I spoke with ride designer Chris Lauren, of Universal Creative, yesterday and you can read the entire Q&A on our High In The Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride page.
Fans have been looking at the tracks running above Seuss Landing ever since the park opened, and Lauren revealed that the original concept, Sylvester McMonkey McBean's Very Unusual Driving Machines, featured individual cars in a "bumper car situation." Lauren didn't wouldn't cough up much detail when I pressed him on the issue, but I can't imagine how bumper cars, 10 feet in the air and on a linear track, could possibly work. Apparently, neither did Universal, because as we all know, the ride never opened.
The Seuss Trolley Train, however, will put riders in Mack power coaster tram vehicles for a more traditional-style tour of the area. The ride will feature two distinct tracks, each taking a different path around the land. Lauren said:
The land itself was always intended to be seen from above. A lot of the props and sets and set-ups for Seuss Landing were directed to the view from above there. And it's nice to see those realized. And even more thrilling to become a part of that. And I think what I noticed as I was going around, was just how much awareness people [on the ground] had of the train as it moved through the land. 'Cause most folks tend to focus right in front of them. But when the train went through, it has a real presence. It really energizes the space.
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The original Sylvester McMonkey McBean theme was derived from Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches story, about Sneetches whose bellies had stars upon thars, and plain-bellied Sneetches, who had no stars upon thars. And the inventor McBean makes money off both groups of Sneetches adding and removing stars until nobody knows who was who. It's a lesson in equality, and by the looks of the box and the gifts inside, it looks like at least stars might be a continuing theme, if not Sneetches alone.
A little piece of paper inside claims the grand opening to be held June 22nd.