Former Disney Imagineer Comments on Accessibility of TRON Vehicles in Disney World
With Cast Member previews for TRON Lightcycle / Run in progress in Magic Kingdom, there have been a lot of questions about the ride vehicles.
TRON Lightcycle / Run
We’ve had readers ask how the TRON vehicles work (you can click here for more details), and the reality is that the light cycles may not work for everyone.
So how will this work for guests once TRON opens on April 4th, 2023? Let’s discuss.
Did Disney make the right decision with the TRON vehicles?
TRON Lightcycle / Run features ride vehicles known as “light cycles,” which are basically bicycle-like vehicles that guests board by straddling like a bike.
Test ride vehicles
Because these kinds of vehicles may not work for all bodies, Disney has placed one adaptive vehicle at the end of every train, yet it only seats two at a time. You can probably guess where this is headed.
Considering we’ve already seen a slightly longer wait time for the adaptive vehicles during Cast Member previews, it’s probably reasonable to predict that guests waiting on this vehicle may face long wait times once the ride opens to the public.
Look to the far right for the adaptive vehicle
Former Walt Disney Imagineer Jim Shull recently tweeted his thoughts about Disney’s choice in developing the TRON vehicles for Magic Kingdom.
He mused that “reusing the same vehicle design developed for Shanghai Disneyland fitted for Chinese body types was not the very best of ideas,” and predicted that more adaptive vehicles (GWD stands for “guests with disabilities”) would replace light cycles in the future.
Reusing the same vehicle design developed for Shanghai Disneyland fitted for Chinese body types was not the very best of ideas. Americans and especially the Disney guests in the U. S. do not match Chinese body types. Expect increase in number of GWD vehicles replacing bikes. pic.twitter.com/HQspQVTTdD
— Jim Shull (@JimShull) February 7, 2023
TRON Lightcycle Power Run opened in Shanghai Disneyland in 2016, and it features the same motorbike-style vehicles that are now being used in Magic Kingdom’s TRON Lightcycle / Run.
According to Jim Shull, “Americans and especially the Disney guests in the U.S. do not match Chinese body types.”
Ride vehicles in action!
So far, we’ve seen reports of difficulties boarding light cycles from tall people, people with larger bodies, and people with certain disabilities, but we’ll have to wait and see whether Disney may add more adaptive vehicles for guests in the future.
TRON Lightcycle / Run
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