TRON: Lightcycle/Run – Tips for Plus-Size Riders and Accessibility

I’ll be the first to admit that when TRON: Lightcycle/Run was announced for Walt Disney World, I had some major concerns about how accessible this ride would be for plus-size guests. The new coaster was announced at the 2017 D23 Expo, just a few short months after Pandora: The World of Avatar opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The limited information that we had at the time was showing ride vehicles similar to the ones on Flight of Passage, and this was concerning because Flight of Passage was notorious in the plus-size Disney community for being one of, if not the most, difficult rides to make it onto in Disney Parks. And Disney heard the concerns, equipping several of the trains with a more-traditional roller coaster seat in the back row in the last few months before moving into previews for Passholders and DVC members.

It took several long years, thanks to COVID-19 related delays, for the ride to open, but it’s now in it’s soft opening phase, with the full opening scheduled for next week. I was lucky to be in Orlando as the soft opening began, and my family was able to test it out!

Virtual Queue and Boarding Groups

TRON: Lightcycle/Run is operating on a Virtual Queue system, similar to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind over at EPCOT. Guests with a ticket and a park pass reservation for Magic Kingdom can try to join the queue at 7:00 am. There is a second opening for virtual queue again at 1:00, but for the later opening, guests must be inside Magic Kingdom to get a slot. Guests who are unable to secure a boarding group for the virtual queue have one more chance to get into this attraction – the paid Individual Lightning Lane. One thing to note about TRON vs. Cosmic Rewind is that Cosmic Rewind hasn’t been strictly enforcing the “end” times for its virtual queue, but TRON is. (We were sent over to our TRON reservation mid-way through my daughter’s Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique experience… more on that later, but that’s how strict the TRON return time cutoff is)

I woke up at the hotel and started prepping for my family’s second day at Magic Kingdom around 6:15. I knew I wanted to get there early to rent an ECV, which we had done the previous day at EPCOT, so I was really moving. At 6:55 my first alarm went off, and I grabbed both my and my wife’s phones and got the My Disney Experience app loaded up. At 6:59, I started watching the clock countdown by the second, and as soon as it clicked over to 7:00 am, I clicked to join the TRON virtual queue. My phone took too long to load and missed the queue, in a matter of about 5 seconds, but my wife’s phone seems to process things in the My Disney Experience app quicker and got us into Boarding Group 49, with an estimated callback in mid-afternoon. My daughter had an appointment for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at 11:40 am, so I figured we’d be fine and we went on with our morning as planned.

Twenty minutes into her princess makeover appointment, our TRON queue came up. They had her get changed into her dress, I paid for her package, and we headed over to Tomorrowland. TRON: Lightcycle/Run is up a long ramp down a path near Space Mountain. At the top of the ramp, there are several Cast Members allowing entry into either the “virtual boarding group” line or the Lightning Lane.

DAS and Rider Swap with the TRON Virtual Queue

Since my family utilizes both the Disability Access Service (my wife and I) and Rider Swap (particularly for our toddler who is too short to ride several things, including TRON: Lightcycle/Run), we were directed to a cast member with a tablet who could help us convert our virtual boarding group allow Lightning Lane access with Rider Swap. It took a few minutes and a LOT of scanning our tickets, but it was done and we were ready to ride. My wife and our oldest, wearing a full-length Belle costume, rode first in the front row of the lightcycles, while the middle kid and I sat with the toddler. When they came back, the middle kid and I headed into the Lightning Lane entrance for our turn to enter the grid!

Mobility Devices

ECVs are not able to go through the queue here, so I left my ECV with my wife before entering the Lightning Lane, though after riding I realized that others were leaving theirs much closer to the doors to go inside. If you cannot walk long distances and are using an ECV, check with a cast member about where you should park it. Taking a traditional wheelchair or rollator through the queue IS allowed, however, they Disney Parks wheelchairs, including the courtesy chairs they have for guests swapping out of ECVs for this ride have a weight limit of 300 lbs, which I am above, so I just took my time walking on my own.

Test Seats

Just before you get to the doors to the indoor portion of the queue, the test seats are situated to the left hand side of the the access. This means that for guests to try those seats, they are hopping out of the line they are in, potentially crossing another line (Lightning Lane) and trying the seats in front of the rest of the queue, which can be embarrassing for many guests who may need to try the test seats. There was also a bit of a line just for the test seat, probably because the ride is in the opening phases, and lots of guests were using them as a photo op.

Ride Lockers

While inside, be ready to stash any loose articles in lockers. I actually really like the locker system for this ride. The lockers aren’t large, but could fit a phone, a pair of ears, and a mini backpack. There’s a light system to help you find an available locker, which you then open by scanning your magicband or park ticket. When you get off the ride, they open from the other side. No need to develop a chant here to remember your locker number… which I totally did before I realized that on the other side of the lockers there were also screens that allow guests to locate their locker by scanning the same magicband or ticket. One thing to note here: you CANNOT use MagicMobile to open lockers. If you are using your phone as your ticket/room key/etc, you need to as a cast member for a free locker card. This is to help ensure that phones are safely put away before entering the ride.

Asking for the Big Seats

After stashing your stuff, you continue through the queue, until you come to the cast member dividing riders into rows. I let them know that I needed the bigger back seat, and it was no problem. They sent me and my kid to the queue and we had a ride car able to accommodate us within a minute or two. (I had heard there was a much longer line for the “traditional” seats during the preview phases, but I honestly saw multiple trains go by with no one using them while I was waiting on my wife and oldest kid, and there wasn’t any kind of line specifically for the “big seat” when I was in the queue.)

Restraint System on the Big Seats

The seats are relatively roomy, and the restraint system is an individual lap bar that you pull down as far as you can. It’s the same kind of restraint as on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, BUT with the exception that it’s not NEARLY as tight on the knees. I was actually really comfortable in the seats for this ride, while still feeling super secure.

Final Thoughts

The ride itself was great: high speed, segments in the dark and outside under the canopy, and a fun Disney storyline where you enter the grid as part of Team Blue and are trying to beat Team Orange in a race. I had a blast. I’ve always been into roller coasters and high speed thrill rides, and between TRON: Lightcycle/Run and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, I was impressed. Disney Parks have stepped up their coaster game, and I’m glad they decided to make these rides accessible to guests with bigger bodies. I would like to see Disney considering guests with bigger bodies in the initial planning phases for new rides (the back seats are GREAT, but felt a little like an afterthough. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful they added them, but it should have been in their heads from the beginning, especially since the ride was announced amidst the issues with the Flight of Passage launch.) And on a related note, the courtesy wheelchairs need to have higher weight limits too. If your ECVs can hold 500 lbs, why do the wheelchairs you provide for guests to transfer into for the queue only hold up to 300 lbs? And why is the line not fully accessible to ECVs in the first place, since accessible queues have been a move the Walt Disney Company has been working toward for a long time now.