Thursday Treasures
December 15, 2011
By Brent Dodge
My Disney Bucket List:
Swim in Stormalong Bay: Check
Say "All Aboard" on the Walt Disney World
Railroad microphone: Check
Do the College Program: Check
Go into a VIP Lounge: Check!
These are just a few things that were on my must do
Disney list for life, but the fourth one, Go into a VIP Lounge
didn't occur until a few weeks ago.
One of my former coworkers from Wisconsin was
visiting Walt Disney World with her daughter Jessica and grandson
Nick! During the trip Jessica, who works for GM, invited me to join
them in the VIP Lounge located in Test Track! I of course jumped at
the opportunity.

A few different attractions throughout Walt Disney
World have lounges for the employees of the company that sponsors
the attraction. I haven't been in any others, but I am not sure how
they could top this lounge. After arriving upstairs there is a room
with FREE sodas and one of the most unique views in all of Walt
Disney World:

Being able to see Test Track from this angle was
extremely cool! On the left hand side you can see the Hill Test,
while on the right is the end of the ABS test, as the car in the
middle is about to enter the Heat Room! I have seen this
window several times while riding the attraction, but never realized
what was in that room until this day. I can't ride the attraction
now without waving constantly at the window in hopes of finding
someone in the room sipping their free soda and taking in the unique
view.
While this view is incredible, there is a view on
the other side of the lounge area that is even more impressive.

There we were standing with all of Epcot out in
front of us. It was easily one of the greatest views of Epcot I have
ever seen in person. All around you could see classic attractions
like Ellen's Energy Adventure, Spaceship Earth, and even the
Imagination pavilion off in the distance! My favorite part of the
view was directly below me however:

Here you can watch cars go flying by at 65 miles per
hour directly below your feet. That's a car flying past in the
picture above! Throughout the lounge you could find pictures (like
the one below) hanging upon the walls. They had one for every scene
of the attraction where it would show you a picture of an actual
test track in the world, concept art for the attraction, and the
final product of the attraction! It was very surreal walking around
and seeing how this attraction developed throughout time!

When we were finally ready to
hop on our own Test Track ride, the woman at the
welcome guest handed us our very special
Fastpass:

The final highlight was being
escorted to the attraction and passing right
behind the seat belt check!

The trip through the lounge was
truly a dream come true and it has brought upon
a new item to check off:
Visit every VIP Lounge on Walt Disney World
Property: Pending....
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Thursday Treasures