While we examine the many updates that have come to the Magic Kingdom laser shooting gallery ride, here is a quick breakdown of changes to the ride’s scoring system.
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is currently in cast previews following a months-long closure for a variety of updates to the ride experience.
Fans of this Tomorrowland shooting gallery, rest assured, the core of the attraction remains unchanged. However, you may have to re-learn your approach to reaching the rank of “Galactic Hero” on your next ride through.
Let’s take a closer look at how the new target and scoring systems work following the ride updates.
All Zurg targets throughout the ride sets are now fully digital, and feature a variety of animations indicating different interactions as they occur.
The simplest, most immediate change is that each target will now react with a flash of sparking animation when a hit is registered from one of the ride vehicle blasters.
The two new blasters linked to each vehicle (and notably no longer attached by a fixed mount) are two separate colors for each rider: red on the left, green on the right.
The new Zurg targets will respond uniquely based on which color blast registers a hit. For green blasters, a quick effect showing green-hued electricity will flash on the target screen. For red blasters registering a hit, the target will flash with red sparks instead, as shown in the image below.
The location of these Zurg targets remain largely unchanged from the previous ride iteration.
It now appears that 95 points are rewarded for hitting each standard target. This will, however, vary based on new target conditions. The new digital score screen installed on each ride vehicle makes it easier to track the score changes across targets and their variable states.
More points are rewarded when targets enter a special “pulsing” state, which you can see in action in our ride POV at the bottom of this post.
In the photo below, the bottom left target is seen at a point in its “pulse” state, where a ring of white energy emanates from the center of the Zurg icon to its outer edges and repeats until it registers a hit. These temporary, seemingly randomized states offer more points for quick-reacting riders.
A third, special state presents multiple targets in a given area in a flashy, multicolored style for a very limited time, offering substantially more points for targets hit in the duration of that special rainbow state.
The digital screen also keeps active track of your personal rank as you move up the score brackets for the ride. The final scoreboard at the ride’s end also returns, though the order of ranks has been flipped from ascending to descending, relative to the highest score of Galactic Hero. See below for a side-by-side comparison (new board on the left, old on the right). The new order and updated rank titles are as follows:
- +1,000,000 | Galactic Hero
- 600,001 – 999,999 | Cosmic Commander
- 300,001 – 600,000 | Space Ace
- 100,001 – 300,000 | Planetary Pilot
- 10,001 – 100,000 | Astro Aviator
- 1,001 – 10,000 | Solar Navigator
- 0 – 1,000 | Star Flyer
