Disney World: We rode TRON Lightcycle / Run 4 times in 1 day, here's everything to know

One of the most exciting attraction additions to Disney World, TRON Lightcycle / Run, is finally open for the public on April 4, the fastest coaster attraction in a Disney Park, along with its sister attraction at Shanghai Disneyland.

“Everything starts with an idea and our ideas kind of grow into, what is something that we really think would be a cool guest experience," Lauren Niederhiser, senior project controls estimator at Walt Disney Imagineering told Yahoo Canada. "We have over 160 disciplines in Imagineering and all those people have a specialty in figuring out how to bring that magical story to life.”

“All of those people work together to kind of bring something from that concept sketch phase, into a schematic phase of buildable drawings, into reality where it is now.”

Before the opening of the attraction, we took it upon ourselves to thoroughly test it out, riding TRON Lightcycle / Run four times in one day. We'll call ourselves self-proclaimed experts, in addition to getting the low down from the people responsible for creating this thrilling attraction. So here's everything you need to know about the experience.

What's the story behind the TRON Lightcycle / Run attraction?

TRON Lightcycle / Run is located in Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom Park and follows the events from the 2010 film TRON: Legacy, but we wouldn't say you have to be particularly familiar with the movies to enjoy the attraction.

Guests are called Users who are digitally scanned to enter the game as members of Team Blue. Users board the Lightcycles in the Sync Chamber to go up against Team Orange, getting launched into the grid. The goal is to race through the eight Energy Gates, defeating Team Orange.

“When you watch the films, what better ride vehicle to want to get on than the Lightcycles," Niederhiser said. "So translating that from the film into something that folks can ride on and be part of the experience into the world of TRON was really kind of the main point of inspiration.”

“You're entering into the Sync Chamber where you're going to be synched up with your Lightcycle. ... Getting digitized into the world of TRON. It's a really important component of launching into your actual ride experience."

How can you ride TRON Lightcycle / Run at Disney World?

Guests with park admission and Magic Kingdom Park reservations can join the virtual queue on the My Disney Experience app on the day of their visit.

Additionally, guests can purchase individual Lightning Lane entry for the attraction through the My Disney Experience app on the day of their visit. Lightning Lane purchases are limited in availability.

A standby queue will not be available for TRON Lightcycle / Run.

What makes TRON Lightcycle / Run stand out?

TRON Lightcycle / Run is actually pretty straightforward, in terms of what makes this attraction stand out from the rest, and it's all about speed.

“The thrill and the speed are definitely big points of delineation for the attraction," Niederhiser said.

That launch moment is like nothing else you'll experience at the park. It far exceeds the sort of dangerous excitement, or adrenaline rush you'll get at any other attraction at Disney World.

Try to go on TRON Lightcycle / Run at night

As much as we would love to say that you should experience TRON Lightcycle / Run anytime of day, that's not really the case for this attraction.

Having ridden TRON Lightcycle / Run on a sunny Florida day and the evening, there are distinct differences between the two experiences. It actually almost feels like a different ride entirely.

TRON Lightcycle / Run starts off in a dark space with vibrant blue lighting, and that aesthetic continues for the outdoor parts of the attraction, if you go at night. During the day, you still get the thrill of the launch, but the aesthetic is kind of interrupted by the daytime sun, which exposes more of the park and the TRON Plaza.

If you have one shot to ride TRON Lightcycle / Run, we'd say opt for a night time slot. If you're a little bit hesitant about a fast coaster attraction, the daylight may be a bit of a comfort for some, to have a better visual of where you're going.

"The integration of music and lighting, and especially riding at night, really incredible experience with how the canopy lights up," Niederhiser said.

The TRON Lightcycle / Run seat issue

The vehicles used on TRON Lightcycle / Run are quite unique. It feels like you're sitting on a very sleek motorcycle and there's a small compartment in front of you where you can put small personal items, like a phone. Anything bigger has to go in a locker (opened and locked using a MagicBand, MagicBand+ or ticket media).

Cast members, celebrities, influencers and journalists have had various opportunities to try TRON Lightcycle / Run in the lead up to its official opening day. Before we actually got to try the attraction, we heard from some cast members (also documented on some Disney blog sites) that people with larger calves had issues fitting into the standard seat. There's a back plate that comes down over you, while additional restraints wrap around your calves, to keep you safe and secure (vaguely similar to Avatar Flight of Passage).

While this didn't happen to anyone during any of the four times we went on the attraction, we heard enough about it that it would be worth testing out the sample seat, located just outside, to make sure you can be secured in safely.

Guests also need to be at least 48 inches tall to ride the attraction.

Is TRON Lightcycle / Run at Disney World worth waiting in a long line for?

Walking around Disney World these days, you'll see wait times for popular attractions exceed 200 minutes, which is an exhaustingly long time to wait.

While there won't be a standby queue for the attraction, we think it's still important to evaluate how much time we'd realistically spend waiting to ride TRON Lightcycle / Run.

If you're a thrill seeker, it's absolutely worth a wait and you should use any method available to try to get on this attraction during your Disney World trip. We don't think you'll regret it.

That being said, if you're someone who thinks an immersive pre-show is more important, and you're not really looking for just a thrill experience, then you may not be as keen to wait very long. The pre-show is relatively minimal, compared to attractions like Rise of the Resistance or Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway.

What new merchandise options are there for TRON?

If there's one thing that's certain about Disney, it's that you definitely don't want to leave the park without some merch.

“We work with a couple of different partners, firstly our Walt Disney Imagineering partners, to really get an understanding of what the attraction is going to focus on,” brand merchandising manager, Elisa Melchiori, told Yahoo Canada. “We knew a lot of it was was going to be on the Lightcycles and really the team racing, so we played a lot into that.”

“We also watched the original films and worked with our Walt Disney Studio partners. We actually got to visit the archives to see some of the original props from the films, and that led a lot of the inspiration."

It's actually quite impressive how much time and energy is put into the items that let you take a small piece of Disney World home with you, specifically for more personalized items.

“It does take quite a few years, so this has been a labour of love,” Melchiori said. “The TRON Identity Program, which is where you can actually personalize your own program and bring it to life in an action figure, because of that process and just really tying back to all of the elements that you need to create your own personalized program, those do take quite a few years.”

One of the coolest things we got to see was the Lightcycle handlebar game play, which sort of looks like a more complex version of a Bop It toy. It's a single or multiplayer game where you can test your Lightcycle driving skills on a handheld device.