MK New Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin Updates Coming to Walt Disney World

[Chip Chipperson]

I don't get the hate for this. People complain that the parks aren't maintained and updated to the level they expect from Disney and then complain when Disney announces an upgrade for an existing attraction - upgrades that specifically address complaints guests have had about that attraction for years.

Disney: "We're excited to tell you about these upgrades to Space Ranger Spin that fix issues guests have with it."

Some people here: "Why bother????"

 

[fgmnt]

They’re complaining about Disney “overselling” the upgrades instead of just doing them. Which to me, overselling means hyping up small details.

I’d argue they’re not overselling them, but even if they are “overselling” the upgrades, it’s surprising to have that perspective from someone who’s on a forum.

I think it would reach into overselling if they started running billboard ads and tv commercials for new light up targets. Making some social media posts explaining why this is atypical refurb is fine. The language is a little goofy but whatever.

I’m ambivalent on the ride as a whole; I have long thought the greater southern plot of Tomorrowland (Circlevision/IYHW building + Tomorrowland Theater site) was meant for a really solid E-Ticket dark ride. In my head a good path forward would be to codevelop that plot with similar space in DL Tomorrowland for an Incredibles (East Coast) and Fantastic Four (West Coast) spacetime adventure.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Tomorrowland is immensely popular, it needs more attractions.

As cool as Tron looks (I've never gotten to ride it, my last trip was right before it opened, and my next visit is early June this year so I likely won't get to ride it lol), it didn't do much to help out Tomorrowland. They really need to do something with the Alien Encounter/Stitch theater, and I think Monsters Inc Laugh Floor needs to be replaced. The footprint of it is small so it'd probably have to be another theater show, but there's also areas elsewhere you could expand.

Of course there's the former Stitch theater that's empty, and the Speedway which is garbage and should just be replaced with something else (I've suggested Sugar Rush, since from Fantasyland, a candy land would visually fit the fantasy theme while from Tomorrowland, you'd be entering a digital world). You could fit like, two rides on its footprint if you wanted- either two for Tomorrowland, or one for Fantasyland and one for Tomorrowland. If you did a few Fantasyland dark ride-sized attractions, you could even milk that into three attractions!

If you were to do something other than a theater show with Laugh Floor, you could take the space of Tomorrowland Terrace and make a small-ish dark ride or something there. No sure how sacrilege that is, given I've never heard anyone talk about that restaurant and I don't even know what it does differently compared to Cosmic Ray's aside from outdoor seating.

You could hypothetically build something to the right of Space Mountain with some land preparation, maybe using the bathroom there as the footprint for an entrance and have the queue go under the train track like Space Mountain's entrance. A dark ride perhaps? There's already two thrill rides and a shooter, so something without a height requirement would be a good addition. WALL-E, perhaps? Dare I say it, but possibly even a new Horizons, since it'd be right next to the Carousel of Progress? Fantastic Four maybe, given the new movie's art direction is supposedly inspired by the Tomorrowland of the 60s? Then to deal with the bathroom removal, you could move it between Buzz and CoP, not needing that entire plot of the parking lot I highlighted.

Plenty of space to expand!

 

[Streetway Again]

Fantastic Four maybe, given the new movie's art direction is supposedly inspired by the Tomorrowland of the 60s?

Legally can’t because of universal. Would be nice though! I do fear that bc of cosmic rewind, a f4 attraction would go in EPCOT, because that was mentioned as inspiration.

the Speedway which is garbage and should just be replaced with something else (I've suggested Sugar Rush, since from Fantasyland, a candy land would visually fit the fantasy theme while from Tomorrowland, you'd be entering a digital world).

I agree that the speedway could be used for something else, but the only problem is anything big would block the view of tron from the path. Also I’m not sure about the clash of sugar rush from Tomorrowland proper. But something COULD go there.

 

[Joel]

I agree that it's kind of weird for Disney to play up this rather mundane update -- especially on Instagram, of all places. I thought that was only for genuinely exciting announcements, like photos of what you had for lunch.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

As cool as Tron looks (I've never gotten to ride it, my last trip was right before it opened, and my next visit is early June this year so I likely won't get to ride it lol), it didn't do much to help out Tomorrowland. They really need to do something with the Alien Encounter/Stitch theater, and I think Monsters Inc Laugh Floor needs to be replaced. The footprint of it is small so it'd probably have to be another theater show, but there's also areas elsewhere you could expand.
View attachment 850486
Of course there's the former Stitch theater that's empty, and the Speedway which is garbage and should just be replaced with something else (I've suggested Sugar Rush, since from Fantasyland, a candy land would visually fit the fantasy theme while from Tomorrowland, you'd be entering a digital world). You could fit like, two rides on its footprint if you wanted- either two for Tomorrowland, or one for Fantasyland and one for Tomorrowland. If you did a few Fantasyland dark ride-sized attractions, you could even milk that into three attractions!

If you were to do something other than a theater show with Laugh Floor, you could take the space of Tomorrowland Terrace and make a small-ish dark ride or something there. No sure how sacrilege that is, given I've never heard anyone talk about that restaurant and I don't even know what it does differently compared to Cosmic Ray's aside from outdoor seating.

You could hypothetically build something to the right of Space Mountain with some land preparation, maybe using the bathroom there as the footprint for an entrance and have the queue go under the train track like Space Mountain's entrance. A dark ride perhaps? There's already two thrill rides and a shooter, so something without a height requirement would be a good addition. WALL-E, perhaps? Dare I say it, but possibly even a new Horizons, since it'd be right next to the Carousel of Progress? Fantastic Four maybe, given the new movie's art direction is supposedly inspired by the Tomorrowland of the 60s? Then to deal with the bathroom removal, you could move it between Buzz and CoP, not needing that entire plot of the parking lot I highlighted.

Plenty of space to expand!

Adding onto this-

The Tomorrowland Speedway (after being slightly shortened for Tron) is 153,541 square feet. That's a HUGE footprint to put some new attraction(s) in.
For reference, here's other approximate sizes of MK attractions (using Google Map's measuring tool):

• Country Bear Jamboree: 10,065 sq. ft (including queue)
• Peter Pan's Flight: 16,051 sq. ft (including queue)
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 17,315 sq. ft (including exit retail space, not including outdoor queue)
• Haunted Mansion: 45,498 sq. ft (not including outdoor queue)
• Tiana's Bayou Adventure: 55,461 sq. ft (not including outdoor queue or exit retail space)
• it's a small world: 60,787 sq. ft (including queue)
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 85,370 sq. ft (including queue)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: 101,902 sq. ft (including queue and exit retail space)
• Space Mountain: 128,713 sq. ft (including queue and exit retail space)

You could fit 15 Country Bear Jamborees in a single Speedway! How would you all personally use the space? Multiple attractions, split up the space between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, just make one big attraction, etc.?

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Legally can’t because of universal. Would be nice though! I do fear that bc of cosmic rewind, a f4 attraction would go in EPCOT, because that was mentioned as inspiration.

I agree that the speedway could be used for something else, but the only problem is anything big would block the view of tron from the path. Also I’m not sure about the clash of sugar rush from Tomorrowland proper. But something COULD go there.

True, don't want to block Tron- though if they didn't care about that, I'm sure you could construct the entrance to the ride in a way that it blocks the view of the candy mountains from Tomorrowland.

Forgot about the Mississippi clause for Marvel- I know they're considering F4 for Disneyland, so that got me thinking for MK. EPCOT would be a bad fit for F4, so I guess Universal is saving us this time, lol.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

I don't get the hate for this. People complain that the parks aren't maintained and updated to the level they expect from Disney and then complain when Disney announces an upgrade for an existing attraction - upgrades that specifically address complaints guests have had about that attraction for years.

Disney: "We're excited to tell you about these upgrades to Space Ranger Spin that fix issues guests have with it."

Some people here: "Why bother????"

Seriously. I know I can seem like a grump when it comes to changes like MuppetVision and the ROA, but this update is a win-win for everyone involved. There is no logical reason anyone should be upset at this, unless they're just upset at every change Disney makes. Attractions SHOULD be given updates when they feel out of date. Of course, some attractions are timeless like Pirates, Mansion, small world, etc., but some like Buzz or Space Mountain would benefit from updates (SM imo could use a proper soundtrack and space lighting like in Disneyland, keep the track though since it's historic. Though if they were to retrack it to be smoother I wouldn't complain). All attractions regardless should have regular maintenance like in Tokyo.

 

[Agent H]

Seriously. I know I can seem like a grump when it comes to changes like MuppetVision and the ROA, but this update is a win-win for everyone involved. There is no logical reason anyone should be upset at this, unless they're just upset at every change Disney makes. Attractions SHOULD be given updates when they feel out of date. Of course, some attractions are timeless like Pirates, Mansion, small world, etc., but some like Buzz or Space Mountain would benefit from updates (SM imo could use a proper soundtrack and space lighting like in Disneyland, keep the track though since it's historic. Though if they were to retrack it to be smoother I wouldn't complain). All attractions regardless should have regular maintenance like in Tokyo.

I don’t think being upset at those changes makes you a grump. I tend to fall on the positive side of things and I don’t like those either.

 

[dmc493]

I feel myself falling into full dad mode when I read some comments. Like, “if you’re not gonna enjoy what we have to give you then you’re not getting anything at all!!”

 

[MisterPenguin]

A PR department uses hyperbolic language?!?!?! <clutches pearls>

Next, you'll tell me they use superlatives, too, such as "happiest" and "most magical"!! Why, 'magic' doesn't even exist!!!

 

[James Alucobond]

Was hoping for a full replacement, but I’ll take it.

 

[Lord Fozzinator]

I don’t think their overselling the update, it seems that they are using the correct amount of selling that calls for an update like this.

 

[Lord Fozzinator]

If I were to give a prediction of what a Tomorrowland overhaul at magic could like, here is what it could be.

• The abandoned Stitch Area would make a really cool WALL-E show where guests are taken aboard the space ship and they help WALL-E and EVE take down the AI.
• The Laugh Floor area can either turn into a small show featuring some IP or expand the queue and ride track for buzz.
• Space gets a refurb with a new track and soundtrack
• Carousel, has something done with it.
• Speedway is demolished and turned into 2 rides. A fantasyland attraction that is either themed to Alice in Wonderland or some other IP. A Tomorrowland attraction that could be a smaller version of the Speedway.

Well those are my predictions, some are more realistic than others.

 

[Lord Fozzinator]

You could hypothetically build something to the right of Space Mountain with some land preparation, maybe using the bathroom there as the footprint for an entrance and have the queue go under the train track like Space Mountain's entrance. A dark ride perhaps? There's already two thrill rides and a shooter, so something without a height requirement would be a good addition. WALL-E, perhaps? Dare I say it, but possibly even a new Horizons, since it'd be right next to the Carousel of Progress? Fantastic Four maybe, given the new movie's art direction is supposedly inspired by the Tomorrowland of the 60s? Then to deal with the bathroom removal, you could move it between Buzz and CoP, not needing that entire plot of the parking lot I highlighted.

Highly unlikely as that area is “unstable” and that area isn’t big enough for anything major unless you fill in the pond which Disney probably wouldn’t do.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Who has said they shouldn’t do the update?

This post is indicative of some of the very deep problems with Walt Disney Imagineering. They wasted money on an elaborate mock-up of largely existing, proven systems. Some of this is just the excess of too many resources. More importantly it is also the broken hierarchy of having to sell people who don’t understand their business, who cannot read things like drawings to understand an experience, and who lack the ability to understand that a test setup is just to test something specific and not the final product. That wastefulness and inefficiency is then packaged up as innovation.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

How would you all personally use the space?

I'd build a DVC Showroom.

 

[UNCgolf]

Who has said they shouldn’t do the update?

I had the same thought.

There have been people (like me) who think they'd much better off replacing the ride than spending money on updating it, but if they're not going to replace it, then obviously spending money on updates is a good thing. I haven't seen anyone suggest that they should just leave it exactly as is and spend no money.

 

[flynnibus]

A PR department uses hyperbolic language?!?!?! <clutches pearls>

Next, you'll tell me they use superlatives, too, such as "happiest" and "most magical"!! Why, 'magic' doesn't even exist!!!

How about “first time ever…”

For stuff everyone has been doing for 15+ years. That is “marketing” - for idiots

 

[flynnibus]

I haven't seen anyone suggest that they should just leave it exactly as is and spend no money.

Its just people replying that have no clue what they are replying to - which is why there was no point in trying to correct them. Literally not even at the same table