looks.
14:06
>> Let's try another one.
14:09
>> That looks good with the third row.
14:12
>> Thank you.
14:14
>> And here's there is no third row. And
14:17
together we keep moving forward, finding
14:20
[music] new ways to drive to a brighter
14:22
tomorrow.
14:36
Here we go.
14:36
Up now. Get up.
15:10
All right. It's a pretty good uh pretty
15:10
good redo. I kind of like that. I've got
15:12
the 3.0 version. And now over into the
15:14
showroom.
15:15
Completely bland and extremely boring.
15:18
Look at this. What happened to the
15:19
quirky and very cool ambiance and the
15:22
cool vibe they have in here. This is uh
15:24
this is horrible. This is like the most
15:25
bland thing ever. The exit's bad. So
15:28
bad. I mean, they always had the cars
15:29
that you you could look at, you could
15:31
purchase or you could like be interested
15:32
in purchasing, but at least they had
15:33
some neat backdrops you could get photos
15:35
with and kind of walk through and stuff.
15:37
They don't have any of that anymore.
15:38
It's basically just like going to your
15:40
local car dealership at the exit.
15:42
[music] But as far as the attraction,
15:44
the ride itself. Yeah. Thumbs up. It is
15:46
uh Oh, this is good. I don't have this.
15:48
I don't have this Mickey here with the
15:50
the new test track Mickey. I really like
15:53
the overlay. I think it's definitely a
15:55
lot better than the 2.0 version that
15:57
they had. Even though it still kind of
15:59
has that futuristic Tronish kind of
16:01
thing, but there's some mixture of like
16:03
practical stuff in there too as well.
16:04
So, I definitely like the new version.
16:06
I'm gonna get this pen. I'm gonna put it
16:08
with my Mickey pens. That's cool. Yeah,
16:11
just the the ending port ending portion
16:14
with the the sales pitch at the end. Not
16:17
as fun as it once was.
16:21
It's missing the fun element in the
16:25
>> Oh, that's cool. Look at this play in
16:26
the park popcorn.
16:39
All right, Guardians of the Galaxy has
16:39
reopened and the app says 70 minutes.
16:41
I'm going to call their bluff and say
16:42
this is shorter than I'm going to call
16:44
their bluff and say it's going to be 30
16:45
minutes because there is no outdoor
16:47
quue. So, I'm going to say I'm It's not
16:49
going to be a walk-on, but this thing is
16:51
definitely not 70 minutes. I'll be on
16:52
this before 9 again. Says 70 minutes. I
16:56
think that's a ploy to get no one to get
16:57
in line cuz the park closes in a half
16:59
hour. That's my That's my thought
17:01
process. Let's see. Let's see. Balloons
17:04
must be put away. And I'm heading in.
17:06
Let's see how it is. I am walking in at
17:08
8:33. I'm walking in the door at 8:33.
17:13
So, head in 8:33. The wonders of Xandar
17:18
from our world to yours. I'm going to be
17:20
on this before 9:00. I will be on the
17:23
ride before 9. All right. Now, I'm
17:24
wondering if my prediction will be
17:25
correct, but maybe.
17:27
>> Does anyone know what they call
17:29
themselves?
17:32
>> Okay. I was way off on my estimate.
17:35
It has already been 50 minutes. And I
17:38
think the reason even though I got in at
17:40
9:30 or 8:33,
17:43
it didn't flow very well because the
17:45
ride was shut down for so long that
17:47
everyone with the lightning lanes were
17:49
in the Lightning Lane line. So that line
17:51
was pretty lengthy. So my estimate was
17:55
off. Usually when you walk right in, you
17:59
know, it's less than a half hour, but 50
18:01
minutes to get to the second pre-show
18:03
route.
18:12
Still, probably another 10 minutes
18:12
before I actually get on the attraction.
18:14
So, let's call it a solid hour. But if
18:16
it wasn't for the ride being [music]
18:17
down for multiple hours throughout the
18:19
course of the day and everyone with the
18:21
lightning lane,
18:23
you know, lining up to get their spot, I
18:25
think it would have been closer to my
18:26
estimate, but I was off, so I stay
18:29
corrected.
18:31
Should have should have worked that into
18:32
the equation before I got in, but
18:39
>> here we go.
18:50
You made it. Ah,
18:50
>> the cosmic generator right here. It's
18:52
going to disappear in 5 4 3 2 1. There
18:57
it goes.
19:05
Curious what song I'll get. I haven't
19:05
ridden this this month. Last month I got
19:07
September cuz they did September for
19:09
every ride through. I didn't realize
19:12
that at the time because I wrote it two
19:13
times that night both times. Got the
19:16
song September and then I realized, oh,
19:18
you know what? It is September. So, that
19:20
made sense. It has officially been 1
19:22
hour.
19:24
Yeah, I was way off. I was way off on my
19:26
uh my estimator.
19:32
You win some, you lose some. I guess
19:32
that makes up for my 10-minute walk on
19:36
test track. All right, I'm all the way
19:38
in the back. Road 10.
19:41
Acro. It does circle around, spins
19:43
around, so you're at the front for a
19:44
bit. But I am in
19:47
10.
19:58
Let's go
19:58
almost. Yo, they're pretty much correct.
20:06
By the time this launches, it's going to
20:06
be exactly 70 minutes.
20:09
Way off in my estimate.
21:09
I ended up getting the song Conga Gloria
21:09
Stefon. I think technically Miami Sound
21:12
Machine, but she probably did it as a
21:14
solo artist also. I'm not sure. I would
21:17
definitely say it's not my favorite of
21:18
the songs. If I had to choose,
21:21
I would say Iran, Flock of Seagulls, or
21:24
Everybody Wants to Rule the World would
21:26
be the the second option. Tear Tears for
21:29
Fears. But I didn't get I didn't get
21:32
either one of those. Got
21:35
>> Conga, which I think a lot of people was
21:37
like one a lot of people's favorite
21:38
song. I'm heading out now. Get a nice
21:41
little view of
21:42
the exiting out of Spaceship Earth, all
21:45
illuminated and all its wonderful glory.
21:48
I'm glad I got to ride on it. I'm glad
21:50
it's back back open. And as I'm exiting
21:53
out, not only can I hear and see the
21:57
generator there on that light,
22:00
but also the fireworks are happening
22:02
over at Magic Kingdom. And the parking
22:05
lot is cleared out because it is 10:00
22:14
Check a look over there. Oh, that's
22:14
cool.
22:43
>> something really cool about the last 2
22:43
hours of park being open.
22:46
Looking back on it, I probably shouldn't
22:47
have got in line for Guardians,
22:57
but even an hour is not bad. But when
22:57
you predict a half hour and you're off
23:01
and they drive the point home that they
23:02
were correct.
23:05
Oh, look at that. That's beautiful
23:07
weather out here. So good. So nice.
23:10
Getting some nice little firework angles
23:12
there across the parking lot here. Ma,
23:15
not Magic Kingdom, Epcot. And then over
23:17
there is Magic Kingdom where the
23:19
fireworks are happening.
23:21
That's going to do it for today. Thanks
23:22
for watching and I'll see you in the
23:24
next video.
23:27
Yeah, just a nice little pop into Epcot
23:32
the vlog.
23:39
And of course, naturally, as soon as I
23:40
walked in with the umbrella, it didn't
23:41
rain the whole rest of the time. I mean,
23:42
it was like it was storming till I
23:46
walked in, closed the umbrella up, and
23:48
never reopened it. That's going to do it
23:50
for today. I'll see you in the next
23:51
video. The vlog
23:55
is over.
24:59
Bonus footage
24:59
>> without a cut.
25:02
Let's go.