TRON Lightcycle Run will officially open at Magic Kingdom on April 4, 2023. Despite the opening still sitting a few weeks away, Disney leadership is already talking about what’s next.
Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, hosted the Orlando Business Journal to experience TRON Lightcycle Run during the annual passholder preview window. D’Amaro answered several questions, but his most interesting comment was about other changes at Walt Disney World.
Via the Orlando Business Journal:
“Our Imagineers, our entire team, are incredibly ambitious about the experience here and how it will continue to grow and evolve. You’ve seen it come to life with the 50th anniversary coming out of the pandemic and how we stood right back up and brought back all the things people love and added new things. You have seen it at Epcot — it’s totally transforming — and that will continue to transform.”
D’Amaro then spoke a bit more about TRON, and ended with a a bold statement.
“Tron is spectacular, and adding something of this size and scope to the most visited theme park in the world is pretty ambitious and incredible. You see the guests walking off that experience … the look on their faces — and it adds to the whole experience we offer here. But there’s no end … Tron is the tip of the iceberg of what’s coming.”
D’Amaro is seemingly referencing the ambitious “Blue Sky” plans he brainstormed during the D23 Expo 2022 Parks Presentation. There, he spoke about possible additions to Magic Kingdom (Coco, Encanto, and Villains) and Disney’s Animal Kingdom (Moana and Zootopia), though he specifically noted that nothing was finalized.
At the time, we lamented Disney’s refusal to put any pen to paper, so to speak, about these extensive changes/additions. Disney’s domestic theme parks continue to rake in money and are lacking the necessary investment to adequately meet guest demand while still providing an outstanding experience.
D’Amaro’s comments appear to indicate Disney is planning to make some more formal announcements of their own in the nearish future. EPCOT’s Journey of Water walk-through attraction and some other relatively minor changes won’t cut it when the competition, Universal, is opening a brand new theme park (Epic Universe) just up the road.
Photo via Disney.
