Walt Disney World’s newest attraction, TRON Lightcycle / Run, officially opens to the public on April 4, 2023. But – as we’ve generally come to expect these days – the attraction soft opened early and is now available to ride via a virtual queue. Disney has been using virtual queues with great success in the last few years. They’re a great way to give everyone a fair chance to ride the hottest new attractions without losing an entire park day to standing in a physical line.
So how do you score a spot? Here’s the complete guide to getting a spot in the TRON Lightcycle / Run virtual queue, from start to finish. If you’re familiar with the process for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, this won’t be unfamiliar territory. (And if you need a complete guide or refresher for that attraction’s virtual queue, the definitive guide is RIGHT HERE.)
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Before Your Magic Kingdom Park Day
In order to ride, you’ll first need a park pass for Magic Kingdom for everyone in your party. Also confirm that everyone that wants to ride with you also has Magic Kingdom booked AND is linked to you as friends and family.
Before 7 a.m. (and/or before 1 p.m.) On Your Magic Kingdom Park Day
From there, on the morning of your Magic Kingdom visit, you’ll have the option of paying for Lightning Lane for TRON Lightcycle / Run (it’s one of the à la carte items that you’d have to purchase apart from the usual Genie+ service, with price varying by day based on expected demand) – or, you can try your luck at booking it for free if your fingers are fast and you have a bit of luck. I’m here to teach you how to do that so you can keep your money in your pocket.
At least in the beginning, there will be no standby queue – so the virtual queue or paid Lightning Lane will be your only chances to ride. Since this is an individual Lightning Lane purchase, guests staying on property (or at other select good neighbor hotels) are able to purchase it starting at 7 a.m. All other guests need to wait until the park opens – so as you might imagine, it’s more difficult to get a paid Lightning Lane if you aren’t a resort guest.
If you’re instead trying for the virtual queue, you’ll have your first opportunity at 7 a.m. before the park opens – and then again at 1 p.m. For the 7 a.m. virtual queue, you can enter from home or your resort. You don’t need to be on property – you just need the park pass. For the 1 p.m. virtual queue, you need to be in Magic Kingdom to try to grab a spot.
In any case, here’s how the process works:
First, head into the My Disney Experience app. Tap the three horizontal lines in the bottom right corner.
Then select virtual queues. It will say you don’t have any and will ask if you want to join one. Say yes you do and tap Magic Kingdom up top!!
You’ll then have the opportunity to confirm your party. Have this done before 7 a.m. (or whatever queue time you’re attempting). But not too far before – because now it’s a waiting game until then. If you exit out of this screen, you will have to confirm your party again.
Your default party will include everyone on your friends and family list who has Magic Kingdom booked for the day. If there are people on your default list who aren’t planning to ride, remove them. From experience with other virtual queues, simply because availability goes so fast, it will be a bit harder to place a larger group.
Now here’s the key step that so many people skip – learned from Cast Member friends who oversaw virtual queues like Rise of the Resistance’s from the early days: If you are able, then pull up a world clock on another screen or device that you can watch closely. I usually use a website called clock.zone that includes 1/100 seconds.
Watch that counter, and the MOMENT that it’s hitting 7 a.m., refresh the screen. Some testing suggests that a pull down of the screen processed as fast as tapping the Refresh button, but I feel like I can tap faster than I can pull, so I tap.
If you get in you’ll get a confirm button. Hit it fast!! And with a little luck….you’ll have your spot!!
Please keep in mind that there is ALWAYS a dose of luck involved in this – especially this early on. Don’t ever let your trip ride on getting onto any one attraction. And if you don’t get it at 7 a.m. you can try again from inside the park at 1 p.m.
Like other virtual queues, you can check in whenever you want to see where things are, and, so long as your notifications are turned on for the app, you should receive an alert when your boarding group is called.
If you’re used to doing this for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, then you’ve maybe noticed that, at least there, return times are rarely enforced. That’s likely been the case because Cosmic Rewind has proved to move people through QUICKLY and Cast Members have been able to allow people to ride after their assigned boarding groups window has passed without issues. So far, this has NOT been the case at TRON Lightcycle / Run, so for the time being, watch your boarding group’s progress in the app and plan to make it back during your actual ride window once your group is called.
If you’re concerned about sitting comfortably in the bike-style seat, you can test it out by the queue once you’ve arrived, and there is a traditional seat available on the attraction as well if you find yourself uncomfortable in it.
And with that, we’ve reach the >>>> End of line!! Good luck and have a BLAST!!
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You can find my complete guide to making the most of your runDisney race weekend RIGHT HERE and my guide to running trails on Disney World property RIGHT HERE.
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Please join me on Instagram for my day-to-day adventures living a mile from the magic. And join the conversation over in our community on Facebook!
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If you’re missing home (or love someone who is) and are looking for a way to bring the magic home, I’d love for you to check out my Core Memory Candle collection right HERE. And as always, stay safe and be kind, my friends.
