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WDW Magic Kingdom | Tron Lightcycle Power Run | Vekoma Motorbike Coaster | 2023

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Giga Poster
I think my issue with it is that it's overly huge for the area that it's in. It's huge in Shanghai also, but the rest of Tomorrowland there is designed around directing your attention towards it. Magic Kingdom's TL already has its big icon in the form of Space Mountain, and now Tron makes it look small in comparison. If it was more secluded (which is probably impossible due to space limitations) I think the size and aesthetic choices wouldn't clash as much.

Ride's gonna slap so it's not a huge deal, but it does look odd compared to its surroundings.
 
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Ries

Mega Poster
I would've tried to hide the building better. With a sand hill and trees. Or even sink one floor underground.
Those huge grey building walls are ugly. Maybe you won't see them when everything is finished.

With Guardians of the Galaxy huge walls nearby in a Disney Park. I hoped Disney could've done better. Even keeping the costs low.
(Maybe my hate for these buildings comes from when I drive into my city there is a whole industrial area full of these. It used to be so green.)
 

Niles

Giga Poster
While moving at a snails pace work continues, all of the temporary supports for the canopy are down.

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It’s likely the workers below are installing wiring for the canopy lights.
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Source: https://wdwnt.com/2021/05/photos-fi...ed-from-tron-lightcycle-run-at-magic-kingdom/
 

Crazycoaster

Giga Poster
I mean.. is there any rush to get it done? A lot of the world is still closed for travelling, and WDW has a worldwide market, most of which can’t really access it yet. Why spend more money on getting an attraction done quickly when you can spend less on construction, do it slowly, and then open it when the time is right.
 

emoo

Hyper Poster
What a bizarre route to get us some great shots, thanks. Its a really nice canopy shape even in this uncompleted stage.
 

Shadow17

Roller Poster
Hey, I got severely sick cause of allergies when I got home, so I'm just getting around to typing this. We were back in Magic Kingdom on the 6th, and by then pretty much the entire canopy had the blue netting. Hopefully this means acrylic pieces going up soon.
 

Nitefly

Hyper Poster
I can’t help but resent this ride. It looks mad expensive with its big opulent canopy enclosing the aggressively boring outside section. The cool looking inside section on the Shanghai version is soooo short at around ~30 seconds including 2 break runs but even on rewatches it’s ‘just’ some flashing lights / screens. There is some low key nostalgia for the original film, sure, but did the size of the fan base did it really warrant this big whopper spend/building?

I suppose they have the money but I’d rather put the dosh into more charming attractions. I completely agree that this belongs in Epcot (if anywhere). Just seems quite out of place and the fact it sits outside of the railroad boundaries makes it stick out even more.

Edit: oh wait - this was my ‘slightly more jolly’ previous take.

I’d definitely jump in line for this.

I’d really rather they ditched the outdoor section and made the indoor section much longer. The indoor part is frustratingly short.

I blame the pandemic.

Edit 2: In hindsight I think space mountain sits outside of the railroad too, so it’s more of the same.
 
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StevenX

Roller Poster
I can’t help but resent this ride. It looks mad expensive with its big opulent canopy enclosing the aggressively boring outside section. The cool looking inside section on the Shanghai version is soooo short at around ~30 seconds including 2 break runs but even on rewatches it’s ‘just’ some flashing lights / screens. There is some low key nostalgia for the original film, sure, but did the size of the fan base did it really warrant this big whopper spend/building?

I suppose they have the money but I’d rather put the dosh into more charming attractions. I completely agree that this belongs in Epcot (if anywhere). Just seems quite out of place and the fact it sits outside of the railroad boundaries makes it stick out even more.

Edit: oh wait - this was my ‘slightly more jolly’ previous take.



I blame the pandemic.

Edit 2: In hindsight I think space mountain sits outside of the railroad too, so it’s more of the same.
If you've not ridden the Shanghai version and are judging from POVs alone, I'd reserve judgement on it. I don't think I watched POVs before riding it and absolutely loved it - but have since watched POVs back and agree it doesn't really translate or come across very well on video. It's a blast in real life. The indoor section is short, and it'd be great to have more of it but there's a lot going on and you do need a few rides to catch everything. The outside part isn't boring at all - there night not be tons going on, but it's taken at a good speed and the riding position really heightens the experience. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you get a chance to ride it - assuming you haven't already been to Shanghai, of course!
 

Niles

Giga Poster
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DeathmetalmikeNL

Roller Poster
its been a while since someone posted an update.

i found one on youtube dating from 21st of december 2021


Thnx to the chanel called Mickey Views we get a really good look at construction.

i thought it was worth posting here since it kinda died :p
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Casual reminder that it's more than three years since they started building this thing. On flat land. Next to an access road. And its only interaction with the rest of the park is the pass over the railroad.

Is it really such a complex project to warrant taking this long to build? I mean, they started installing track in May 2019. By comparison, Velocicoaster only went vertical in early 2020, and the coaster was open in April the following year. Hagrid's Motorbike Marketing Buzzwords began construction in January 2018 and was open by May the next year. Both of these, but Velocicoaster in particular, were built on much more challenging sites.

Then again, I presume Disney is deliberately taking it a bit slow, because they can afford to when the project is so far out of the way (Universal, by comparison, can't keep a construction site in the middle of their park forever). It's not like Magic Kingdom particularly needs to hurry either, as it keeps printing money despite not getting new attractions very often. If my skimming of the Wikipedia article is correct, the park last received an attraction of this scale in 2014 (Seven Dwarves Mine Train), then in 2012 (Little Mermaid), and the time before that was 1992 with Splash Mountain - a few attraction updates notwithstanding. They can build one ride per decade and still be the most visited park in the world.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
How long did it take them to build the one in Shanghai? I know that was a completely new park, but I seem to recall seeing that coaster go up quicker than three years...
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
I know it’s pointing out the obvious, but there has been a pandemic in that time, and different companies have pooled resources in different ways. Looks to me like Disney had different categories of projects and decided which should crack on (eg Ratatouille) and which they could chill out on and keep some cash in the business on (TRON).

I think it makes sense. In terms of marketing it seems sensible to maybe hold back on something to deploy once the pent up demand we’re currently experiencing has burst, and honestly I can’t explain why but I think it’s better to just slow down the pace on building the thing rather than complete construction and have it sit there closed until the park was ready for that next drop from a comms perspective.
 
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