“Literally No One” at Disney’s Newest Ride: Park Ostensibly Creates “False Scarcity” To Raise Prices

A guest shared a photo of Magic Kingdom’s latest addition, TRON: Lightcycle/Run…only to note the ride is completely empty only a few short months after its opening.

The Walt Disney World Resort is known for being “The Most Magical Place on Earth.” The Central Florida Disney resort is globally renowned for its attractions and rides, and four fantastical theme parks where people go to live out their most magical (and sometimes unconventional) dreams.

However, while this is true, one guest reported recently that there was “literally no one” at TRON: Lightcycle/Run, Walt Disney World’s newest attraction.

Disney Park guest and X (formerly known as Twitter) user Leet shared a photo of a completely empty queue at TRON: Lightcycle/Run on Saturday, September 16—a weekend, no less. The guest clarifed in a later comment, “I joined the last boarding group of the day at about 3:45pm.”

In addition, in response to another Disney fan who asked, “Wow. Did it go 101 at some point or is it just slow today?” the OP explained it was a Halloween party night.

There’s literally no one here at Tron. Sucks cause I’m sure they have to turn people away. pic.twitter.com/sIr4BzkBmJ

— meet n’ leet (@LeetMor) September 15, 2023

Other users jumped in to share their thoughts about how Disney handled queueing. One explained, “Sometimes I think they utilize the virtual queue just because they want to and not because they think they need to.”

However, most relevant to this article, one guest took this one step further and commented about the Mouse House’s strategy and tactics when it comes to pricing:

Another example of Disney’s false scarcity in order to increase demand/price.

It’s no secret that guests have been increasingly frustrated at Disney’s pricing system, particularly at how expensive a Disney vacation has become in recent years.

The pandemic hit the whole world hard, and the Walt Disney Company was no exception. The theme park industry suffered majorly, for obvious reasons, and its a hit that Disney with its plethora of theme parks is still recovering from. While Disney has certainly made major strides to make up for lost time, it’s no easy feat to reach 2019 levels of revenue and profit.

Per the Walt Disney Company, in order to streamline things, they have introduced a variety of new systems including the theme park reservation system, the Disney Genie system (including Genie+, Lightning Lane and Individual Lightning Lane).

Notably, some of these systems have added on an extra cost and have had a non-negligible impact on guests’ wallets.

In addition to this, guests are not certain the Disney experience they have today lives up to what they enjoyed prior to the pandemic. In this post, many were frustrated with the virtual queue system, particularly because, as the OP noted, cast members would have likely had to turn away other Walt Disney World guests.

While the virtual queue was a system that was introduced much before some of these other additions, it’s one that guests have not been particularly happy with either. Many Disney fans in the comments noted how they wished Disney would allow guests to decide whether they wanted to stand in long lines, rather than make the choice for them with a system like the virtual queue.

Ultimately, many of these systems seem to be here to stay, per Disney’s official remarks whether through written statements or through Disney CEO Bob Iger’s or Disney Parks chairman Josh D’Amaro’s words. There are, however, guests who live in hope that Disney will reinstate prior systems that provided for a better guest experience.