Buzz Lightyear

Wow, was it crowded! Of course, it probably will be the rest of the year, as the 50th anniversary festivities continue.

Patrick had fun, even though the Disney Gallery was closed, so he couldn't get his poster. But, instead, one of the stores on Main Street had a lot of old souvenirs that they are re-issuing (and stuff that is made to look like old souvenirs). He got a monorail game originally released in 1960, and was completely ecstatic.

The first thing we did, after I paid $20 to get a new annual pass (mine got lost), was go on the new Buzz Lightyear ride. It is obviously modeled after the attraction at Disneyworld -- you can tell by the queue line, and the style of boarding, which is very fast (like the Haunted House). Many attractions at the Magic Kingdom, and most of the ones at EPCOT, when I was there last, board thusly, with most of the line inside, to protect people from the climate.

The ride itself is very cool. It moves slowly, like a one of the funhouses (think Snow White, Peter Pan, etc.), but you are in a car that spins (like Roger Rabbit) using a joystick (you have much more control than on Roger Rabbit), and you have laster video game guns and a score tally at each seat.

As you ride, you see all these Z (Emperor Zurg) targets all over the place. Some are on Zurgs, and some are on their own. The goal is to hit as many of these as you can, and to get as many points as you can.

(I got 8800, which, given that I used to play Duck Hunt on my original Nintendo about 2 inches from the screen and still miss things, isn't too darned bad. It did seem to me that you had to aim a bit lower than you would think to hit things, though.)

By the time we left (the lines were too long, Patrick was dehydrated, and I was getting a migraine) the line was much longer, but at 9:30 or so this morning, 1 1/2 hours after the park opened, it was only 25 minutes or so.

Very fun. :-)