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....