How Disney World’s New Tron Lightcycle/Run Coaster Uploads Users to the Grid
By Sabina Graves
The Digital Frontier opens this week with the new ride Tron Lightcycle/Run at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
The new thrill coaster brings the digital landscape of the Grid to Tomorrowland, straight from the cult fave sci-fi Tron movies with a good dose of Tron: Legacy’s Daft Punk score. io9 recently attended media days for “All the Disney Thrills” at Disney Parks to preview the attraction, where we talked to Disney Imagineers and Tron’s filmmakers about seeing their creations take on a whole new life.
“When we did Tron initially some people thought it was too far out and had a hard time dealing with it. And I thought, ‘Oh, maybe, maybe I wrote the wrong story,’” shared Tron creator and screenwriter Steven Lisberger. “And then over the years you start to realize, ‘No, I wrote the right story.’ It’s been building ever since, you know; Tron: Legacy and now the ride is kind of the ultimate payoff to see a fantasy become totally real. It’s amazing.”
While Tron Lightcycle/Run is the sister version of the Tron ride that opened in 2016 at Shanghai Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom variant is the fastest coaster attraction at Disney Parks. It’s also a striking addition to Disney World’s landscape, as Imagineer Audrey Hauser pointed out. “Not only did we get to add this amazing new coaster, but it’s also got this beautiful plaza and concourse leading up to it. It’s such a big architectural statement and we’re really excited to have added to the skyline of Tomorrowland.”
Prior to Tron Lightcycle/Run’s arrival, Tomorrowland had been thematically slumbering, populated by nostalgic visions of a future long past, with the beloved PeopleMover and Carousel of Progress carrying the weight of Walt Disney’s original intention to feature futuristic experiences. With Space Mountain being the coaster E-ticket for so long, it’s been a while since there’s been an attraction that really highlighted the themed land’s tenets. Tron: Legacy producer Justin Springer feels Lightcycle/Run is right at home. “I think there’s this constant quest to make the virtual become real. And I think that’s one of the coolest things about the ride. We work really hard in the movies that we’ve made to try to bring audiences in and make them feel like the virtual world is a real place.” he said, motioning to the coaster track. “With a ride like this, you’re able to actually physically create that world. And as soon as you pass through that threshold and get onto a Lightcycle for the first time, it feels like you’ve really done it beyond what you could ever put on screen.”
