A Disney World Ride I Usually Skip Is Getting A Much-Needed Update, And It’s Already Convincing Me To Try It Again

DGIX

March 27, 2025

As a regular visitor to theme parks, and especially the Disney Parks, I don’t think there’s a single attraction at Disneyland or Walt Disney World that I haven’t experienced. Whenever I get a chance to go back, there are always those few “must-ride” experiences that I want to be sure to do again, but there are also those attractions that I almost always skip.

One of those rides is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin at Magic Kingdom. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the ride, but its age has been showing. The ride that has you move down a track and blast away at aliens, competing with your ridemate for the high score, has been surpassed by multiple rides like it at other theme parks and at Disney World itself. It isn’t even the best version of itself, but that may be about to change.

Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin at Disney World's Magic Kingdom — (Image credit: Walt Disney World)

Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin Is Getting A Major Update

Disney World has announced that Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin will be closing down in August and reopening in 2026 after undergoing a major upgrade. This new addition to Disney World will include entirely new ride vehicles that will have handheld blasters, similar to the versions found at Disneyland’s version of the ride, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. They will also keep score via a new video monitor in the vehicle.

The ride will also introduce a new scene and a new character, a robot named Buddy, who will act as your guide through a tutorial sequence. In addition, all the targets will be upgraded and light up when they are hit, making it easier to tell when you’ve been successful.

Space Ranger Spin Needed This Upgrade

Needless to say, all these improvements are much needed and will make Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin a much better ride when they are done. The Disney World version of the ride was the first of its kind, and like so many attractions before it, it was crammed into a space for it wasn’t necessarily designed. When the ride came to other parks, it was systematically improved. These updates include some of those improvements and a whole lot more.

The arcade style shooting attraction is very popular at Disney Parks. In addition to the Buzz Lightyear attraction at most Disney Parks, we also have Toy Story Midway Mania at both Disneyland Resort and Disney World. There’s also the Web-Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure ride at Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure. Those attractions take the shooting style gameplay to new heights of technology, which has made Buzz seem much more dated.

These updates will certainly help, and I find myself actually looking forward to riding Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin again after the update is done. I don’t know if it will become a “must ride” on every trip, but it became a ride I don’t always skip, and that’s a solid improvement.

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