Yesterday we got into Disneyland an hour early, since we're staying in one of the resort hotels. That meant no lines and plenty of time for multiple plays on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. My littlest wanted to go on it once. It ended up being Daddy begging to go again and again, five times in all until the boys demanded we do something else. In that time, I learned how to rack up the points and get into the top ten for the day. Hacking a Disneyland ride -- why not?

I played Astro Blasters for the first time last year, again with the boys. If you've never been, you ride in a little car and shoot at targets with your blasters. It's all good fun, set to the theme of Buzz Lightyear, and you can even spin your car around to better aim at targets.

I just merrily shot at whatever was out there, circle target, triangle target, square or whatever. The ride instructions tell you to shoot for the lit targets for more points, so on the few occasions something lit up, I'd go for them.

At the end, you get your overall score and what level you're rated at, based on how many points you've racked up. Normally, this is just good fun. But earlier this week, Dax Herrera had declared "I am awesome at Buzz Lightyear Space Command Adventure," making me feel really competitive. I wanted to beat him. Beat him bad.

Getting off the fourth time, it finally occurred to me that those different shaped targets might be worth different points. I asked the ride attendant which was worth the most. The triangles, he said.

Next time, it was all about hitting the triangles. But there aren't many triangles! What was worth more -- diamonds, circles or squares? Glancing at the counter, I quickly found that circles are a waste of time at 100 points, while squares brought in 1,000 and diamonds even more.

Sadly, I couldn't convince the kids to let me do a sixth run, so that I could better prioritize my targets. Still, I came in just short of 500,000 points, enough to be in the top five for the day. OK, it was barely a day, only an hour or so old at that point. But I'm going to get them to let me go one more time later this week, and then we'll see if I can do even better.

Want to improve your own scores? Buzz Lightyear Tips from DisneyMouseLinks is a nice rundown showing the full point chart:

• Round: 100 points
• Square: 1,000 points
• Diamond: 5,000 points
• Triangle: 10,000 points

The page also lists some hidden targets to go after I'm going to try for these next time.

Another tip from me. If you've hit your target (assuming you aimed for a high point one), keep shooting at it. At first, I'd hit a target, which makes it sparkle, and assumed that I needed to find another target until the sparkling stopped. Not so. If you hit, keep plugging away at it. Each hit will make your gun light up at the back, and the score will keep rising. Stick with a winning shot as long as you can.

In other Disney news, Dax noted that Pirates Of The Caribbean had sold out to be more like the movie in lame ways. I was relieved to find the ride is pretty much as it always has been. But he's right -- Jack Sparrow has been inserted awkwardly. The rule seems to be that in any part of the ride, some character needs to shout out "blah blah blah JACK SPARROW blah blah blah," and the movie connection is somehow satisfied.

It's always nice to get back to Disneyland. Growing up in Orange Country, Disneyland wasn't a place you went to on vacation. It was a place you hung out at, like the mall or the beach. The place keeps changing -- the entire California Adventure area sits where we used to park -- but it still feels like coming home.

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