Electrify the boys and girls

There is a lot of buzz surrounding the upcoming feature film, TRON: Legacy. Quite a bit of that anticipation has come from successful campaigns at San Diego Comic-Con and virally online, but some of the building excitement has come from events in Disneyland, such as ElecTRONica and the addition of TRON: Legacy music and images to the new nighttime spectacular World of Color. Wouldn’t it be something to see a piece of the Grid come to Walt Disney World.

When looking around Walt Disney World for suitable venues to host TRON events or attractions, there appears to be only one logical location, Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While futuristic properties, such as Star Wars and the original TRON, have always had a home in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, the feel of the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland doesn’t have the same flow. Disney’s Hollywood Studios, however, has the two things needed to bring TRON: Legacy to life, a theme that utilizes film productions and the blessing of unused space.The only area in the park suitable for a dance party is the Streets of America. However, with the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights residing throughout the avenues, it would make a dance party almost impossible. Similarly, none of the current nighttime productions have the ability or cohesion of theme to be able to add a TRON: Legacy element to them. With such seasonal and technical obstacles, it appears that stand alone attractions and showcases may be the only suitable route to take in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

The first idea I had for the inclusion of TRON: Legacy in Walt Disney World was to use the space currently occupied by The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian walk-through. With the third movie in this series preparing to launch from under a banner that is not Disney, now seems the perfect time to update this soundstage at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Perhaps, the waiting area could become Flynn’s office and the inner area could be the End of Line Club, before giving guests the opportunity to examine displays of identity discs, costumes, and even the occasional model and concept art of a light cycle.

On the other side of Disney’s Hollywood Studios rests the theater known as the ABC Sound Studio. Once upon a time this facility housed the Monster Sound Show, which gave way to the current Sounds Dangerous – Starring Drew Carey. The latter production operates seasonally now, proving that sound doesn’t carry as far as it used to, and making the ABC Sound Studio a prime candidate for an attraction that could operate year round. One of the most intriguing aspects of TRON and TRON: Legacy is the visual effects. From original and new suit technologies to green screens, this one little theater could create an interactive showcase of visual effects guests see everyday in film and television with just a tweak of the theater’s name and original purpose.A final, more blue sky, thought on a TRON: Legacy addition to the parks would be a full-fledge attraction in Soundstage 1. The notion involves employing similar storytelling techniques to those utilized in The Klingon Encounter as a part of The Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas and Poseidon’s Fury at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. By moving guests into Flynn’s Arcade and then stumble upon his office, where a power laser accidentally digitizes them onto the Grid. From this point, programs such as Tron and Quorra could shepherd the guests past game arenas where combatants are being derezzed, the End of Line Club, and lightcycle races before boarding a solar sailer or modified light runner in order to escape the digital world.

Any attraction or showcase involving the world of TRON would, obviously, not be ready before the film’s December theatrical release. However, with so many wonderful venues to inhabit, and given that the Grid offers innumerable possibilities, the inclusion of the TRON story in the parks would offer something to guests young and old.