The long closure of Disney parks had a major impact on progress for this much-anticipated coaster—for those unfamiliar, TRON Lightcycle / Run is an upcoming (mostly) indoor roller coaster based on the attraction of the same name at Shanghai Disneyland. The ride will be located in Tomorrowland close to Space Mountain and was originally slated for a 2021 opening.
While that 2021 opening is looking much less unlikely, we are happy to report that it looks like Disney has made significant progress on construction for the attraction. We visited on Friday, February 12—the first day of President’s Day weekend which turned out to be one of the busiest days the park has seen since reopening! It was a hot day with the parks just-on-the-edge of uncomfortably busy at 35% capacity (the current cap). The crowds alone made getting close to the construction a challenge, but it’s not too hard to get a good glimpse at the ride if you know where to look…
Video: YouTube, Jett Farrell-Vega (@MyKingdomForAMouse)
You would think that Space Mountain would be the ideal place to take a peek at the TRON coaster construction, but this turned out to be wrong. Disney has cleverly shrouded the construction site from most angles in the park. We realized quickly we’d have to go exploring to get close…
You can see the construction somewhat from the queue and track of the Tomorrowland Speedway, though much of the attraction is blocked by cleverly placed trees. I’ll admit, I was concerned I’d have to take a ride in a mini-car just to get some footage! While the Tomorrowland Speedway is a good location to get a broad perspective on the coaster site, another location will actually afford you a much better view…
The best place to get an up close look at TRON Lightcycle / Run is actually the queue for The Barnstormer in Fantasyland—about as far as you can possibly go into Fantasyland. I attempted to perch next to the railroad station, but ultimately, I ended up getting absorbed into the Barnstormer queue when it had to be diverted through the station. The queue offers the closest view we’re aware of in the whole park…
The most obvious feature of the construction is the continued presence of the enormous crane looming over the attraction. We didn’t see it used the day we visited, but reports have already been confirmed that Disney started removing supports from under the roof section the next day. You can see the black vertical beams holding up the wavy roof canopy frame below…
It’s easy to lose track of what is what when viewing the construction at this stage—at first glance, the whole site looks like one massive coaster track. This will become less confusing as progress continues, but you can sort of tell what’s what based on the colors of the scaffolding…
So far, the white beams look like they’re all part of the roof. Black beams are supports (many of which are temporary), and the grey diagonal line straight down the center (from top left to bottom right) is the actual coaster track (portions of the track are also shrouded in bright orange/red).
The ride’s showbuilding is notably massive—we don’t have specific dimensions, but at first glance, it looks similar in size to the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind showbuilding under construction at Epcot. For those unfamiliar, while a portion of TRON Lightcycle / Run ventures outside (similar to Test Track), the majority of the attraction takes place inside (also like Test Track—ironically, some fans still call that attraction “TRON-Track”).
While there wasn’t a huge amount of activity (my walk-by took place close to lunchtime in the heat of the day), workers were keeping busy throughout the site. As mentioned, progress seems to be picking up since Disney has already begun removing supports. While we are still a long ways from opening, it’s encouraging to see this attraction seems to be getting back on track.
We can’t say for sure when TRON Lightcycle / Run will open—a 2021 debut is looking more and more unlikely. However, with the speed of construction being made, we can’t rule out that Disney may be able to make up time and lost finances to bring this attractions to fans in 2022. We’ll have to wait and see!
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