Tron in 2023: A Disney World Roller Coaster and a Visual Novel Video Game


Sometimes, it's hard being a fan of a cult classic franchise. In the case of Tron, Disney knows that there's a fan base for Tron, but it also knows that Tron doesn't bring in money the same way that Marvel and Star Wars do. As a result, Disney will roll out new Tron content every now and then, but it feels more like half-hearted afterthoughts than serious attempts at storytelling and universe building.

Disney recently announced that it is going to open the Tron Lightcycle / Run roller coaster ride in its Tomorrowland area at Walt Disney World in Florida in April of this year. According to the official Tron ride page:

"Climb aboard your very own Lightcycle and take off on a high-speed adventure, racing against the Grid’s most menacing Programs. Surge past your fierce opponents as you attempt to cross through 8 Energy Gates and secure your team’s victory—so you can survive to race another day. ... Scheduled to open April 4, 2023, TRON Lightcycle / Run will be one of the fastest coasters at any Disney theme park in the world."


This ride isn't new. It originally opened in Shanghai Disneyland on June 16, 2016, and the ride in Florida is going to be a copy of that coaster. I'd like to be excited about this ride coming to the United States but after watching the many videos that have been posted about it on YouTube, it looks like nothing more than a neon-lit rollercoaster with lightcycle-shaped passenger cars. 

In comparison to other franchise-based rides that Disney has rolled out, the Tron ride doesn't do much to explore and build upon the vast virtual world of the Grid. If anything, they could at least add built-in helmets to the coaster's lightcycles for the riders to wear that would provide 3D visuals of the Grid landscape, other lightcycles, and other Grid vehicles such as Recognizers, Light Runners, and Light Jets. This would enhance the ride considerably and be consistent with the lightcycle helmets that were in Tron: Legacy and Tron: Uprising.

This reminds me of how Disney treated the Tron franchise when it released its Disney Infinity toys-to-life video game series a few years ago. Most of the content and figures released for that game focused on characters and situations from Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars movies. All Tron got was two figures (Sam Flynn and Quorra) that were released during the last release of Infinity in 2015.


Regardless, not everything is going to be lackluster for Tron in 2023. Bithell Games will be releasing a visual novel video game called Tron: Identity later this year. This game is supposed to take place after the movies and the Uprising TV series and on a new, separate Grid. Because Identity will focus on a mystery, players will be exploring the new Grid and the programs that inhabit this virtual world. How this game ties into previous entries in the franchise are unclear, but I'm looking forward to playing it anyway. If anything, it looks like a major improvement from the last Tron video game--Tron RUN/r, a 2016 release that was an "endless runner" game. Ugh.




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