Top Six Unofficial Tips for Riding TRON Lightcycle/Run at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom

6 Tips for Riding TRON LightcycleRUN

The long-awaited TRON Lightcycle/Run roller coaster officially opened at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom on April 4, and the Unofficial Guide has our top six tips you need to know before you race through the Grid.

TRON Lightcycle/Run entrance sign at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom
Launch yourself on Walt Disney World’s newest roller coaster with the Unofficial Guide’s six tips for riding TRON Lightcycle/Run.

Originally designed for Shanghai Disneyland, and announced for Walt Disney World back in the pre-COVID era of 2017, TRON Lightcycle/Run is finally running at the Magic Kingdom. Based on the groundbreaking 1982 film (and its 2010 sequel) about sentient computer programs, this Vekoma-built attraction allows riders to hang onto a futuristic motorcycle as they launch at 60 mph on the resort’s fastest indoor ride.

Get a preview of the ride’s pre- and post-show with our 4K walkthrough of TRON Lightcycle/Run’s queue:

Thanks to several weeks of previews and soft-opening tests, the Unofficial Guide was able to check out this exciting new addition to Tomorrowland ahead of its formal debut on April 4th. Here are six steps you’ll want to follow for maximum enjoyment of your digitization experience.

1: Make a Magic Kingdom Park Reservation

The first thing you’ll need if you want to ride TRON Lightcycle/Run is a park pass reservation for the Magic Kingdom. You may have heard that Walt Disney World annual passholders will soon be able to visit the parks without a reservation, but that change will only allow you to enter later in the day, and it does not apply at Magic Kingdom on weekends. In order to get a ride on TRON using one of the methods discussed below, you’ll still need a valid park reservation for the foreseeable future.

2: Join a Virtual Queue Boarding Group (or buy Lightning Lane)

Like EPCOT’s Ratatouille and Cosmic Rewind before it, TRON is debuting without a standard standby queue. Until it gets one, the only way to get on the ride is with a free Virtual Queue boarding group or a paid Individual Lightning Lane reservation.

Since Lightning Lane costs about $20 per person and may sell out in the mornings before offsite guests get a chance to purchase it, we strongly recommend reading up on how to join the Virtual Queue at 7 a.m. The key to getting a low boarding number is to use an accurate atomic clock like time.gov instead of relying on your phone or Disney’s countdown, so you can click to join exactly on the hour. (A little Googling will help you discover unsupported tools to increase your odds of obtaining Boarding Group 1.)

3: Don’t Miss Your Boarding Window!

Once you have that coveted Virtual Queue boarding group number, keep checking Disney’s app for the estimated time until your hour-long return window opens, and be sure not to miss it when it does. That means heading towards the Magic Kingdom within minutes after 7 a.m. if you receive boarding number 15 or lower. BEWARE: TRON strictly enforces the end of its Virtual Queue return windows (unlike Cosmic Rewind), and you will be denied entry if you arrive late without an acceptable excuse.

On the flip side, until TRON is fully broken in, it probably won’t be unusual for it to open a little late due to maintenance and testing. If you rope-drop Magic Kingdom because you have obtained a single-digit boarding number, be prepared to cool your heels until TRON begins preloading guests into its queue. If you’re early enough, you may even find you have time for a quick trip on Space Mountain before the pathway to TRON even opens; just keep one eye on that boarding countdown!

4: Test Out the Lightcycle Before Queuing

TRON’s surprisingly short queue includes one pre-show wow moment involving a transparent video screen (which we won’t spoil here), along with a number of Easter eggs for fans of the films, starting with the digitizing Shiva laser that zaps characters into the computer world.

But by far, the ride’s most important scene-setting decorations are the pair of Lightcycles on display at the queue entrance. That’s because this must-do photo op also doubles as a test seat, which is an essential stop due to TRON’s unique ride vehicles.

To ride, guests must straddle the cycle and lie prone on their stomach while pulling the handlebars towards their chest, which causes restraints to extend across the back of the knee. The “identity disc“ that lifts up against a rider’s back doesn’t actually hold you down; it’s those behind-the-knee bars that do the work, and even slender guests who happen to have thick calves may have difficulty getting them locked in place.

If that happens to you, you can still ride TRON, but you’ll need to use one of the standard seats located in the last rows of two out of the attraction’s seven trains. Notify an attendant that you need the standard seats when you approach the boarding area, and expect to wait up to an extra half an hour.

5: Make a Pit Stop at the Lockers

Speaking of unique things about TRON, it’s also Disney’s first ride with mandatory lockers for holding loose items like hats, keys, and wallets.

Luckily, the lockers are free, and they have a double-sided design (just like Universal’s VelociCoaster) that lets you deposit your valuables just before boarding and retrieve them prior to exiting.

If you’ve got a physical park ticket or a working MagicBand, you’re good to go: just tap your card or band against any illuminated locker number and it will open for your use.

Unfortunately, TRON’s lockers aren’t compatible with Magic Mobile on smartphones or mobile devices, so guests who rely on their AppleWatch must go through an extra step.

Simply ask a cast member near the lockers for a temporary locker card, and deposit it in the marked disposal bins after you are done.

6: Watch Your Step (& Phone) and When Boarding

When you finally make it to the blue-bathed boarding area, pay attention to the unusual pathway riders on the far side of the train are expected to walk. Walk behind and between the ride vehicles to board the outside seat, instead of climbing over your neighbor’s seat.

Also, you can hold onto your phone or another small object until boarding, and then secure it inside the small box built into each cycle’s console between the handlebars. But it’s easy to feel disoriented after your high-speed race across the Grid, so be careful not to forget your belongings when disembarking!

If you manage to make it through all six of our suggested steps and successfully survive your adventure in the digital universe, consider celebrating with a frosty Watermelon Refresher or hot dumplings from the new Energy Bytes snack stand.

What do you think of the new TRON Lightcycle/Run coaster at Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments below!

For all there is to see and do at Walt Disney World, check out The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, or to plan your family’s trip to Orlando, check out The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World with Kids. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and sign up for our newsletter here. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.

6 Comments

  1. Jacob April 4, 2023Reply

    I was able to ride during the soft opening on March 23. Somewhat to my surprise, I failed to secure a virtual queue slot at the 7:00am drop despite a lot of prior experience with other VQ rides, especially Rise of the Resistance. Demand was just off the charts; I believe the entire morning VQ filled in less than a second. Fortunately, when trying again from inside the Magic Kingdom at 1:00pm, I succeeded. The old-fashioned lap bar seat at the rear was fine for me. Even though there aren’t many such seats, I waited only a few extra minutes to get one.

    On the whole, although I can’t remember TRON very well after seeing it 40 years ago, I liked the ride quite a bit. Kudos to the design team for putting in those accessible seats, unlike, say, Avatar Flight of Passage where you have to fit in the seat or leave. (I did fit in Avatar, barely, and might have made it into a regular TRON seat but the weirdness factor just seemed a bit much for me.)

    • Liliane Opsomer June 16, 2023Reply

      TRON is amazing. Thank you for your observations. I am glad the seat accommodation is better compared to Avatar Flight of Passage.

  2. Julie July 18, 2023Reply

    Thanks for the tips!

  3. David August 25, 2023Reply

    Late to the punch on this article, but I STILL haven’t ridden this. I really need to change that.

    Also, Hi Seth!

    • Liliane Opsomer August 25, 2023Reply

      Hope you get to ride TROON Lightcycle Run soon. Thanks for your greetings to Seth. Have a magical weekend.

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