OpEd: The Walt Disney World Railroad will be More Popular Than TRON: Lightcycle Power Run

Thanks to the unfortunate overlapping space in Magic Kingdom Park, the reopening of the Walt Disney World Railroad is tied to the grand opening of the long-awaited roller coaster TRON: Lightcycle Power Run.

If I were a betting man, I would be inclined to wager that the Theme Park’s iconic steam train will reopen before the grand opening of the new indoor/outdoor roller coaster. But even after Disney World Guests are able to venture onto “The Grid,” TRON still won’t be as popular as the Walt Disney World Railroad.

Here are three reasons why:

Related: Disney World Railroad Update: TikTok Shows Progress, Website Says Closed Through Christmas

Height(Age) Restrictions

TRON: Lightcycle Run is a thrilling high-speed roller coaster with a very unique seating method. It will only be able to take Guests of a certain height. There are no height requirements for the Walt Disney World Railroad, save for the fact that little kids can’t sit on the end of the rows. The thrill factor of TRON also arguably gives it a bit of an age barrier. It’s a “big kid” ride in the physical and mental state. The historic choo-choo train is for everybody.

It’s All About Accessibility (for the Ride and the Park)

Related: Fan Accidentally Captures Some Testing for ‘TRON’

By accessibility, I mean in the purest form of the word. Not every Guest is going to be able to have access to TRON, whether it is for health, mental, or physical reasons private to them. There are no such standard restrictions for the train. The Walt Disney World Railroad also has three stops positioned around the entire Park—Main Street, U.S.A., Frontierland, and Fantasyland Station—, providing Guests with the ability to access other areas of The Magic Kingdom. It could be argued that one of the reasons that Disney Park Guests were more aggravated was that they did not have the trains to help them move from land to land as they would have done so under normal circumstances. In this way, the return of the Walt Disney World Railroad would do even better for the thoroughfare congestion seen today than TRON’s queue. But that brings me to my third point.

The Virtual Queue

There is no doubt in my mind that TRON: Lightcycle Power Run will have its own virtual queue, just like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and the other rides since that have come before it since it was first used for the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. What this means, though, is that there will be a set amount of people set to experience the attraction each day, and that exact number will be known very early in the day. The Walt Disney World Railroad has no such virtual queue as it serves more as a mode of in-Park transportation than as an actual ride giving a sense of “unlimited access.”

At the end of the day, more people will be able to experience the Walt Disney World Railroad than those who will be able to experience TRON: Lightcycle Power Run. Both attractions will be packed to the gills, though, and seeing both in operation will be proof enough that Magic Kingdom is receiving yet another level of the vitality lost to the covid-19 pandemic has returned.

We at Disney Fanatic look forward to the day Guests can enjoy both of these attractions, and we will continue to update our readers on Disney Parks news and stories as more developments come to light.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s and may not reflect the sentiments of Disney Fanatic as a whole.