First the ride itself:

This ride looks like a comic book! Bright colors everywhere, exaggerated heros and villains! Kids love it, adults love it . . . you've gotta try it!

When you enter the ride, you see a larger-than-life Buzz Lightyear statue, and you learn that the evil Zurg is up to his old tricks. Buzz needs YOU (you are a Junior Ranger, right?) to help him save the universe.

You (and perhaps a friend) are loaded into a round space machine. Each of you has a machine-gun like thingy with which to shoot the targets (cleverly, the targets are Zs). Your space craft moves forward without your help, but you can spin it 360 degrees. You can keep track of your score, and at the end you'll see how well you did. I think I was a Space Weenie -- or maybe something lower. Anyway, I had fun.

Okay, that was the ride itself. I promised you two ways to avoid the lines. These will really work -- I promise!

1. If you're staying in a Disney resort during a busy time of year, you may be able to take part in e-ticket night. This gives you an extra THREE HOURS in the Magic Kingdom almost without lines!

When you check into your hotel, you buy a voucher for e-ticket night ($12 adults/$10 children). These are not sold at the Magic Kingdom or anywhere else -- only in the Disney resorts. They guarantee that no more than 5000 of these vouchers will be sold on any given night.

On the appropriate night, you must enter the Magic Kingdom before closing time (thus, you must have a ticket go get into the Magic Kingdom IN ADDITION TO your e-ticket voucher). Anytime after 4:00 you can go to a table set up by City Hall in Main Street and get a wrist band. Each member of your party must come personally; the Cast Member puts the band on for you -- now you're set!

On the night we visited, the Magic Kingdom closed at 7:00. Promptly at 7:00, the Cast Members at the ride entrances began saying, "I'm sorry, but the Magic Kingdom is closed to everyone except those with wristbands." We literally walked onto most of the rides. Occasionally we had to wait for the next car. We rode approximately 15 rides (all over the park) in 2 1/2 hours. E-ticket night is the perfect time to ride Buzz Lightyear because you're going to want to ride it AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!

Note: The Magic Kingdom doesn't open ALL its rides during e-ticket night -- just the adult type biggie rides -- the ones that tend to generate huge lines during the day. I know, I know, you THINK Buzz Lightyear isn't an adult ride. Trust me, it's for everyone.

Additional note: If the Magic Kingdom stays open until 11:00 or so, e-ticket night would be REALLY LATE: 11:00 - 2:00 AM! You'll have to decide for yourself whether you can do those late hours!

2. If you're not staying in a Disney resort, or if you're traveling off-season, or if your children just can't stay up that late, use Fast Pass! It's easy: you walk up to Buzz' ride, and you see that the line is a mile long. Go to the Fast Pass machine, insert your ticket, and it'll pop out along with a little square piece of paper that'll assign you a time to return. The time that will be assigned to you will be shown on a clock above the machine (so you can decide before you put your ticket in whether you want to get a Fast Pass or not). You can wait in line for another ride, eat, shop, whatever -- just keep an eye on the time.

When your time arrives, return to the gate and enter through the "fast pass" lane -- an attendant will be there to make sure that no one is cheating. You'll be on the ride within minutes.

Fast Pass is completely free (well, once you've bought your ticket to the Magic Kingdom), but you may not get another fast pass until two hours after your first one, or until you have used your first one.

Happy riding! And try to make Buzz proud!

Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Jun - Aug