Disney World’s Tron Coaster Officially Opened Yesterday After Previews. Wait Times Haven’t Been Crazy, But There Was One Big Issue

After years of waiting, Tron: Lightcycle Run has officially opened at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. The new Tron coaster has been getting rave reviews, so you can be sure it was popular on day one. Of course, between the virtual queue and the paid Lightning Lane, there weren’t crazy lines at the ride, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some issues, as some guests were frustrated by the ride's more strict rules.

The Virtual Queue system at Walt Disney World assigns guests to a Boarding Group, and when that group is called, then you have one hour to get to the attraction for your ride. Generally speaking, however, Disney World has been flexible with the return time, allowing guests to usually get on the ride anytime after their group has been called, but a new rule specific to Tron makes it clear that once the hour has expired, guests may not be allowed on, and it sounds like the park was strict with this rule yesterday.

There is an estimated return time given when you are assigned a Boarding Group, but that time can change significantly over the course of the day depending on how quickly the ride moves through people. During the park’s soft opening of the ride in the past couple weeks, there have been cases where guests who thought they weren’t going to be called for hours, ended up being called much faster than expected. This is a problem if you’re not even in the park yet because you thought you had much more time.

From looking at anecdotal evidence on Twitter, it doesn’t look like a lot of people actually had issues with missing out on the ride due to being late, but it did happen in a few cases, and what’s clear is that there was zero recourse for those having the problem.

And there is reason to believe that there will be problems for some. One issue that a lot of people, myself included, have had with Virtual Queues at both Disney World and Disneyland is that they can conflict with dining reservations. You make the dining reservations potentially months in advance, but the VQ is only set the day of, and the exact return time is unclear. 

While you’re now able to cancel your Disney Parks dining reservation in a shorter window, you can’t be certain even two hours ahead of time if the two things will conflict. If they do, you’ll be charged money for missing your dining reservation. When you’re able to show up late for your Virtual Queue, this takes care of the conflict, but when that’s not an option, you’re kinda screwed. 

The exact reason for this strict rule isn’t entirely clear. You can still show up late for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind without a problem, so this isn’t just a blanket rule change for Virtual Queue. The thing is you’ve basically always been able to show up late for that ride, even when it was brand new, so the newness isn’t the issue either. It appears that this is a Tron-specific rule because there’s a fear too many guests will want to ride Lightcycle Run at night, which to be fair looks amazing, and thus if they allow latecomers, too many people will show up at night, causing serious line issues.

Perhaps, after a while, we’ll see these rules relaxed. There’s a lot of potential for frustration and confusion here, especially because the rules for two different rides with VQ’s are not the same. But at least for now, if you’re going to Magic Kingdom with the intention of riding Tron: Lightcycle Run, you’ll need to be pretty vigilant when it comes to your return time.