Hidden away in the rightmost corner of Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World, you will find the home of the first Pixar character to make his way into the Magic Kingdom. When he is not busy saving our galaxy from the nefarious and evil Emperor Palpat….errr Zerg, he makes his home here in the Magic Kingdom at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin attraction.
You will be hard pressed to find a more colorful attraction in all of the Magic Kingdom! With the pastel and fluorescent greens, blues and purples everywhere you look, this ride is a true feast for the eyes. Of course since this is a Buzz Lightyear ride, it has to be themed around space, and the Space Ranger Spin ride is just that, mixing a space theme with an arcade shooting game at the same time.
I have spoken to many people who think this attraction is for the kiddies only because it involves spinning around and shooting a laser gun, but boy they sure are wrong, and missing out on a very fun trip through space. As you can see from the picture above, you do indeed man one of Buzz Lightyears favorite laser cannons. You and a friend board your spaceships and blast off through the galaxy while you shoot Emperor Zergs minions and even take on Zerg himself as the end boss.
See that circle with the “Z” in the middle of it, that is your target and it is your job to shoot as many of them as you can and get a high score before the ride ends. One of you onboard the ship will grab the joystick controls of the ship and either turn the ship in a circle left or right, and your job is to ensure that you put yourself in the best position to hit the most targets. There are hundreds of targets all around you, so there is always something to be shooting at on Space Ranger Spin.
Of course at the end of the ride, Emperor Zerg challenges you to a fight and if you are good enough and can hit him enough times you can vanquish him once and for all! I love the interactivity within this ride as well. As you hit targets, sometimes they will move or shake and a sound plays to let you know you have hit the target. Smoke and flashing lights will appear as well to really immerse you in the space theme. Of course there are plenty of LGM (Little Green Men) to help you out during your mission.
Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin is a very popular attraction at the Magic Kingdom and will tend to have long lines the later it gets in the day, so my insider recommendation to you is to try to ride it as one of the first things you do during the day. We usually ride Space Ranger Spin, then head over to Space Mountain and get FastPasses so that we can hit two birds with on stone.
Here’s some more insider tips just for my readers that will help you set truly high scores everytime you ride:
Tip #1 – you do NOT have to keep pressing the trigger button to make it fire. Simply hold down the trigger and it will fire continuously! Very few people get this and it will save your fingers some wear and tear!
Tip #2 – this is super secret so please keep this one just between us Space Rangers ok? Right after you get into your spaceship begin shooting the back of the persons head in the spaceship in front if you? Why you ask? Because most people’s hair gives off a shine similiar to the paint used on the target and you will find that you can rack up millions of points before the ride even starts!
Tip #3 – You have to have great eyes and even better aim for this tip, but right before you enter the room to take on Zerg, look down at the floor for a hidden target and shoot it! If you do, your score will roll over to 999,999,999! This is top secret info, so again, don’t tell anyone our secret ok! You will be the envy of the entire Space Corps with this little beauty!
Finally, you should really take your time and check out the huge audio animatronic Buss Lightyear right before you enter the ride itself. There is a lot of new technology in Buzz that is worth checking out. For instance, this was the first animatronic figure that uses a projector to create Buzz’s face. This same technology is used on Mr. Potato Head over at Toy Story Midway Mania, but good old Buzz used it first!
I hope next time your at the Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland that you will join up with the Space Rangers and help Buzz Lightyear beat Zerg back to Infinity and Beyond!
As always, thanks for joining me as we took a ride through the Space Ranger Spin. I’ll see ya back here real soon Cadet!
Disney 24/7 
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