Disney Imagineer Shares Her TRON Lightcycle / Run Journey
Originally published at Disney Parks News
I’ve had the honor of working on TRON Lightcycle / Run presented by Enterprise, and I could not be more thrilled to welcome you to the Grid. As we prepare for this attraction’s opening day, I’m taking some time to reflect on my journey working on TRON Lightcycle / Run.
I started with Walt Disney Imagineering as an intern on the Toy Story Land project in 2017. After finishing my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, I returned to Imagineering in 2018 to work on TRON Lightcycle / Run. During that time, I also had the opportunity to participate in the Jungle Cruise scene enhancement project. All of these projects are favorites for different reasons, but TRON Lightcycle / Run holds a truly special place in my heart.
For this project, I’ve had the good fortune of partnering closely with the Walt Disney Imagineering talent over at Shanghai Disney Resort. In fact, our lead construction manager also worked on TRON Lightcycle Power Run in Shanghai. We were able to take key learnings from those teams and integrate them into what we accomplished here at Walt Disney World Resort.
In January 2019, I headed to Shanghai with other members of the project team to spend time with the Engineering Services team. The trip gave us a clear sense of what we were building and the grand scale of our attraction, while also allowing me to grow closer to my team. As an Assistant Project Manager, I always want to bring out my fellow Imagineers’ best qualities. Once we’re all driving towards the finish line as a united front, it’s an enormously rewarding experience. The entire team is so committed to making this attraction the best it can be; some Imagineers have ridden more than 600 times just to ensure the show is perfect.
The attraction itself is incredibly dynamic. There are so many elements to it, from the outside concourse to the inside queue, to the different experiences riding it during the day and at night. I love to stand on the concourse and watch everything move. You can see the Lightcycles coming around the track, the Tomorrowland Speedway and even the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. There’s just so much going on, and it’s all contrasted by this grand canopy, an architectural feat that compliments the structure of Space Mountain.
It’s hard to believe TRON Lightcycle / Run’s grand opening on April 4 is just around the corner. Getting to come to work every day and partner with a team that feels like a family has been so special, and we can’t wait to bring this exciting attraction to you. Go Team Blue!
For more stories celebrating our cast members, check out the Disney Cast Life blog.
