When To Ride Tron Lightcycle Run

Welcome to the continuation of our When To Ride series, where we use data to take the guesswork out of planning your day at Walt Disney World. In each post, we break down a single headliner attraction—when to ride it, whether it’s worth buying Lightning Lane, and what to expect if something goes wrong.

Today we’re talking about one of the trickiest attractions for avoiding a long wait at Magic Kingdom: Tron Lightcycle Run.

Tron Attraction Overview

TRON Lightcycle Run is Magic Kingdom’s newest thrill ride and a big draw to Tomorrowland at all times of day. It’s a sleek, high-speed coaster where you race through the Grid on a glowing “lightcycle”, leaning forward like you’re on a futuristic motorcycle. It originally opened with a virtual queue, but has since converted to standby, and consistently has the second-highest wait times of any attraction at Walt Disney World (just behind Cosmic Rewind).

As of Spring 2025, Tron is the 47th-highest-rated attraction at Walt Disney World according to our post-visit surveys, with an average satisfaction rating of 4.47 on our scale from 1 to 5. It rates much better for teens (6th place, 4.72) and young adults (24th place, 4.66).

If you’re interested in learning more about Tron, check out our Ride Chicken’s Review and 5 Things To Know.

Tron Standby Wait Time Patterns

This is the most important thing to understand about Tron: the line starts long, and doesn’t decrease at the end of the day like most rides do.

Posted wait times at Tron are unique in that they start high – there’s no morning ramp-up as people enter the park and get into line. This is because Tron isn’t open during early entry, but a significant number of people spend all of early entry just lining up for it. So the posted wait starts high and stays high – even increasing on average as the day progresses. That’s thanks to many people waiting to ride until after dark (or hoping to re-ride after dark) when the canopy is lit up.

Actual wait times are a little more erratic – and average 20-30 minutes below what is posted throughout the day. Getting into line as early in the day as possible is a good plan. Otherwise, you may want to wait until around 5 pm. That’s after many people have already ridden, and before those who are waiting for sunset will get into line. It gives a little dip in actual wait times.

Best Standby Strategy

• Early Entry: We don’t recommend using early entry to just wait in line for Tron. It increases your effective wait time and means you can’t take advantage of lower waits at other headliners that are already open. If you’re at the very front of the rope, opt for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Space Mountain first, then get in line for Tron

• No Early Entry? Be through the tapstiles before official park open and head straight to the line. Really as long as you’re in line before 10:30 am, your actual wait probably won’t be much longer than if you showed up right at park open.

• Alternate Standby Windows: Try around 5:00 pm before the “after-dark” crowd shows up to get in line.

Tron Lightning Lane Strategy

Tron is a Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP) attraction. And based on our data, it’s definitely not one of the best-value purchases at Walt Disney World.

Here’s why – LLSP for Tron will cost you between $19 and $22 per person, on average. And it will save you an average of 38 minutes compared to waiting in standby instead. That means you’re paying $30-$34.75 for every hour of time you’re saving. That’s not a great cost per hour saved compared to other attractions (like Cosmic Rewind, at $18-$20.50 per hour saved).

But “value” isn’t everything – with an average Lightning Lane wait hovering around 10 to 15 minutes for most of the day, LLSP is certainly the way to guarantee your party the shortest possible wait for Tron. Rope dropping it can’t save you that much time since the line starts long, and getting in line at the end of the night doesn’t get you that short of a wait either. So, if your number one priority is waiting as little as possible for Tron, Lightning Lane is the way to do it.

Lightning Lane Availability

If you want to use Lightning Lane for Tron, you’ll need to plan ahead … and likely stay onsite. On moderate-crowd days, LLSP reservations totally sell out two to three days in advance. Even if you book out exactly 7 days ahead, early return times are gone quickly. Most guests booking right at the 7-day mark will get a return time after noon. If that’s too late for your plans, you’ll need to book an LLSP for Tron at least 8-10 days in advance. That means staying on site and booking for a Magic Kingdom day that is later in your trip.

On high crowd days, we’ve seen LLSP reservations for Tron completely sell out closer to 7 days in advance, which means that off-site guests (who aren’t eligible to book until 3 days before their park visit) are unlikely to get a shot at booking one at all.

Tron Reliability and Downtime

Good news! As of Spring 2025, Tron is a decently reliable attraction. It only averages approximately 21 minutes of downtime a day. That’s just 3% of its overall capacity. And just about half of all park days have no downtime at all. When downtime does happen, it typically only lasts about an hour or less.

So if the attraction is open when the park opens, odds are good that it will stay that way. And if it goes down, you won’t lose the whole day waiting for it to come back.

Touring Plans Tips and Tricks for Tron

• Staying at a Deluxe resort? Take advantage of Extended Evening Hours (when they’re on the calendar) and wait until the very end of your extra two hours of Magic Kingdom time. Waits can drop below 30 minutes, and you’ll just be extending your park day. Don’t get in line at the beginning of Extended Evening Hours because you’ll spend most of the event in this line.

• Want to ride twice? Book an LLSP and also head to Tron first thing in the morning for standby.

• No LLSP? Get in line sometime before 10:30 am or around 5 pm.

• Skip the post-sunset crush: If riding Tron after dark with the canopy lighting package on is important to you, your best bet is almost certainly purchasing LLSP for sometime in the evening.

Final Recommendations

The popularity and visual draw of Tron continues to make it one of the highest wait times you’ll encounter during any Walt Disney World trip. Guests typically find it to be worth the wait, but you’ll probably enjoy it more if you avoid a lengthy standby line. If you’re interested in riding at night, an LLSP is your best bet. Otherwise, get into line as soon as the park opens and be prepared for a bit of a wait.

Next up in the When To Ride series: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure! Have questions about Tron that this data didn’t cover? Drop them in the comments below.