The pros of TRON moving to a stand by Line
1: 7am start no longer essential
The prep, the alarms, the chaos. The tense 7am moments of repeatedly refreshing an app page to frantically get a space in a boarding queue for TRON. Gone. No longer do you need to be in the park at 1pm if you want to try again after the disappointment of failing or oversleeping at 7am. TRON riders can now sleep-in knowing that they can walk up to a stand-by line and be admitted to the queue without scanning in. Early mornings are no longer a barrier to ride; the only thing between you and your ride experience is a wait time. rather than a variable virtual queue system.
Being able to enjoy your sleep and ride when you like is a huge pro for guests visiting Magic Kingdom. If you have a late night enjoying one of the park shows, or had a late meal you can sleep knowing that your TRON ride experience does not hinge on you waking up to try and get a virtual queue space. It removes the uncertainty of wondering whether you will be able to ride even if you set your alarm, bringing peace to mornings when you want to ride TRON that day. Virtual queue systems have benefits, but one of the major down sides is the early alarm.
2: No choice necessary
Since 28th June 2024, the opening day of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure guests visiting Magic Kingdom have had to choose between riding TRON or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure when making virtual queue choices. You can only hold one virtual queue space at any time. That means in order to ride both you have to have had your ride experience, before booking your second. With availability being scarce, guests were facing a difficult and unwanted choice.
Both rides are high on people’s bucket lists, and it’s no fun having to choose. Moving TRON to a stand by line means the need to choose is now over. This is a huge pro for guests who no longer have that difficult decision to make and may have been making group compromises before.
3: More flexibility for your day
The virtual queue system chooses your boarding group and your call back time is subject to the rides through put of guests on the day. Before the change guests had no control over the boarding group they were assigned to and if it was inconvenient, that was tough. This made it tricky for guests with other bookings and sometimes meant making a choice between attractions and experiences.
Now TRON is operating using a stand-by queue guests can choose when to join the queue. This is a huge benefit which brings more flexibility to the times you enjoy attractions. You can fit your ride experience in around any dining experiences or other time sensitive attractions you may want to experience, such as Magic Kingdom parades and shows.
4: More than one ride possible as part of standard entry price
You no longer only get one chance to ride TRON in a day without buying a Lightning Lane Single Pass. You can now ride TRON as many times as you like, as you can re-join the stand-by line queue. Admittedly, that is probably some way off, especially in the first few weeks on from the 9th September. (You can still also buy a Lightning Lane Single Pass if there is availability).
Moving TRON to the stand by line gives this Tomorrowland ride more of an air of possibility which a ride on a virtual queue lacks. When you love a ride experience and it is on a virtual queue there is always that tinge of disappointment that you won’t find a magic moment to enjoy another sneaky experience without paying or waiting until another day.
5: Ride when you want
Sitting in Tomorrowland waiting for your boarding group to be called is officially a thing of the past. You no longer have to be told when to ride. If you want to ride later in the day because you prefer to ride TRON in the evening, you can. Or you can ride earlier in the day. The choice is yours. This is a great advantage to using a stand-by line in comparison to a virtual queue
6: Take advantage of quiet times
Although queue times will likely be very high for the first few weeks of opening, there will be quiet times to ride TRON, just as there are with other rides. This is one big pro that guests can enjoy and will find adds magic to their day. If queue times are low, you can head to the ride to enjoy the experience. Although remember if you are on the other side of the park lots of other guests will do this too, so by the time you get the the queue time can be high. With a virtual queue that wasn’t possible as guests are not made aware of the time they will queue for when they join it and you have to have a code to scan to be able to join a queue.
The cons of TRON moving to a stand by line
1: Queueing
Virtual queues limit the time you spend in a physical queue. With a virtual queue your time in a queue is limited to the number of people in your boarding group. Usually the most you wait is around an hour. There is no 3 hour wait time in a queue where you have to keep yourself and any children entertained. (Remember TRON has a 48″ / 122cm height requirement). Standing in a slow moving queue line is boring, no matter how good the theming.
The queue wait time is a major con to TRON moving to a stand-by line. Although the process of getting a virtual queue was annoying for guests, the amount of time you were going to spend in a queue once you got a place was much smaller than it will typically be now.
2: Length of ride in comparison to queue length
When the queue for this ride gets long, and predictions suggest it will, think about whether it is worth joining that queue line in comparison to the ride experience you are going to get. TRON is a fast rollercoaster and you can spend longer loading onto the unique bike vehicles than you do on the tracks of the circuit. At 90 seconds the experience is short.
If queue times reach the lofty heights that Avatar: Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom reaches you will be trading hours in a queue for seconds of experience. For guests looking to maximise their day, TRON may be a ride that is just not worth the day. Trading hours for seconds of an experience that is over all too quick is a big con for this ride opening the stand by queue line.
3: Impact on the rest of your day
High wait times impact the number of Disney experiences that you can enjoy in a day. This becomes even more important when you only have a day or two in the parks and you are looking to do as many attractions and experiences as you can. Spending hours in a queue for a short attraction can lead you to feel just a bit deflated. Especially when there is so much magic to explore in Magic Kingdom.
4: It’s not made the Early Entry list, yet
Early Entry is a resort guest perk allowing people to enter the park 30 minutes before rope drop at Magic Kingdom. Only rides from Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are on the list, but so far TRON is not included. This move was to be expected to ensure everyone can enjoy the benefits of riding using the stand by line. It is likely only a matter of time before TRON becomes an early entry experience. Hopefully.
Here’s a look at the list, for 9th – 10th September 2024. You can follow this link to check the list if you are a resort guest hoping to ride TRON.
Moving TRON onto the Early Entry list of attractions at Magic Kingdom will help with queue levels when initial excitement reduces. Until then, although an understandable move by Disney, it’s a negative for resort guests who will not be able to enjoy TRON during Early Entry.
5: TRON rope drop mania is likely to happen
It is very likely that you will see a large number of rope droppers power walking towards Tomorrowland. Many guests will want to enjoy a first ride on TRON using the stand-by queue line for the foreseeable future. This may have a positive impact on the speed wait times rise for the most popular rides in Fantasyland. Mainly Peter Pan’s Flight and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. However, it is likely that TRON will experience the similar unfluctuating high wait times you expect from those rides. This is a definite disadvantage, as guests will be waiting longer to ride in the stand by queue than in the virtual queue.
Conclusion
Overall, when looking at the pros and cons of TRON moving to a stand by line, it has to be seen as a positive move. Disney do not use virtual queues forever. The biggest positive is that guests will be able to choose when they want to ride, without virtual queue complications. The biggest negative is the expected high wait times. Overall the pros do outweigh the cons currently for moving TRON to a stand by queue line. Only time will tell whether it stays that way. Until then, tomorrow is a new and exciting start to be able to ride TRON as often as you can.
