Are you ready programs? The world of TRON is coming to the Magic Kingdom as a clone of the fan-favorite Shanghai Disneyland roller coaster is being ported to the Magic Kingdom. We stopped by the park last weekend to check in on construction progress.
Earlier this month we learned that the TRON coaster under construction at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom will officially be named TRON Lightcycle/Run. Yes, there’s a forward slash in there.
The steel motorbike style roller coaster will launch guests down a track that goes through a show building and in a semi-enclosed space that will loop out over the train tracks on the edge of Tomorrowland.
If you want to get a feel for how the motorbike style cars will fit your body type, there is a pair off seats set up outside of Space Mountain in Tomorrowland. We tried them out at an earlier media event and found them comfortable, if a little awkward to board.
At Shanghai the height limit is 48 inches, just for safety reasons due to the way a back rest holds you on the car. There are no inversions, but a lot of tight turns that feature high g-force fun. Expect a similar height limit here.
As you can see from the video, the track itself looks to be installed. Now there is a lot of work to bring the show building and surrounding facilities to the point where testing can begin.
Eventually an elevated pathway will extend over the train tracks and guests will enter the queue by passing over the Walt Disney World railroad.
It will light up at night in a blue glow that will feel very familiar to fans of the TRON movies. The show building is so big you can actually see it from Fantasyland near the exit to Peter Pan and it looms over The Barnstormer kid’s coaster in Storybook Circus.
I don’t think the Tomorrowland Speedweay is going away anytime soon. However, it would be great if they could convert those cars to electric power and illuminate them at night to go with the TRON theme. Imagine the visuals there.
Are you excited for TRON Lightcycle/Run roller coaster? It’s not scheduled to open until late 2020 or early 2021 in time for Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration.