Disney World’s latest attraction came under fire before it was even officially open, but I believe people have been focused on the wrong source of the overall problem.
The problem is not necessarily Disney’s decision to create a potentially-exclusive ride design. The problem is how they decided to compensate.
I mean, look at this thing!
Backstory: Server Error? Cast Members Complain TRON is Least Inclusive Ride at Disney World
It’s pure laziness, and like when your mother would give you give you the blatantly lower quality version of something and tell you to act like there is nothing different than what the other kids got. Who are we kidding here?! It is superficial pity at its finest.
Also, by adding this half-baked back end, Walt Disney Imagineers have effectively ended a coaster tradition. The backseat of the roller coaster has been a coveted experience on every Disney World roller coaster from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Scores of Guests–including this reporter–have opted to wait even longer to have their turn in the back where the tail-end whips you around the corners extra fast. Many a Disney World fan will confirm that the back seat of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train offers a completely different ride than the front seats. But now, this futuristic ride puts that sentiment in the past.
Walt Disney Imagineers should not have been so lazy with the design. What they should have done is expanded the canon of the TRON universe and given this train of bikes something found in most biker gangs: a bigwheel tricycle!
Related: Sorry, But the “Losing Weight” Suggestion Won’t Help Most People Fit on TRON
Imagine if Disney put a two-seater big-wheel sitting centered behind the train of “normie” lightcycles? It would be incredibly epic, and the adjustable seating would allow all Guests to experience the bigwheel seat, so the “line of shame” is shameful no longer! Everybody would line up to wait extra time for that seat.
Alas, it is not meant to be, and we are left with the generic awkward two-seating car. Let’s hope that Walt Disney Imagineers didn’t use all their creativity on Guardiand of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind so we can at least get more creative on the next project.
TRON: Lightcycle/Run opens to the public on April 4, 2023.
Related: Disney Responds To Guests Who Can’t Fit on TRON
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s and may not reflect the sentiments of Disney Fanatic as a whole.