Good Morning America, the long-running ABC news and entertainment show, headed to Walt Disney World to give audiences a first look at the upcoming roller coaster based on the Tron lightcycle. Opening in Spring 2023 in the Magic Kingdom, Tron Lightcycle Run is one of a number of big projects coming in the months and years to come, with a number of construction projects having gone into motion between 2019 and 2021. Tomorrowland is poised to look a lot different by next year when the big celebration gets underway.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The TRON attraction will actually be the same as the Lightcycle Power Run at Shanghai Disneyland. The ride will be a thrilling high-speed coaster attraction that takes guests onto The Grid for a wild trip. A canopy is planned to shield the ride from the elements but hasn’t been constructed just yet. The design of both the ride and surrounding areas is greatly influenced by both the 1982 Disney feature and the 2010 sequel TRON: Legacy. The backlit details really speak to the art direction of both films.
You can see the segment below.
Here’s how Disney’s official description of the ride sounds: “Speed across a world with no horizons in a high-stakes race based on the Disney sci-fi film TRON: Legacy.”
It boasts a number of features:
Sync Chamber
Step inside the techno-style zone featuring glowing glass rails, a real-time Raceview and blue laser lights that etch patterns through space—this is where Users synchronize with their Lightcycles. Feel the power activating as you jump on, grab the handles and brace to face an unknown digital frontier.
Launcher-Upload Conduit
Anticipation heightens as the Lightcycles lunge forward with sound effects building to a feverish pitch. Suddenly, you’re throttling through a tunnel of flashing markers and, just as quickly, plummeting onto a turbo-charged track known as the Grid!
The Grid
Filled with brilliantly illuminated shapes and sleek, color-changing TRON iconography, this game-world “gravity box” seems to rev harder with enhanced energy as Lightcycles catapult past each Gate. Will Team Blue capture them all and take the championship? See if you can defeat the Programs, survive the Power Run and make your way back to the real world!
The GMA team didn’t produce the video above themselves; it comes from Disney Parks, who of course share a parent company with ABC.
TRON Lightcycle Run is scheduled to open in time for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration.