As Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, began to relax some COVID-19 safety protocols in May 2021, many fans began to share videos and images in anticipation of new attractions at the theme park.
A TikTok video showed a construction site for the ongoing “Tron coaster” ride, or what Disney had promoted as the "TRON Lightcycle / Run" ride opening in the Orlando theme park at some point in the future.
Inspired by the 1982 science fiction film “TRON” and the 2010 sequel “TRON: Legacy,” the roller coaster ride was originally introduced in Shanghai Disneyland in 2016 (shown in the image at top of this article). The ride is being recreated for Disney World.
According to Attractions Magazine, a publication that largely covers tourism and theme parks for Orlando, the new "TRON" ride was originally supposed to be introduced around the time of Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary in 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, construction for the roller coaster was reportedly put on hold, and many speculate that its opening could be pushed to 2022. Disney has not yet revealed when the ride will debut.
Zach Riddley, a Walt Disney World executive, shared photographs on Instagram from September 2020 showing installations taking place at the ride:
In January 2021, Blog Mickey, an unofficial source for Walt Disney news shared photos from the site claiming it had been sealed off, with rumored delays in its construction.
By April 2021, Attractions Magazine reported that the construction appeared to be continuing based on photos shared by @bioreconstruct on Twitter, showing that the support frame around parts of the ride were being removed:
Disney still has not revealed an opening date as of this writing. But given that the construction has been ongoing for a few years and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the process have been shared by various visitors on the ground, it appears that the ride is still under construction. We thus rate this claim as “True.”