Would you like to be more than a Planetary Pilot?

Most people I know have a hard time scoring over 100,000 points on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters or any of its counterparts across the world.  But with a few simple tips, you too can be a Space Scout or higher on a consistent basis.  Impress your friends with just a few adjustments to your target practice.

This is one of my favorite rides at any park.  For some reason I just love it.  It’s not particularly sophisticated, basically being a moving shooting gallery with a Toy Story theme, but it’s so much fun.  Walt Disney World had the attraction first and it shows.  It is by far the worst of them all.  The gun isn’t removable like all the rest and is harder to aim and shoot.  The targets look cheap and unimpressive.  And pretty much there isn’t a good strategy to really rack up an impressive score.  Shanghai Disneyland’s Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue looks amazing although I haven’t been on it yet personally to vouch for it, but the technology for it is just out of this world.  The rest are all very similar.  Interestingly, on the Shanghai Disneyland site they mention that Disneyland is the only one where the characters are not referred to as toys.

The Disneyland version and my current favorite

Paris had basically the same ride but called Laser Blast instead

Hong Kong Disneyland just closed their Astro Blasters ride to make way for an Ant-Man attraction similar to the Buzz Lightyear one it’s replacing

So how can you score better and get above 100,000 on a regular basis?  Here are a few tips to help you out (these tips don’t work at Shanghai Disneyland as far as I know):

• Aim for triangles first, diamonds second, and squares third.  Forget about the circles. – The way the scoring works, one hit on a triangle is worth hitting 100 circles. Some triangles are hard to get a bead on so I like to go for diamonds consistently and only go for the squares if nothing else is around.
• Lit targets are better than unlit targets – I’m not sure how many more points you get for hitting a lit target but it’s significant.  Obviously, a lit triangle is the best and often there is one inside the Jack-in-the-box in the third room.
• There are secret diamond targets – In the last tunnel before the final Zurg scene you’ll go through a tunnel that looks like it’s empty, but there is a diamond target first on the right about eye level; a target on the left a little higher up; and a final target as you are about to leave the tunnel on the ceiling.  Hit these multiple times for big points.
• Hit the secret target for 50,000 points – Both times Zurg appears, if you hit him just below the chest plate in just the right spot you’ll gain 50,000 points each hit.  It’s hard either time, but significantly harder in the final scene.  Still if you hit it it’s worth big points.

Cassie and I exiting from the ride in Paris

Scored pretty high at Hong Kong Disneyland

Following these tips will help you improve your score and you’ll routinely have rankings higher than 100,000 points!  Hopefully, this guide will help you to improve your enjoyment of this attraction and will make you want to go on again and again.

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