Disney revealed this week that Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will be receiving some exciting updates in the next year. The Magic Kingdom attraction will close in August of 2025 to make way for several new features in 2026. In this post, we’ll share what these updates will include before offering our own commentary at the end of this post. Let’s get to the news!

Exciting updates are on the horizon for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, including a new show scene, updated ride vehicles and gameplay enhancements. Here’s what you can expect from this iconic Tomorrowland attraction next year.   

Brand New Scene

As their adventure begins, guests will now be greeted by an all-new character! This friendly robot — aptly named “Buddy” — was created by Walt Disney Imagineering and Pixar Animation Studios to play a key role on the Star Command team.  

As a support-bot, Buddy makes sure departing Space Rangers are fully prepared for their mission, enthusiastically providing encouragement, final system checks on their Star Cruisers and a chance to hone their blaster aim. This will be a great time for guests to check out some of the new, interactive target features before blasting off to defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg and save the galaxy. 

New Ride Vehicles

Star cruisers will also receive a face lift with a new design inspired by the colors of Buzz Lightyear and Star Command. Each enhanced vehicle will also now come equipped with video monitors that provide real-time scoring updates and other exciting features.  

Handheld Blasters

Each ride vehicle will now include handheld blasters for better aim, helping guests to score even more points. These new blasters will be perfect for our younger riders, allowing them to participate more in the experience.  

And, if you’ve ever wondered where you’re aiming (don’t worry, you’re not alone), these enhanced blasters will now include an always-on laser and come in two different colors per star cruiser, in addition to new lighting, sound and vibration effects, so players know where they’re aiming throughout the mission.  

Interactive Targets

The static Z targets found in the attraction today will be upgraded with new technology that will allow them to react and light up when hit. It also opens the door for a few other ideas Imagineers have in mind.  

Work on these updates recently passed an important milestone, as fellow Imagineers were invited to participate in a playtest of the new targets, blasters and gameplay ideas. Playtests are a critical part of the design process, where the project team is able to try out variations of a concept in a real-world setting, gaining critical insights into which ideas work best and how the experience can be improved. It’s all part of delivering an out-of-this-world experience for our guests. 

“Everyone had a great time, and our team learned a lot,” project creative director Justin DeTolla said. “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.”  

To prepare for these updates, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will temporarily close in August and reopen next year. Star Command, over and out!

Commentary

This news came out of nowhere, at least for me, but it’s a very pleasant surprise! Buzz has become an integral part of Tomorrowland’s across the globe and the Magic Kingdom version was lagging behind all of those. While the ride isn’t some E-ticket extravaganza, Space Ranger Spin is the type of attraction that I wish the current Disney team would invest more often in – not necessarily a headliner but more significant than a simple spinning ride.

All of the changes announced are exciting to me, starting with the news of the handheld blasters. This was the most noticeable change from other resorts and, for very serious galactic defenders like myself, made the gameplay much worse. That, plus a different set of targets, is reason enough to be excited! I’m curious to see how the video monitors interact with the ride and if they’ll be much of a distraction. I’m guessing that the screens will be similar to Toy Story Midway Mania.

Adding in a new character to the attraction is another win. This is all obviously conjecture as no one has been on the ride yet but ‘Buddy’ sounds like an adorable addition to the ride and will hopefully add some more personality to the existing attraction.

Overall, I’m thrilled that Space Ranger Spin will be receiving an update at Magic Kingdom. This should augment the ride lineup in Tomorrowland and make an already popular, high capacity ride that much better. We’ll be sure to update this post as we learn more!

Are you excited for an updated Space Ranger Spin? Let us know your thoughts or questions below in the comments! Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Check out our planning guide for help! Looking for discount tickets to Disney World? Check out this site! If you enjoy what you’re reading here on Wandering in Disney, please subscribe to the blog and like our social media pages. You can do both of those things on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!