MAJOR Change Hits Popular Magic Kingdom Ride

TRON Lightcycle / Run is one of the most popular rides in Magic Kingdom, and for good reason! It’s intense, thrilling, and while it’s shorter than we would like it to be (we’ve gotten over it…mostly), it’s such a great ride that’s unlike any other one in the parks.

If you’re visiting soon, you may notice that the ride looks a little different starting today, and that’s because it’s gotten a special overlay to celebrate the release of the newest film, TRON: Ares!

Starting today, September 15th, TRON Lightcycle / Run is getting a special overlay for the release of the newest film in the franchise! The biggest change you’ll notice is that the iconic blue tones are changing to red, so prepare for those wait times to soar as soon as it gets dark.

Inside the attraction, you’ll also hear some new music from Nine Inch Nails, who helped with music for the new film. You can check out one of the tracks from the film called “As Alive as You Need Me to Be,” right now, if you want to get a hint at what will be available.

We went and checked out the attraction first thing this morning, and around 9:45 AM, the attraction had a 55-minute wait. However, we were correct in assuming that the overlay color will be most visible at night, or when you’re inside the ride building.

The overlay is there, but it’s hard to see!

During the day, you can see the red color in the outdoor section of the ride, as well as on the Lightcycles, so if it’s more important to you to ride the overlay with a lower wait time, we do recommend riding during the day instead of waiting until it gets dark.

We hopped on later in the day to ride the attraction and hear how the music change affected the ride. The music isn’t blasting — it’s pulled back, almost ambient in a way, while a voice tells delivers commands like, “Ignore them, keep going,” or “Three more gates.” It’s almost like a cool coach pushing you through the race, and we feel that choice made the ride so much more exciting to us — it felt like the first time TRON Lightcycle/Run was a real competition! However, don’t go in expecting a blasting 90s Nine Inch Nails concert, because then you’ll be disappointed! The red lighting also gives more a sense of danger, which made the ride more thrilling!

The launch room is the first moment you’ll see the red for this overlay, as they really want you to experience that sudden rush of red when the launch takes place! So don’t panic when everything else around you is blue through the queue and during loading — that’s normal.

We went back later at night to get some additional shots of the ride overlay, and it definitely looks better against a dark sky!

We do know this will be a limited-time offer, though there’s no end date at this time. This same overlay is also coming to Shanghai Disneyland on September 16th — with brand new lights and sounds, this ride very well may feel brand new! Be sure to check out the new film in theaters when it releases on October 10th.