TRON Lightcycle / Run officially opens on April 4 With TRON Lightcycle / Run in Soft Openings, many people are upset because they’ve missed their Virtual Queue callback time and haven’t been allowed to ride. After all, you can show up hours late for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and still get on. Since this is a Soft Opening it makes sense that Walt Disney World isn’t giving people much leeway. After all, they’re trying to see if the system works.
What will happen once TRON Lightcycle / Run officially opens to the public on April 4? Will people be able to show up hours late and ride? Maybe, but maybe not. Here are my thoughts on why Cast Members might need to be a bit stricter when it comes to the Virtual Queue after TRON is officially open.
The whole idea behind TRON Lightcycle / Run is that you “enter the grid”, you become part of a video game. During the day the ride looks cool, but after dark it’s a whole new level of cool. The canopy lights raise the level of the ride to make you feel much more like you’re part of the game. When I rode for my Annual Passholder preview the lights were just starting to come on. The cool factor rose as the sun went down. I wish that we had been on about 20 minutes later, because we would have had an even better experience.
Imagine now that one-tenth of the people who get a spot in the Virtual Queue want to experience TRON Lightcycle / Run after dark. That would mean that one out of every ten people would wait to ride in the last couple of hours. That’s in addition to the people who have high numbers in the Virtual Queue. So many people waiting would almost ensure that fewer people had a chance to ride.
I’ve said it before, never trust the estimated callback time for a Virtual Queue. If a ride is running smoothly, your group will most likely be called much sooner than the original time that you were given. I’ve already seen people in the TRON Soft Opening think that they had a couple of hours, only to have their time called a few minutes later.
The Virtual Queue assumes that you’re going to be in the park when your group is called. It doesn’t take into account that you might still be sitting at home or in your hotel in your pajamas. It’s nice that for Cosmic Rewind we can currently show up late, but that might not always be the case. We’re guaranteed an hour, that’s it.
It takes most of us longer to get to the Magic Kingdom than the other three Walt Disney World theme parks. Give yourself plenty of time. If you have a low number, get to the Magic Kingdom immediately.
If you aren’t able to make it for several hours, maybe for now you shouldn’t try for a spot in the Virtual Queue. If Disney does decide to hold closer to the return times, you’re just taking the opportunity away from someone else. I live here, I get it. But if you already know that you won’t be able to arrive at the Magic Kingdom until 5:30, maybe you shouldn’t try for a spot at 7:00 in the morning.
I wish that there was a way to schedule a time for callbacks instead of just getting a Boarding Group number. But that isn’t going to happen. If you need to show up in a specific timeframe, maybe you should purchase Individual Lightning Lane. True, it adds to your costs, but ILL will allow you to choose when you’ll ride.
This is pure speculation on my part, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the callback time for TRON Lightcycle / Run is enforced even after April 4, at least for a while. We already know that the rules at the Magic Kingdom are going to be different for Annual Passholders once the “no reservation after 2:00” rule goes into effect. The Magic Kingdom is the most popular theme park on the planet, and TRON is a hot new ride. Following the rules for the Virtual Queue will allow as many people as possible to experience it.
No matter what happens, please be nice to the Cast Members. It isn’t their fault if you didn’t make your Virtual Queue within the allotted time. Taking it out on them isn’t going to do anything but ruin their day.