The manager started laughing as I made my way down the line once again and said “Welcome Back Again”, while a staff member looked at me in astonishment. An hour had barely passed by and it was already my sixth time riding TRON LightCycle.
How did I manage to avoid waiting in line at one of newly opened Shanghai Disneyland’s hottest attractions? Was I a Disneyland VIP or Bob Iger’s son? The trick was actually much simpler: by using the vastly underutilized single rider line.
If you’ve ever been to a Disney theme park, you’re probably aware of the single rider line, which allows solo travelers or those who wish to skip the long standby line to fill in empty seats left by odd number groups.
Seeking a reprieve from the scorching Shanghai heat, I decided to try my luck with the single rider line at TRON. At a listed wait time of 30 minutes, the wait time seemed quite reasonable, and I scampered into the awaiting air conditioned building.
I started heading down the line and kept going.
And going, passing fast pass riders who were waiting their turn.
And going
I finally reached the end with miraculously no one in front of me.
Initially, I was a bit confused. Perhaps I must have mistakenly jumped the line at some point. A quick chat with a Disney employee confirmed I was in the right line. 30 seconds later, I was called to fill an empty seat, giving me barely anytime to view the mesmerizing waiting area.
Unlike most attraction rides where riders sit on a seat, TRON has a unique set up where you kneel down and assume a cycling riding position, similar to how the actual the actors rode in the movie.
We quickly entered the launch area and screeched to a halt, where a voice in Mandarin counted down 3, 2, 1.
I was instantly hit a gut punch as the coaster accelerated to 100 mph within two seconds and launched us outdoors to the delight of numerous photo snapping park goers.
We then headed into the world of TRON and our wheels glowed as we sped through the grid.
The coaster accelerated slightly more each time we catapulted past each gate.
At the end a rival lightcycle pops up briefly and explodes onscreen in a grand climax.
Word’s cannot describe how awesome the ride is, so I made a quick video with multiple angles:
TIP: It’s better to sit in the middle rather than the front. With the lighting animations running at a specific timing, I found that sitting in row five of the ride gave me the best immersion possible as the explosions happened right in front of me. As an added bonus, you get to see the TRON LightCycle wheels change colors
Unfortunately, the ride is quite short at only 2 minutes long and before I knew it the ride was over. I quickly power walked and headed right back to the nonexistent line, repeating this same trick multiple times. Altogether, I rode TRON 8 times in a span of 90 minutes.
Why didn’t more people start using the single rider line?
Perhaps the reason why no one caught on was the concept single rider line doesn’t exist in China, so most local ride goers have no idea what that line means or entails. I suspect the real reason why there was almost never a line was due to the single queue time constantly incorrectly displaying a queue time of 30 minutes.
However, I had a similar experience with the single rider line at Pirates of the Caribbean, which did show a correct queue time of 10 minutes. Either way, it’s a great loophole and if you’re planning on visiting this summer, an option to use if you’re running short on time.
Overall, TRON is an excellent ride that is immersive and high tech. Along with the newly redone Pirates of the Caribbean, the two rides are innovative and game changing for future theme parks. Single rider lines are available for both rides and can easily save you hours if open.
Up Next: Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Sunken Treasure
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