Which Tron?

[SteveInOmaha]

If we were going to watch one Tron movie before going to Magic Kingdom, which version should it be?

 

[DWillowBay]

The second one, for sure! The first one was good in its time, but the second one had better visuals IMHO.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

It depends on for what purpose you are watching. Neither film is really necesarry to understand the storyline behind the ride. But the visual style and sound of the ride is definitely modeled after the second film. If, though, you are just looking for a fun movie with a Disney connection, I think the original is more enjoyable

 

[SteveInOmaha]

It depends on for what purpose you are watching. Neither film is really necesarry to understand the storyline behind the ride. But the visual style and sound of the ride is definitely modeled after the second film. If, though, you are just looking for a fun movie with a Disney connection, I think the original is more enjoyable

Realizing I didn't connect the dots on my original question. I've never seen either version, but I kinda know the story. My wife and other's I'm traveling to WDW with know absolutely nothing about Tron. Certainly they could just ride the ride and it would be cool. But I thought that we could watch one of the movies before we go to provide a little backstory, and add some level of understanding to the ride.

 

[georgina]

I didn’t see anything to understand about the ride. There is no preshow, no backstory at all. It’s just a ride.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Start at the first one and see if you are interested in the second.
~NM

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

I didn’t see anything to understand about the ride. There is no preshow, no backstory at all. It’s just a ride.

Yeah, there is very little. If you read the posters and watch the screen in the final boarding area, you can learn that after being digitized, you're in some kind of team race against teams with other colors. And that team orange seems to be the team to beat. But that is about it.

That's why i said you don't really need to see either movie to understand the ride story. I mean, in a nutshell, the first film is about a guy that has been captured and digitized by an evil AI and the story is about his efforts to escape the digital world. The second film is about the son of that same guy trying to find his missing father and he enters the digital world in an effort to try and find him. There are light cycle race scenes in both films, but neither really have much to do with the plot.

 

[kmill99]

Depending on your ages and tolerance for special effects, I'd say the second movie. It's a visual treat with an awesome sound track. The ride definitely is influenced by that movie. Of course your don't NEED to see any movie to ride the roller coaster, but if you want to watch one that's my pick.

For the record, my daughters, ages 9 and 11, enjoyed the movie - despite not having an interest in watching it for family movie night (prior to last trip in June) - and then said they were glad we watched the movie because it added to enjoyment of the ride and its theming.

Of course, we also all agreed we felt the ride and queue was sorely missing creative opportunities for more movie elements and theming (for example, we all wished you entered the queue through Flynns Arcade). Still was a fun ride and a decent movie.

 

[Nick6300]

I watched the 2nd Tron over again right after a trip where we went on it nearly 10x. I've seen the original a couple of times but I feel the newer one fits the ride more with the music and visuals.

 

[Nick6300]

Depending on your ages and tolerance for special effects, I'd say the second movie. It's a visual treat with an awesome sound track. The ride definitely is influenced by that movie. Of course your don't NEED to see any movie to ride the roller coaster, but if you want to watch one that's my pick.

For the record, my daughter's 9 and 11 enjoyed the movie despite not having an interest in watching it for family movie night (prior to last trip in June), and then said they were glad we watched the movie because it added to enjoyment of the ride and its theming.

Of course, we also all agreed we felt the ride was sorely missing creative opportunities for more movie elements and theming (for example, we all wished you entered the queue through Flynns Arcade). Still was a fun ride and a decent movie.

That would be interesting to go through the Arcade in the queue... better than the peeling carboard as you first enter queue from the lines. I'm not sure I was expecting steel, but at least plastic made to look like steel like RoR.

We thought the ride was ok, even with a low anticipation level, having been on it several times in Shanghai. Definitely could be 30 seconds longer.

 

[SteveInOmaha]

I watched the 2nd Tron over again right after a trip where we went on it nearly 10x. I've seen the original a couple of times but I feel the newer one fits the ride more with the music and visuals.

Thanks for that very helpful answer. And HOW IN THE WORLD did you ride it 10 times?!?!

 

[Nick6300]

Thanks for that very helpful answer. And HOW IN THE WORLD did you ride it 10 times?!?!

So we had 8 days, 7 nights and prioritized MK, and EP to lesser extent, for Tron and GotG. We even changed our 1st park which was AK to MK and tried for a Tron midflight, with the plan to switch reservations back to AK if we didn't get a late enough time after we landed and arrived at the park.

I had my wife's band and other than twice, I rode her ride most nights. When CM's sort of hesitate seeing "Samantha" on the screen, I blow by the CM in line so fast that I'm a blur, and it's too late for them to react.

So I typically rode twice per day. We PH every day so a typical day is riding Tron twice and GotG at the end of the night... all without every paying for ILL... I've never paid for any of them. We only bought G+ once for 8 days, haven't needed it with our RD planning and other ride planning.

 

[georgina]

I just wanted to smash that robot woman who kept saying something like 'Who are you?' Hearing that 30 times in line drove me nuts.

I rode it twice on my MK day with extra EE VQ, and I think once more another day. Not worth paying for ILL in my opinion. I like GotG much better.

 

[Nick6300]

I just wanted to smash that robot woman who kept saying something like 'Who are you?' Hearing that 30 times in line drove me nuts.

I rode it twice on my MK day with extra EE VQ, and I think once more another day. Not worth paying for ILL in my opinion. I like GotG much better.

Agree completely with everything you wrote.

 

[_19disnA]

I didn’t see anything to understand about the ride. There is no preshow, no backstory at all. It’s just a ride.

I agree, it is just a new Disney ride. When we were last there, Tron was still under construction. But rides like "Frozen" is just an effort to link a ride to a popular Disney movie. Frozen used to be a better ride when it was about the history of Norway. One of the issues Disney is going to have is movies have a shelf life and then are no longer popular. They will have to keep resetting the themes for various rides when that movie is no longer current.

 

[Nick6300]

I agree, it is just a new Disney ride. When we were last there, Tron was still under construction. But rides like "Frozen" is just an effort to link a ride to a popular Disney movie. Frozen used to be a better ride when it was about the history of Norway. One of the issues Disney is going to have is movies have a shelf life and then are no longer popular. They will have to keep resetting the themes for various rides when that movie is no longer current.

Interesting to me was that Tron was not one of the super popular attractions at Shanghai Disney, Soaring and then 7DMT. It was relatively easy for an American to prioritize Tron and Pirates Battle Sunken Treasure when they're not in high demand.

Yes I rode it like 10x earlier this month trip (1st time on WDW's version), and I'm glad for something new at MK, but as probably one of the most anticipated attractions ever at WDW, partially because it took several years since announcement and construction delays... it's sort of a let down even for someone who knew what to expect.

Doesn't seem to me that there's a big storyline opportunity for another Tron movie, and I don't care if there is another one, but they do love to make another movie to keep up the ride interest (Avatar).

 

[Kingoglow]

The original is a superior movie with a grander vision about technology and the future. The story is great but the plot about what the MCP is doing might be lost if you are not paying attention.

The second movie is uninspired and simply tangential to the original. Its effects are better with the GLARING exception of the de-aging effects prevalent throughout the movie. The second movie suffers because it is trying to establish a franchise universe so it introduces a lot of characters that never pay off because so much was left on the cutting room floor.

The second movie just doesn't have the same magic as the first because it was building to something more, but Disney canceled all future projects, so we don't get to see it. The first movie is self-contained.