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View Full Version : My Article on Disneyland/Buzz Lightyear for a Local Paper



animagusurreal
05-12-2005, 12:01 AM
Here's the "daytripping" article I wrote for a local newspaper, The Santa Maria Sun, about my most recent trip to DL, and specifically Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. It ran a couple of weeks ago, and I've been meaning to post it up here.

This is a mostly unedited version. My editor had me add more personal stuff about myself to my first draft of the article, and so, for the final version, he cut out the passages about The Tower of Terror, among other things, and added some new transitions of his own. The cuts were understandable, but it kind of made it sound like I only liked the park's older rides. I may post that version, too, if I get around to recreating it in Word Pad (I only have it in the actual newspaper.)


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"New 'Buzz Lightyear' Ride Fizzles, But Disneyland Still Sizzles....
A Californian classic thrives at 50"


This year, as Santa Maria celebrates its Centennial Anniversary, Disneyland celebrates its Golden one- it was 50 years ago this July that the world's first theme park opened its gates, with just 17 major attractions. Today, it has over 50, plus a "neighbor" park, Disney's California Adventure. And now, the park has announced "The Happiest Homecoming on Earth," inviting past visitors to return, and new tourists to experience The Magic Kingdom for the first time.

Santa Maria is close enough to Disneyland that it's not an incredible journey to get there, yet far enough to make it seem a mystically distant land. I generally sail right through down Highway 101 - until I hit Los Angeles, where I run into a barrier of L.A. traffic. Be prepared to spend a little time contending with this congestion as you swing over to Interstate 5 and head for Anaheim's Disneyland Drive exit.

My pulse still quickens -and my heart still swells - every time I near Anaheim and see Disneyland's iconic Matterhorn Mountain. I've been coming to the park for nearly 20 years now, myself.

My first trip, at the age of five, was a whim of my mother's - we were supposed to be going to Solvang, when it suddenly occurred to her, "let's go to Disneyland instead." From my first ride on "It's a Small World", I was hooked - and not just because I couldn't get that song out of my head. As a creative and day-dreamy type of kid, I found it inspiring that so much imagination could become a real place that people could walk around in. And growing up in pre-mural Lompoc, locations like a tiki-torch-lit jungle or the courtyard of a magical pink castle seemed pretty fantastic.

Over the years that followed, I visited as often as I could, and there was always something new to see. I read and re-read every bit of Disneyland literature I could get my hands on. I memorized the corny jokes that the Jungle Cruise skippers tell, and repeated them to anyone who would listen. When I was eleven, I joyously took part in the park's 35th Anniversary celebration by joining the "Party Gras" parade's audience participation conga line.

With the help of my father, I finally worked up the courage to venture on the Space Mountain roller coaster at the age of 15. Following the exhilarating ride through inky-black "space" with "stars" whizzing by, I dashed off to every thrill ride I'd always been afraid to ride. By the end of the night, "Small World" had been unseated by a new list of wild favorites.

A few years later, I went through a period of belated teenage cynicism, during which I saw the park's vision as sugarcoating reality. There never really was a main street like Main Street, U.S.A, and the real "Fronteirland" was harsh and unforgiving. But it wasn't long before I once again enjoyed an occasional escape into Disneyland's childlike dream world.

Only now, the mighty Matterhorn that towers over Anaheim shares the skyline with California Adventure's "Hollywood Tower Hotel", horror-movie setting of the Tower of Terror attraction.

It occurs to me it wasn't that long ago that California Adventure - Disney's second Southern Californian theme park - was a parking lot.

"Disneyland will never be completed as long as there is imagination left in the world," goes a famous quote from the park's founder, Walt Disney. And recently, Disneyland premiered its latest attraction, "Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters", which is based upon characters from the popular "Toy Story" films of the 1990's.

Unfortunately, the new attraction gave me more to blast than to buzz about. Though adorned with Buzz Lightyear's catch phrase, "To Infinity and Beyond", it doesn't quite take you to "infinity," let alone beyond.

"Buzz" is a "dark ride" - a ride lit with "black light" that basically illuminates what the ride's designers want you to see, while leaving everything else obscured in darkness. Billed as an "interactive adventure," the experience is basically a ride through video game. However, as illustrations decorating queue area suggest, the ride is more like a simple early 80's arcade game than the advanced electronic gaming of today,.

The little "spaceship" vehicles travel slowly and steadily through several rooms filled with evil space toys. Each car comes equipped with a joystick that swivels the car around, and two "blasters." The goal is to help space ranger Buzz Lightyear by blasting the "Z" symbols that evil Emperor Zurg has conveniently placed to mark his minions' weak points. But just because the game's concept is simple doesn't mean it's not challenging - on my first ride, I scored in the second-lowest rank. I found the game aspect fun enough, but the ride's production values are ultimately underwhelming by Disney's high standards.

Unlike the very rounded, three-dimensional looking characters in Pixar's films, many of the figures that populate the ride are boxy or flat. Only the ride's stars, Buzz and Zurg, look like they popped out of the movie. Most of the bad guys have very limited movement - like popping up and falling back down, or going around in a circle - and none of them could "blast" me back, like real video game baddies usually can.

Some of the characters, like a crowd of little green aliens towards the end, are simply painted on the wall. This lack of dimension is further accentuated by the small size of the rooms - perhaps the effect would work better if the figures and their backdrops were further away from the vehicles.

There are a few nifty effects, though, like a "speed" tunnel in which "stars" whiz by the slow-moving cars. Buzz Lightyear himself garners the coolest effect - a projected-on computer animated face that makes him look like a real live cartoon character.

The children who appear to be this ride's target audience will probably enjoy swiveling around, blasting giant, brightly colored toys as they go and feeling a sense of accomplishment at "helping defeat" the evil Zurg. Very small children, however, might be frightened by the black-lit rooms, goofily menacing toys, and wacky, spacey music.

Buzz may not be a major reason to make the trip down to Disneyland, but it is a pleasant diversion you can fit in between all the other major reasons.

There are always the old favorites, like Pirates of the Caribbean, which is just as atmospheric as ever. Even though I've ridden it innumerable times I always find new little details to notice as I venture into the twilight-and-firefly-lit bayou, the cursed treasure caves, and the rowdy, raccous, yet musical raid of The Spanish Main. The ride also holds a special place in my heart since it recently inspired my webtoon parody, "Pirates of the Corporation".

Other classic attractions are being gussied up and having new sights and sounds added to them in anticipation of the 50th anniversary. For example, Madam Leota, The Haunted Mansion's resident head-in-a-crystal ball, has learned to levitate.

And make sure to visit at least one night when the parks are open late - some attractions simply must be experienced by night. One such experience is The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, which opened in Disney's California Adventure last year. Shortly after it opened, I rode it by day, and found it thrilling enough, but not up to all the hype. This trip, I rode at night, and it really put me into the story - on a dark spooky night, I wandered into "a deserted hotel on the dark side of Hollywood" and took a journey on a creepy service elevator...into the "fifth dimension" of the classic "Twilight Zone" TV series. The sensation of that "dimension" is created by a series of sudden drops and rises - the effect toyed with both gravity...and my mind.

(When you drive down to the park on Highway 101, keep an eye out for the real Hollywood Tower Hotel as you pass through L.A. - it's right next to the highway!)

Several of the parks' buildings were still covered during my visit, to be unveiled for the upcoming 50th anniversary celebration, which officially begins May 5th. (05-05-05.) The anniversary campaign will more than likely mean large crowds and long lines, but in exchange there will be special entertainment including a new fireworks display, new parades and shows and, and a film retrospective. And, after three years of "re-imagineering," rocket-themed roller coaster Space Mountain will return with new effects this July. I can't wait to try the latest version of the ride that began my coaster obsession.

Half a century after it first opened, Disneyland retains the magical formula that keeps visitors coming back again and again - it puts them in the middle of the magic and makes them the main character in the adventure. As Walt Disney said in his opening day speech - "All who come to this happy place, welcome! Disneyland is your land..."


Sun freelancer Brent M. Parker will never be completed as long as there is imagination left in the world. Contact him through Arts Editor Craig Shafer at cshafer@santamariasun.com.