Marvel Attraction to replace Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters!

[IanDLBZF]

http://www.chipandco.com/hong-kong-disneyland-replacing-astro-blasters-new-marvel-attraction-278123/
Per Chip & Co, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters will close on 8/31 to make way for a new Marvel themed attraction.

 

[No Name]

This was announced last November.

I imagine that because they have a Toy Story Land, the brand-obsessed execs wrongly feel that a Toy Story ride elsewhere in the park doesn't make sense. They don't understand that IP is not theme. The decision to build a Toy Story Land itself is telling enough. If they rename Tomorrowland to Marvel Land, that will be telling as well.

Shanghai had plans all along for a Toy Story Land and a Buzz ride in TL, so someone gets it there. As long as it doesn't bite the dust in MK I'll be alright.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

This was announced last November.

I imagine that because they have a Toy Story Land, the brand-obsessed execs wrongly feel that a Toy Story ride elsewhere in the park doesn't make sense. They don't understand that IP is not theme. The decision to build a Toy Story Land itself is telling enough. If they rename Tomorrowland to Marvel Land, that will be telling as well.

Shanghai had plans all along for a Toy Story Land and a Buzz ride in TL, so someone gets it there. As long as it doesn't bite the dust in MK I'll be alright.

I don't think it's that - Buzz is not a great ride. It's a perfectly serviceable C ticket. HKDL is turning Tomorrowland, or at least a good half of it, into a Marvel mini-land. Buzz is right in that area, so it's a perfect candidate for retheming, and in the process, HKDL gets another exclusive attraction.

 

[No Name]

I don't think it's that - Buzz is not a great ride. It's a perfectly serviceable C ticket. HKDL is turning Tomorrowland, or at least a good half of it, into a Marvel mini-land. Buzz is right in that area, so it's a perfect candidate for retheming, and in the process, HKDL gets another exclusive attraction.

Maybe I have my places mixed up, but I thought it was quite popular in HKDL?

Anyway, call me strange, but I happen to love it and be very good at it. So I felt a slight pain in my heart when I read the bolded. Usually I agree with the majority opinion on these boards, but in the case of Buzz and TSMM, I do not. This is the one thing from the November announcement I was hoping would be cut. That being said, I have no doubts that this Marvel replacement could be a great ride. And on the plus side, it should remain exclusive to Hong Kong.

I will say that the newest Buzz ride (and queue) in Shanghai is pretty terrible.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Maybe I have my places mixed up, but I thought it was quite popular in HKDL?

Anyway, call me strange, but I happen to love it and be very good at it. So I felt a slight pain in my heart when I read the bolded. Usually I agree with the majority opinion on these boards, but in the case of Buzz and TSMM, I do not. This is the one thing from the November announcement I was hoping would be cut. That being said, I have no doubts that this Marvel replacement could be a great ride. And on the plus side, it should remain exclusive to Hong Kong.

I will say that the newest Buzz ride (and queue) in Shanghai is pretty terrible.

I much prefer Buzz to TSMM as it has sets and AAs. In HK it's never been particularly popular to my knowledge - TDL's version is hugely popular, although it's waned somewhat since it opened. TSMM is ridiculously popular in Tokyo as well.

I really liked SDL's Buzz except for how short it felt to me. The improved targeting/gun mechanism was welcome.

What's amazing to me is that WDW's Buzz is so, so, so bad. I rode it for the first time in many years and was blown away at how unkempt and sad it felt. Needs a serious upgrade there!

 

[peep]

I will say that the newest Buzz ride (and queue) in Shanghai is pretty terrible.

Huh? I thought it was excellent and a far superior experience than the previous versions of the ride. The Buzz in the other parks (granted i've not done the HK one - and never will) feel dated and broken. There are so many neat effects in the Shanghai version that make me really excited to see what they do with the Ant Man IP. It really felt like an interactive shooty ride made for the current generation of gamers. In HK I doubt we'll see a major ride system overhaul to bring it up to that standard but I'm intrigued to see what they do.

 

[BrianLo]

I don't think it's particularly popular in HKDL... but it is also an omnimover without fastpass there. Shanghai's is better, albeit not as much as I wanted it to be.

Personally I really welcome the change. Nothing about it was particularly all that unique or befitting of tomorrowland. At least with Antman there will be a more cohesive theme.

Maybe Hong Kong's tomorrowland will be the only one without serious flaws, ironically about the time it is no longer tomorrowland.

 

[No Name]

Fun fact... Buzz is the only non-flat-ride for which a version (unarguably) exists at all six resorts.

There were a lot of "all fives" before Shanghai opened. And there will be no "all sixes" after the one in Hong Kong closes.

Huh? I thought it was excellent and a far superior experience than the previous versions of the ride. The Buzz in the other parks (granted i've not done the HK one - and never will) feel dated and broken. There are so many neat effects in the Shanghai version that make me really excited to see what they do with the Ant Man IP. It really felt like an interactive shooty ride made for the current generation of gamers. In HK I doubt we'll see a major ride system overhaul to bring it up to that standard but I'm intrigued to see what they do.

I totally understand your perspective, and this may sound slightly irrational, but bear with me.

Right off the bat, I was unpleasantly surprised to see no Buzz animatronic in the queue. That is a criminal break from Disney and Toy Story shooting ride tradition! Every other one manages to have a Buzz / Potato Head animatronic in or near the queue (with WDW's two rides being particularly sequential) for good reason... it adds life and energy to the wait. If the imagineers substituted it with something better here, I would be more forgiving. But I feel that the queue is more or less another SDL decorated box, in a park with too many linear/plain/flat queues and decorated boxes.

Second, it's considerably shorter than the other versions. But I agree that the three minutes it does last are less cheap, comic-like, cardboard-like, etc. than its siblings. And that's a big plus. However, for me, it's outweighed by the minuses.

 

[peep]

Right off the bat, I was unpleasantly surprised to see no Buzz animatronic in the queue. That is a criminal break from Disney and Toy Story shooting ride tradition! Every other one manages to have a Buzz / Potato Head animatronic in or near the queue (with WDW's two rides being particularly sequential) for good reason... it adds life and energy to the wait. If the imagineers substituted it with something better here, I would be more forgiving. But I feel that the queue is more or less another SDL decorated box, in a park with too many linear/plain/flat queues and decorated boxes.

Second, it's considerably shorter than the other versions. But I agree that the three minutes it does last are less cheap, comic-like, cardboard-like, etc. than its siblings. And that's a big plus. However, for me, it's outweighed by the minuses.

Thanks for your explanation. I do agree about the queueline, I'm not sure it was the lack of large animatronic but it certainly needed more interesting things to look at.

I think the length is fine, sometimes interactive rides can be a bit too long and people get bored by the end. I'd rather leave wanting more than get tired and not want to re-ride.

 

[Bartattack]

Just rode buzz at SDL a few hours ago. I think this is the best shooting mechanism of all versions. I like that you can see the colour of who hit the target. It also looks less cardboard-like and it has some fun effects.

What also surprised me: we rode it an hour before closing time and boy... the queue was a garbage dump. This was really shocking. Litter everywhere. Piles of litter.