When they mentioned the coaster being along the lines of Slinky Dog Dash, I really hope they don’t mean the intensity level will be the same as that IMO. I get wanting it to be accessible for younger guests, though I wouldn’t mind something like Big Bear Mountain (whose height requirement is just one inch taller than SDD) that’s both indoor and outdoor.
Given they said "think like Isle of Berk" I think the coaster inspiration is more like Hiccup's Wing Gliders which itself feels like Universal's plussed up version of SDD. In that its a coaster that will have animatronic based scenes.
So, double post, an important takeaway from the models. That is a 36 passenger train (unless the back row out of frame magically doesn't exist).
That would make it the largest coaster train at a Disney Park, tied only with Casey Jr at Disneyland Paris, which is short and has two trains. Everest comes in second with 34 passengers (virtually the same, really), followed by all the Big Thunder Mountains at 30.
So this is a very crucial detail, because Disney's coasters are best known as block zone haven. They will often have pretty short gravity sections between midcourses to keep blocks quick, train dispatches high, and thus capacity at Disney levels. Tron for example uses 14 passenger trains and you're practically hitting the brakes every five seconds as a result. The Monsters Inc coaster will use 10-12 passenger trains and is equipped with a rare QUAD loading station, plus probably a ton of blocks given the elevation isn't terribly huge. This is very much the case with Space Mountain. Disney coasters are practically upscaled Wild Mice. The one that gets the shit end of the stick is Seven Dwarves, which uses 20-passenger trains AND has to dispatch super frequently to handle demand. Your result is two super short coaster sections and a proper whelming.
The WDW coasters where you get to coast a lot longer are Everest and Big Thunder Mountain. 30, 40, 50 seconds of just gravity track is normal for what we enjoy on coasters at regional parks, and you can also accomplish a lot more layout-wise with that time. Disney was teasing new and proper coaster elements on this instead of having to make them glorified show scenes rushing between blocks. The fact that they're teasing this to be more on the family-thrill end than Seven Dwarves, Slinky, and Barnstormer says good things compared to what we're now seeing.
It's like seeing a puppy with huge paws, you just know that dog is going to grow.
