Stops and starts

The boys and I walk back to Future World East, discussing a plan of attack as we go. Our time is not limitless – we told Becky we’d try to be back at the Polynesian at 10:45, 11:00 at the latest – so to give us a little cushion, we’ll try to be heading out of Epcot by 10:15.

One hour to ride both Test Track and Mission: Space? It can be done, but only if waits are short. Since we’re at the park at opening, our first ride shouldn’t have much of a wait, but we’re debating whether to get a Fastpass for the second attraction.

The north wind presses our backs we pass under the enormous sphere of Spaceship Earth, which seems to form a giant wind tunnel around us. It’s cold enough as it is. I’m not looking forward to returning this way and having the wind in our face.

When we come in sight of the rides, I see that Test Track’s wait is only 10 minutes. Shoot, let’s just do it. If we’re in and out of it as quickly as advertised, we should have enough time to ride Mission: Space without a Fastpass.

We join the Standby queue. It’s only our second time to ride Test Track – our first was in 2003 – and our first time in this line, since we used Fastpass on our last ride. There’s a lot to look at and learn about automotive engineering in this queue, so the time passes fairly quickly. Given our schedule, though, we’re hoping for as little of a wait as possible.

After seven minutes in line, we’re only about a third of the way to the preshow rooms, so I suspect the 10 minutes shown on the wait sign may have been optimistic. And then comes an announcement that boarding is being temporarily suspended. Indeed, the queue comes to a complete standstill.

I’m starting to regret not getting a Fastpass for Mission: Space.

After a looong five minutes, Test Track begins boarding again, and the line moves pretty fast, considering. We make it through the preshow and into the boarding zone at about 9:45.

The boys and I are excited about riding Test Track. As to Mission: Space, I’ve warned them that because of our delays here, it will have to have a really short wait time for us to be able to ride it, too. We’re hopeful, but not too optimistic at this point.

We load into a Test Track car and are on our way! This attraction is so cool. We pass the seat belt check and charge up the steep hill climb. Bumpy roads, check. High speed braking turn, without and then with ABS, check. Whee!!!! Into the environmental chambers – hot, cold (thanks, could have done without this one today!), and corrosive, check. Out we go to the “ride and handling” portion of the attraction, and… BAM. The car jerks to a sudden stop and my knees slam into the dash.

I don’t remember this part of the ride.