In just few short weeks Tron will officially open at Walt Disney World on April 4th and Guests absolutely cannot wait. People have taken to social media to proudly share their opening day Park Pass reservation at Magic Kingdom. This isn’t surprising since we’ve waited 5 years for the ride to open and Disney has made some pretty big promises about it.
It’s not a far stretch of the imagination at all to say that when it opens, it is going to be extremely popular. Because of this, there are some things you need to know if you plan to ride Tron during its first few weeks. Opening day procedures have been announced. As with other recent attraction openings, it has been confirmed that there will not be a standby line. Guests will be forced to either get a spot on the (free) Virtual Queue or pay for Individual Lightning Lane access.
I was at Hollywood Studios on the day Rise of the Resistance opened. This was the first time Disney World tested out its “no standby line” policy. It was, to put it nicely, a madhouse. Guests arrived before dawn to try and snag a spot and the Virtual Queue filled up within seconds. Riding Rise of the Resistance on opening day came down to pure luck (I’m happy to say that I was one of the lucky ones that got to ride). In 2019, Lightning Lane wasn’t a thing and no FaatPass was offered for the ride.
Now, Disney has tweaked and refined the procedure. It’s no longer as chaotic as it was that day in December 2019 but it is just as urgent. The Virtual Queue will fill up quickly. Given the anticipation and demand for this ride, we don’t expect to see Virtual Queue slots last more than 2 minutes. That said, unlike those disappointed people when Rise of the Resistance opened, if you miss out here you’ll have another chance to ride via Individual Lightning Lane access.
This means you will need to be prepared to fork out some cash if you intend to ride. Depending on your party size, potentially some serious cash. Individual Lightning Lane costs vary but we’ve seen them as high as $22/per person. For a ride with this much hype surrounding it, you can bet opening day pricing will be around that price point. Pricing for the ride will likely stay on the high end for quite some time meaning a family of 4 who wants to ride should plan to spend at least an additional $88 just to ride this one attraction (since pricing can vary by day and by attraction, it is possible that Tron: Lightcycle/Run could exceed even the highest price points we’ve seen so far).
This will likely not sit well with Guests, many of whom already feel as though Disney is pricing them out. One of the things Guests used to enjoy about Disney was the fact that you didn’t feel nickeled and dimed as is so often the case at other theme parks. However, if you know ahead of time, it takes the sting out slightly. My family will be begrudgingly budgeting $100 to ride but crossing our fingers for a Virtual Queue spot. See you on the grid!