Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is a popular interactive game ride that is part of the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. In this article, David Aughinbaugh II and the NavFile team take a look at some of the cheats, tips, and secrets to get a high score on the ride. Videos showcasing tips and secrets for the ride are also featured at the bottom of the article.

The Buzz ride is one of the interactive attractions in Walt Disney World that allows guests to earn points by shooting targets with a laser blaster. Disney has 7 tiers to categorize how guests have performed. The top tier is the Galactic Hero level at 999,999 points.

Many guests want to obtain that top score or at least make it to the Space Ace level with a score of 300,000. It is hard; however, to reach the top score on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. One way that this can be achieved is knowing some of the tips, secrets, or what some would call cheats to reach the top tier for the attraction.

Tips and Secrets

There are special tips and secrets that will allow guests to earn several hundred thousand points on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. The main tip that we recommend is knowing which targets have the most points. There a few targets on the ride that give up to 100,000 points per hit. Below is a list of some of the secret targets that will allow you to quickly earn hundreds of thousands of points.

• Left Robot Arm (the back arm): 100,000 points
• Bottom of the Mechanical Claw: 100,000 points
• Top of the Volcano Z: 50,000 points
• Back of the Insect: 50,000
• Bottom of Zurg’s Spaceship: 100,000 points

Those are the five targets that have some of the highest point values. An overview of each one of them is provided below.

Left Robot Arm

One of the most popular high point targets is the one that is on the orange robot at the beginning of the ride. The target is the one that is on the robot’s left arm (the back arm). That secret target is worth 100,000 points. If you can hit the target more than once, you will be able to gain several hundred thousand points from the beginning of the ride.

Above image of the Robot arm secret target on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin by Jason Will on YouTube. Photo has been modifed by NavFile and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Bottom of the Mechanical Claw

Another target that is worth 100,000 points is the mechanical claw that is on the right side across from the robot. You will have to move quickly to catch this target if you are already working on hitting the robot arm Z target. If you keep your vehicle focused on this target, including turning backwards to face it you can easily get a few hundred thousand points.

Above image of the tip for the claw target on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin by Jason Will on YouTube. Photo has been modifed by NavFile and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Top of the Volcano Z

The Z target that is near the top of the volcano is a 50,000 point target. When successfully hitting the Volcano target, the lighting effects activate that simulate a volcanic eruption.

Above image of the volcano room secret targets on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin by Jason Will on YouTube. Photo has been modifed by NavFile and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Back of the Insect

Right at the turn in the Volcano room is a tan/gold insect that has a target on it. That target is reportedly 50,000 points. This one is a little hard to hit as you only get to see it for a short amount of time.

Bottom of Zurg’s Spaceship

The last big Z target is the one that is at the bottom of the spaceship that Zurg is on. That target is worth 100,000 points and is the last chance to get big points from one target. You need to be ready for this target as your space cruiser is most likely pointed away from Zurg. When you enter the room with the batteries, make sure you turn your vehicle to be pointed at Zurg and then aim for the target at the very bottom.

Above image of the Zurg secret target on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin by Jason Will on YouTube. Photo has been modifed by NavFile and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Are There Cheats?

There are technically not any Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger cheats that exists. The only way to get to the top level is to know some of the high point targets and practice on aiming toward the center of them. If you do what Rex does in Toy Story 2, you will be able to defeat Zurg and become a Galactic Hero.

Videos of the Secrets

There are two good videos going over tips and secrets for the attraction. The videos are by
Seeking The Magical and TemporaryTourist and are featured below.

The Best Tip

The best tip that we have to get a top score on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is to practice on improving your aim so that you hit the small circle at the center of the targets. If you can hit the Z targets directly in the center, you will be able to rack up points quickly, even if you only hit some of the low point targets. If you combine aim with the mega point targets, you will be able to easily become a Galactic Hero and defeat Zurg like Rex.

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Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is an attraction that is located in Walt Disney World Resort at the Magic Kingdom theme park. The ride is an interactive motion ride that allows guests to shoot targets while moving between various Buzz Lightyear scenes. Each target that guests hit earns them points that are displayed on a screen. The objective is to earn the most amount of points possible and become a Galactic Hero. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin features a vehicle that can hold up to two guests. The vehicles are on a track and continuously move without stopping. Each guest sits in front of a laser blaster that is shaped like a blimp space ship.

There are also other versions of the ride at the various Walt Disney Company theme parks around the globe. This article focuses on the version of the ride that is at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney World is located just outside of Orlando, Florida in the city of Bay Lake.

Above photo of the front of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin by David Aughinbaugh II and NavFile.

Location – Magic Kingdom

The attraction is located in Tomorrowland near the east entry point of the land. When traveling from the center of the park and the Partners Statute, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin can be found by continuing across the bridge into Tomorrowland and then making a left at the main hub area (where the Astro Orbiter is). The ride is highly visible due to the signage that is used for the ride.

Ride Overview

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin takes guests through a story that has them helping Buzz Lightyear stop Zurg and his team from stealing crystallic fusion cells (also known as batteries). The entry point for the ride is at the front door; however, guests are directed to a queue area that starts right outside of the attraction’s building. After navigating the outside queue, guests then enter the indoor queue that has artwork for the ride.

At the boarding area, a Cast Member (Walt Disney team member) asks guests how many people are in their group and then directs them to board the attraction’s vehicle. Guests board a moving ride vehicle or car that is in the shape of a circle or oval. The vehicle is called the XP-37 Star Cruiser. The ride vehicle is constantly in motion and guests have to walk on a moving walkway and then jump on the ride.

Once onboard, the front table of the vehicle moves toward the riders and locks. The front table contains controls to spin the vehicle, the laser blasters, and the score display. As the vehicle moves, guests are then introduced to the story and can start shooting targets and earning points. There are numerous targets that are in each of the scenes that the ride car travels through. Some of the targets have high point totals and are the secret targets that allow guests to quickly get to the highest score (999,999). Some of these secret targets are discussed in our upcoming tips and secrets page.

When at the end of the ride, guests are presented with a chart of ranking levels based on the score that they achieved. The rankings are the following:

0 – 1,000 Star Cadet
1,001 – 10,000 Space Scout
10,001 – 100,000 Ranger 1st Class
100,001 – 300,000 Planetary Planet
301,000 – 600,000 Space Ace
600,001 – 999,998 Cosmic Commando
999,999 Galactic Hero

Above photo of the ride vehicle for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin by The Walt Disney Company. Used under the fair use provision.

History

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin opened its doors to the public on October 7, 1998. The attraction was inspired by the Pixar film, Toy Story 2. In that film, the evil emperor Zurg plays a major role in the movie. Toward the end of the movie, Rex ends up taking out Zurg by accidentally knocking him off the edge of the elevator. Rex starts the sequence in the movie by saying “Buzz you could have defeated Zurg all along. You just have to believe in your self!” Rex then spins as he does not want to see Zurg blast Buzz and hits him with his tail. Zurg falls off the elevator and Rex responds by saying “I did it, I finally defeated Zurg!”

With inspiration from that movie, Walt Disney Imagineers built Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. The attraction replaced the Take Flight and Delta Dreamflight attraction that was housed in the same building. That attraction was launched in June 1989 and replaced the If You Had Wings attraction that was sponsored by Eastern Airlines.

At the beginning of 1996, Delta stopped sponsoring the ride and Walt Disney World transitioned to a call the ride Dreamflight and then Take Flight. In 1998, Take Flight was closed to begin construction on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin Opening Day
On October 7th, 1998, the “Buzz ride” was opened up to guests. Information on opening day is very limited as we have not found any reports on how it went and if there was a special opening day ceremony.

The above photo of the entrance area for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin by Matt Wade on Flickr. Photo has been enhanced by NavFile and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Buzz Lightyear Roller Coaster

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is not a roller coaster; however, it is an interactive moving attraction. The ride uses a track system to move the car that you travel in. The car contains a moving table that contains the controls that guests use to spin the vehicle and to shoot targets. The table has two laser blasters that are used to hit the targets that are part of the ride.

There is no Buzz Lightyear Roller Coaster that exists across the entire Walt Disney Parks portfolio.

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