TRON Lightcycle Run Officially Opens at Walt Disney World

we just missed the soft open for this, but I suppose that'll be the reason to go back to magic kingdom one of these days.

as an aside: it's a vekoma launch coaster, not intamin.

The TRON merch is fantastic as is the attraction. Well done WDW!

$35 per person lighting lane!?! That is beyond obnoxious, an absolute new low for Disney, and done under Iger's watch. For shame on all of them.

For a family of five that would be another $175, someone's car payment. But Iger and the rest of those bloodsuckers know that if you're bringing your family to Disneyworld, you're probably already in for $5000+, and you don't want to waste valuable time standing in a two hour line, and your kids are going to insist on riding it, so you'll pay it. Another $175 to ride a one-minute ride one time. Hateful greed, a pox on them all.

That makes me so angry it's like acid on my goodwill toward Disney. Screw the Tron ride, I hope it gets carried away by a hurricane. I spit at Iger for doing that.

Fixed the manufacturer. Thanks.

@TH ... apples and oranges, but of course you knew that ... Ha.

Merch was underwhelming today. No dated shirts, pins, keychains etc, as we had at Guardians opening. The main store wasn't open, so we were shuffled into what used to be Stitch's escape pavilion. There was some merch in star traders too. Thank goodness they didn't go with a VQ for the merch.

Tron was dispatching at a snails pace, with many of the trains leaving the station with multiple empty seats, so something isn't quite right.

For me it basically comes down to an issue of how valuable my time spent elsewhere is outside of a long queue. Not every attraction is created equal, and I’m thusly more inclined to pay more for a walk-on or short wait at a brand new e-ticket than I would be to wait in the kind of lines that appeared when A:FoP opened.
The obvious counterpoint, with which I mostly agree actually, is that folks should be given the option of standby if they aren’t willing to pay for ILL passes. So I can see both sides. But I’m in the camp of people willing to pay for that reduced wait. At least for my first ride on anyway.

I wish my car payment was $175.

I have no idea what Universal charges, I'm talking about Disneyworld and how quickly this disgusting new money grab can destroy a lifetime of goodwill.

What happened to just waiting in line? I think the whole FastPass/ExpressPass/QuickPass/Skip the line crap has hurt the theme park experience.

waiting in line sucks. so if there's an option to skip it that I can afford ... I'm probably going to take it. there's nothing noble about standing in a four-hour line.

thecolonel, Disney has to make their money somehow, they certainly can’t do it with their movies and programming that bomb excessively because of woke ideology.

If Genie+ is selling out at $35, then isn't that an indication that it's still priced too low?

Complaining about people paying to skip the lines is like going to a concert, buying nosebleed seats, and then wondering why the people who paid more to sit up front get a better view.

I guess Iger will have to do without Colonel’s $35 today. Oh, wait, he won’t because someone else already bought it as Genie+ sold out by 10:00 a.m. this morning. Maybe it will be $40 tomorrow (and likely still sell out).

It’s simply supply and demand, and if $35 still causes a sellout, we haven’t seen the highest price point yet.

For a Universal Express comparison, the range is $90 to $350, which gets you one skip the line on every ride at one park in one day, with the option to get unlimited skips for $10-20 more (though still only for one park). Honestly, though, that's much better for both buyers and non-buyers than selling Genie+ at $35, but that's a discussion for another time.

As far as Tron goes, it's weird to think that it's actually open since it's been under construction for so long, yet it also feels both like it has already opened (due to the lengthy preview period) and has not yet truly opened (due to the restrictive virtual queue). I'm hoping I'll be able to ride in September, but with the amount Disney is charging for tickets these days, the risk of not riding without spending even more money, and the lukewarm reviews the ride seems to be getting, I'm seriously debating if it's even worth it. I think the fact that pre-Covid I was looking into ways to fit Shanghai into an eventual Japan trip in part for Tron and now I'm meh on the prospect of going to Florida to ride it speaks volumes as to my dissatisfaction with Disney overall right now, but judging by the crowds it seems I'm still very much in the minority.

Well, this got heated fast....

On the subject, having just come from Disneyland, I'd be willing to wait, say, 30 minutes for a fun one in Fantastyland, one of the Mountains or something like Jungle Cruise or such. But 80-100 minutes is my limit, so I would break for LL for Rise of the Resistance of another big one not using a single-riders line.

Who in the world has a car payment of just $175?

FWIW, we just paid @$300 for Platinum FastTrack for a family of 3 at Alton Towers, but it was totally worth it at a park we’ll likely never have a chance to visit again.

"Who in the world has a car payment of just $175?"

People who can't afford expensive cars? The same people who save all year and travel to Disneyworld, laying out their entire travel budget for the year and then some to attend, only to learn can't ride the new rides unless they ruin their day with an absurd wait or shell out a ridiculous extra sum. You think that breeds happy visitors?

"Complaining about people paying to skip the lines is like going to a concert, buying nosebleed seats, and then wondering why the people who paid more to sit up front get a better view."

It would be if Disneyland were a tiered experience, with one part of the park for the poors and one part for the rich. But that's never been Disney, has it? Up until now, everyone that paid to get into the park was afforded the same (already very expensive experience). By making it easier for the rich, and harder for the poor, Disney is not just buying into the noxious classism that's at the root of so many American problems, but also destroying its goodwill at the same time.

In any event, I've ever seen so many sheep line up to normalize a corporation gouging its loyal fan base. You guys must all brunch over at Chapek's house, haha.

it's exactly the "save all year" guests who are buying the $35 upcharge. how many of those people are also paying off a $7,500 used car over four years, I'll never know.

I don't think anyone is defending disney's practices, it's just amazing that you seem to think it's the only place on earth where capitalism doesn't exist. you know, the theme park created by walt disney.

Thecolonel, I don’t know how long you’ve been going to Disney, but I can tell that in my 27 years on this Earth, it has ALWAYS catered to the super rich.

Extra Magic Hours were designed to benefit hotel guests who paid more to stay at a Disney hotel were given access to rides with minimal waits. VIP guides to skip the lines have been a staple of the parks since Disneyland opened in 1955. And Walt himself sanctioned Club 33, a private club specifically intended to keep out the peasants.

@ Keith....Disney was still the highest grossing studio of 2022 globally...(their 7th year at #1). They crossed 4 billion at the box office in December, and that was before Avatar: Way of Water became a juggernaut.

Keith Schneider: there was a study done recently that showed that there’s a 99.9% probability that anyone who uses “woke” as a pejorative, is kind of a jerk.

Don’t blame me. It’s just basic science.

I think I just cast the TPI reboot of the Hunger Games in this thread. LOL

The VIP tours at Disney suck. They don't even skip the lines they just bring you to the lightning lane line and then you have to wait anyways. I'll stick with Universal personally. At least the gouging there gets you nice perks and less stress from having to plan every second!

Jay R., with Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Pixar at Disney’s disposal, it should have been $8B. Before Disney had “the big three” in tow, they were doing way more in overall ticket sales than they are now. Why is that? Unfortunately, Disney is significantly underperforming.

TheOldCream, you mean a 99.9% probability that anyone that disagrees with you is kind of a jerk? That’s more than half of the world. So what are you going to do about it?

Welll, Keith, I just hope for your kid’s sake that he doesn’t one day become something his old man considers to be “woke”. Because, should that happen, I have a strange feeling that he’ll learn a sad lesson that his father’s love isn’t unconditional.

Weak. Go back in your room and hide TheOldCream. At least you can pretend that you’re someone involved in something. In the meantime, you can watch Disney continue to decline because of its promotion of woke ideology. Oh, and don’t worry about my kids, I didn’t teach them to act as victims when things didn’t go their way.

I feel like I’m in the weeds on what exactly is being argued here.

@Keith: in your above post you stated:

“The TRON merch is fantastic as is the attraction. Well done WDW!”

Based on your assertion that Disney is on a steady decline, would I be correct in assuming that the above statement should be taken with a heaping dose of snark? Or do you mean only that the parks and attractions are still of high quality and that only the “woke” content that Disney creates is the true sign of decline? Not looking for a fight friend, rather asking in earnest. I find the disconnect between these two varying viewpoints fascinating and would love to hear your further explanation.

fattyackin, since when has straddling the line been novel? There is a wide world of middle ground to live in, you know that, yes?
And yes TRON is excellent!

@Keith:

Fair point. I appreciate the discourse :)

@ Keith, That's true they were doing more ticket sells, but every studio was. The avalanche of streaming (and of course, the pandemic) altered the box office for every studio for 3+ years (So much so that even now, there's still articles, even as recent as last week, touting the "Return of the box office".) Ticket sells are down all across the board, and the theatrical window is shorter now as well (Most films are avail to stream within 45 days of release)

But no studio has ever made 8 billion in a calendar year. It would take 6 Avatars & 2 Top Gun Mavericks to even come close to that, lol.

They still had 4 of the top 10 movies last year (more than any other studio).

I'm not saying they are releasing the highest "quality" films at the moment, but they aren't at the doom & gloom phase yet. I think one of their biggest issues was quantity over quality...4 Marvel movies within a single year starts to dilute the brand, much like what started happening with Star Wars. (Even WB is seeing diminishing returns on the Wizarding World Fantastic Beast franchise with each movie)

Iger has stated they are evaluating & revamping their release strategy...but they are still #1. And with more Avatars & Avengers on the way...if the quality is there, they'll continue to do well.

When my sister went to Disneyland, she could have gone regular hotel nearby and just standard stuff. Instead, she sprang for Disneyland Hotel and VIP tour with multiple LL stuff and it was terrific. Yes, it was costly but she wanted this trip special for us.

So yes, it's because people are willing to pay for it that Disney makes the big money offers like this and not the only ones in theme park world doing it.

Jay R., no other movie studio had the 3 largest film franchises of all time (Lucasfilm, Marvel and Pixar) at their disposal, and that’s not including the juggernaut Avatar, which is still in its infancy with another 3 or more movies to come. Disney added twice the amount of market share to its film studios with the acquisitions of Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar and Fox and still found a way to underperform at the box office, and it’s not primarily because of streaming.
That’s a rather noticeable red flag, eh?
$8B would have been 3 Marvels, 1 Star Wars, 1 Avatar, 1 Pixar and the remainder of the studios making up the rest. Why didn’t this happen for Disney?

But Keith, ALL box office office was down (And they had no Star Wars / Lucasfilm release). Streaming actually does play into it, because Disney+ dilutes the brand. Out of the last 3 Pixar movies released, 3 premiered on Disney+. The Marvel series (plus the fact that phase 4 isn't critically the best received) also dilute the brand.
Movies premiere exclusively (or showing up 45 days after being in the theater) on Disney+ does mean something.

They've had some duds, but Blank Panther, Doctor Strange, & Avatar all made over $400 million (With Avatar's grosses moving into 2023). Thor made over 300 million. Their big duds were in animation, with Lightyear & Strange World. But they still managed over 4 billion at the box office.

So based on your suggestion, if they would've released a Star Wars film (and Turning Red was the Pixar movie that should've been released theatrically) they could've been close. The Marvel movies delivered. Half of Avatar's box office inn for the next calendar year.

Even if their numbers are lower, they aren't crashing & burning. I say it all boils down to quality...because if these movies are opening big, it shows audiences are turning out. Whether they stay & a film has legs, depends on the quality.

Do you really think Disney is done at the box office? Another Frozen or Encanto is enough for Disney animation to pick up the paces. They have Indiana Jones this year, Pixar's Elementals should make money as well.

No Star Wars releases is Disney’s fault. Movie premiers on Disney+ is Disney’s fault. With what they have, $4B in box office is Disney bombing and that’s Disney’s fault.
BTW, rumors are Indiana Jones 5 is in trouble. If that bombs, then Kathleen Kennedy needs to go.

@TH, Hahaha!! Indeed!