Buzz Lightyear scoring issue -- the saga continues

[WonkaKid]

Folks, many/some of you may remember my endless battle with scores not coming through at the end of the Buzz game/attraction. I wrote a letter to the park president in October but it's now worse than ever. Today was the final straw. Out of twelve games, my score came through once -- about eight percent of the time. So I've penned another letter to Mr. D'Amaro in which I lay out my case, as below. Some of you may recall that I did get a call from DL Guest Experience and the woman I spoke with seemed very helpful and professional. So at least it felt like it was taken seriously. But, as I say, it's still messed up. Here's the follow-up letter that I plan to send tomorrow (some names have been redacted). Thoughts?

 

[Kender]

Thank you again for doing this. Someone needs to be that squeaky wheel and you're there more than I am to see how it's behaving.

My trip last weekend I managed to break 1mill again and I'm fairly sure I got close to 2mill (I lost count so I stopped to make sure I didn't hit the reset threshold). My mom also broke 1mill same game. Her score came through. Mine did not. I was so mad.

 

[sherilaine]

I was telling my family about you - never mind that your profile photo looks like you are with Paul Stanley and my DH is so looking forward to seeing them in concert at the Duck Pond later this month, like so happy as he's just recovered from a very long term illness and this is his treat so bit of a big deal, but your scores are crazy and my kids were like "please tell me the stuff he posted to help us score better"!! And I was like - NOPE.

I really hope they listen to you - I can't imagine a lifestyle that involves Disneyland every Sunday but how great is that. But such loyal customers should be valued no matter how much $ they make from the masses.

We are from Calgary, Alberta Canada where my kids were just outside tossing bowling water into the -40 air and watching it freeze - so to suggest it's a stretch to palm trees and sunshine is not a lie.

 

[azdisneylover]

Rob, well said. I hope they do fix the ride.

 

[WonkaKid]

I was telling my family about you - never mind that your profile photo looks like you are with Paul Stanley...

Oh, it is. Absolutely. I write for a music magazine here in LA. About 18 months ago, I got to sit down and talk with him for about ten minutes. He and Gene are co-owners of a small restaurant chain called Rock & Brews. That was taken at the restaurant that's only about six miles from DL.

 

[WonkaKid]

Rob, well said. I hope they do fix the ride.

Thank you! Hopefully they finally take some action. If not, I'll drop Buzz, at least for awhile.

 

[WonkaKid]

Thank you again for doing this. Someone needs to be that squeaky wheel and you're there more than I am to see how it's behaving.

Thanks . Hopefully they do something about it. Finally.

My trip last weekend I managed to break 1mill again and I'm fairly sure I got close to 2mill (I lost count so I stopped to make sure I didn't hit the reset threshold). My mom also broke 1mill same game. Her score came through. Mine did not. I was so mad.

Nice work! But believe me: no one understands your frustration more than I do. Since I experience it at least 15 times on every DL trip ;-).

 

[WonkaKid]

...but your scores are crazy and my kids were like "please tell me the stuff he posted to help us score better"!! And I was like - NOPE.

Ha! I love it. Let me/us know how you do! And how poorly the rest of your fam does ;-).

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Folks, many/some of you may remember my endless battle with scores not coming through at the end of the Buzz game/attraction...

Thanks for keeping on with this. It matters to more people than you'd think. DH and I recently met up with some friends who mentioned that they have a BLAB group that meets weekly. They mentioned problems with the scoring, so I brought up your letter and some of your complaints. They were so glad to hear that someone had written to Disney management about this! It had never occurred to them that they could do that or that anyone would care to listen. There is some loyal love out there for that ride, and it's good for Disney to know about it.
By the way, my status with our friends went up a few notches when they found out that I sort of "know" the high scoring ROB!

 

[B3rlingirl]

I did buzz last summer for the first time and I rode it maybe 3 times... and my scoring is really really bad but I had a lot of fun regardless... one reason was reading your weekly posts which really hyped me up... and knowing that it is possible to score 2 million points and to even “know” that person and it was nice to see your name on top of the scoreboard that day...

But if I rode the attraction and wouldn’t get any points I would be pretty mad! I mean that’s the point of that attraction... scoring points! It’s not that much about how nicely designed the ride is but scoring and having fun competing.... even if you score as little as I do having prove for it really feels like having something accomplished...

And I just checked my ride photos from August... and sure enough... so score this makes me a little sad even after 5 month...

I really hope they repair / improve that ride... also, with the score resetting I am sure there would be a solution... for example just show scores on the leaderboard that don’t exceed the magic number and just show the right score on your ride photos ( if they don’t wanna demoralize beginners...who don’t know the pro)

Good luck! I hope thy fix it till thanksgiving...

 

[wareagle57]

I'm not nearly as familiar with the DL version as I am the one at WDW. When you say the score doesn't come through, do you mean high scores aren't recorded on a leaderboard at the exit? Or they don't show up on vehicle at the end of the game at all?

 

[Disney127]

Letter sounds good, Rob. Hope they fix it soon!

 

[Lauren in NC]

I thought of you while riding Buzz on Sunday, Rob! I got a new high score (only 423,400, but that's huge for me) and luckily I took a picture of the ride display since none of the scores seemed to be going through Sunday morning.

 

[WonkaKid]

When you say the score doesn't come through, do you mean high scores aren't recorded on a leaderboard at the exit? Or they don't show up on vehicle at the end of the game at all?

I mean that riders' pics come through at the photo kiosk located at the ride exit. But the score doesn't accompany it as it should. In the photo below, the score is included. Lately, however, most of the time the photo comes through, absent the score box at the top. It's not that they're empty. Rather, there's simply nothing there other than "space."

 

[WonkaKid]

I thought of you while riding Buzz on Sunday, Rob! I got a new high score (only 423,400, but that's huge for me) and luckily I took a picture of the ride display since none of the scores seemed to be going through Sunday morning.

Good move! I do that sometimes when I break 1M on both guns.

 

[Lauren in NC]

I mean that riders' pics come through at the photo kiosk located at the ride exit. But the score doesn't accompany it as it should. In the photo below, the score is included. Lately, however, most of the time the photo comes through, absent the score box at the top. It's not that they're empty. Rather, there's simply nothing there other than "space."

For reference, here's what one looks like when the scores don't come through:

 

[WonkaKid]

For reference, here's what one looks like when the scores don't come through:

View attachment 380779

Thanks for posting that! I didn't have one. I hate seeing them 14 times out of 15 while at Disneyland so I've never taken a pic .

 

[Erin M]

The missing scores made it look like my five year old was a sharp shooter compared to me. She got 12,000, mine showed a big fat zero. My office got a good laugh out of it when I sent them the email from the kiosk. I don’t know that we had one photo show up correctly the entire week we were there and I know we rode it 10+ times. That’s a pretty lousy rate. I’m thankful you’re championing the cause!

 

[WonkaKid]

I don’t know that we had one photo show up correctly the entire week we were there and I know we rode it 10+ times. That’s a pretty lousy rate.

Sounds about right. Only eight percent of mine came through on Sunday (something like one out of twelve).

I’m thankful you’re championing the cause!

Thanks! We'll see if anything comes of it. The last time I wrote a letter back in October, it was forwarded to someone who called and assured me that she/they took the matter seriously. A few weeks later, the issue had improved drastically. But that didn't last long. It's now worse than ever.

 

[WonkaKid]

UPDATE: Ninety minutes ago I got a call from a rep at Guest Correspondence in connection with my letter. He had a good grasp of the problem and told me that he raised it with Attraction Partners (not sure who/what that is but I'll take it). He hopes to follow-up with me early next week. When and if he does, I'll post the update here.

Incidentally, Guest Correspondence is located somewhere in Disneyland's backstage area, so I was told.

More news as it becomes available! ;-).