Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin Gets Closing Date to Begin Upgrades

We now know the date Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will be temporarily closing at Magic Kingdom, as the attraction gets ready for some notable and long desired overhauls.

What’s Happening:

When it was announced back in March that some big updates were coming to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Disney Parks only said the ride would close for renovations sometime in August. Now though, it seems we have a specific date.
The Walt Disney World website notably only has operating hours for Buzz Lightyear through Sunday, August 3rd. Beginning on Monday, August 4th, the ride is listed as “no times available" both for that date and all that currently follow. So if you want to see Space Ranger Spin in its original form, you have until August 3rd to do so.
The impending updates are many, including the addition of a new character to the start of the ride in the form of Buddy, who makes makes sure departing Space Rangers are fully prepared for their mission
The ride vehicles are being updated, painted in new colors inspired by Buzz Lightyear and Star Command. There will also be new video monitors that provide real-time scoring updates and other exciting features.
And then there are the actual blasters, which will now be handheld, not mounted in place to the vehicle. These enhanced blasters will now include an always-on laser and come in two different colors per star cruiser, in addition to new lighting and sound and vibration effects.
And lastly, the Z targets you aim at will be upgraded with new technology causing them to react and light up when hit.

A Much-Needed Update:

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin first opened in 1998 and was the well received first version of an attraction that would go on to be replicated at several other parks. Unfortunately, the fact that it was the first version soon became evident though, thanks to those rather vexing mounted blasters (which none of the other versions repeated), which could only turn left and right in a limited radius but not actually be properly held or aimed properly. It made for a rather frustrating experience and as someone who regularly rides Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters at Disneyland, I tend to skip Space Ranger Spin when I’m visiting Walt Disney World because it, frankly, has always been an inferior experience. But to see that not only will they finally get the updated blasters but also, it seems, make it less difficult to know when you’re correctly aiming at a target (something that can often be tricky at all the locations) is very exciting.

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