Disney World News & Rumors: More Virtual Queues, 50th Anniversary, TRON Delay to 2022
We’re back with another news & rumor round-up! This focuses heavily on Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, including some things to come…and others that probably will not. This includes a delay of the highly anticipated TRON Lightcycle Run E-Ticket, which could have ramifications for a range of other projects previously scheduled to debut by October 1, 2021.
Before we get to that, let’s start with some fun news! For the first time ever, a specialty Walt Disney World license plate is available for purchase in honor of the 50th Anniversary. Proceeds of the license plate will go to Make-A-Wish, which has been a Disney partner since 1980, with more than 140,000 Disney-inspired wishes granted since then, including ~8,000 per year at Walt Disney World.
The design of this specialty Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary license plate will be revealed at a later date, but interested car owners can purchase a pre-sale voucher now for $25 plus applicable state administration fees by appointment at local County Tax Collector’s offices and license plate agencies. Online pre-sale will be available soon…
In some unsurprising news, the Tomorrowland PeopleMover refurbishment has been extended into 2021. The refurbishment calendar now lists the TTA PeopleMover as being closed through January 2, 2021. It’s worth noting that this is simply as far as the calendar goes for the attraction at this point, so rather than that being a definitive end date, it’s a closed “at least until” date.
The good news is that Disney has filed construction permits for the attraction, meaning some sort of movement is likely to start on the project. For months–even before the parks closed–the PeopleMover has just sat there, as Disney reportedly awaited parts to replace the attraction’s motors on the length of the track. There have been numerous delays on that, reportedly due to supply chain issues.
Nevertheless, we’re now nervous that the PeopleMover “refurbishment” is more a cost-savings closure than anything else. It’s entirely possible the attraction won’t come back until mid-2021 or later, especially given the other Tomorrowland project delays discussed below.
Bouncing to attractions that are operational, two new attractions–Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Jungle Cruise–are likely to get the virtual queue treatment a la Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance per WDWMagic. This would not be a huge surprise, especially as other Disney parks post-reopening have been offering a “Standby Pass” for months now.
This would work differently than Disney’s Standby Pass, and would also (thankfully) be different from the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding passes. With that attraction, the virtual queue is a necessity due to the attraction’s unreliability, downtime, and frequent breakdowns. (Everyone clamoring for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance to get a standby line doesn’t realize just how frustrating–and time-consuming/wasting that would be, as the virtual queue conceals a lot of the ride’s persistent problems.)
A lot of people understandably hate the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue because of the aforementioned issues, but those are due to the ride’s problems and not the virtual queue system. Messaging and terminology matters a lot when it comes to biases and preconceived notions, so for the remainder of this, think of virtual queue as “dynamic same-day FastPass+” instead of the Rise of the Resistance train wreck.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is a candidate for the virtual queue treatment for a couple of reasons. First, because the line is getting longer on busy days and there’s nowhere for it to go without clogging up crowd-flow in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. There have already been a few days when it has had to stretch backstage, which is bad show. That’s still pretty rare, though.
Equally as significant, in our view, is that Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run could be something of a “consolation prize” for those who cannot score a boarding pass for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (which is now the majority of guests visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios each day).
This would be an entirely psychological reward, as Smugglers Run doesn’t have the same woes nor does it have that level of demand. On any given day, it’s entirely conceivable that every guest in Disney’s Hollywood Studios who wants one could obtain a Smugglers Run virtual queue slot.
Such an approach is hardly unprecedented. Walt Disney World previously offered an array of “consolation” FastPass+ selections for years. It’s actually an effective strategy in terms of guest satisfaction…albeit probably not for anyone reading a planning blog like this one who understands the scarcity and qualitative differences between a Rise of the Resistance and Smugglers Run boarding pass.
At Magic Kingdom, adding a virtual queue for Jungle Cruise also makes sense. It has become one of the longest lines in the park due to its unique mix of low hourly capacity and the physical distancing protocol that even further limit its hourly throughput.
We’ve said this before, but we don’t think Jungle Cruise is worth doing right now. The experience falls flat–through no fault of the skippers, they’re just up against too many impediments right now.
It’s likely that the virtual queues at Walt Disney World won’t stop there. This should be a relief for some readers who are anxious for FastPass+ to return. As we’ve noted elsewhere, FastPass+ has been suspended because it reduces the overall capacity of the parks by allowing guests to be in two places at once, in essence.
The flip side is that only using standby queues makes for lines that are physically quite long. This is further exacerbated right now by the physical distancing protocol that spaces out the queues. That becomes its own issue when there’s literally nowhere for the line to go or it starts impeding guest flow. As Walt Disney World approaches the busy Christmas season, this is likely to become a pronounced issue at a number of attractions.
In the past, the benefit of FastPass was that it decreased the length of lines and redistributed crowds because FastPass guests were waiting somewhere else. Standby lines self-regulated by virtue of posted wait times. (Meaning that fewer guests jump into line when a posted wait time is 90 minutes as compared to 30 minutes.)
Virtual queues allow Walt Disney World to find the sweet spot between the higher capacity of all-standby and the shorter physical lines of FastPass, while attempting to minimize the downsides of both. There’s also the benefit of virtual queues being more dynamic, meaning that Walt Disney World can scale up or down their use as dictated by current crowd conditions–both in the queues and throughout the parks. At least, in theory.
Finally, two rumors that we view as highly credible suggest significant delays on the construction of the TRON Lightcycle Run roller coaster being built in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom. Progress has been brisk on this in the last couple of months, with its signature illuminated canopy being being built around the outdoor section of coaster track. However, movement on the Grid could come to a grinding halt very soon.
Both reports indicate that work on finishing the canopy and completing the enclosure of the gravity building will continue out of necessity due to Florida’s weather. Once that’s finished, everything else about the project is on hold–from the canopy’s lighting to literally everything inside the show building. From there, the two rumors diverge slightly…
WDWNT is reporting that the field team working on the attraction has been laid off and that Walt Disney World is waiting until December for additional cash flow and revenue to come in, funding the completion of the project. This would make TRON Lightcycle Run’s chances of opening by the start of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary on October 1, 2021 highly unlikely.
Mostly consistent with this, a vendor involved with sending products to the construction site has posted on the WDWMagic forums that construction will cease in December 2020 and work will be suspended, aside from canopy construction. Future work is dependent upon Disney’s economic recovery, but would likely begin no earlier than the start of the next fiscal year in October 2021. In that scenario, TRON Lightcycle Run would open in Spring/Summer 2022.
It’s worth noting that TRON Lightcycle Run is a clone of a roller coaster at Shanghai Disneyland. It was announced over 3 years ago and now likely won’t open for 2 more years. In terms of complexity and theme, it’s akin to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. (Not stated in this rumor, but it’s our assumption that the Walt Disney World Railroad won’t return until 2022 in this scenario.) Meanwhile, Universal Orlando just announced the Jurassic World VelociCoaster a few weeks ago, which will open in Summer 2021.
This is incredibly disappointing, but shouldn’t come as a huge surprise given that TRON Lightcycle Run was not mentioned when the Walt Disney Company’s CFO Christine McCarthy specifically addressed the project priorities for the U.S. Disney Parks & Resorts. As a quick reminder, she indicated that Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Toontown at Disneyland, and Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Resort at Walt Disney World were the main priorities.
Our assumption at the time was that things like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Space 220 Restaurant, Play Pavilion, and TRON Lightcycle Run were not mentioned simply because they’re so far along that it’s a given they’ll be completed, albeit perhaps with brief delays. That now appears not to be the case.
While we’re still fairly confident Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Space 220 Restaurant will open at some point in 2021, this development does call the timing of both into question. With TRON Lightcycle Run now being highly unlikely for October 2021 and the same almost certainly being true for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, what does that leave for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary?
One option is entertainment. There have been recent, semi-credible rumblings of Paint the Night being imported from Disneyland Resort for a limited run. Harmonious could also debut at EPCOT sometime in late 2021. The most plausible scenario is that Walt Disney World will simply hit pause on all upcoming openings, delaying the aforementioned EPCOT additions until October 2021 for the start of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary.
With regard to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Space 220 Restaurant, this should not be construed as a rumor–it’s merely conjecture. Our previous belief was that both would debut around Spring or Summer 2021. That still might happen, especially if park capacity is restored to full levels and physical distancing requirements removed by then. (Conversely, we don’t expect anything big to open while capacity/physical distancing limitations are in effect.)
Ultimately, not great for the prospects of new additions at Walt Disney World. We’ve been cautioning since the spring that pretty much any project–both announced and unannounced–that had yet to break ground and make significant progress was in jeopardy of being cancelled or shelved indefinitely. That’s still almost certainly true, especially with the once grandiose plans for EPCOT and resort development.
Our expectation was that the one saving grace preventing another “lost decade” at Walt Disney World was the simple fact that so many construction projects were already pretty far along. That’s still true, but it now appears that Walt Disney World will stretch the timelines of additions that were once schedule to debut this year and in 2021 throughout the next few years. Here’s hoping we still at least get an actual celebration for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary. Cupcakes and limited edition merchandise aren’t going to cut it.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on how delays could impact Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary? Are you nervous that it’s not going to be much of a celebration? Are you excited about the prospect of more virtual queues, or do the crowds that would accompany those concern you? Do you anticipate Walt Disney World will further ‘fine tune’ park capacity as appropriate? Will you be visiting Walt Disney World in late 2020? Do you agree or disagree with our advice and commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
News about the WEDway PeopleMover, aka the Moonshine Express, is highly disappointing. It’s been down way too long already!
TRON seems very cool, and much of the cost is already done for the superstructure fabrication and canopy. This rumored delay doesn’t make much sense. Keeping the WDWRR down even longer is utter crap! It should already be back up and running. And yes, I’ve managed construction projects in 18 states and two countries for over 30 years, from $1200 to $3B projects, so I do have an idea of what it takes!
Remy’s (DLP version we rode in March) is cute and cool but not earth-shattering. Would only make sense to push through and open it. I do not buy the assertion of them waiting for more revenue to magically appear in December. That makes zero sense, unless Disney plans to completely do away with ALL of the restrictions, masks, etc and reopen full entertainment, shows, etc throughout the property and just isn’t advertising it yet.
You should clarify that FP decreased SOME lines, while greatly bloating many others. Maybe that’s desirable form a parks operations standpoint, keeping a more steady throughput all day like for SSE and LWTL, it really sucks for those of us who have known them as walk-ons for a couple of decades or more. Making 2-4 trips a year to WDW for the recent years, the FastpassMinus system has made it more difficult to effectively tour the parks the way we used to. Part of that is due to increased crowds, to be sure, but that’s not all of it. Letting onsite guests select them six months out is a big part of the problem.
I do like not having to send a runner across the park 47 times each day to grab paper FPs for us all, but the flip side is that we now cannot experience nearly as many E tickets as we used to.
The virtual queue for ROTR works. It is the most fair way to do it, especially now that they’ve split the lottery into 2 or 3 spaces. It SEEMS like garbage to everyone who misses out, but I don’t see a better way to do it. So glad we got on twice in September before they added those stupid plastic screens to the droid cars. Those completely ruin the open air feel and ride experience just like they do on KJ Safari. I empathize with those who miss out, seeing their faces and frustration at the CMs working the ride. But how else could they do it better?
Tom, is there a way to note the lens and basic info, date on pics with it being obtrusive to those who like their little no-effort iphone pics and don’t care about technical stuff? I’ve been playing with the 8mm even on job sites. Used it in Natural Bridges Caverns last week and some at the San Antonio Zoo. Not the sharpest lens out there, but it can make some really cool images. And for less than $200, it’s very hard to come close.
“You should clarify that FP decreased SOME lines, while greatly bloating many others.”
Quick clarification: FastPass reduces how many people are in the standby queue since it inflates the wait time, thus causing fewer guests to get into the standby line. In a situation where standby space is limited (like right now) it can be helpful from that perspective, but problematic because it simply pushes those guests into other parts of the parks.
I don’t think the TRON delay is totally a matter of cutting costs. As you point out, much of the budget has already been spent. It’s probably partly a matter of cutting costs (for a company that wastes a lot of money in some places, certain business units can sometimes be surprisingly frugal) and spreading out new additions to when they’ll have the biggest impact in attracting new guests.
Unfortunately, no good way to post the photo data, sorry!
They have now added the plastic screens inbetween the front and back seats of the drodi cards? Must have been just recent – i also visited the end of Sept and i don’t believe they had them on. I think i would remember – i agree would distract from the ride.
As you pointed out they were on KJ Safari, and i also recall them on Living with the Land boat ride. Agree they take away from the ride amd ruin the experiance
I also find them a little claustrophobic having them in some of the queues – like the boat ride in Mexico @ Epcot. There were other queues just like Mexico but don’t recall which ones. Not sure how effective they are – are they realy doing anything. If someone coughs in the queue doesn’t it trap the particals longer with those high plastic screens and stay around longer within the confined area. The Mexico queue it is very tight queque and i would think it better to have it open so things can travel away and not on top of people. No expert on the matter but got me thinking if it provides false security or truely helping at all in preventing the spread of the covid.
Right! I guess I’m just getting old, remembering fondly the days I could hit every attraction in MK before lunch… But I don’t recall there ever being lines like this at SSE and the boat ride before FFP program was implemented.
I figured as much. Sometimes it’s quite obvious it’s a fisheye shot, with the 180 degree FOV. But you’re inspiring me to try and take a little more time on shots at least. Which probably means conjuring up some solo trips so I don’t hear the groaning about running to the next line to wait next to a bunch of sweaty, irritated people…
Mike, it was plastered all over Farcebook Disney groups the other day, with pictures. Not there when we went for Labor Day. We’ve decided we are going always say party of two on many of these rides anyway. Being squashed in middle of the safari truck screws visibility to begin with. Less so on Pirates, but still…
It’s not looking like they listened to your advice about going big for the 50th.
Haha, no kidding!
Haha, perhaps not. However, if you recall, my main recommendation was going big on entertainment. If Paint the Night is brought over from DCA and Harmonious debuts, I’d consider those two pretty big wins.
Well, they still had a big lattice boom crane in the pyro barge lagoon area at Epcot in early September so some major work still going on there. I figured it was for the new show.
On a side note, people keep saying economy is slow and blah, blah, blah. I drove through Austin week before last for a meeting up in Temple, and counted more than 30 big cranes there. Construction is booming everywhere I’ve been lately.
That is really too bad, I was very excited for Tron and to get back on the train for our December 2021 trip. Alas, if they can still make it feel like Christmas and hopefully still have some 50th anniversary celebrations ongoing then I’ll be happy!
Wow, lots of sad news in your report, Tom. Kind of feels like WDW is the “other sister”. The one who gets the second hand clothes, left overs and just not as much attention and the “pretty sister”.
Tom, Thanks for always posting the latest. It really helps with expectations and planning. I still don’t really understand virtual queues. I understand the ROTR one, but I don’t understand how JC or MFSR would work. And I’m wondering how those would work with a DAS. Any more info you can give would be helpful! Thanks! Also, to my understanding Colorado has no quarantine restrictions.
Longer waits, delayed new attractions, no show, no parades, no fireworks, no meet & greets, around 30% of the restaurants closed, even more only open sporatically, masks all day, no fast passes, no guarantee of RotR ….. Disney is going to have to up their game. They are asking people to pay the same high tickets prices for much, much less. Yes, it’s our choice to go or not, but with longer wait times, there is less and less reason to go now.
Yeah, I was half hoping, though fully knowing that when Universal released their buy 2 days, get 3 days free special offer on tickets that WDW would actually put out some kind of special ticket offer. Again, I doubt it’ll happen, just hoping! lol. I’m still planning on going, even without discounts currently offered just to get away, but I’m sure they’d hit higher levels more consistently with discounts available. The more people they can bring in to spend money on site at food and souvenir places, the sooner some of these furloughed employees can get back to work.
I agree 100%. I want to go, but can’t justify the prices. Also, my autistic son *really* hates the masks, so we will probably wait until Disney drops those as a requirement.
I’ve always been able to get us fastpasses for virtually every ride when we have gone in the past, so between standby queues, losing the fireworks, and having to wear masks all of the time….I’m not sure it would feel like a vacation.
So, no tron, no train probably till then, ( its already been 2 years since they shut it down) then no people mover, that almost ends anything at that end of the park . the circus tent is closed , still dont understand that one. No wonder the lines are so huge and people are canceling vacation, no parade except for those little floats, ( which are cute) . If we wernt residents of Florida we wouldnt bother coming down to go to the parks………..Hopefully something is open that is interesting to preschool kids, because I have a project I am doing for a preschool in another state where a family member is a preschool teacher……..I can do it without these other things opening, but the project will take longer because I can only go to one park a day………I know there will be things delayed because of Covid, but its really getting rediculous. How many locals do you think will come to the parks if they have to sign up at so many things at a virtual que to come back later in the day. Our passes are good till the end of august next year. Not sure if we will or wont renew them especially if they cost as much as they do now.
Is the circus tent a “relaxation station?” I know Columbia Harbour House is and Laughing Floor. I mean, I can’t think of any reason these things would remained closed except for that.
Vicki I think Pete’s Silly Sideshow in that area is the relaxation station, not the Storybook Circus shop.
Somewhat (sort of) related to this… Have you heard about a completion date for the MK-GF walkway? Looks like it will tie into the new boat dock/pier @ MK? More walking outside and less riding the monorail is a good thing these days!
Yes, an update would be great! We bought a small Poly contract on the resale market just because of the potential walkway. It will be great to walk and not wait in lines or worse, deal with tired, cranky adults on the monorail after a busy day at the park. The kids will be asleep.
Ugh. That’s depressing news. As I always look for a silver lining, the best way to get my husband to go on frequent WDW trips is to promote what’s new since we last went. If they end up staggering some of these delayed openings, well, the more trips for us!
I’m still holding out hope that Disney will do something about the increasing wait times for rides prior to the upcoming holidays. We’ll be going for the last time on our current APs and if it is as I expect it to be (more crowds, longer ride wait times than already occurring, no FP or additional virtual queues), then this will be our determination not to renew our APs. I can’t justify the cost of an out-of-state platinum AP for each of us, plane tickets, on-property resort costs, food & souvenir costs against the shortened hours, longer wait times, increased crowds during a pandemic, lack of food options, missing shows and entertainment, and face masks (yes, I agree with wearing them, but it’s not comfortable nonetheless). We’ve hit a tipping point in “worth it” and that is at the point that we are paying an exorbitant amount of money to get into parks just to stand in line all day and ride fewer and fewer rides.
Agreed!! We are in the exact same situation, coming from Nevada. Getting way to expensive, while at the same time, being depressing with everything we are missing. ( Especially not being able to stay at the Wilderness Lodge .) We’re on the fence as to whether or not we should renew. 🙁
I’m not a rollercoaster person, so Ratatouille’s the one that’s a blow for me. I was holding out hope for a little bit that it’d be open before my Christmas trip, especially since it was supposedly so close to opening before the pandemic. I get that they don’t want to open anything without the fanfare, but it might have helped to have a shiny new toy to soak up some of the EPCOT crowds, maybe even with the virtual queue option.
I do have my 50th anniversary room and park pass reservations already, so fingers crossed Remy’s serving up smiles by then.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure still could open in time for Christmas–the Spring or Summer 2021 date is purely speculation on our part. Work is actively being done on the attraction and we’ve heard it’s even testing on the ride. It doesn’t make complete sense for some of that to be done right now if they’re not planning to open it for another full year (or even 6 months) from now.
I am really not surprised at any of these delays. I am not excited about most of them anyways. The prices for resort stays October 1st and beyond for the 50th are crazy, so if they don’t have a celebration why would anyone go?
Your trying to make virtual queue sound good but anything that keeps me on my phone while on vacation is not good! I have magic bands, guess they weren’t so magic.
“Your trying to make virtual queue sound good but anything that keeps me on my phone while on vacation is not good!”
To be abundantly clear, I don’t think this is good–just that it will be viewed as good by those who want FastPass+ to return. Essentially, this will be same-day FastPass+.
Virtual queue being expanded means crowds are going up, which is not good.
So sad with continued delays, we’re hoping for a better future. I do think Disney needs to entice visitors and new attraction delays, basically no park entertainment, fewer resorts and restaurants that are open and so forth is just not making it happen.
I cannot justify the prices and the risks of the virus to go to Disney World right now. I’ve been to Disney World over 50 times through the years and I live in Indiana. I’ve lost my enthusiasm for going there at this point.
I tend to agree that they could entice us from the northern states to make a trip. But at this point with the virus, my wife and I, let alone our kids and their families would rather wait. It might be safer, but still too risky at our ages to come down (from WI) right now. Maybe the trip in January will be a go, or we’ll wait for our March birthday trip. I’m like most of you, ready to get back but not quite ready or comfortable yet.
December will be our first time visiting Hollywood Studios since Galaxy’s Edge has opened. It is a little concerning that we could conceivably visit the studios twice (at significant cost) and still be locked out experiencing either Smuggler’s Run or Rise of the Resistance because we would lose the “virtual queue lottery.” On another note, if the Studios is only operating at 25% of capacity and less than half of that capacity cannot ride Rise of the Resistance on any given day… it means only 1 in 10 people who pay to visit the studios can ride it on busier days that approach 75-100% capacity. Those odds are really quite unacceptable. In fact, the ability to have a place in the virtual queue for these rides should be determined in advance before you have to choose if you want to visit that park. With so many shows and other attractions and entertainment still not operating you’ll have tens of thousands of park visitors on any given day wandering around with very little to do other than wait in ridiculously long lines for very short experiences.
I completely agree with you. It’s basically like paying $120 per person just to find out if you were chosen for something. Imagine guests bringing their little girls to Magic Kingdom paying $120 a day just to find out that morning whether or not you get to eat at CRT. And if you don’t get it well that sucks. I think they need to move Rise to a pre-reserved (and likely a paid) opportunity. You are right that it is about 10-15% of the days park capacity. We were so lucky and got to ride it for the first time in September, but I could tell most people around us didn’t get it. You certainly didn’t hear the cheers of excitement after the passes went out. More the UGH sound. Realizing you have to stick around til 2 to try again. Then after that most people realize they still aren’t getting it and bail from the park. (And without park hopping… it’s really bad). Like I said we were lucky but i feel bad for everyone who wasn’t. As far as riding Smuggler’s Run, its easy enough to ride as a walk on at park close.
Mitch, I believe some of the problem with capacity is due to the temporary measures. The ride vehicles can hold up to 8 people each, but my understanding is currently they are only loading one party per vehicle. Pure speculation but I would guess the average party size right now is less than 4, so that is greatly cutting into its capacity. I don’t see Hollywood Studios allowing 75-100% park capacity while keeping the loading restriction in place, so while it still isn’t guaranteed it won’t be as bad as you’re worried about. Hopefully they can figure out a way to bring park hopping back sooner rather than later so at least if you miss out you can bounce to another park and not lose a whole day.
As someone else has stated, Rise is only allowing one party per vehicle. I visited the parks a few weeks ago and was fortunate enough to score a boarding pass. I was visiting solo that day, waiting for the rest of my family to arrive, so when I rode Rise I had an entire ride vehicle to myself. Once restrictions ease up, they will be able to seat multiple parties per vehicle and that should greatly aid with the ability for most guests to be able to ride!! Also, hopefully as time goes on the ride will become more reliable, which is the main issue in so many people not being able to ride.
Now I feel fortunate to have ridden ROTR twice in Feb and twice in Sept. In Sept, the large ion cannons weren’t moving back as they fired, and on one ride we got the projection Kylo. With the new plexiglass experience barriers, they should be able to load up the cars fully at the expense of a reduced experience.
It’s sad but every time I read something about Disney now it’s never good news. My family loves Disney World and usually vacation there every year. So much so that I bought a DVC last year. We have a vacation planned in June 2021. This would be the first time we get to use the DVC. With no fast passes and no park hopping on top of reduced hours we will probably be selling our DVC. We paid a lot of money and with all these cut backs it doesn’t seem worth it anymore. Hope it eventually gets back to the way it was.
I’d imagine that Park Hopping, at the very least, will be back by June 2021. FastPass or more widespread virtual queues, among other things, might be as well.
Park hopping has got to come back sooner rather than later. That alone makes me less inclined to fly there. If they are worried about capacity issues, then it’s very easy to implement the MDE system to show current park guest numbers vs capacity in real time so you can just look and see if you’re likely to be turned away before you go over there.
No real surprises here as I think we all expect changes and modifications as we deal with the pandemic. Our family trips are slightly delayed and we’ll keep patiently waiting. With these great informative updates, it’s easier to plan and in some cases postpone a trip or two. December is off the table, however the January trip is still a go for now. Thanks again for the updates and enjoy the fact that you are able to be there. Have a dessert for us!
“Have a dessert for us!”
You don’t have to ask me twice! 😉
This is disappointing. You mention the incredibly long timeline for TRON, and contrast that with Universal and the velocicoaster. What’s the story with Guardians? That one was announced and started far earlier, I thought … and one piece of that project (queue and pre-show) is just a re-do of an already constructed building. Seems crazy that it takes so long.
The two were announced at the same D23 Expo.
The difference for me is that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is an original attraction (not a clone) that is much more complex and ambitious. It taking longer is understandable (although probably not this long). TRON is arguably a good roller coaster, but it’s pretty basic…and was already built in less time at Shanghai Disneyland.
I agree. It’s pretty ridiculous how long its taking them to build Tron. I enjoy seeing Universal create amazing coasters in the time frame that they do (Hagrids, Velocicoaster). We are still planning to be down for the 50th and already made our Magic Kingdom reservations but it’s pretty hard to imagine that ride will not be done by October 1. Shocking even.
The new Texas Stingray at Seaworld San Antonio is awesome! Just rode it Friday. The structure is all steel, but the trackway is wooden timbers (with steel ride plates) and it is very smooth. Like SDMT except taller, longer and faster. There’s an artificial ‘rattle’ device in the trains to make it sound like an old-school wooden coaster but it doesn’t beat you up like one.
Maybe it will need to be a 50+1 celebration in 2022.
Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary is (was?) expected to be an 18-month celebration, so TRON’s opening would still occur about halfway through that.
Huge Bummer but thanks for the report. Tough times. Please keep updating us on any potential progress. Was holding out for Tron and Galaxy attractions. Hoping for a new Future World before I become past tense. Your last sentence was perfect BTW.
I might have gone for the specialty plate, but live in the wrong state. 🙁
Is the plate only for Florida residents?
Looks that way from another article I was able to find.