After yesterday's lack of attractions, we shall finally see more attractions of Tomorrowland. We are presented with the "Pixar Pair" of the area, Buzz Lightyear's Star Rescue and Monsters, Inc. Ride-and-go-Seek.
7 - Buzz Lightyear’s Star Rescue
D-Ticket
Any Height
BACKSTORY
In another galaxy under the protection of Star Command, batteries have been the main source of power. However, in more recent times, sunlight has been discovered to be highly beneficial as well, giving more energy than batteries and being more healthy for the environment. To demonstrate how power is efficient in that galaxy, aliens from the Gamma Quadrant have come to earth to show off their solar power and how they are partnering with Star Command to create better, solar-charged weapons.
However, things are about to be put in jeopardy. The Evil Emperor Zurg wants all of the solar power of the Gamma Quadrant to himself, which he would use to power his robots and conquer the system. If things weren’t bad enough, rumors have spread that Zurg is also constructing a superweapon. How will he get all of the solar power to himself? He’s going to drain the power from the Gamma Quadrant’s sun, sucking it all until there is no more light left in the star.
In response to this, Star Command has sent Buzz Lightyear to earth to recruit new space rangers. Using the new solar-powered weaponry developed by Star Command, Buzz hopes that together, they will be able to stop Zurg and save the Gamma Quadrant.
(Fun Fact, this attraction is actually solar-powered, as is its next-door neighbor, Monsters, Inc. Ride-and-go-Seek.)
QUEUE
As guests walk through Tomorrowland past the Astro Orbiter, they will come to one of two expo buildings. This expo building is on the right, displayed by a sign of the Pizza Planet aliens with blasters. Guests would go around through the outside before going into the building.
Inside the building is an exhibition hall telling of the Gamma Quadrant’s evolution from using batteries to using solar power. This includes signs you can read that tell how solar power can save power and use natural resources for everyday use. At the left end of the exhibition hall is a pair of two-seater solar-powered spaceships which look like silver orbs. These are armed with blasters, which take their power from sunlight. A cast member comes out and explains that this is a new thing that the aliens have been working with Star Command on and that it will be used in battle. While explaining its properties, the cast member is cut off by another cast member who supposedly works for Star Command, who requests that guests come into the next room.
PRE-SHOW
Unlike most Buzz Lightyear attractions, this one has a pre-show. The second cast member will lead you into a small room with a platform, on the wall above that platform is a screen. Next to it is an Audio-Animatronic Buzz Lightyear, who greets the guests as they enter. When the room is full, the cast member closes the door and Buzz speaks.
Buzz: “Hello there, visitors. I am Buzz Lightyear. I work as a Space Ranger for Star Command. You may be wondering why I pulled you out from that exhibition. You see, we have a situation.”
The screen shows a picture of Emperor Zurg as Buzz explains the problem.
Buzz: “The Evil Emperor Zurg is at it again. For a long time, he was stealing batteries from us, but now, he’s turned to a bigger source for his evil machines.”
The screen shows a picture of the Gamma Quadrant’s sun. Soon, a ray gun is seen sucking power out of the sun.
Buzz: “This time, he’s stealing energy from the Gamma Quadrant’s sun. Using a new machine, he is draining the energy from the sun. What he’s using it for, we don’t know. What we do know is that if he fully drains the sun, the aliens won’t be able to use their solar power-based machines. What we need to do is stop him before he obtains all of the sun’s power.”
The screen shows the previously-seen spaceships from the exhibition hall.
Buzz: “What you will be doing is boarding one of our spaceships we’ve worked on with the aliens. With this, you will be able to travel to the Gamma Quadrant and track down Zurg. Don’t expect this to be easy. Zurg will probably be having his robotic minions defending his base.”
It shows a picture of a blaster on the spaceship.
Buzz: “Luckily, you can attack them. Your spaceship is armed with a blaster that has sun power. With this, you will be able to fight back.”
The screen shows a picture of one of Zurg’s robots with a “Z” on its chest.
Buzz: “Aim for anywhere marked with a letter ‘Z.’ That is their weak spot.”
The screen shows the Star Command logo.
Buzz: “Now I don’t want to pressure you guys, but the aliens are counting on you. We’ve got no time to lose. Let’s go now. Oh, and I believe in you, space rangers.”
After Buzz has finished talking, the cast members will open the doors and the guests will enter into a loading deck, full of futuristic-looking gadgets. From there, they will board an omnimover line with the spaceships. They will walk on a conveyor belt and enter their ships. Once they are on, the lap bars will come up, and with them, the blasters.
RIDE EXPERIENCE
The ships leave the station through a tunnel of light. From there, they are teleported to the Gamma Quadrant. They emerge in the middle of space. This has realistic-looking space compared to its other cartoon-like environments. When they approach the sun, currently being drained by a small planet, the blasters turn on. Guests will shoot the Z's soon, and as they do, they will gain points. Their score will appear on a screen near their blasters. Unlike the other versions of the attraction where you have to have good aim to shoot, this helps you know where you are aiming with lights coming from the blasters. This makes it easier to shoot.
The ride turns a corner and goes through a small asteroid, heading into the next room. In there, guests encounter the first wave of Zurg’s robots. These robots are less cartoonish and more real-looking than the ones in other variants of this ride. Guests will find them on both the left and right, but they can turn their vehicle with a lever between the blasters. Guests will also come across some small, drone-like robots attacking an alien ship, but they can shoo them away with their blasters.
The ride then enters a tunnel of light, where it heads down to the planet's surface. When it exits the tunnel, it goes across the rocky terrain of the planet, which mirrors the planet seen in the opening of Toy Story 2. Some robots appear behind rocks, while others are in plain sight. Guests shoot them and go through a tunnel into the next room. In the tunnel, they will encounter these crab-like robots on the walls, which they can blast.
When guests exit the tunnel, they will come across the robots from Toy Story 2’s video game. In the same scene, Buzz Lightyear is targeting a crystal, causing some robots in the background to explode, mirroring the scene from the movie. This is all on a screen, but the robots guests can shoot are animatronics. They will also see camera robots that they can shoot.
From there, they will go into the Z-shaped entrance to Zurg’s lair. They will go through the white tunnel, battling many robots as you do. They will also see a spiky wall that would be moving towards them if some helpful robots with the Star Command logo weren’t pushing it back. The ride takes a left and enters the next room.
In the next room, the ships arrive in Zurg’s chamber. The Evil Emperor has his back turned towards them while he fires his balls at Buzz Lightyear, who dodges them all. He occasionally turns around and looks at the guests, but his attention is turned back to Buzz when he has a disc thrown at him. Both Buzz and the discs are on a screen while Zurg is an animatronic. Guests can attack Zurg from behind, or attack his robots in his room, defending their master.
They will soon exit the room and enter a control room. Here, the aliens are seen turning off Zurg’s sun-draining weapon. They tell the guests to use an escape route and head out to space. However, they also warn them that Zurg’s secret weapon has been fully charged and is ready to attack.
The ships exit through a tunnel and then a chamber where Zurg is aboard a giant robot with guns for hands. Noises of jets running and the hatch door revealing stars above indicate that the machine is about to take off. The ships then go through an escape tunnel and head out into outer space, which is another tunnel made up of screens. Zurg can be seen flying around in his machine as they enter an asteroid field.
In the next room, Buzz Lightyear is battling Zurg. He delivers a blast to the robot's core while guests attack the rest of the robot. They can’t attack Zurg as he is in a cockpit, but he is shouting angrily about how he can’t be defeated. However, his robot sparks and lights on the shoulders flicker as it is attacked, proving Zurg’s statement is wrong.
After this climactic showdown, guests head through another vortex back to the Tomorrowland expo center. Here, the aliens are standing around, celebrating the guests’ success. Buzz Lightyear congratulates the guests as they go by. In the meantime, Zurg is in a glass box resembling a futuristic package for a toy, claiming that he will be back. From there, guests return to the loading station, the lap bars raise, and they exit their spaceships onto a conveyor belt.
POST-RIDE
Guests walk down a hallway to their right and into a room where their pictures, taken at the beginning of the ride, and their scores are shown. The scores have ranks on them with the point being listed below:
- Level 1 Star Cadet: 0 – 1,000
- Level 2 Space Scout: 1,001 – 10,000
- Level 3 Ranger 1st Class: 10,001 – 100,000
- Level 4 Planetary Pilot: 100,001 – 300,000
- Level 5 Space Ace: 300,001 – 600,000
- Level 6 Cosmic Commando: 600,001 – 999,998
- Level 7 Galactic Hero: 999,999+
Guests soon ride a moving sidewalk down under the walkway of Tomorrowland and into a gift shop. In there, they will find the Star Command store, which sells Toy Story merchandise, but also Monsters, Inc. as well since that attraction also takes guests into this gift shop.
8 - Monsters, Inc. Ride-and-go-Seek
D-Ticket
Any Height
BACKSTORY
During the events of Monsters, Inc. a child walked into the monster world. This ended up leading to a panic outbreak in Monstropolis, already dealing with a power shortage from low screams, and other things. A scarer named Sulley P. Sullivan and his partner Mike Wozowski had to keep this child, whom they named Boo, safe until they could return her to her world. During this, they learned that laughter was more powerful than screams. However, another scarer named Randall Boggs was planning to replace scarers with a scream extractor, but soon he was banished by Mike and Sulley. Monsters, Inc. CEO Mr. Waternoose was deposed for allowing this to happen and refusing to return Boo to her world. Shortly after, Boo was returned to the human world.
However, Mike and Sulley eventually gained control over the company, but instead of having scarers collect screams, they have jokesters collect laughter. This helped benefit Monstropolis even better than screams ever did, thus ending the power shortage.
One night, a City of Tomorrow executive caught Mike doing comedy and, although originally startled to see a real-life monster, realized that he was not there for bad purposes. Mike showed this person the benefit that laughter had, and the executive wanted to have this showcased in an expo center. Mike agreed to this, and so a deal was made. However, instead of having monsters come to the human world, Mike decided that it would be better if the humans came to the monster world. Sulley took an interest in this, wondering if that meant that he’d be able to see Boo again. Monsters, Inc. agreed to this and thus set up their exhibition in the human world.
While researching humans, Mike discovered something called “flashlight tag.” Interested by this idea, Mike decided to have one big game of flashlight tag around Monstropolis. With permission from the city council, the event was set up. Luckily for the guests, they’ve been invited to engage in this activity.
QUEUE
As guests walk through Tomorrowland past the Astro Orbiter, they will come to one of two expo buildings. The one on the left is marked with a sign with Mike, Sulley, and Boo’s shadows in flashlights. Guests will go around outside before entering the building.
Inside the expo center are advertisements for the CDA (no longer the Child Detection Agency and now the Comedy Detection Agency), advertisements for Monsters, Inc., and billboards telling of how laughter was discovered to be a source of power. There is also an advertisement for the Magic Kingdom’s Laugh Floor, which is seen next to a display of laugh canisters.
Very soon, guests will walk through a door station and enter the lobby of Monsters, Inc., which appears how it did in the film. There is a map of the human world on the ceiling as well as Celia’s receptionist desk. From there, guests go down a hallway, where the jokesters of the month are seen on the right (it is an exact replica of the Laugh Floor billboard.) Down the hallway are screens on the walls that tell about why guests have been brought to the monster world as well as how laughter replaced screams as Monstropolis’s main power source. Guests soon exit the hallway and head into the loading area. Here, guests board groups of three two-person vehicles with flashlights.
RIDE EXPERIENCE
When the guests are seated, the ride vehicles leave the area along a track, the same kind of track as the Tokyo Disneyland version of the attraction, and head into a room. There, Sully is in front of Boo’s door with Boo, whom he has invited to join in the game. However, Boo is more interested in exploring and runs off while Sulley isn’t looking, even when he is telling her not to run off. He realizes this and is worried, immediately going off to look for her. This is all on a screen. On another screen on the other end of the room, which the vehicles turn around to see, Randall appears with a butterfly net, saying how he will find Boo and extract her scream.
The ride vehicles leave that room and enter another room, where it is revealed that it is nighttime in Monstropolis. An animatronic Mike Wozowski announces that he will turn the lights off for the game. He pulls a switch down and the lights go out, but the flashlights on the vehicles come on. With these flashlights, guests are able to interact with objects around the ride and make things happen.
The vehicles go down a hallway, where the guests can interact with objects using their flashlights. This makes some hiding monsters come out of hiding. This also makes things happen like canisters to laugh, printers to print, and phones to ring.
The ride then goes into the men’s locker room, where Sulley is looking for Boo with a flashlight. Boo can be heard in a bathroom stall. In the meantime, guests can shine lights on lockers and stalls to reveal monsters behind them, including George (the monster with the sock who was shaved, but since then has grown his hair back). As they exit the room, Randall appears and disappears.
The ride goes out into the Laugh Floor, where there is some trouble going on. Mike Wozowski is holding onto a moving door, and Smitty and Needleman are trying to help him. Guests can open some doors with flashlights as well as reveal a door where Sam and Ella from Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor at the Magic Kingdom are hiding. Marty Wozoswki from the same attraction greets you, telling jokes that are randomly selected from a list of them. Meanwhile, Sulley is wearing a hard hat and still looking for Boo, who is hiding behind him in a hard hat as well as a monster guests can reveal with a flashlight. In the meantime, Randall is hiding behind a door.
Guests then leave the factory and go out into the city. Here, they can make monsters appear from inside buildings and cars as they pass by. Also, Randall can be found on an alleyway about to catch Boo with his butterfly net. But Sulley comes out from a manhole and causes Randall to turn invisible to avoid being seen. Guests continue onward and make pay phones ring and pay parking meters expire.
Soon, the ride vehicles go into Harryhausen’s Sushi Restaurant, where Boo is found inside a take-out box while Harryhausen spins some boxes around. Mike Wozowski and Celia are seen by a dunking bin, which Mike falls into once the switch is activated by the lights. Guests move to a table, where some monsters are eating. Guests go through the kitchen of the restaurant, making toaster ovens beep, timers go off, and chefs appear with the flashlight.
Soon, guests go back to the factory, but first, they pass through a door station where they see the “Adorable” Snowman. He offers some snow cones to them (although they cannot take them) and the vehicles go through another door station back into the factory.
Back in the factory, the guests go through the garbage room. Randall has finally cornered Boo, and Sulley has seen it. However, Sulley orders that some light is shined on Randall. The guests do this and Randall falls into a trap door. They soon go down a hallway to see Sully and Boo watching a window (a screen), which shows Randall in the garbage compactor. Boo laughs as Randall goes through pain in the compactor. Eventually, a garbage cube with Randall’s head coming out of it comes out of the compactor, with Randall being heard groaning in pain as he is moved down a conveyor belt.
In the next room, guests see Sulley and Boo push Randall into a new door that sends him to the middle of the desert. Once he is inside, they close it. In the meantime, Mike turns the lights back on. The flashlights turn off and the guests go into another room. Mike and Sulley are outside of Boo’s door, returning her safe and sound to her world. Mike and Sully thank the humans for joining them and hope that they come back.
Before exiting their vehicle, the guests go through the filing room, where an animatronic Roz is. Like in DCA’s Mike and Sulley to the Rescue, Roz interacts with the guests. During Christmas time, she is also seen wearing a Santa hat. After this, guests are sent back to the loading area and disembark their vehicles.
POST-RIDE
Guests hop on a conveyor belt that takes them under the Tomorrowland walkway and to the Star Command gift shop.
Join us tomorrow as we see more attractions in Tomorrowland, including Space Mountain.
