Progress on Disney World’s new Tron-themed roller coaster is moving at the speed of a lightcycle.
Though the ride isn’t set to open until 2021 — just in time for the Magic Kingdom’s 50th anniversary — construction is well underway on the new attraction, which will reportedly launch riders on a high-speed journey through various immersive environments adapted from the Tron movie series.
Video taken by guests inside the park (above) shows several twisted segments of track that will eventually be housed indoors. After being launched into a large curve, riders will head back into a large show building as they traverse the course in lightcycle-style cars modeled after the vehicles that appear in the 2010 blockbuster Tron: Legacy.
The new ride is currently under construction in the Tomorrowland section of the Magic Kingdom, directly behind the park’s Space Mountain roller coaster. Upon its opening, the currently untitled ride — based on Shanghai Disneyland’s similar Tron Lightcycle Power Run coaster, which opened in 2016 — will become the park’s fifth coaster.
Shanghai Disneyland’s Tron coaster lifts thematic inspiration from the popular franchise, which premiered in 1982 via Steven Lisberger’s feature film, followed by a short-lived TV series that ran for one season across 2012 and 2013, and the 2010 movie sequel Tron: Legacy. The ride was manufactured by Vekoma, the Dutch company that also worked with Disney World Imagineers on past projects, including Animal Kingdom’s Expedition Everest and multiple Seven Dwarfs Mine Train coasters at various Disney parks around the world. The coaster launches guests from zero to 60 miles per hour in a matter of seconds, sending them through nearly 3,200 feet of track surrounded by technologically advanced lighting packages and video elements.
Other new attractions on the horizon at Disney World include a Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster at Epcot, a Star Wars-themed hotel, and a Ratatouille ride set to open at Epcot’s France pavilion. The resort’s Hollywood Studios park will officially its version of Disneyland’s already operating Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge themed land to the general public in August.
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- Disney confirms Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster coming to EPCOT
- Shanghai Disneyland: Tron roller coaster POV video
