You know that feeling of anticipation and excitement you get when your Disney vacation countdown is getting close?! You only have a couple weeks left before you get to go “home” and you can’t sleep at night or focus on what you are supposed to be doing?! Well….obviously I don’t have that anymore since we moved here BUT I can tell you, I certainly feel that way waiting for Tron to announce Passholder Preview dates!!!! This will be our first time doing a Passholder Preview so we are “patiently” awaiting the announcement. Let’s talk about this crazy ride! And by crazy ride I mean literally and figuratively.
What Do We Know About Tron?
Well it was announced at the D23 expo in 2022 that Tron would open Spring of 2023 as part of the Disney 100 Years Of Wonder Celebration. But if you have been following this ride, you know it was supposed to open a lot sooner than that and be part of the 50th Celebration! At the 2017 D23 Expo, Tron was announced to be coming to Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom. They had high hopes of opening during the 50th that started in October of 2021. They started clearing the land in February of 2018…..yes I said 2018!! So 5 years later here we are still not open! Of course Covid closed down construction in 2020 and then there were reported supply chain issues blah blah blah. It’s been forever ok!
The thing that has baffled me and many others on building this ride is that it’s not a new ride or new technology. This ride exists in Shanghai Disneyland and has been there since 2016. So they already know what they are doing with this, but I guess things still happen and we just have to wait and hope it’s worth it! I’ve watched the ride throughs from Shanghai and I have no doubt it will be!
So When Is It Opening?
Disney has FINALLY announced an opening date for this ride so unless a meteor hits I think it will actually open on this date! Tron will be opening on Monday, April 4th with a virtual queue and Individual Lightning Lane Only. What does that mean? It means that, just like we do now for Guardians of the Galaxy, you will have two opportunities to join the virtual queue each day through the My Disney Experience app. Right now it is 7am and 1pm. You can do the 7am reservation from anywhere as long as you have a park reservation for that park. The 1pm reservation must be made in the park. If you miss out on these you can purchase an Individual Lightning Lane through the Genie service in the app. I have no doubt those will be premium price!!
Hopefully this opening date happens, otherwise Universal will have some more great content for their Twitter account! Hahahaha! They have really busted on Disney for this ride taking so long, announcing at one point that it might open Summer of 2072! Hahaha! It is officially 6 years after they first announced the ride to the public so warranted I think.
What About Preview Days?
Whenever Disney opens a new ride they do a few sets of previews. Cast Member Previews, Annual Passholder Previews, DVC and D23 etc. While they have announced Cast Member previews and have opened up that reservation system, we are still waiting for any other announcements of preview dates.
Magic Kingdom Cast Member Previews are February 3-5, although some have already been riding to test things out! The rest of Walt Disney World Cast Members preview days start February 6th and I believe run through the end of the month. I would assume Passholder and other groups previews would be right after but nothing has been announced yet.
From what I have been told, it is a process getting these previews booked! Sometimes you don’t get the email, they book up quickly, have multiple devices running……CRAZINESS!
UPDATE!! Passholder Previews went live to book February 16th, the day after my birthday and I secured ours for Wednesday, March 8th!! I will do a full review of that whole process and our preview on the 9th.
Conclusion
So I am just over here “PATIENTLY” waiting for them to announce when these previews are happening and how we can book one. As I said before, we have never done a preview before so we are more than excited! But also stressed…..what if I miss the announcement or email or just don’t get one?! Will it be the end of the world, NO but still! I’ll let you know how it goes.
It’s been really cool to watch this ride really come to life over the last 6 months of living here. We’ve been on the people mover while testing was going on and seeing that was a first for us, we watched the sign go up and all the little details start to take shape. It’s been a cool first for sure, hoping the previews will be the next one! From what I understand there will be preview day exclusive merchandise and things, we don’t buy a lot of merchandise in the parks but this may be an occasion to get something since it’s our first preview.
As always. thank you for reading and checking out my Disney crazy! I am now officially a Disney Vacation Planner with Wondrous Adventures travel so if you are thinking about coming down for Disney or Universal let me know! It doesn’t cost anything extra to use a vacation planner, the commissions come directly from Disney or Universal. Let me know if you want some help planning! Have the most magical day!