Here is a perfect example of Disney taking a standard, ride experience, spicing it up, and modifying it to provide the typical, unique Disney experience. Well as you can tell from that opening statement, DisneyQuest’s bumper cars are very unique and far different than any others, allowing guests the ability to drive over balls, pick them up, and fire them at other cars via cannon. A successful hit on one of the targets scattered among the vehicles result in a brief spinout.
In terms of appearance Disney did a pretty good job capturing the feel of a futuristic, Buzz Lightyear-themed attraction. I especially like the darkened lighting Disney utilized and it’s just a little touch that really seems to make the attraction fit in far better in my opinion. My one complaint is the color chosen for the “asteroids” (balls) shot by players. I really question why they’re mostly purple since I really don’t associate purple with asteroids. An orange color would definitely fit in more. Anyway, prior to boarding the cast member quickly organizes groups into each of their vehicles to reduce confusion once boarding. Each car has two positions (a driver and a shooter) and while one person technically could perform both positions on their own, it would be pretty difficult and it’s just so much better to have two people to each perform their specific job.
Compared to other bumper cars, these ones offered a drastically different ride experience. Instead of driving around, constantly slamming into other cars, I instead was either driving around collecting balls or frantically launching balls at other vehicles. All of the cars have a wide range of motion (going forwards and backwards via a switch), but handling is sometimes a challenge due to the overly sensitive wheel. However, after a few turns it was pretty easy to navigate the cars, but I do prefer the handling of conventional bumper cars better. Driving around and picking up balls is a cinch. I was expecting the mechanism to possibly fail quite frequently, but it worked flawlessly.
Shooting is pretty challenging, but by far my favorite of the two positions, since while trying to aim at other vehicles, you are getting shot at, bumped, and usually driving. Because of all these factors, whenever I did eventually land a successful hit on another vehicle I really felt a sense of accomplishment. The spinout effect after getting shot is really cool and I actually thought the spinning was quite disorienting mostly because of all the flashing interior lights at DisneyQuest. One other complaint though, sometimes the hits on the targets didn’t register though, but that happened only a few times. Also, while most of Disney’s other flats generally have very short cycles, this one actually had one of pretty good length.
Thanks to a unique spin (no pun intended) on a unique attraction, Disney has turned these bumper cars into very memorable ones, only trumped by the almighty Knoebels Skooters. If you ever find yourself at DisneyQuest, I highly recommend trying these very unique bumper cars since it’s usually only a one-cycle wait or so (5 minutes). It’s certainly well worth it to experience this very unique attraction that’s only trumped by Pirates for the best attraction in the park.
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