Will Tron Lightcycle/Run Open For the 50th Celebration?
Tron Lightcycle / Run Concept Art
Tron Lightcycle / Run was originally announced for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World back in July of 2017 at D23 in Anaheim, California. Since its announcement, the ride has had a long journey of ups and downs. However, with the park quickly approaching the end of its 50th anniversary celebrations, many fans are left wondering if Disney will keep their word on opening the attraction sometime during the 18 month long event.
Walt Disney World Resort kicked off its 50th Anniversary celebrations on October 1st, 2021 to many mixed reviews. The root of the controversial celebrations stemmed from the cancellations of many announced updates and renovations promised to come to the resort as a way to refresh it as the parks enter the second half of their first century.
Tron Lightcycle Power Run in Shanghai Disneyland Photo Credit: Disney Parks
With that being said, one of the attractions that wasn’t canceled for the celebration was Tron Lightcycle / Run. However, five years after its announcement, and one pandemic later, we still have no word on its official opening date. Furthermore, Disney has officially confirmed that the final date for the 50th celebrations will be on March 31, 2023. With Tron being nearly finished, and the first phase of testing with actual people underway, will we see the attraction open within the celebrations as Disney promised?
The “Grid” canopy being installed on the Tron Lightcycle / Run coaster at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park. Photo Credits: Disney Parks
With all of the roadblocks that have delayed the construction of Tron Lightcycle / Run, the coaster is now in its final stages of construction. In August of 2022 we saw Tron give its first ride to Disney Imagineers, as well as continue its testing of lighting packages for the iconic “Grid” canopy that the ride is known for. With all of the progress we’ve seen of late, there’s still several factors that give pause to the idea of the attraction opening within the time period of the celebration. The first obstacle is the Walt Disney World Railroad.
The Walt Disney World Railroad Sitting atop of the Main Street, U.S.A train station.
The Walt Disney World Railroad, an icon of the park, has been shuttered since 2018. In recent days many guests have reported sightings of the railroad testing in preparation for reopening. However, with construction on Tron continuing to fall behind, the railroad sections that pass under the coaster still have not been fully installed. Although installation may be a quick process, the reopening of the attraction is tied directly to the progress of Tron’s construction.
The second obstacle is the attraction’s integration into Tomorrowland. Currently, path work for the attraction is in an unpredictable stage - ranging from almost finished to not even started. That being said, the expansion of the pathway that passes alongside the Tomorrowland Speedway and beside the Space Mountain gift shop is nearly completed, and once that work is finished, it’s expected to see more pathing work speed up.
Lightcycles running on the Tron coaster track under the “grid” canopy. Photo Credits: Disney Parks
Honestly, Tron is in a stage that, although it looks nearly complete, still requires quite a lot of work. And with Disney’s track record for construction speed, it’s going to be a mad dash to the finish line to have the attraction completed in time for the 50th. For context it took imagineers 36 months to build all of EPCOT. We are currently on (as of the writing of this article) month 62 since the announcement of Tron, a single attraction that’s a clone of another prebuilt ride. With the slow rate of construction, work would need to speed up dramatically in order to meet a deadline only a few months away.
With all that being said, D23, the event that saw the announcement of the attraction, is now only days away once again. Hopefully one of the reveals we can expect to see is the official announcement of the grand opening date of this attraction once and for all. To stay up-to-date on all the D23 theme park announcements, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter down below. Do you think we’ll get an announcement this week? Let us know in the comments!
Recommended Articles
Recommended Videos
