It probably didn't start out that way but over the years Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters has probably become one of Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and my own favorite rides in Disneyland. Top five, maybe, but definitely in the top 10. Thematically, its probably not the greatest but what Buzz allows you to do is be competitive and Mrs. DLT definitely are with Buzz's interactive shoot-em'-up targets and scoring system. It's a lot of fun to try and best the score of your riding partner as Mrs. DLT do but I have a friend at work who regularly likes to show his kids who's the real game master is in the house. Nothing like a 40 year old man working over his 7 year old son by outscoring him at about 10 to 1.
There are all sorts of tips and tricks you can find on the internet that will tell how to get maximum points from your battle against the evil Zurg. If you know the secrets and can execute them you can definitely rack up some high scores. I've read the tips and tricks and still suck. The other part of that is that you need to be able to execute. You need to be able to shoot straight. One of my small crosses to bare in life is I have a hand tremor. The official diagnosis is benign familial tremor, a hereditary shaking of the hands that my mother had. I am Barney Fife. Because of the tremor, Mrs DLT routinely beats me in the Astro Blasters but I pick myself up and keep on trying. We usually go on Buzz several times during a trip. The results are the same.
The other thing about Buzz is because this is an omni-mover ride (the ride vehicles are on a conveyor built system that is almost always in continual motion stopping only for technical problems or the allowing of physically challenged riders the opportunity to get on and off) there is never a really long line to get on Buzz - usually a 20 minute wait tops. When it opened Buzz had a fastpass option available but this was no longer necessary and those fastpass machines have been turned over the new and improved Star Tours. Since Mrs. DLT do many of our trips during non-peak seasons, we seldom wait over 10 minutes to get on Buzz - always a good thing.
The great YouTube Disneyland Videographer asianjma123 recently shot a ride-thru on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters in High Definition. In his video I am amazed at the colors more vibrant than I remember. In the video I also noticed things that I haven't noticed when I'm on the ride itself. When you ride Buzz, everyone tends to be too preoccupied with shooting and not looking at anything that doesn't have a target on it.. Maybe one of my Disneyland "To-Do's" is to ride Buzz and never fire a shot, just look at the thing.
Buzz Lightyear is a solid D Ticket attraction.
0 comments:
Post a Comment