Technology

Disney’s giving a classic Buzz Lightyear ride a tech overhaul – here’s everything you need to know

March 27, 2025

Disney’s having a pretty good week – Disney+ is finally letting you remove content from the ‘Continue Watching’ list, we get a look behind the curtain at how the robotic BDX Droids came to be, and Marvel announced the cast of Avengers: Doomsday.

Not to be overshadowed, though, and potentially timed to Toy Story’s 30th anniversary, Disney’s Imagineering has announced some big changes, which will result in a technological infusion to a mainstay attraction – Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

The Space Ranger Spin attraction will be updated with a whole host of technology, all in the quest for a more immersive and fun experience while riding. While the changes won’t arrive until 2026 after a closure, there are several enhancements to be excited about.

Leading the pack are entirely new ride vehicles with displays, redesigned blasters that shoot targets boasting colorful lasers, and a new animatronic debuting in a new scene on the attraction. It’s an intricate balance, keeping what fans of the ride have come to know and infusing enhancements to level up.

In the attraction, two guests board a ride vehicle and help Buzz Lightyear and fellow space rangers shoot targets with the evil ‘Emperor Zurg’s’ Z on them. As someone who’s been on it, the current lasers can get pretty tiring, with what feels like a need for constant hold and release on the trigger and not exactly knowing the target you’ll be shooting at.

How Disney’s using technology to level up a ride

(Image credit: Disney)

That same story will be the case, but each new blaster has a unique laser color, which should help you more quickly identify which target you’re on. The upgraded targets will “react and light up when hit,” though Disney didn’t share exactly what technology enabled this. Still, it made it clear there was an evolution in technology powering this change.

Disney promises that the upgraded ride will arrive in 2026, which means that the current ride will need to close in August 2025 to allow the updates and enhancements to be made. Playtests have begun, allowing the design team working on the ride to try out the enchantments and a concept phase.

While Disney didn’t give an exact time frame for developing the updates to Space Ranger Spin, project creative director Justin DeTolla said in a statement, “We’ve been working on this project for quite some time now, so it was exciting to see it all come to life for the first time in the field.”

The shared photos from the test show off the new blasters, which boast a likely LED-filled flowing front circular bubble and a more compact design, though the target looks pretty similar. When the ride reopens, the onboard screen will provide real-time scoring updates, rather than a classic LED display that lists your score via red LEDs.

All-in-all, an exciting tease on the week of the 30th anniversary of Toy Story – which you can stream now on one of the best streaming services, Disney+ – and teeing up some more tech-infused attractions at Disney Parks, this time at Disney World.

It’s an exciting period of changes for the company’s theme parks with more expansions already announced for Disney World, including a Villains Land at Magic Kingdom and a Cars land. Hollywood Studio is getting a Monsters Inc. Land, and Animal Kingdom will get the first-ever Encanto ride. There’s a lot on the horizon, but for now, we at least know one new update to a fan-favorite ride will arrive in 2026.

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