Changes

Test Track opened as the World of Motion pavilion in 1982 with the rest of EPCOT Center. The pavilion was sponsored by General Motors, the first company to agree to sponsor an Epcot pavilion. The World of Motion pavilion was shaped like a large, chrome wheel. The pavilion only featured one attraction, also called the World of Motion, which took guests through the history of human transportation. The attraction featured 30 different scenes which showed transportation advance, from the invention of the wheel, all the way to the modern highway system. The World of Motion even predicted what the future of transportation would be like, by showing guests CenterCore, a futuristic metropolis where everything seemed to be in motion. The ride specifically focused on how advancements in transportation have made our lives more fun and free. Unlike the other Epcot pavilions, The World of Motion took a humorous approach to its subject. Imagineer Ward Kimball helped create the attractions storyline, while Imagineers X Atencio and Buddy Baker penned the attractions theme song "It's Fun to Be Free". After exiting the attraction, guests would enter General Motors' TransCenter. Here guests could see new prototype transportation methods, and even watch automated robots assemble various vehicles.

In 1992 General Motor's ten year sponsorship of the pavilion ran up, and General Motors was unsure if they wanted to renew it. Due to the slumping economy, GM was facing large cutbacks and layoffs, and the company was not sure how beneficial their Epcot sponsorship was. If General Motors was to renew their sponsorship, it would require them to perform major renovations or even develop and new attraction altogether (as Disney wanted). GM eventually decided to renew their sponsorship for one year. The stop-gap sponsorship allowed the company to determine how beneficial their sponsorship was, while also protecting the pavilion from a rival sponsor. The one year sponsorship also gave GM time to see if the economy would recover. At the end of the year GM decided to re-up their sponsorship for (presumably) ten years. With the signing of the new sponsorship, GM and Disney decided to create a new attraction for the pavilion. It was also decided that the World of Motion attraction would remain open until the new attraction was developed.