Did you know? Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Did you know? Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
July 27th, 2008, 7:00 am · Post a Comment · posted by Sally French from the OC Register.com


Here's a did you know? for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters at Disneyland. This was provided for Disneyland's 50th anniversary by the Walt Disney Co.

* Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is inspired by a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios film, "Toy Story 2."

* Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is located in the former home of CircleVision 360º and Rocket Rods.

* Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is the first Disney theme park adventure in the world to feature a real-time interactive on-line component during the actual "ride" portion of the attraction. This never-before-attempted convergence of the real world and the virtual world allows guests on the attraction to be randomly paired with online players via web-cam technology. At-home participants will help increase the scores of riders on the attraction by raising the value of targets along the way. This pairing of technologies has resulted in the most interactive attraction at Disneyland.

* Other than the characters from a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios films "Toy Story" and "Toy story 2" and the Etch A Sketch, all the other characters and toys in the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters attraction were created by Walt Disney Imagineering. These characters include the Pterodactyl that is flying around Planet Z. This toy was one that belonged to Sid, the mal-adjusted neighbor kid, in "Toy Story".

* The color scheme used throughout Star Command inside Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was inspired by the colors used on Buzz Lightyear. Gray and green are the dominant colors, with accents of purple, blue, yellow and red. All the 'good' characters feature blue and green, while the 'bad' characters feature red and orange. There are no targets on any good characters.

* There are 85 targets in the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters attraction.

* Some of the targets inside Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters are "nested". They are sequentially revealed only after the first target is hit. For instance, the Alien-in-a-Box on Planet Z has three nested targets, each one worth more points than the previous one. There are two hidden targets that significantly add to the score when hit.

* In the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters attraction, Planet Z features alien-style toys basd on the Roswell aliens of New Mexico.

* The "blasters" on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters are tethered to the XP-40 vehicles to provide more freedom of movement and range of motion. Blasters flash, vibrate and sound off when guests score a target,' enhancing the interactive sense of the game.

- Sally French

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