Disney FINALLY Announces TRON Opening Date!

After years of wishing and hoping and praying and planning, the time has finally come! Since 2017, Guests visiting Walt Disney World Resort have watched as Imagineers and construction crews have worked on the Resort’s newest roller coaster, TRON Lightcycle/Run. TRON was first announced at Disney’s D23 Expo in 2017 and, back then, Disney officials said that they planned to have the ride up and running by the time the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary kicked off — which was in October 2020.

Credit: Disney

As we all know by now, that opening never happened. Construction started to fall behind and got even further behind when the Resort had to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As time wore on, Guests’ hopes for an upcoming opening were dashed, and the time it was taking Disney to build a ride they already knew how to make — because there is a TRON ride at Shanghai Disney — became a running joke.

But that all changed today. Disney FINALLY announced that TRON Lightcycle/Run will be opening at the Magic Kingdom on April 4, 2023!

Credit: Bioreconstruct

If you’ve been waiting for the highly-anticipated attraction to open, but don’t know much about it, here’s what you can expect.

LIMIT: NOT FOUND_

Lean forward into the ultimate race of survival! Leave the real world behind and join Team Blue in an epic quest across the Grid—the dark, computerized world with no horizons from TRON. Here, there’s no limit to the excitement.

Climb aboard your very own Lightcycle and take off on a high-speed adventure, racing against the Grid’s most menacing Programs. Surge past your fierce opponents as you attempt to cross through 8 Energy Gates and secure your team’s victory—so you can survive to race another day.

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Before the attraction officially opens on April 4, both Walt Disney World Cast Members and Walt Disney World Resort Annual Passholders will have a chance to ride the attraction. The same preview system was used for both Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT 2020 and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT in 2021.

At this time, we do not know if TRON Lightcycle/Run will utilize a virtual queue system. However, it would not be surprising, as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind all used a virtual queue. Rise of the Resistance and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure do not use the virtual queue anymore, but Cosmic Rewind does.

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It is also expected that TRON Lightcycle/Run will be an individual attraction selection, so you can purchase Lightning Lane access if you can’t get in the virtual queue. Those Lightning Lane reservations will most likely sell out in minutes, so you may want to get onto the My Disney Experience app before they go on sale.

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It is also important to note that no bags will be allowed on the new roller coaster. Disney will provide lockers outside the attraction for Guests to store all of their belongings. TRON will be located right next to another popular Magic Kingdom roller coaster — Space Mountain.

Again, TRON Lightcycle/Run will open at the Magic Kingdom on April 4. Happy riding, everyone!