TRON Coaster Construction Continues
I love when good reporters have a little extra time. Ashley Carter of News 13 snapped a beautiful picture of construction at the Magic Kingdom’s nascent TRON attraction.
TRON: The Digital Frontier Becomes Reality
News 13 serves Orlando — and Walt Disney World — 24-hour local news, politics, features, and weather seven days a week.
The Tron coaster has begun to take shape at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. The project went vertical in May when construction crews installed the first set of steel support columns.
Since then, the track for the outdoor portion of the ride has been built. Located in the Tomorrowland section of the park, the Tron coaster will send riders racing through the digital world on two-wheeled vehicles called lightcycles.
The ride is modeled after the Tron Lightcycle Power Run attraction at Shanghai Disneyland.
Rebooting Tomorrowland
Given the proximity of TRON to Space Mountain, and the continued updates to Tomorrowland, the new coaster could be the showpiece in the futuristic space’s Renaissance.
Disney Park Blog’s Jennifer Fickley-Baker reported in March that the “coaster-style attraction will allow riders to board a train of two-wheeled Lightcycles for a thrilling race through the digital frontier.”
The movie TRON (1982), its sequel TRON: Legacy (2010), and TRON: Uprising (2012) — the Disney XD animated show — are based on the character of Kevin Flynn, and his attempt to tame cyberspace. The attraction is scheduled to open during Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary in 2021.
Tomorrowland Looks Different
While fans wait for the new attraction to come to fruition, the rest of Tomorrowland sees changes happening, too. Thanks to the diligence of “bioreconstruct” on Twitter, guests can understand the scope of the changes.
Current show building frame at the Tron track. pic.twitter.com/0UFGEynr8V
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) July 13, 2019
Gateway removed at Tomorrowland entrance. pic.twitter.com/hvuXgUcYAJ
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) July 13, 2019
Nearly straight down aerial view of the Tron roller coaster construction site. pic.twitter.com/7BiW9s2Ato
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) July 5, 2019
Aerial overview of the Tron construction site. pic.twitter.com/ng3WGjw8s7
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) July 5, 2019
Notice the similarities between the above tweet and the concept art below.
I can’t wait to enter the grid. Are you excited, too?