After our ride on TTA, we realized we still had time before our Fast Pass for Space Mountain was ready. So, we decided for another spin on Buzz Lightyear. The ride never has much of a wait because of the great capacity, and by the time we'd finish, it would be time for our Space Mountain ride. So, we went over to Buzz Lightyear, which posted a 20 minute wait, which is usually the norm for this ride. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes, shorter than the posted time. The posted time is usually more than you'll actually wait. I discovered this at many attractions during our visit, but I'd rather it have a longer posted wait and the line being shorter than the time being short and the wait being long. Anyway, we took another spin on Buzz Lightyear. I'm not going to go in-depth about this one, as I already have. In the end, my score as about the same as the time I rode before, 35,000 points. Still not very good, but I'll get better as the trip goes on, as we'll see in later updates. Anyway, Buzz was again a very fun ride, and by the time we were out, it was time to head over to Space Mountain for our first ride of the trip. I was excited because SM is one of my favorite MK attractions of all time. We passed the plaza and headed over to the opposite end of Tomorrowland, where our attraction is found. We checked in at the Fast Pass entry to the Mountain and showed the Cast Member our three tickets. After that, we made our way into the dark depths of the Space Mountain queue line.
The queue starts off with a few sets of steps downward into the mountain. The bright lights on the walls shine in this part of the queue, but as we go on, we'll be plunged into darkness. After the steps, the queue is basically just a lot of walking straight. Since we're in the Fast Pass line, we have no one in front of us, yet. It's sometimes funny to look at the people in the stand-by lane...their reactions to you passing them aren't very sincere. Anyway, as we walk straight, the darker it gets. At one point, I really could not even see where I was going, and I hoped that there wouldn't be and turns in the queue. If there was, I was sure to run into one of the pole liners. The only light we had is from the small white stars in the windows at both sides of the queue...but that light is minimal at best. After quite a bit of walking, we get some light, and the queue starts to zig-zag. This area features some space constellations in the windows...which can be entertaining if you're in the stand-by line. After some more zig-zagging through the queue line, we finally came to a halt, as there were people waiting before us. I could just see the station queue area, so I knew we were close. We were only there for a mere amount of minutes before the Cast Member let all Fast Passers into the station. The CM took them, we arrived at decision time...would we go to the right side, or the left side? As the great Birnbaum's Guide to WDW always says..."stick to the left!". That's what we did. We could see an evident line forming for the right line, and no one in the left lane. We ended up walking right through the station queue line...until we finally stopped at numbers on the floor. We got assigned to numbers 4, 5, and 6. I would've liked to be in the 1st car of our train, but first seat in our car would be sufficient. After two trains full of guests loaded and departed, it was finally time for blast-off.
We quickly boarded our train and got ready for the great ride ahead. As soon as I got in, I noticed the small amount of space in the first seat. I had to squeeze my legs in there somehow, which was uncomfortable, but oh well. I just wanted to ride. I stored some of my things in the little net basket they have in the cars, and realized we were on the moved. My restraint wasn't even checked, and we were moving. I had no idea what was going on until we stopped just before the turn into the mountain. A Cast Member quickly checked our restraints, and before we knew it, it was time to roll. The brakes released, and we went around the turn and into the darkness. After a quick mini-dip, we were given light by a sign that said "60 seconds till blast-off". Next, we found ourselves surrounded in bright blue lights, going faster, faster, faster through the tunnel. The space music sped up as we moved our way through, until bam! We made an immediate, sharp left turn, and proceeded out of the tunnel. It was now time to go up the lift hill. The lift is full of theming, from a rocket to astronauts to brightly colored panels telling us how many seconds till blast-off. The anticipation builds as we slowly climb towards the top, with each light-up signs giving us a lower time till blast-off. Finally, we reach the top, where it says 3 seconds till blast-off. Shortly after, we hear the sounds of our rocket taking off, and we find ourselves out in the middle of space.
We start off with a quick left hand turn, no speed here yet. After that, the ride is pure chaos. We zoom off into numerous twists, turns, hills, and curves that make up Space Mountain's track. The ride is full of fast helices and quick drops that make you think you're going faster than you really are. After some helices and swooping turns, we come to my personal favorite part of the ride. This contains of the drop, hill, and turn near the lift hill. The drop gives you a great amount of speed, thus resulting in some sweet floater air over the hill. Then you get thrown at a quick, intense curve before heading back out into the mountain. Next, we have numerous more sharp turns and curves, as well as some quick bunny hops thrown in, which will indeed give you some quite unsuspected floater air. Towards the end is where the ride, to me, got more intense than I'd ever remembered it. After riding it 2 times during my WDW trip this year, I can honestly say I have no idea how this ride goes a pathetic 28 MPH. It is the mere complete darkness that makes you feel like your faster? I don't know, but this thing feels like it could be going double the posted speed. The out-of-this-world ride (ehh...pun intended) really is just out of control. With what feels to be nothing around you, the ride zooms through numerous ride elements that give it an out of control feeling. The jerky twists and turns along with the element of complete darkness really makes you feel like your speeding through space on an out of control mission. I love the ride for what it is, one insane coaster ride in darkness.
The ride finishes you off with a few last helices and and little bunny hills, before you head into the flaming red tunnel, with the sounds of rockets all around you. This is when you know that your ride is now over. The ride feels like such a blur once you reach that tunnel and then head into the brake run. Once you finally slow down, you just have to think about what really just happened. That's why I love SM, I love the insane, out of control feeling it gives. Along with what I have mentioned, SM is my favorite attraction in Tomorrowland, and maybe even the entire Magic Kingdom. The rush it creates is awesome, and once you reach that brake run, you're just begging for more. Anyway, the we gain a bit of speed and more sliding into the exit area, where our rocket comes to a complete stop for the last time. I took my things out of the net basket, lifted up my restraint, and got up out of the train, which ended up being a little hard as I really was scrunched up in there. We all walked to the long, long PeopleMover, which would transport us to back to our own world. The PeopleMover on the way back to Tomorrowland is extremely long, so there's a bit of theming to entertain us while we slowly make our way back. As we finally reach the end of the conveyor belt, we look to the right, and there we are, on the TV screens on the wall! Hidden cameras show us riding up the PeopleMover, eagerly awaiting our return to Tomorrowland after our long journey into space.
KKR05's Expert Advice-I've pretty much said all that has to be said about the ride, other than this is the perfect ride for the "tweener" group. It's the ride to get them hooked on rollercoasters, and is perfect for their age-group. The ride is enjoyable to everyone older as well, but a tweener's experience on SM may be the deciding factor in whether they'll become a coaster freak or not!
Once we arrived back in Tomorrowland, we met up with the others, who were at the "Cinderellabration" show in front of the castle. Wow, we got quite a bit done while they were at the show. Their reaction to the show was "just all right". Anyway, it was time to make a decision. It was getting late, and everyone was pretty hungry. We could stay at the park and eat there...but everywhere to eat would probably be packed. Everyone was tired as well, and hey, it was our first day at the parks. We decided to head out, but not before hitting an attraction that was a favorite among everyone in our family. After that, it was time to get something to eat at the Crossroads, we we'd discover that cockroach eating isn't only at Six Flags. Finally, after fleeing, we'd make our way back to the hotel, hit the sack, and dream about a "great big beautiful tomorrow...."
Friday, December 22, 2006
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Chapter 11:Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow...
After a great spin on Buzz Lightyear, we checked the time and realized we had a while to go before it was for Fast Pass on Space Mountain. Since we had the time to kill, we decided to check out the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, the highway in the sky of Tomorrowland. What I love about the ride is that it offers an awesome view of the area, and it literally never has a wait. Also, this is a great ride when your trying to burn some time in a relaxing fashion, as the ride is about 10 minutes long. Anyway, we made our way to the heart of Tomorrowland, where the escalators that send you to the TTA station are located. Also in thew central hub is the Astro Orbiter, which I have actually never been on. We rode the always fun escalators up to the station, which contains a very small amount of queue. The ride never has any wait because of the mass amount of cars that support it. You'll have your peak times when the ride can be busy, but that doesn't mean there's going to be a wait. The continuous motion of the cars keeps you always moving to board your car. We did this, going through the small queue and finally boarding our dark blue car. When in the station, you think the cars are all stuck together, but once you heard out on your journey, the "trains" separate. Anyway, we sat down, and got comfortable for the relaxing and fun journey ahead on the TTA.
As we pulled out of the station, we stayed at the same sluggish pace as the carts move in the station. However, once we reach the first turn, we sped up at a pace that is faster than you'd ever expect for a ride like this. It moves much faster than you think it would, so the breeze in your face can be a great relaxing experience. I put my legs up on the other bench a began to relax. The ride starts off by circling the highest point in Tomorrowland besides Space Mountain, the Astro Orbiter. This gives you an except view of the surrounding areas, as well as great photo opportunities. After circling around the plaza, we entered the area above the building home to Stitch's Great Escape. This is an attraction I didn't experience during this trip, but after hearing some reviews of it, I'm quite happy I didn't waste my time. If anyone's been on this, feel free to comment about it, I'd like to hear your opinions. Anyway, after the ride glides above the show building, and finally, inside it. Once inside we're surrounded by darkness, until a model of the city of tomorrow is seen through a window. This thing is truly awesome. It's a real life model of what the cities in the future may look like. Definitely keep an eye out for this, luckily the train slows down a bit when inside the building. The detail of the model is excellent, and it's very interesting to see what they thought the city of the future would look like (whenever this was constructed). Anyway, after the model, we continue on through the dark until we pass through Mickey's Star Traders, one of the biggest shops in Tomorrowland. After that we're back outside in the fresh air, hot sun and cool breeze. Now we're back up to pace as well, and we're getting a great view of the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, another Tomorrowland attraction I've never been on, as I mentioned before. This is another great opportunity for some photos of Tomorrowland, so get those cameras ready. Coming up next is a highlight of the trip, entering inside Space Mountain.
As we begin to enter the mountain, we again slow down and prepare for an awesome experience, to see inside Space Mountain. First, we're surrounded by darkness, and not able to see anything. So, we see the queue of Space Mountain, where riders were waiting to experience one of Tomorrowland's biggest attractions. After a look at the queue, we get a peek at the mountain itself. We see the "rockets" zipping riders out and about the tight turns and curves of Space Mountain one of my favorite Disney attractions of all time. Seeing this just got me more pumped to ride quite possible my favorite attraction in the Magic Kingdom. This was just a taste of what to come. We exited to the sounds of screaming riders, having a great time riding through the mountain, As we exited, we were blasted again with sunlight and began to speed up. The next part of the ride sends us back the way we came, but we then make a turn and head out past the bathroom buildings near Space Mountain. Once again, get those cameras ready, this is the best time to snap some pics of the Mountain, and the rest of Tomorrowland. The next attraction we come upon is the Carousel of Progress. As we approach the show building, we hearing the classic recording that's been playing for years..."Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow". I still don't know who they mean by Tom Morrow, but the way they spit up the name of "tomorrow" is great. Anyway, we pass above the Carousel of Progress building, but we don't enter this one. After riding through this, we come to final stretch of our ride, including entering inside the Buzz Lightyear building.
Once again, we enter the darkness, and our train slows down quite a bit. Shortly after entering, we get an excellent view of Buzz Lightyear's second room. A recording encourages as to become Junior Space Rangers in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Due to the TTA, I saw realized the UFO in the way back of the show building. I don't think I hit the targets spinning around on the UFO any of the 4 times I rode, however. That spot is extremely hard to hit, especially with them constantly moving. Anyway, after a view of Buzz, we came back out to on top of where the Timekeeper used to be. The Timekeeper is going to be replaced by a new attraction in early 2007, the Monsters Inc. Comedy Club. The attraction will be using similar technology as to Turtle Talk with Crush. The attraction to me to going to come down to how well the show is executed, especially the jokes. Test runs have been performed, and the what I've been getting from them is that the show needs work. We'll see how well it goes when it opens next year. Oh, and while I'm on this topic, there didn't seem to be any visibly progress going on, just "Imagineers at Work" signs. Anyway, back to the TTA where we're completing our great relaxing ride. After one more trip around the central hub, we finding ourselves coming to a slowing pace as we re-enter the station. Finally, after our 10-minute ride, the doors fly open and we exited to a moving platform.
KKR05's Expert Advice-Not much to say about this one besides is an awesome way to "kill" time. However, you're now "killing" time, you're enjoying a great, enjoyable experience. This is also great when you're waiting for a Fast Pass to be ready. Also, everyone in the whole family can enjoy this one, from young to old. I highly suggest this one, so definitely check it out on your next trip to WDW.
After riding down the exit escalator, we still had some time to kill before our Space Mountain ride. So...what to? Use your imagination.
As we pulled out of the station, we stayed at the same sluggish pace as the carts move in the station. However, once we reach the first turn, we sped up at a pace that is faster than you'd ever expect for a ride like this. It moves much faster than you think it would, so the breeze in your face can be a great relaxing experience. I put my legs up on the other bench a began to relax. The ride starts off by circling the highest point in Tomorrowland besides Space Mountain, the Astro Orbiter. This gives you an except view of the surrounding areas, as well as great photo opportunities. After circling around the plaza, we entered the area above the building home to Stitch's Great Escape. This is an attraction I didn't experience during this trip, but after hearing some reviews of it, I'm quite happy I didn't waste my time. If anyone's been on this, feel free to comment about it, I'd like to hear your opinions. Anyway, after the ride glides above the show building, and finally, inside it. Once inside we're surrounded by darkness, until a model of the city of tomorrow is seen through a window. This thing is truly awesome. It's a real life model of what the cities in the future may look like. Definitely keep an eye out for this, luckily the train slows down a bit when inside the building. The detail of the model is excellent, and it's very interesting to see what they thought the city of the future would look like (whenever this was constructed). Anyway, after the model, we continue on through the dark until we pass through Mickey's Star Traders, one of the biggest shops in Tomorrowland. After that we're back outside in the fresh air, hot sun and cool breeze. Now we're back up to pace as well, and we're getting a great view of the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, another Tomorrowland attraction I've never been on, as I mentioned before. This is another great opportunity for some photos of Tomorrowland, so get those cameras ready. Coming up next is a highlight of the trip, entering inside Space Mountain.
As we begin to enter the mountain, we again slow down and prepare for an awesome experience, to see inside Space Mountain. First, we're surrounded by darkness, and not able to see anything. So, we see the queue of Space Mountain, where riders were waiting to experience one of Tomorrowland's biggest attractions. After a look at the queue, we get a peek at the mountain itself. We see the "rockets" zipping riders out and about the tight turns and curves of Space Mountain one of my favorite Disney attractions of all time. Seeing this just got me more pumped to ride quite possible my favorite attraction in the Magic Kingdom. This was just a taste of what to come. We exited to the sounds of screaming riders, having a great time riding through the mountain, As we exited, we were blasted again with sunlight and began to speed up. The next part of the ride sends us back the way we came, but we then make a turn and head out past the bathroom buildings near Space Mountain. Once again, get those cameras ready, this is the best time to snap some pics of the Mountain, and the rest of Tomorrowland. The next attraction we come upon is the Carousel of Progress. As we approach the show building, we hearing the classic recording that's been playing for years..."Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow". I still don't know who they mean by Tom Morrow, but the way they spit up the name of "tomorrow" is great. Anyway, we pass above the Carousel of Progress building, but we don't enter this one. After riding through this, we come to final stretch of our ride, including entering inside the Buzz Lightyear building.
Once again, we enter the darkness, and our train slows down quite a bit. Shortly after entering, we get an excellent view of Buzz Lightyear's second room. A recording encourages as to become Junior Space Rangers in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Due to the TTA, I saw realized the UFO in the way back of the show building. I don't think I hit the targets spinning around on the UFO any of the 4 times I rode, however. That spot is extremely hard to hit, especially with them constantly moving. Anyway, after a view of Buzz, we came back out to on top of where the Timekeeper used to be. The Timekeeper is going to be replaced by a new attraction in early 2007, the Monsters Inc. Comedy Club. The attraction will be using similar technology as to Turtle Talk with Crush. The attraction to me to going to come down to how well the show is executed, especially the jokes. Test runs have been performed, and the what I've been getting from them is that the show needs work. We'll see how well it goes when it opens next year. Oh, and while I'm on this topic, there didn't seem to be any visibly progress going on, just "Imagineers at Work" signs. Anyway, back to the TTA where we're completing our great relaxing ride. After one more trip around the central hub, we finding ourselves coming to a slowing pace as we re-enter the station. Finally, after our 10-minute ride, the doors fly open and we exited to a moving platform.
KKR05's Expert Advice-Not much to say about this one besides is an awesome way to "kill" time. However, you're now "killing" time, you're enjoying a great, enjoyable experience. This is also great when you're waiting for a Fast Pass to be ready. Also, everyone in the whole family can enjoy this one, from young to old. I highly suggest this one, so definitely check it out on your next trip to WDW.
After riding down the exit escalator, we still had some time to kill before our Space Mountain ride. So...what to? Use your imagination.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Chapter 10:To Infinity...and Beyond!
After our viewing of Mickey's PhilharMagic, it was time for the others to go to their viewing of Cinderellabration, the new stage show brought from Tokyo Disneyland to the Magic Kingdom as part of the Happiest Celebration of Earth. Well, seeing that show wasn't part of my agenda, so we split up, and had some time on our own. Hmm...what was there to do? Well, there wasn't much left in Fantasyland, so I think it was time to move on to my favorite area of the Magic Kingdom, Tomorrowland! We pushed our way through Fantasyland and towards the furutistic town of tomorrow. On the way there, we passed the new Pooh's Playful Spot, a new area across from the Pooh dark ride (which I didn't ride this trip) where the little ones can play. The area replaces the old sub lagoon, which was unused for who knows how long. I think this area could have been used for something much more than a kiddie playground. Anyway, we continued through Fantasyland and towards Tomorrowland. Once we passed the Teacups we were greeted into the town of tomorrow with some great futuristic music and theming. The first ride we encounter is the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, which is usually a skip for me. Why? You can get this kind of expierence at other regional amusement parks across the country, although they are becoming a bit extinct. The ride always pulls long lines and is quite popular, but there's no Fast Pass option for this one. Those reasons make up why I've never gone on this attraction. Anyway, one ride I've really wanted to get on since we arrived in Florida is Space Mountain. The ride is simply a classic, and one of my favorite, if not my favorite attraction in the Magic Kingdom.
We walked through Tomorrowland Plaza and over to the attraction's entrance. As we approached it, the while was forming outside of the mountain, so we knew there was going to be a wait. When we approached the sign, we saw that the stand-by line was an hour wait. It was time to whip out our Park Hoppers and get some Fast Passes, our first of the trip. Fast Pass, to me, is a huge advancement in the amusement industry made in the past few years. The system allows you to insert your park ticket to a machine, which will give you a ticket to come back at the time posted. When you come back at the posted time, you can get on with little or no waiting! Now, many parks have tried their own systems like Fast Pass, but Disney's system to reigns surpreme. Also, the fact that it's free with your admission is a definite plus. Anyway, it was more than an hour before our time to ride Space started, so we ventured across Tomorrowland Plaza to other of my favorite attractions, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The ride is a shoot-em-up dark ride where the guests become Junior Space Rangers to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg! Zurg's latest evil plot...taking the energy (aka batteries) from all the toys! It's now up to you to defeat Zurg and regain power for the toys! As we approached the attraction, we saw the stand-by line was 20 minutes for the ride. Sweet, now long at all! To my surprise, the wait ended up being shorter than that.
Our journey begins in Star Command Headquarters, which is where the queue takes base. The line was right to the doors out front, and from what I remembered from my last trip to WDW, the queue inside isn't that long. So I figured we would looking at a 15 minute wait tops here, and I turned out to be almost exactly right. The queue moves extremely fast for this attraction, due to very fast loading times and a surplus of ride carts (The boarding system is just like the Haunted Mansion's, with carts in continuous motion which you access on a moving platform). While waiting, we enjoy the sights and sounds of Star Command HQ, where the queue weaves in and out. On the walls, we can find a numerous amount of posters which show the plans of the mission we are about to go on. Also, the queue has its on Audio-Animatronic Buzz Lightyear himself, which is very impressive to have in-line for an attraction. While in line, he explains our mission and has some help from one of those toy viewers (I forget what they are called!). The red flashing alarms in the queue area tell us that Buzz is ready to speak, and it's time to listen up. Our journey will consist of many things, but first we have to zap the "Z" targets to regain the power that Zurg stole from the toys, which are now fueling his monsters! Once that's done, it'll be time to take on Zurg himself and stop him from reaking havoc in the toy world!
There's plenty to keep you entertained in the queue considering how short you're in it. This is easily one of the fastest moving lines in the park, so you can hit it at just about any time during the day, even peak times. Anyway, I highly suggest checking out the Buzz AA before riding as well, it's awesome. Anyway, it's time to set off on our journey to save the toys of the universe! We climb into our XP-37 Space Cruiser, which we already know how to control thanks to the sketch on the Etch-a-Sketch in the queue line! Once we leave the station, the platform with our Ion Cannos and our 360 Degree Spin Stick comes down, and our personal points calculator sets to zero. It's time to travel into Sector 9 to save the toys and defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg!
As we enter the attraction our score counters light up, and we get power from the Astro Blaster, which we pass in the ride's first scene. After getting our power, we are ready to go save the toy world! As soon as I get a sight of the first room, I start shooting my gun randomly. Hey, I sometimes manage to score a few easy points this way (and one time an extreme surplus...but that's for later...) Once we're completely in the first room, I put one hand on the gun for aim and one hand on the trigger to shoot (this is the best technique I found to use the gun), and starting blasting away at the Z targets. Zurg's monsters are roaming about, stealing batteries from from innocent toys here in the first scene, which are floating about. Since I'm a little rusty with the ride (I haven't played in a couple of years), I had to get used to it. My score in the first room didn't calculate to much, but the more you ride this thing the better you get. I always aim for the big monsters/robots, which to me seem to calculate the biggest amount of points. I always shoot for that big red robot in the first scene, especially the targets on his hands. Although you move at such a slow pace, it seems like you fly through each of the rooms. Take advantage of the rotate stick, it can put you in position to get just about any target you want to. Anyway, as I said, the first room wasn't a one for me this time around. But round 2 is coming up next.
We passed through a tunnel and found ourselves in the next room, where I soon started zapping away. This room has a lot of different, wierd looking monsters, some that have Z's plastered all over their bodies. It's time to take them down. The big points in this room are on the moving monsters, the hidden targets, and the spinning UFO way in the back. Be on the lookout for the UFO, I didn't realize it was there until I rode the TTA later on that day. If your having trouble getting points, there are some targets on the wall which is almost right up against you. They won't give you much, but they're almost definite hits. This room is a ton of targets in it, so make sure you take advantage of it. For beginners, as I said, shoot for the easy targets on the wall. However, for the pros, you don't really need to use you rotate stick in this scene, just shoot away at where all the action is. I improved my score quite a bit in this area, but the next area is where I really started to warm up. After the 2nd room, we move into the 3rd room, which is basically a long tunnel. We enter it with some easy targets on the walls (the ceiling is low, and the walls aren't high). We move on and see a bunch of batteries stacked about. Definitely try to hit those, and if you do, you'll get big points and they even actually fall down! After this, we get our first look at the Evil Emperor Zurg!
In our first encounter, Zurg's just chilling in his machanical machine. He's loaded with Z targets, so shoot him up for some big points! It seems he's getting a little pissed at you, and decides to take matters into his on hands. After this, we head out of the tunnel, and before entering the darkness scene, there's a spinning wheel in the wall. Only a portion of it is revealed at a time, so to shoot the Z's which are on it, you need to time it just right. After that, we turn and enter the room of darkness. We become surrounded in it, the only light in this room is the bright pink light at the end of the tunnel. I still don't the purpose of this room personally, but shoot you're gun around in random spots. I receieved a couple of points by doing this, so give it a shot! I still think there's a hidden target in here that's worth a million points...Anyway, once we finally reach the light, we head into the next room, where we begin the final battle against the energy-hungry Zurg!
The next room to me is awesome. It's basically a large television screen built into the ceiling. On it, we see that we're in space, and that Zurg is reeking about in his mechanical machine. This is it, it's time to defeat Zurg! Zap him down as he moves about in space in his machine, and continues to get hit by various flying space objects. The more times you hit him, the more points you'll get. Since he's basically always moving, it can be a little hard to really zap him down. However, he really only moves from left to right over the entryway into the next room, so keep you're gun focused in those areas. And once you're through, you'll move on to the final room of battle. Here, he find Zurg in his now broken mechanical machine, thanks to us defeating him in the last scene! However, those Z's are still all over him, to zap him some more! These targets are worth a LOT, so be careful with your shots! I always aimed for the one at the top of his machine, and it gave me a nice amount of points. This scene will be over in no time, so when you're about to reach the exit, rotate your car so you face backwards. This way you can continue to shoot inside the exitway until you finally are out of his reach. By the way, when Zurg's machine flashes, a picture is being taken. It can get you pretty distracted it, but it will most likely result in a hilarious picture!
After the last fight with Zurg, we meet up with Buzz (an AA just like the one in the queue), who congradulates us on capturing the evil emperor Zurg, who is hanging from the "Claw", as seen in the movie. Now that Zurg's been taken care of, our job as junior space rangers is over for now. However, how did your score turn out? On my first time of the trip, my score was around 35,000. Not very good, but I was still getting used to it. By the end of the trip, I'd have this thing mastered. As you exit your cart at the exit, there's a list of rankings on the wall. I don't really remember the titles, but the one for my score wasn't very good...I guess better luck next time. We hopped out of our carts, went down the treadmill, through the photo area, and back out on to the midway.
Ryan/KKR05's Expert Advice-Overall, this ride to me is just a blast. I love everything about it, and it could easily be the most fun attraction in the Magic Kingdom. It's just like being in a video game and shooting up all the monsters. The attraction is perfect for all ages as well, everyone from young to old will enjoy it. It's also got that competitive edge to it...you HAVE to beat the other people in your party haha. Even if you're not too good at shooting the targets, and ride aspect to it is excellent. I highly suggest this attraction to EVERYONE. This is a must-hit at the Magic Kingdom, and it can become the highlight of your trip. Put it on your hit list!
After my first spin on Buzz for the trip, it seems I needed some more practice with a final score around 35,000. I would get the practice, but not until later on in the day. Right now it was time for another Tomorrowland classic. Paging Mr. Tom, Mr. Tom Morrow....
We walked through Tomorrowland Plaza and over to the attraction's entrance. As we approached it, the while was forming outside of the mountain, so we knew there was going to be a wait. When we approached the sign, we saw that the stand-by line was an hour wait. It was time to whip out our Park Hoppers and get some Fast Passes, our first of the trip. Fast Pass, to me, is a huge advancement in the amusement industry made in the past few years. The system allows you to insert your park ticket to a machine, which will give you a ticket to come back at the time posted. When you come back at the posted time, you can get on with little or no waiting! Now, many parks have tried their own systems like Fast Pass, but Disney's system to reigns surpreme. Also, the fact that it's free with your admission is a definite plus. Anyway, it was more than an hour before our time to ride Space started, so we ventured across Tomorrowland Plaza to other of my favorite attractions, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The ride is a shoot-em-up dark ride where the guests become Junior Space Rangers to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg! Zurg's latest evil plot...taking the energy (aka batteries) from all the toys! It's now up to you to defeat Zurg and regain power for the toys! As we approached the attraction, we saw the stand-by line was 20 minutes for the ride. Sweet, now long at all! To my surprise, the wait ended up being shorter than that.
Our journey begins in Star Command Headquarters, which is where the queue takes base. The line was right to the doors out front, and from what I remembered from my last trip to WDW, the queue inside isn't that long. So I figured we would looking at a 15 minute wait tops here, and I turned out to be almost exactly right. The queue moves extremely fast for this attraction, due to very fast loading times and a surplus of ride carts (The boarding system is just like the Haunted Mansion's, with carts in continuous motion which you access on a moving platform). While waiting, we enjoy the sights and sounds of Star Command HQ, where the queue weaves in and out. On the walls, we can find a numerous amount of posters which show the plans of the mission we are about to go on. Also, the queue has its on Audio-Animatronic Buzz Lightyear himself, which is very impressive to have in-line for an attraction. While in line, he explains our mission and has some help from one of those toy viewers (I forget what they are called!). The red flashing alarms in the queue area tell us that Buzz is ready to speak, and it's time to listen up. Our journey will consist of many things, but first we have to zap the "Z" targets to regain the power that Zurg stole from the toys, which are now fueling his monsters! Once that's done, it'll be time to take on Zurg himself and stop him from reaking havoc in the toy world!
There's plenty to keep you entertained in the queue considering how short you're in it. This is easily one of the fastest moving lines in the park, so you can hit it at just about any time during the day, even peak times. Anyway, I highly suggest checking out the Buzz AA before riding as well, it's awesome. Anyway, it's time to set off on our journey to save the toys of the universe! We climb into our XP-37 Space Cruiser, which we already know how to control thanks to the sketch on the Etch-a-Sketch in the queue line! Once we leave the station, the platform with our Ion Cannos and our 360 Degree Spin Stick comes down, and our personal points calculator sets to zero. It's time to travel into Sector 9 to save the toys and defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg!
As we enter the attraction our score counters light up, and we get power from the Astro Blaster, which we pass in the ride's first scene. After getting our power, we are ready to go save the toy world! As soon as I get a sight of the first room, I start shooting my gun randomly. Hey, I sometimes manage to score a few easy points this way (and one time an extreme surplus...but that's for later...) Once we're completely in the first room, I put one hand on the gun for aim and one hand on the trigger to shoot (this is the best technique I found to use the gun), and starting blasting away at the Z targets. Zurg's monsters are roaming about, stealing batteries from from innocent toys here in the first scene, which are floating about. Since I'm a little rusty with the ride (I haven't played in a couple of years), I had to get used to it. My score in the first room didn't calculate to much, but the more you ride this thing the better you get. I always aim for the big monsters/robots, which to me seem to calculate the biggest amount of points. I always shoot for that big red robot in the first scene, especially the targets on his hands. Although you move at such a slow pace, it seems like you fly through each of the rooms. Take advantage of the rotate stick, it can put you in position to get just about any target you want to. Anyway, as I said, the first room wasn't a one for me this time around. But round 2 is coming up next.
We passed through a tunnel and found ourselves in the next room, where I soon started zapping away. This room has a lot of different, wierd looking monsters, some that have Z's plastered all over their bodies. It's time to take them down. The big points in this room are on the moving monsters, the hidden targets, and the spinning UFO way in the back. Be on the lookout for the UFO, I didn't realize it was there until I rode the TTA later on that day. If your having trouble getting points, there are some targets on the wall which is almost right up against you. They won't give you much, but they're almost definite hits. This room is a ton of targets in it, so make sure you take advantage of it. For beginners, as I said, shoot for the easy targets on the wall. However, for the pros, you don't really need to use you rotate stick in this scene, just shoot away at where all the action is. I improved my score quite a bit in this area, but the next area is where I really started to warm up. After the 2nd room, we move into the 3rd room, which is basically a long tunnel. We enter it with some easy targets on the walls (the ceiling is low, and the walls aren't high). We move on and see a bunch of batteries stacked about. Definitely try to hit those, and if you do, you'll get big points and they even actually fall down! After this, we get our first look at the Evil Emperor Zurg!
In our first encounter, Zurg's just chilling in his machanical machine. He's loaded with Z targets, so shoot him up for some big points! It seems he's getting a little pissed at you, and decides to take matters into his on hands. After this, we head out of the tunnel, and before entering the darkness scene, there's a spinning wheel in the wall. Only a portion of it is revealed at a time, so to shoot the Z's which are on it, you need to time it just right. After that, we turn and enter the room of darkness. We become surrounded in it, the only light in this room is the bright pink light at the end of the tunnel. I still don't the purpose of this room personally, but shoot you're gun around in random spots. I receieved a couple of points by doing this, so give it a shot! I still think there's a hidden target in here that's worth a million points...Anyway, once we finally reach the light, we head into the next room, where we begin the final battle against the energy-hungry Zurg!
The next room to me is awesome. It's basically a large television screen built into the ceiling. On it, we see that we're in space, and that Zurg is reeking about in his mechanical machine. This is it, it's time to defeat Zurg! Zap him down as he moves about in space in his machine, and continues to get hit by various flying space objects. The more times you hit him, the more points you'll get. Since he's basically always moving, it can be a little hard to really zap him down. However, he really only moves from left to right over the entryway into the next room, so keep you're gun focused in those areas. And once you're through, you'll move on to the final room of battle. Here, he find Zurg in his now broken mechanical machine, thanks to us defeating him in the last scene! However, those Z's are still all over him, to zap him some more! These targets are worth a LOT, so be careful with your shots! I always aimed for the one at the top of his machine, and it gave me a nice amount of points. This scene will be over in no time, so when you're about to reach the exit, rotate your car so you face backwards. This way you can continue to shoot inside the exitway until you finally are out of his reach. By the way, when Zurg's machine flashes, a picture is being taken. It can get you pretty distracted it, but it will most likely result in a hilarious picture!
After the last fight with Zurg, we meet up with Buzz (an AA just like the one in the queue), who congradulates us on capturing the evil emperor Zurg, who is hanging from the "Claw", as seen in the movie. Now that Zurg's been taken care of, our job as junior space rangers is over for now. However, how did your score turn out? On my first time of the trip, my score was around 35,000. Not very good, but I was still getting used to it. By the end of the trip, I'd have this thing mastered. As you exit your cart at the exit, there's a list of rankings on the wall. I don't really remember the titles, but the one for my score wasn't very good...I guess better luck next time. We hopped out of our carts, went down the treadmill, through the photo area, and back out on to the midway.
Ryan/KKR05's Expert Advice-Overall, this ride to me is just a blast. I love everything about it, and it could easily be the most fun attraction in the Magic Kingdom. It's just like being in a video game and shooting up all the monsters. The attraction is perfect for all ages as well, everyone from young to old will enjoy it. It's also got that competitive edge to it...you HAVE to beat the other people in your party haha. Even if you're not too good at shooting the targets, and ride aspect to it is excellent. I highly suggest this attraction to EVERYONE. This is a must-hit at the Magic Kingdom, and it can become the highlight of your trip. Put it on your hit list!
After my first spin on Buzz for the trip, it seems I needed some more practice with a final score around 35,000. I would get the practice, but not until later on in the day. Right now it was time for another Tomorrowland classic. Paging Mr. Tom, Mr. Tom Morrow....
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