Disney World Planning Ban That Will Affect All Guests

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Security at Disney World

Credit: Inside the Magic

If you’re planning to visit Walt Disney World Resort anytime soon, you need to know that changes may be on the horizon.

Disney World Guests have known the Orlando location as a place that brings magic, and the nostalgia that comes from riding your favorite attractions and enjoying special entertainment offerings is unlike anything you can experience anywhere else.

Cinderella Castle Partners statue at Walt Disney World
Credit: Disney

Disney is just a matter of months away from opening the highly-anticipated TRON Lightcycle / Run coaster in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom Park. When the attraction opens, Disney recently confirmed that Guests will be required to store all their loose items in a locker.

The double-sided and digitized locker system will be used to store bags and loose items while you race your Lightcycle. Inside the attraction queue, these complimentary lockers pair directly with your MagicBand, MagicBand+ or ticket media so you can easily lock and reopen your locker with a quick tap. Guests without a MagicBand or other ticket media (such as a card) will be provided with a card to assign their locker. All items must be placed either in a locker before you board your Lightcycle, or in a small compartment located on the attraction vehicle that can hold items such as cellphones, glasses, or wallets.

This is the first Disney World attraction to use a mandatory locker system, but it stands to reason that more may be on the way.

TRON Lightcycle / Run Sign
Credit: Disney

Could this ban extend to other Disney World rides?

Walt Disney World Resort is known as “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” and it should come as no surprise that millions of Disney Park Guests make their way to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom each and every year.

As millions of Guests make their way into the Parks, they all have smartphones that they are using to take photos and videos throughout the day.

Disney’s biggest competitor, Universal Orlando Resort, has already begun requiring that riders completely empty their pockets for thrill rides like The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Jurassic World VelociCoaster, and Hollywood Rip Ride RockIt. All riders have to go through metal detection and will be redirected to a locker station if they are caught with any loose items. No matter the ride, Universal Orlando also requires that phones be put up while aboard the attraction.

tron lighting magic kingdom
Credit: Screenshot via Scott Gustin/Twitter

With the growing prevalence of vloggers, it only makes sense that Disney will likely begin to implement some of the same restrictions. As a matter of fact, it has gotten so prevalent that Disney has already started to put bans in place on certain thrill rides– including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad— that Guests are no longer allowed to have their phones out.

But, will it stop there?

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Slinky Dog Dash, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, Expedition Everest, Avatar Flight of Passage, Test Track, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind are all attractions that we would tab as possible “no phone” attractions meaning that phones at the very least have to remain in your pocket.

A group of people riding a roller coaster
Credit: Disney

While we don’t expect most rides to go with the “mandatory locker system,” if phone usage continues to be an issue on attractions, Disney World may have to double-down. For now, though, we expect that we’ll slowly see Disney implement more “phones cannot be out on this attraction” signage throughout its Parks.

Ultimately, if you’re videoing your ride on a Disney World attraction, don’t be surprised if you’re asked to put it away in the future.

What do you think of TRON Lightcycle / Run having mandatory lockers? Let us know in the comments!

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