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 Photo by Rob Young, 2007 (CC BY 2.0) (modified) |
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Buzz Lightyear rides are still popular at other Disney parks—but the Hong Kong edition has gone to Hong Kong Yesterland. Although the worldwide rides are similar, their names are different. Only the original Disneyland Park also calls it Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. |
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At Magic Kingdom Park, it’s Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. At Disneyland Paris, it’s Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. At Tokyo Disneyland, it’s Buzz Lightyear’s (possessive s) Astro Blasters. At Shanghai Disneyland, it’s Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue (with a different storyline and more sophisticated targeting). |
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 Photo by Robert Parker, 2013 Chinese characters on the sign |
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 Photo by Robert Parker, 2013 Buzz Lightyear in his own litte rotunda |
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 Photo by Robert Parker, 2013 Hong Kong poster |
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 Photo by Jeremy Thompson, 2011 (CC BY 2.0) (modified) Batteries, a key part of the story |
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 Photo by Robert Parker, 2013 Motivational speaker Buzz Lightyear—speaking English in China |
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Buzz Lightyear needs your help. The Evil Emperor Zurg stole batteries from Star Command to power his Secret Weapon. Have a seat in a 2-cadet XP-39 Space Cruiser at Hong Kong Yesterland—not to be confused with the XP-40 Space Cruisers at the original Disneyland Park. You can fight back against Zurg by aiming your laser cannon at “Z” targets and amassing points. Fire quickly. You have an unlimited quantity of laser “bullets,” and you’re not penalized for missing. You can spin your Space Cruiser with a joystick. Just realize you might anger the other cadet, who might feel the current orientation is perfect for upcoming targets. |
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 Photo by Lotues Wosheang, 2013 (CC BY-SA 3.0) (modified) Guests in XP-39 Space Cruisers |
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Photo by Lotues Wosheang, 2013 (CC BY-SA 3.0) (modified) Navigating into the shadowy Gamma Quadrant—and beyond! |
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 Photo by Robert Parker, 2013 Plenty of “Z” targets |
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 Photo by Robert Parker, 2013 Confronting the Evil Emperor Zurg |
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Okay, to tell the truth, your real opponent was never Zurg. It was the other cadet you’re sharing the ride with. You each wanted to achieve the highest score in your vehicle, right? |
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When Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney’s first park in China, opened September 12, 2005, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was an opening day attraction. On August 7, 2017, Hong Kong Disneyland announced that its version of the Buzz Lightyear ride would close permanently: HONG KONG, August 7, 2017 – Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (HKDL) has always been committed to offering the best one-of-a-kind entertainment experiences to our guests. Now, HKDL is gearing up for the next page in its exciting development and expansion, in which popular stories, characters and all-new attractions will be introduced. As Hong Kong Disneyland continues to grow, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters located in Tomorrowland will be transformed into a new Marvel-themed interactive shooting game, making it the second Marvel-themed attraction following the popular Iron Man Experience. Upon completion, guests can join Marvel Super Heroes to defeat invaders in this new attraction. Hong Kong’s transformation into a must-visit destination for Marvel fans will culminate when the new Marvel-themed land opens at HKDL in the future. The final day of operation for Hong Kong’s Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was August 31, 2017. Its replacement would be Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle!, with an official opening date of March 31, 2019. |
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 publicity image © Disney © Marvel Publicity art for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle! |
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 publicity image © Disney © Marvel Attraction concept art for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle! |
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Once again, guests in a continuous stream of ride vehicles would use hand-held laser “guns” to aim at targets in a series of show scenes. Instead of joining forces with Buzz Lightyear, guests would join forces with Ant-Man. A Hong Kong press release on March 28, 2019, explained the story concept: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle! continues HKDL’s Marvel story that began with Iron Man Experience. Guests will join a critical mission to defend Hong Kong against Hydra’s attack as the evil artificial intelligence Arnim Zola attempts to steal the Data Core containing highly confidential information. While Iron Man is busy fighting the Hydra-bots at Stark Tower, he calls upon Ant-Man and The Wasp to help protect the S.H.I.E.L.D. Pavilion, because only they have the ability to shrink down between the Swarmbots’ tough armor and destroy them from the inside. But with thousands of Swarmbots and only two of them, Ant-Man and The Wasp need guests to jump into action! Aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.’s newest combat vehicle, D/AGR, a.k.a. the Dagger, guests will head to the Data Core while disabling Swarmbots along the way using EMP Blasters. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, the stars of the “Ant-Man” films, appear in the attraction. |
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 Photo by Werner Weiss, 2019 Barriers in front of the soon-to-open attraction on March 18, 2019 |
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 Photo by Werner Weiss, 2019 Warnings in Traditional Chinese, English, and Simplified Chinese |
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Hong Kong’s Tomorrowland already has a fair amount of Marvel. Iron Man Experience, the first Marvel attraction at any Disney theme park, opened January 11, 2017. It uses 3-D simulators similar to those of Star Tours - The Adventures Continue. Guests wearing StarkVision glasses help Tony Stark fight extraterrestrial invaders attacking Hong Kong, where Hong Kong Stark Tower dominates the skyline. |
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 Photo by Werner Weiss, 2019 Iron Man Experience at Hong Kong Disneyland |
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 Photo by Werner Weiss, 2019 Stark Expo Shop at Hong Kong Disneyland |
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There’s much more Marvel to come. By 2023, Hong Kong Disneyland will have an entire Marvel-themed area. This includes the property that was originally the park’s Autopia ride. Too much Marvel for you? Don’t worry. There’s also an entire Frozen land under construction. There’s no such thing as too much Frozen, is there? |
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© 2019 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Any photos used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licensing may be reused under the same license as the original. Larger, higher-resolution versions of such images, without the Yesterland watermark, are available at Wikimedia Commons. Updated March 29, 2019. |
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