Walt Disney World has announced a ride reimagining of Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom. This post covers details of the upgrades, timeline for the closure & reopening, along with commentary about why we expect this to become the best Buzz blaster ride, our wish list for improvements to the outdated attraction, and more.
This news isn’t coming completely out of left field. As you might recall, Walt Disney World filed a construction permit for ride upgrades to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin late last year. That permit listed Maddox Electric Company, Inc. as the contractor and described the scope of work as simply “install projectors.” We speculated at the time that it was to update Zurg wind tunnel before the climactic battle sequence in the grand finale, which felt straight out of the 1990s (because it was).
It turned out that was correct. The projectors were replaced earlier this year as part of an overnight project, and that scene now looks better. It’s a big difference, but as we also pointed out then, there are about another dozen areas of Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin that need updates. We had hoped that was the first step in a multi-phase project to modernize the attraction. Well, our wish is about to come true.
Here’s the official announcement from Walt Disney World:
Calling all Space Rangers! Exciting updates are on the horizon for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. This includes a new show scene, updated ride vehicles, and gameplay enhancements.
Here’s what you can expect from this iconic Tomorrowland attraction next year.
Brand New Scene
As their adventure begins, guests will now be greeted by an all-new character! This friendly robot — aptly named “Buddy” — was created by Walt Disney Imagineering and Pixar Animation Studios to play a key role on the Star Command team.
As a support-bot, Buddy makes sure departing Space Rangers are fully prepared for their mission, enthusiastically providing encouragement, final system checks on their Star Cruisers and a chance to hone their blaster aim. This will be a great time for guests to check out some of the new, interactive target features before blasting off to defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg and save the galaxy.
New Ride Vehicles
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will also receive a face lift to its star cruiser ride vehicles with a new design inspired by the colors of Buzz Lightyear and Star Command.
Each enhanced ride vehicle will also now come equipped with video monitors that provide real-time scoring updates and other exciting features.
Handheld Blasters
Each ride vehicle will now include handheld blasters for better aim, helping guests to score even more points. These new blasters will be perfect for our younger riders, allowing them to participate more in the experience.
If you’ve ever wondered where you’re aiming (don’t worry, you’re not alone), these enhanced blasters will now include an always-on laser and come in two different colors per star cruiser, in addition to new lighting, sound and vibration effects, so players know where they’re aiming throughout the mission.
Interactive Targets
The static Z targets found in the attraction today will be upgraded with new technology that will allow them to react and light up when hit. It also opens the door for a few other ideas Imagineers have in mind.
Work on these updates recently passed an important milestone, as other Imagineers were invited to participate in a playtest of the new targets, blasters and gameplay ideas. Playtests are a critical part of the design process, where the project team is able to try out variations of a concept in a real-world setting, gaining critical insights into which ideas work best and how the experience can be improved. It’s all part of delivering an out-of-this-world experience for our guests.
“Everyone had a great time, and our team learned a lot,” project creative director Justin DeTolla said. “We’ve been working on this project for quite some time now, so it was exciting to see it all come to life for the first time in the field.”
To prepare for these updates, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will close in August 2025 and reopen sometime in 2026.
Our Commentary
I recently had the chance to participate in a test of the new handheld blasters and interactive targets, and talk briefly with Imagineers working on the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin reimagining project. As you can see from the photo above, demonstrating my no-look aiming abilities, there will be red and green blasters with matching aiming and the targets will light up red or green when hit.
It was nice to have the blaster in hand, see the new laser aiming and targeting system, and feel the feedback. It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect, which is a modernized version of Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin that greatly improves the gameplay component of the attraction. Shooting is more satisfying, and less of a guessing game.
This should be a win for guests of all ages and skill levels. It will make gameplay more intuitive and user friendly, which is great for less tech-savvy guests or non-gamers. It should also scale better, as the gamers in the group are able to attain higher scores and experience a more challenging and competitive attraction than its predecessor, which was way too easy to max out at 999,999 points.
At the same time, it almost certainly won’t be as dynamic or fast-paced as Toy Story Mania or more screen-centric shooters. Those are easy to pick up, but difficult to master. They’re also more collaborative in nature in the sense that reaching the leaderboard requires everyone in your ride vehicle being good and working together to unlock higher-scoring targets. The Buzz Lightyear rides more straightforward, single player gamified rides.
If you’ve ridden any of the subsequent iterations of this attraction, you know what’s possible and how much Magic Kingdom’s Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin has lagged behind its successors. This is especially true as compared to Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle at Hong Kong Disneyland and Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue at Shanghai Disneyland, the two newest versions of this attraction.
The reimagined Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin planned for Magic Kingdom strikes me as being most similar to Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue in terms of the interactivity. For the vast majority of you who have never experienced that, I’d say that’s like Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters 2.0 (that’s the Disneyland version of the attraction–I know it’s confusing that these all have different names).
We’ve said for a while that Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin in Magic Kingdom doesn’t hold a candle to its counterpart at Disneyland. It made our list of the Top 10 Rides That Are Better at Disneyland Than Walt Disney World. In that, I explained how time had passed by Space Ranger Spin, and the Disneyland version really improved on its Magic Kingdom counterpart.
Disneyland’s shooting is smoother, gameplay is more responsive and engaging, and the guns are handheld offering greater range of movement. This may not be noticeable to non-gamers, but it’s akin to the difference between Super Mario Wonder and Disney’s Magical Quest. Both fun games, but one is clearly modern and superior whereas the other is more rudimentary and dated.
Well, I also feel like Shanghai Disneyland similarly iterated on California’s version of the attraction to modernize the gameplay even further. Ditto Hong Kong Disneyland, which updated its own Buzz Lightyear attraction to Ant-Man several years back. That version of the attraction is now more complicated and frenetic, but the gameplay style is still similar.
For those keeping score at home, that makes the Shanghai Disneyland version essentially Buzz Lightyear Blaster Ride 3.0. In all likelihood, this reimagining is going to take the oldest ride of the bunch and turn the Magic Kingdom version into the best Buzz blaster.
This is my take not because I expect another leap forward in terms of gameplay (to the contrary, I do not), but because I’m expecting this to be the version that best melds modern gameplay with dimensional environments. Maybe not quite Buzz Lightyear Blaster Ride 4.0 since I don’t see the scenes being a full generation better than Shanghai’s, but perhaps v3.5.
For years, one of my Walt Disney World “unpopular opinions” was that Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin was better than Toy Story Mania. This was about a decade ago, back when Toy Story Mania was still the newest ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and a top 3 FastPass in all of Walt Disney World. Before they added the third track, when wait times were really bad (typically #2 to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train).
It was a time when Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin was already getting a bit long in the tooth, but it mostly worked. You weren’t going to get a busted blaster, unresponsive targets, or vehicles that didn’t rotate. But even then, there was a massive gap in the gameplay–hence it being an unpopular opinion.
My basic position was that Space Ranger Spin was good as an interactive shooter ride that used physical show scenes to make it engaging for guests who want to enjoy the attraction passively or actively. Staging, props, and Audio Animatronics are cool. By contrast, Toy Story Mania had a huge barrier to entry in terms of the wait times and FastPass distribution, and there was no enjoying it passively since it’s all screens. I’ve abandoned this position over time as Toy Story Mania has gotten considerably easier to experience, and Space Ranger Spin has aged like milk.
Nevertheless, my general perspective is still that interactive rides are at their best when the gameplay is more approachable and there’s a worthwhile dark ride to fall back on for guests who just want to passively experience the attraction. (The latter is a problem for both of Disney’s interactive Marvel blaster rides that are overly reliant on screens and are simply too high energy for some guests.)
In my view, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is likely about to have gameplay on par with the latest generation of these blaster attractions while also having better show scenes than the newer generations that lean too heavily on screens and flat environments. That should make it the best of the bunch.
That’s really the bottom line here. That this is a rare win for the ‘be fair to Florida’ crowd, as the Magic Kingdom version of this blaster ride leapfrogs Disneyland in terms of gameplay by a generation and probably surpasses it in terms of the show scenes, too. In so doing, Walt Disney World should have the best version of this attraction, at least from my perspective as someone who values the standalone dark ride portion of the attraction.
While we don’t know what other changes, if any, to expect in the show scenes of Space Ranger Spin, we do know that the new scene will basically be a gameplay tutorial with Buddy, an all-new Audio Animatronics figure for this version of the ride. She will teach guests who to use their blasters, and between this opening scene and the ‘quality of life’ gameplay enhancements, it should be easier for guests of all ages to pick up and play Space Ranger Spin.
I love the idea of Buddy, both as introducing a new Audio Animatronics and an original theme park character. I hope she has a bit of personality and wit, joining Sonny Eclipse and Skippy as part of the rich history of original Tomorrowland characters. (Note the nod to “If You Had Wings” in her bot code in the concept art towards the top.)
It helps that the scene Buddy is being added to is currently pretty much nothing. It’s not like she’s replacing anything of value, so this should be low-hanging fruit in terms of an upgrade. (It will not be another Hatbox Ghost situation, thankfully!) Honestly, that’s pretty much how this whole project comes across to me.
As noted above, the attraction will close in August 2025 to make way for the changes. I’d expect that to occur after school goes back into session, so around August 11, 2025 or later. The big unanswered question by the announcement is just when in 2026 Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will reopen?
This is going to be another unpopular opinion among Walt Disney World vacation planners who want as many rides up as possible during upcoming trips, but I’m fine with Space Ranger Spin going down for as long as is needed to ensure that it’s the best of the Buzz blaster rides.
That doesn’t just mean installing the new show scene, updating ride vehicles, and making the gameplay enhancements. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is over 25 years old, and is a retrofit of a retrofit. There are multiple other Buzz blaster rides that opened after Magic Kingdom’s version and have already been replaced. It needs a lengthy refurbishment for some TLC.
The existing show scenes could stand to be spruced up, with new props added and others swapped out. When previously discussing a potential reimagining to this attraction, we pointed out that Tokyo Disneyland just closed its newer, better, and meticulously-maintained version of Astro Blasters. Ship some of that stuff to Orlando–there’s gotta be a treasure trove of props and figures that could enhance the Magic Kingdom version.
It would also be nice to see the attraction get a new facade and marquee–the existing one looks like it was thrown up as part of an overnight overlay, Spirit Halloween style. The indoor queue could also use a refresh, making the space less drab and unpleasant–perhaps with better show lighting (lasers!) and more durable materials so it can stand up to the abuse kids throw at it.
Beyond that, the whole attraction could use a power wash and fresh coat of paint. There is a thick layer of dirt and grime on everything, and it’s been that way for a while. Every time I ride at the end of the night (when the queue is looking rougher than normal), I spot about a dozen Four Keys violations on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. I am perfectly willing to wait until Summer 2026 if that’s what it takes to make this Buzz Lightyear’s Blaster Ride 3.5, and the best incarnation of the attraction in the world. That’s a high bar, but an attainable one!
Speaking of needing a refurbishment and TLC, the same could be said of Tomorrowland. The land itself is desperately overdue by a wholesale reimagining, and one seemed to be starting in 2019 as part of the lead-up to TRON Lightcycle Run, but then…you know what happened in Spring 2020.
As discussed in The Future of Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom, we still expect a reimagining of Tomorrowland. My suspicion is that Imagineering has lined up the current projects purposefully, teeing up a reimagining of Tomorrowland as part of the 10-year plan in the early 2030s once the current 5-year plan is finished (especially Cars Land).
My expectation was that Walt Disney World would clone the upcoming Wreck-It Ralph ride at Tokyo Disneyland, which is replacing their Buzz blasters ride or inherit hand-me-downs from that project. It now seems that the latter, if anything, is more likely. This is definitely the more cost-effective and efficient route, allowing for Imagineering to fast-track the Buzz reimagining since it can’t really wait ~5 more years, and then spend its time and money on the many other pieces of real estate in Tomorrowland that also need attention. That’s another win-win, from my perspective.
Ultimately, it’s fantastic that Imagineering is going to give Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin the love it deserves. As is probably evident from my contention that this could become the best Buzz blaster attraction, I view this as a low-risk/high-reward project.
The bones of this ride are good, it’s just that the gameplay is antiquated and maintenance has been subpar. We already know what a better and more modern version of this ride looks like, because Disney has done like a half-dozen of them. With enhanced gameplay and show scene improvements, the end result will almost certainly be an improvement.
This could be a major upgrade that breathes new life into the reimagined ride and turns it into one of the more popular attractions in Magic Kingdom–a top 5 wait time and tier two Lightning Lane pick. It’s really hard to imagine this being a downgrade–it’s really more a question of just how much of an upgrade it’ll be.
Imagineering has a lot of ‘singles and doubles’ style projects on its plate right now that are similar to this, and I’ll be very curious to see how they deliver. After scattershot results in other projects that have been initiated during the post-reopening era, this gives creatives a chance to “prove themselves” to fans. It’d be nice to restore some lost goodwill and confidence in Imagineering before they get to the big new additions that are part of Walt Disney World’s 5-Year Plan.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the reimagining of Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom? Willing to “sacrifice” riding this on your next Walt Disney World vacation for a modernized attraction with better gameplay, a new show scene, and more? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
