Disney's New Roller Coaster at Magic Kingdom
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (124240)
Gainesville, Florida
March 12, 2023 11:30am CST
After 5 long years of waiting, Disney has finally unveiled its newest roller coaster in the US, the Tron Lightcycle Run (the same ride already exists at Shanghai Disneyland). The ride officially opens April 4th at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, but cast members and select annual pass holders were given a sneak preview ahead of the grand opening.
The roller coaster is based off of the Disney Tron movies (Tron in 1982 and Tron Legacy in 2010). In this scenario, riders are "digitized" and enter the electronic realm where they join Tron and the blue team to fight against evil Sark and the orange team. It's a race against time to save the digital realm! Riders sit on a light cycle, a sort of fancy looking motorcycle, for the ride.
The majority of the ride is indoors in a giagantic building, but the launch takes place outdoors under a giant dome/canopy, as seen in the photo. The launch takes riders from 0-59 mph (95km) in a matter of a few seconds. And because the majority of the ride is indoors, there are very cool lighting effects throughout the attraction that make the rider feel as if they are in the digital realm.
This newest attraction sits in the back of Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom next to Space Mountain. There are some very amazing sightlines at night when both are lit up. It surely does look futuristic.
As you can see from the photo, even during the pass holder preview the queue was filled with hundreds, if not thousands of people. Fortunately, when the ride opens to the public on April 4th, the only way to ride the attraction is to make a reservation in Disney's virtual queue. This prevents waiting times that would probably equal about 3-4 hours if guests were required to stand in the queue to ride.
Our sneak preview ride was on March 6th from 7-8pm. We were lucky enough to join the queue towards the end, and since it was the last preview boarding group of the night, there were only a few guests behind us in the line. As a result, when we completed the ride, we asked the cast members if we could ride it again since there were no other waiting guests, and they let us! It was a blast!
Are you a roller coaster fan, and were you aware of Disney's new roller coaster opening up?
13 people like this
12 responses
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 23
It was a fun, but very short roller coaster. I wish they would have made it longer. But it still was amazing. Out of the two roller coasters Disney has opened in the last 6 months (Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot being the other one), my favorite is Guardians. But Tron was still pretty cool.
And I’m glad Dustin enjoyed the roller coasters. It is usually the first thing we stand in line for as well.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 23
@CarolDM Disney did great when they built the new Rise of the Resistance ride at Hollywood Studios, and great with Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot, but for some reason I think they missed a golden opportunity with Tron at Magic Kingdom. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it, but it’s just way too short.
1 person likes this
@CarolDM (203410)
• Nashville, Tennessee
12 Mar 23
@moffittjc Too bad it was short. But you enjoyed it just the same. I have great memories from visiting Disney.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (147769)
• United States
12 Mar 23
I will ride roller coasters but Pretty is the fan.
And nope... It doesn't matter, though, we won't be going to ride it anyway.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Mar 23
@DaddyEvil And a plus to doing that is you don’t get motion sickness watching a video of the ride.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Mar 23
You can always search for the ride on YouTube, as many people have filmed POV video of the ride.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (473988)
• Italy
14 Mar 23
@moffittjc It is very short, waiting in line for a long time for such a short ride is deceiving.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Mar 23
@LadyDuck I can’t speak for most of the other theme parks out there in the world, but Disney is great about making the queue as interactive as possible and incorporating it into the storyline or theme of the ride.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Mar 23
It was a fun ride, but it’s not at the top of my list of favorites. The ride vehicle is not very comfortable, and the entire ride only lasts a minute and a half. But it still was pretty fun
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (115834)
• Marion, Ohio
14 Mar 23
@moffittjc I have ridden some. But don't enjoy the extreme ones
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Mar 23
@wolfgirl569 No sense making yourself uncomfortable riding one’s you don’t like.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Mar 23
A lot of people don’t like roller coasters. Very understandable. I used to be scared of them. Then I got drunk one time at Busch Gardens and rode their scariest roller coaster over and over about a dozen times. That cured my fear.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Mar 23
I get dizzy on the swings and tilt a whirl, but I still love them anyway.
1 person likes this
@RubyHawk (99397)
• Atlanta, Georgia
14 Mar 23
@moffittjc I’d probably have a heart attack on the roller coaster.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Mar 23
@RubyHawk And we surely wouldn’t want that to happen!
@Fa_Maverick (9491)
• Australia
25 Mar 23
Roller Coasters can be fun after getting over the initial terror.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
25 Mar 23
I think that initial terror is part of what makes roller coasters so fun! I've seen roller coasters that I've actually been terrified to get on, but then I do and it's an absolute blast. The worst are the really tall ones, when you get on the ride and it's a very slow accent up to that first drop or loop or whatever. The entire time your nerves are driving you crazy in anticipation of that first big drop or loop.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
25 Mar 23
@Fa_Maverick I still remember my first roller coaster, it was one at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, and at the time it was one of only 2-3 coasters in the theme park. It was called the Python. I was terrified of it, and it took me a good 5-6 years to build up enough courage to go on it. The funny thing is, that same coaster is still around, but it looks like a kiddie ride now compared to the monstrous coasters that Busch Gardens has now.
1 person likes this
@Fa_Maverick (9491)
• Australia
25 Mar 23
@moffittjc yep... I remember my first large coaster... Adelaide is a pretty small town so the largest coaster we had was the Mad mouse at the RAS (royal Adelaide show) then it got decommissioned and revamped (I think) but it was tiny in comparison to ones at Disney and Universal
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (74516)
• United States
12 Mar 23
Oh, back in the day, it was Wabash Cannonball (Opryland) and the Loch Ness Monster (Busch Gardens Williamsburg). Now, it’s those wimpy mountain coasters. Rocky Top is my favorite.
Your browser isn’t supported anymore. Update it to get the best YouTube experience and our latest features. Learn moreRemind me later
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 23
It is a very huge area. And behind that large dome/canopy is the building that actually accommodates most of the ride.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 23
Now that my kids are grown, I keep telling them to have grandchildren so we can experience the magic again through a child’s eyes. But then again, it hasn’t slowed me down a bit from going there.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Mar 23
Disney has other roller coasters that I think are better, but this ride was still pretty awesome. I plan on riding it again after it opens to the public.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 23
Most of Disney’s coasters are tame by comparison to other theme parks, because they design them to be family friendly. Would you ride any of those? I’m
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (188285)
• United States
15 Mar 23
Man, that's a lot of people waiting! I'm not a roller coaster fan. Did you mention this ride opening up? Maybe it was the one that will replace the one that closed down. Glad you were able to preview it. I know that was a thrill for you.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (124240)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Mar 23
There were definitely a lot of pass holders in the line, but it moved fairly quickly. This ride is not to replace the other one that closed down. The other one is just being remodeled and re-themed.
