Credit: ITMTRON Lightcycle / Run hasn’t even officially opened to the public yet and already, there’s issues.
The ride has done a “soft open,” meaning it’s available for Guests to ride before its official scheduled opening date of April 4. It’s already been noted that TRON will be a completely virtual queue, and most likely will never have a standby option. Contrary to prior decisions, while TRON opens with a virtual queue, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will also continue to operate with a virtual queue. Previously, only one ride at a time would be offered with a virtual queue, meaning that as soon as the newest ride was available, the previous one would begin using a standby line.
Whether it’s because TRON will only be virtual, or because demand is still so high, both rides will be offered simultaneously to Guests. However, it seems as though TRON’s virtual system has brought a pretty big problem to light. In a post to Twitter, @AliciaStella pointed out the fact that she received several different estimated return times for her reservation after booking her spot for TRON. “I get that it’s an estimated callback time, but a two hour difference? Makes it hard to plan your day if your day keeps changing.”
How can you require guests arrive for their Boarding Group within the allotted hour if you can’t even tell them when that’ll be? I get that it’s an estimated callback time, but a two hour difference?
Makes it hard to plan your day if your day keeps changing. pic.twitter.com/ugJU74uscl
— Alicia Stella (@AliciaStella) March 28, 2023
In a follow-up Tweet, she says her boarding group was actually called a full 2 hours and 45 minutes before her quoted estimated time. She said she had parked 40 minutes prior but had been waiting due to a monorail maintenance check. When you receive your notification that your group has been called, you only have an hour to make it to TRON to check in or you lose the spot.
While many of the responses claimed that they had been let on TRON as well as Guardians even hours after their group had been called, Alicia responded that they were absolutely turning people away if they missed their boarding time. She explains that the “rumor is they’ll be more strict when the ride opens” in an effort to prevent everyone from waiting until dark to ride. At nighttime, the canopy above the attraction lights up as well as the tires on the ride vehicles, making it a completely different experience from night and day.
With the possibility that the ride would draw a bigger crowd in the evenings, it’s possible that they will be more strict with virtual queue boarding times for TRON than for previous attractions. This creates a problem due to the differing estimated times, which can make it difficult to plan an entire day around. One person recounted still getting ready in their hotel room when their boarding group was called, an entire two hours before expected. While it’s nice for Guests to not have to stand in line for hours to ride, the virtual queue system still has some issues it needs to work out.
Have you ever missed your boarding time? Share your experiences in the comments below!