I don’t know how anyone could justify spending tens of millions of dollars on a train that moves, at most, a couple hundred people about a block… especially when they’ll get a nearly identical experience in a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of trucks.
I think the people saying they’ll know they’re in a truck are ignoring the fact it’s only going about a block and it’s all backstage on controlled roads, this things probably going to be moving at 5mph or less the entire time. It’s not like they’re going to be racing up to 70mph on an on-ramp, swerving between cars, and slamming on the brakes for a red light. The motion of the truck will be negligible and the sound will be from a soundtrack inside, not diesel motors and air brakes.
What’s the use of spending millions on a train rather than buses if the people inside can’t tell the difference?
Hogwarts express makes sense to be a train, you see it arrive, you see it leave, you walk the corridors… the train is essential to the experience, none of that will be true for the transport… Hogwarts also sees as many guests in one day than the Starcruiser will likely see in an entire year.
I hate when Disney cheaps out but I also don’t see any need to throw away millions of dollars for no reason.
The HWE at Universal is equal parts transportation and attraction. Experiencing it, makes it very clear they viewed it that way from the start.
The question is, how much of an experience/attraction is this "shuttle" intended to be vs. transportation?
With HWE, running on a track, they have an incredibly consistent experience with timing that they can put video and projection effects to which runs the length of the ride and then ends as you pull into the station.
Something like that would be much harder to pull off in a truck because no two rides is ever going to be physically the same. The drivers lead foot for the gas and break (or lack of) is going to change the speed and sense of motion as are points when roads have to be crossed where the vehicle may or may not have to stop. Turns which based on that map, there will be a few semi-sharp ones will be different each time, too.
How do you sync a video in the back to all of that when it happens at different speeds and different times on every trip, reliably?
But then, we don't know that there will be any view "outside" while riding. We really don't know what the "experience" of the shuttle is intended to be at all.
Is Disney considering it something elaborate or just a basic trip to the back of the park?
Maybe if there is some sort of video, it'll just be an in-world informational thing about where the guests are headed and the motion of the vehicle will have absolutely no impact on that.
Who knows at this point?
But a box on a small elevated track going back and forth utilizing a basic ride system or light rail would have allowed for a much more consistent experience than whatever it is they're doing with the truck and that would have allowed for what probably would have been a more "emersive" experience in regards to views out while likely creating a more direct route that wouldn't have cost anything close to what Universal paid for the HWE, I'm sure.
It would have been more expensive than a truck, though, to be sure.
But again, what Universal built was an attraction that doubled as actual transportation. Disney may not be even trying for that with this and may instead just view it as transportation themed well enough to be considered in-world.
