If you’ve spent any time in Dreamlight Valley lately, you’ve probably realized that Buzz Lightyear is kind of a lot to handle. He’s stuck in his Space Ranger persona, and he’s convinced the village is under some kind of extraterrestrial surveillance. This leads to one of the most notorious scavenger hunts in the game. Specifically, the Collect 'Em All: Attic Mode Dreamlight Valley quest. It’s the third leg of a four-part questline that honestly tests the patience of even the most dedicated Disney fans. You aren't just looking for items; you’re looking for 15 tiny, glow-in-the-dark Little Green Men that have been scattered specifically inside the houses of your villagers.
It sounds simple enough. Go inside, look around, grab the toy. But Gameloft decided to make it a multi-day ordeal. You can't just blitz through this in twenty minutes. It’s designed to be a slow burn, and if you don't know the spawn rules, you'll end up running in circles through Mickey’s house for hours for absolutely no reason.
Why This Quest Feels Different
Most quests in Dreamlight Valley happen out in the biomes. You dig in the sand at Dazzle Beach or mine rocks in the Forest of Valor. Attic Mode flips that. It forces you indoors. This is actually a bit of a relief for players who have heavily decorated their valleys with paths and fences, making outdoor spawns a nightmare to find. Inside the houses, the search area is contained. But there's a catch.
Not all 15 aliens appear at once.
When you first trigger the quest by talking to Buzz, only eight of the Little Green Men will actually exist in the world. You have to find those first. Then, you wait. Usually, it takes a full 36 hours for the remaining seven to spawn. If you’re checking every house and coming up empty, you haven't glitched the game. You're just early. The game is literally forcing you to take a breather.
Scouring the Villager Homes
Where are these things? Well, they’re in the "attics"—which is just flavor text for the interiors of the various homes. You need to check the houses of the classic characters and the newer additions alike. Honestly, it’s a bit of a trek. You’ll want to pop into:
- Mickey’s House and Minnie’s House (The usual suspects).
- Goofy’s House and Donald’s Boat (Check the corners near the furniture).
- Remy’s House (They can be hard to see against the floor textures here).
- The Dream Castle (Yes, they count the main castle as an interior).
- Woody’s Carousel and Buzz’s RV.
One thing people often miss: the aliens love to hide behind furniture. If you have a house that is particularly cluttered—looking at you, Merlin—you might need to use the furniture editing mode to move things around if a toy has clipped into a wall or under a rug. It happens. This isn't a "polished to a mirror shine" experience all the time. Sometimes the hitboxes for these tiny toys are slightly off, making them a pain to interact with.
The Mystery of the 36-Hour Reset
Let’s talk about the timer. This is where most players get frustrated. You find eight. You search every single building. You find zero more. You start thinking your save file is corrupted.
It isn’t.
The Collect 'Em All: Attic Mode Dreamlight Valley quest uses a real-time gate. Once you pick up that eighth alien, a hidden clock starts. You basically have to go do something else for a day and a half. Go farm some pumpkins. Level up your friendship with Olaf. Do literally anything else. When you come back after that 36-hour window, the final seven will be waiting in the same pool of houses. They won't necessarily be in the same houses where you found the first batch, so you’ll have to do the full circuit again.
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Common Pitfalls and "Ghost" Spawns
There’s a weird quirk where an alien might appear to be under a piece of furniture that you can't move, like the fixed counters in Remy’s place. If you see a green glow but can't reach it, try exiting and re-entering the house. Usually, that resets the character's position enough that you can grab it.
Also, don't bother looking in the "outdoor" areas or the realms. Unlike the first "Collect 'Em All" quest where they were all over the biomes, or the second one where they were specifically at the Dreamlight Castle and the Plaza, "Attic Mode" is strictly about those interior residential spaces.
Is the reward worth it? Honestly, that depends on how much you like Buzz. You get some friendship XP and a Space Ranger Supply Kit, which contains some crafting materials like iron ingots and clay. It’s not game-breaking loot. But you need to finish this to unlock the final quest in the series, "Collect 'Em All: The Final Chapter," which finally gets Buzz to stop obsessing over the "alien invasion."
Dealing with the "Missing" Last Alien
It’s almost a rite of passage. You have 14. You’ve checked every house twice. You’re losing your mind.
Check the Dream Castle one more time. Specifically, check the secret room if you’ve unlocked it, or behind the pillars on the upper levels. Because the Castle is so large, it’s easy to do a quick sweep and miss a tiny green pixel tucked behind a statue. Another frequent hiding spot is Anna and Kristoff’s library. The dark wood floors make the green toys pop, but the layout is cramped.
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How to Speed Things Up (Sorta)
You can't cheat the timer unless you want to risk time-traveling, which—word of advice—do not do. Time-traveling in Dreamlight Valley by changing your system clock is the fastest way to break your spawns permanently. It messes up the shop, the crops, and these specific quest items.
The best "strategy" is to go into your map and look at which villagers are currently in their homes. If a house is empty, you can still go in, but it’s often easier to track your progress by visiting the "active" houses first. Keep a physical note or a digital checklist. Once you’ve cleared a house, move to the next.
- Check the first 8 houses.
- Log the time you found the 8th one.
- Set a reminder for 36 hours later.
- Do the second sweep.
It’s mechanical, sure, but it saves you from the frustration of searching empty houses during the cooldown period.
The Reality of the Space Ranger Quests
Buzz’s quests are polarizing. Some people love the scavenger hunt aspect because it encourages you to actually look at the world the developers built. Others find it tedious. The "Attic Mode" quest is definitely the peak of that tedium. It’s the middle child of the questline—not as fresh as the first hunt, and not as conclusive as the last.
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But it’s a necessary step for completionists. Once you hand those 15 toys over to Buzz, he’ll realize they aren't actually sentient beings from another galaxy, but just... toys. The irony of a toy finding other toys and thinking they’re aliens is probably the best part of the writing here.
Actionable Steps for Success
To get through this without burning out, follow this specific flow. First, verify you actually have the quest active in your log; you'd be surprised how many people look for these before talking to Buzz. Next, do a "clean sweep" of the Plaza and Peaceful Meadow houses first—these are usually the most dense with spawns. If you find your first eight quickly, stop. Don't keep looking. The game physically will not give you the ninth one yet.
Mark your calendar or set a phone timer for 36 hours from that moment. When you return, start with the houses in the further biomes like the Glade of Trust or the Frosted Heights (if you've placed villager homes there). This ensures you aren't just retreading the same three feet of carpet in Mickey’s living room. If an alien is stuck behind a permanent object, use the "Collection" menu to see if it’s registered, or toggle your graphics settings; sometimes "High" settings make the glow effect easier to spot in dark corners. Finish this, and you're only one step away from finishing the entire Alien Mystery saga.