Needing a hit Tomorrowland attraction that would generate some positive buzz after the problematic Rocket Rods expired in 2001 Disneyland designers looked to other Disney theme parks for inspiration. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin at Walt Disney World and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters at Tokyo Disneyland were already high-flying successes. So the theme for the next installation seemed obvious.In Disneyland the Astroblasters zoomed into the former pre-show and theater rooms of the old Circarama Theater. What was a Mary Blair design tile mosaic on the curving exterior became a painted mural showing speeding rockets floating space mountains and fantastic planets.Inside the attraction features characters and themes from Toy Story all intensified by bright neon colors Buzz himself makes an appearance as a sophisticated audio-animatronic character.
As described on the sign out front the attraction is an interactive adventure in which you travel aboard slow-movingspaceships that you can spin while helping Buzz Lightyear battle the evil Emperor Zurg. The spaceships a new iteration of the Omnimover system first develop in the 60s are indeed slow, but guests really can spin them 360 degrees.What makes this four and a half minute ride popular enough to necessitate the fast pass tickets center outside is the interactive shoot-em-up element. As passengers wind through the 10 different space scenes they use their own laser cannons to blast away at different targets with various point values. Point totals display inside the cockpit and rankings from Star Cadet to Galactic Hero are posted at the end of the ride.
The back story of the ride revolves around the attempts of Evil Emperor Zurg voiced by Andrew Stanton to steal thecrystallic fusion cells also known as batteries used to power the space vehicles of the "Little Green Men" voiced byJeff Pidgeon. Participants are "Star Command" raw recruits sent to defeat Zurg.The queue area is awash in the chartreuse, white, and bright blue hues of Buzz Lightyear himself voiced by Pat Fraley. Since Buzz Lightyear is a toy, the attraction is cleverly scaled to give the illusion that one has just been reduced to the size of an action figure, featuring such detail as giant, exposed phillips screw heads and an explanation of the interactive phase of the ride that resembles a toy's instruction sheet, only on a gigantic scale.
An Audio-Animatronic Buzz Lightyear figure and giant Etch-a-Sketch provide explanation of the "mission", which is to destroy Zurg's secret weapon with your blasters. While his body is audio-animatronic, Buzz's face is actually a screen with a projection of computer animation, allowing better lipsync and more expressive features, making him look like a more realistic representation of the character from the films.Astro Blasters is equal parts shooting gallery and dark ride. Visitors board an Omnimover space vehicle featuring two laser pistols and a joystick. The pistols are used to shoot laser beams at targets of varying point values.
Targets that are hit while lit up will produce much higher scores.A digital readout on the dashboard shows the player's score.The joystick allows full 360-degree rotation of the vehicle to assist in aiming.During the ride, if the ride slows down or completely stops this is a result of either a handicapped guest or a ride breakdown during the ride, this allows for "bonus points" as the pistols and targets do not turn off. There are 4 different shaped targets which are worth different amounts of points: round (100 points), square (1,000 points), diamond (5,000 points), and triangle (10,000 points). At the conclusion of the ride, the digital score flashes L1 through L7 displaying the level achieved.The ride is manufactured by Sansei Yusoki Co. Ltd.
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