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I heard it from an employee, that explains the mural a little bit, as you probably saw in the original concept, they had a mural because they knew they were going to go overbudget. Originally, EVAC was supposed to be placed at the top of the TF sign, but that would be danger. So they decided to save money for the ride itself.
Also, hard to believe our Mummy went over budget considering we got the cheapo version
Anyway, from everything that I've heard, Transformers was not over budget at all. The facade becoming a mural instead of military base facade was simply to save money, not because we were over budget. The only other "cut" they made cuz of money was not including the animatronic Optimus at the end, and instead we got a projection. Which was also for continuity since the rest of the ride was projection based
I've heard of the military based facade too. But i was told the attraction went overbudget. And they said in the press release they would have a Megatron animatronic, but that didn't happen, it didn't move, it is just stationary. But whatever you say Allen, it's might be correct. But that is what i was told. Have a Universal Day!