Yeah, this is a gigantic failure and disappointment on Disney’s part. No way the ride will be worth the 5 year wait. It’s bound to be a let-down.
TRON Lightcycle Run
- Thread starter Brian G.
- Start date
-
Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.
Based on the brief video we saw of Josh riding TRON, there's a clear difference between how finished the inside is versus how finished the outside is. It does look like the outside could be easily finished this year, but just for example, nothing on the interior looked even close to done from what they showed of D'amaro's ride on the coaster.
They had the same issue with the walks up to the castle, I think they hung three sets up before they got it right just so they could open
- Apr 19, 2019
- 749
- 1,691
It mostly looked like that because work lights were on. Interior is very far along.
There really isn't much in there to see......
- Aug 17, 2009
- 8,007
- 9,866
Honestly, the announcement was just embarrassing, not surprising. It also deserves the reminder that Disney and Universal both announced their respective bike coasters mid-July 2017. Universal's opened June 2019. Disney's is opening in Spring 2023. Disney leadership is an absolute joke.
- Aug 8, 2018
- 1,233
- 1,486
To be honest Tron didn’t look like it would be ready until late 2022 anyway so I wasn’t as shocked when they said 2023. However I can’t believe it’s taken them this long to build a standard coaster.
Are they penny pinching that much that the costs had to be spread out over six years ?
Are they penny pinching that much that the costs had to be spread out over six years ?
To put it into perspective, when this was announced Wishes! had just finished it's run 2 months prior. Happily Ever After ran from May 2017 to September 29, 2021, Enchantment is going to have run for roughly 18 months, and Happily Ever After is now going to be coming back possibly right around the same time or even before TRON opens.
To compare to Universal, They've built and opened Hagrid, Velocicoaster, refurbished Mummy, and are in the process of basically turning Production Central into a Minion land. That's all without mentioning that they have a completely new theme park well under construction and will open only 2 years after Tron opens.
The total actual build time for EU will wind up being less actual time than it took Disney to build a simple coaster, which is insane.
To compare to Universal, They've built and opened Hagrid, Velocicoaster, refurbished Mummy, and are in the process of basically turning Production Central into a Minion land. That's all without mentioning that they have a completely new theme park well under construction and will open only 2 years after Tron opens.
The total actual build time for EU will wind up being less actual time than it took Disney to build a simple coaster, which is insane.
- Dec 14, 2020
- 171
- 493
If you have any significant theme park experience, you should definitely temper your expectations for Tron. To summarize it:
It's a roller coaster. Oh, and there's a launch, and a dark show section with a mirror and a couple screens. And the exterior looks beautiful at night.
And while you can boil anything down to absurdities, this ride is absolutely not worth any serious hype and Disney should not get any accolades for it, especially given the timeline. (For reference, I rode it two dozen times in Shanghai on two separate occasions.)
I struggle with trying not to be a gatekeeper to fun, because this is not to criticize anyone who likes the ride because of course people are going to like it. And if you like it, great! It's fun, and a decent addition to Magic Kingdom in terms of thrill, if not theming. My problem is this ride will be hyped up endlessly because it's in a Disney park and for no other reason, when it is just a shorter Space Mountain with neon and a faster launch. It does not introduce anything new, innovative, or unique, and a significantly older coaster like The Mummy at Universal has far more heart, thrill, and story. If this ride receives any sort of effusive praise (which it will), it will be grossly unfair. If any other park put out this ride, it would be roundly criticized as lacking in substance.
I would be far less critical if they had brought Pirates over from Shanghai, which is easily one of the best theme park rides in the world.
It's a roller coaster. Oh, and there's a launch, and a dark show section with a mirror and a couple screens. And the exterior looks beautiful at night.
And while you can boil anything down to absurdities, this ride is absolutely not worth any serious hype and Disney should not get any accolades for it, especially given the timeline. (For reference, I rode it two dozen times in Shanghai on two separate occasions.)
I struggle with trying not to be a gatekeeper to fun, because this is not to criticize anyone who likes the ride because of course people are going to like it. And if you like it, great! It's fun, and a decent addition to Magic Kingdom in terms of thrill, if not theming. My problem is this ride will be hyped up endlessly because it's in a Disney park and for no other reason, when it is just a shorter Space Mountain with neon and a faster launch. It does not introduce anything new, innovative, or unique, and a significantly older coaster like The Mummy at Universal has far more heart, thrill, and story. If this ride receives any sort of effusive praise (which it will), it will be grossly unfair. If any other park put out this ride, it would be roundly criticized as lacking in substance.
I would be far less critical if they had brought Pirates over from Shanghai, which is easily one of the best theme park rides in the world.
I will probably do it like I do mine train. Once - if I'm in the park - if I'm in Orlando - If there is nothing better to do - if I feel like it.
It's short, the seating is about as friendly as FoP and really has a one and done story/effects. Maybe - sometime.....
I’ll definitely happily ride this if I don’t have to wait long (so a VQ type of deal), but yeah, I think I’m mostly looking forward to this because our Space Mountain is in such bad shape and hopefully down the line (after Tiana opens in 2024?) they can take Space out of service for a lengthy refurb and finally replace the track or give it an all new layout like DL.
They’ll never admit it, but we’ve been talking about how they ran into issues during construction since before the pandemic. And then the pandemic happened. And now they’ve been in the business of REALLY stretching out build times, even more than before.
I don’t think we can blame this build time on any one of those things. It’s not slow Disney. It’s not pandemic. It’s not just unforeseen issues during construction. It’s all three.
And if two of those things hadn’t happened, Disney wouldn’t be getting so much flak, but just goes to show how their normal spread things out over multiple quarters bull crap can bite them in the butt when real delays crop up.
I don’t think we can blame this build time on any one of those things. It’s not slow Disney. It’s not pandemic. It’s not just unforeseen issues during construction. It’s all three.
And if two of those things hadn’t happened, Disney wouldn’t be getting so much flak, but just goes to show how their normal spread things out over multiple quarters bull crap can bite them in the butt when real delays crop up.
Oh yeah, 100%. It's all about having something new to open for each calendar year now. They've opened at least a ride or a land depending on the year at WDW every year since 2016 and they look to be on pace to continue that now through at least 2024. I'm highly skeptical they have anything substantial for 2025 though.
Even with how ridiculous it is that they shut down construction for around a year or more on this and that it's still not open, this is at a stage where it could easily be open for the Holidays (like RotR and New Fantasyland did), they just don't want to open it then. They want to push it to next year so that it gives people a reason to come back for something new.
Space Mountain is bordering on "unrideable" in my opinion but that also speaks for someone who doesn't enjoy being banged around on a coaster anymore. SM needs to just be replaced with a better layout and maybe just one longer track.
My biggest issue with TRON is that it probably lasts about 30 seconds, which is an issue that many launched coasters have. Wait an hour, board the coaster, and exit the ride before you even registered that it was underway. Will I ride it? Yes. I would probably do a Lightning Lane even since it is a coaster and I'm an idiot about such things. However, it is probably a one-time ride.
Don't quote me, but I have heard that soonish, Space Mtn. is getting a MAJOR overhaul including entirely different launched ride system, all new effects and music, and exterior enhancements.
My chiropractor will be very disappointed in this news
Does every new coaster need to be launched these days? It used to be a unique, WOW! element, and now it's on everything.
Anyway, I think the rickety feel of Space Mountain is a huge part of the appeal for me.
Anyway, I think the rickety feel of Space Mountain is a huge part of the appeal for me.
That's been the rumor for years, but Ops is afraid to lose the capacity. I'd wager it will happen after Tron and Tiana open because they're always afraid to lose more than one E-Ticket at a time.
- Jan 30, 2013
- 1,960
- 4,741
Not to get offtrack in a TRON thread but I wonder if they will copy whatever they are doing to Tokyo's Space Mountain.
