Summer generally means new things for the theme park world, and this year is no different with some really neat additions coming to both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. Several of those new additions are in the form of current attractions getting an upgrade. For example, in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the Mandalorian and Grogu are being added to Smugglers Run while The Muppets will be replacing Aerosmith over at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Today we are going to look back at some of our favorite changes to attractions from over the years, starting with…

# 6 – Toy Story Mania!

From its very creation back in 2008, Toy Story Mania has been popular with guests of all ages.

Not hard to see why, as it features an easy to learn game system and characters from the hugely successful Toy Story movies.

Being able to play  – and then compare your score with friends and family – added an extra level of fun to the attraction.

The attraction was always billed as having easy to change out games, allowing Disney the opportunity to continually update the attraction. In 2010, just two years after the attraction opened, Disney lived up to it’s promise and added a new game into the mix called “Rex and Trixie’s Dino Darts.” This game featured the character of Trixie, who was making her debut in that year’s Toy Story 3.

Almost two decades since it first made it’s debut, Toy Story Mania is still the gold standard of interactive games in a theme park. Easy to play, challenging to get a high score, and fun to compare scores and shooting stats with people you are playing with.

Since the Toy Story 3 update in 2010, Pixar has released a whole bunch of Toy Story animated shorts (which you can watch on Disney+) and even a couple more movies (including Toy Story 5 later this summer) but Toy Story Mania has not been updated a single time over that timeframe. It’s a shame, because the concept of a continually updated attraction is definitely intriguing, and Disney actually followed through with that idea for…

# 5 – Star Tours

Star Wars is certainly popular in the theme parks now, but for those who didn’t live through the ’80s it may seem impossible to believe how popular it was in the parks back then. In fact when Star Tours opened at Disneyland in 1987 the park stayed open for 60 straight hours in order to help satiate the overwhelming demand from fans.

Star Tours opened in Florida in 1989 with the debut of Disney Hollywood Studios (then Disney/MGM.) Like Disneyland’s version, the original attraction at DHS was essentially guests being able to experience a “trench run” on the Death Star made famous by Star Wars: A New Hope.

In 2011, Star Tours got a major glow up with enhancements to the queue and attraction itself. The ride even got a new name: Star Tours – The Adventure Continues.

Like many attractions created in the 21st Century, there were several Easter Eggs and clever references inserted into the Star Tours experience, such as Pixar’s WALL-E  being seen in the queue’s luggage scanner.

However the biggest change came in the ride experience itself, as guests now were able to fly around and come into contact with a plethora of Star Wars characters and locations straight from the movies.

Even better? Over the following years Star Tours – The Adventure Continues has updated itself to include even more characters and locations tying into Star Wars shows released on Disney+ (including Ashoka, the Mandalorian, and Andor.) A screen based attraction allows the theme parks to easily change and update content for guests, and no ride has done it more consistently than Star Tours.

# 4 – The Incredible Hulk Coaster

The Incredible Hulk Coaster in Marvel Superhero Island has been a premier thrill ride in Florida ever since Islands of Adventure opened back in 1999. In 2016, Universal made some significant upgrades to every single aspect of the attraction, including the addition of the Hulk himself outside the front of the attraction holding one of the ride vehicles!

Every piece of track was replaced, creating a much smoother ride experience.

The queue got a complete overhaul, and – like Imagineers did with Star Tours – this gave Universal Creative the opportunity to add in a whole bunch of fun references for comic book fans. For example, the Post-It note picture below reads “Congrats, Stan. Excelsior!” and this is referencing the one and only Stan Lee, the person probably most associated with Marvel Comics (including many wonderful cameos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.) The Time Off Request Form is for “Dr. Len Wein,” and this is referencing a longtime writer of the Incredible Hulk comic book (and also the creator of the mega popular character Wolverine.) Above the Time Off Request is a really fun reference to anyone who watched The Incredible Hulk TV show in the 70s/80s.

The queue actually has a whole bunch of references to important men in the history of the Hulk comic books, including his creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.  Among other names referenced on this board are Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, the actors who played the Hulk on TV, and Peter David, writer of some of the greatest stories in the Hulk canon including one of my all time favorites: FUTURE IMPERFECT. I would go so far to say that the ride actually pays more respect (and gives more credit) to the creators of Hulk stories than Hollywood has done for over 50 years of the character being featured on TV and movies.

The Hulk Coaster also returned with new ride vehicles that featured on-board audio. At the time it reopened, the buzz centered around a new soundtrack for the ride that was created by Patrick Stump, lead singer for the band Fall Out Boy. However, what many didn’t know at the time was that the ride vehicle itself was designed by Universal Creative Team Member Greg Hall.

Greg Hall went on to design the VelociCoaster and Monsters Unchained, two of the most popular attractions currently at the Universal Orlando Resort, but it was at the Hulk Coaster where we first saw Mr. Hall’s genius at work.

# 3 – Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Speaking of taking an attraction and giving it a 100-point restoration, we got something along those lines earlier this year with the new and improved Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Like Toy Story Mania, Space Ranger Spin allows the entire family to have an interactive gaming experience.

The previous version of Space Ranger Spin had blasters that were mounted to the ride vehicle, but the new blasters can be lifted up and allows every guest a much wider range of motion when shooting at targets.

 

One laser in each car is red and the other one is green. This helps you know where you’re aiming. Additionally, the laser is now brighter and much easier to see as you’re swirling around. A big improvement over the previous version.

One huge addition to the gameplay was that all the point values changed, meaning all those years of scoping out and memorizing where the high point value targets were for naught! The target values have not only changed, they aren’t consistent anymore and this makes riding multiple times even more fun. Just when you’ve found a big value, it changes!

Turns out you can now hit the same target multiple times and get points with each bullseye. The old blasters only registered one shot with each trigger pull, while the new blasters allow for continuous shooting when the trigger is depressed.

This “burst feature” will certainly help guests rack up scores, even getting above the previous Space Ranger Spin’s capped high score of 999,999.

So while we say goodbye to the old Galactic Hero stickers, we can certainly embrace a much better version of Space Ranger Spin than we’ve ever had before!

# 2 – Tower of Terror

It goes without saying that Hollywood Tower of Terror at Disney Hollywood Studios is one of the most iconic theme park rides ever built. Starting with it’s legendary façade that looks amazing during the day…

…but even better at night!

When the attraction opened in 1994, it featured a single drop. In 1996, a second drop was added and in 1999, a third. However the game was changed in 2003 when the amount of drops became randomized. This led to a new tagline for the attraction, “Never the same fear twice!” A small and – seemingly – simple change that greatly adds to each and every Tower of Terror ride experience.

# 1 – SPIDER-MAN

When Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man showed the world that Universal was here to play. For decades, no one in the world could come within a country mile of the quality of dark rides that you could find in a Disney park. However, from its debut, Spider-Man was not only just as good as anything Disney had ever done, many will argue that it’s better.

The original version of Spider-Man film used a cartoonish, somewhat flat visual style that was the best that could be achieved with computer-generated graphics of the time. In 2012, the film was completely updated with improved CGI that allowed for vivid, photo-realistic characters and environments that are startlingly realistic. Guests can actually see the stitching on Spidey’s suit, evil Electro’s teeth, rats scurrying in the streets, and dozens of other lifelike details.

Below is a video that shows the “amazing” differences between the original and updated versions. Its actually much more impressive in person, and IOA’s best ride somehow got even better.

The update even took the opportunity to add in cameos of Stan Lee, one of the creators of Spider-Man. Unfortunately, I would say this is one of the rare times that the theme park creatives were “too cute by half,” because they added too many cameos. Stan Lee appears multiple times in the ride, to the point where it doesn’t even make sense from a character perspective. Admittedly its a minor quibble, and maybe I’m alone on the island in this line of thinking, but I’d personally like it a lot more if one of Stan Lee’s cameos (say the truck driver) was replaced with a character paying tribute to Steve Ditko (the other co-creator of Spider-Man.)

Honorable Mention – Seasonal Overlays

One of the founding tenets of the BE FAIR TO FLORIDA movement is jealousy in the amount of seasonal overlays those spoiled brats great theme park fans out in California get to enjoy. The Haunted Mansion, its a small world, and even Cars Land as a whole have some amazing transformations during the holiday season. Until recently, we didn’t get anything like that down here in Florida, but thankfully over the past couple years Disney has given us a couple great overlays including a wonderful one at Living with the Land in EPCOT.

The transformation of the world famous Jungle Cruise to the Jingle Cruise is just fantastic.

I don’t think it’s that much of an ask for wanting theme park attractions to get the same TLC that Universal puts into its Tribute Stores. I’m not saying you shut rides down for months at a time to put in elaborate additions, fun little touches are all we need to elevate an experience.

For example, the re-naming of all the Jungle Cruise steamers? This is PERFECT. They were already filled with puns, and the Jingle Cruise updates take it up a notch.

Small things can make a BIG difference.

So there you have it: Our FAVORITE Attraction Updates! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on BlueSky (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

Theme Park Turkeys of the Year Archives

The SATURDAY SIX Celebrates 10 Years of @bioreconstruct

SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Josh easyWDW

SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Ian Barritt

TPEI Tribute to Bret Taggart (AKA @Schmoofy)

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Thickey for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by SeaWorld Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHide and you Potterheads will enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.

NEXT WEEK: The WORST Updates…