What We Know About Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Walt Disney World's newest major attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, is set to open on May 27th at EPCOT. In today's article, we are going to share what we know about the ride, and why we are excited.
Opening exactly 5 years after its counterpart at Disneyland Resort in California, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has been anticipated at EPCOT for several years now. Although it is the "sibling" of the ride in California, though, it is completely different. The Guardians: Mission Breakout ride in California sits on Avenger's campus (a place to which there is no counterpart at Walt Disney World) and is in the former Twilight Zone Tower of Terror building. In fact, it uses ride mechanics almost identical to Tower of Terror. It's a "dropping elevator in a shaft" style ride. If you're expecting the same ride at Walt Disney World, prepare for the unexpected.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is at EPCOT in the former Universe of Energy pavilion. The pavilion itself was expanded with a huge building in back to house the ride. It is an entirely indoor rollercoaster with some really cool mechanics:
Cool feature #1: It is one of the largest indoor rollercoasters in the world. To get an idea of the size, look behind the flashy pavilion to the large boxy building painted in blue that is the home of the coaster. If this escaped your attention, that's because it's intentional! Painted in the signature color of Blending Blue, Disney's intention is to blend this large building into the sky.
Cool feature #2: Reverse launch. Not only is this coaster the first coaster at EPCOT, but it is the first at Walt Disney World to have a reverse launch mechanic.
Cool feature #3: 360 degree rotation. Each coaster car (2 rows per car) swivels 360 degrees to provide views where you need it. That's why, despite it being a reverse launch coaster, you will launch facing forward because your car will swivel to face launch. Then, it will swivel back to face forward or sideways depending on where the action is. This makes it hard to choose which row is the best seat in the house. Want to be in the front row during reverse launch? Then, you want not the last row, but row 9. Want to be in the back during reverse launch? Then, you want row 2, not row 1. But really, there is no bad seat.
Cool feature #4: Ok, it's not really a mechanic, but much like its counterpart in California, the music makes the ride. You will hear one of 6 songs while riding, including "September", "Conga", "Disco Inferno", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "I ran", and "One Way or Another". And we would expect no less from a Guardians of the Galaxy ride, where nostalgic music has always made the movie. If it's anything like Mission Breakout in California, you will want to ride again and again as the music playing sometimes makes the experience.
Cool feature #5: This one is for the Walt fans out there. You will be delighted when he makes an appearance in the pre-show!
Cool feature #6: For any major attraction, there's always an exit through the gift shop, and this ride is no different. Treasures of Xander will open alongside the ride and will feature exclusive Guardians merchandise, including a Groot plush scented with cinnamon and cedar. Yes, that's right- scented merch.
Media already previewed the ride the first week of May, and it looks great! In terms of coasters, despite the swiveling seats, it doesn't look terribly intense. In videos, there are a lot more "woohoo!" and "yeah!" sounds than screams. The reported ride duration is 3 minutes.
When the ride opens to guests on May 27th, it will not open with a standby queue. The two ways to ride will be via virtual queue or individual lightning lane purchase. We do not know how long the virtual queue will be in use. If you do not plan to purchase an individual lightning lane pass for this ride, then your best bet is to check your MyDisneyExperience app before 7 AM to find out what the virtual queue release times are for the ride and whether the ride is using a virtual queue that day. If it is, then get to the point where you can request a boarding pass in your app and start refreshing your app 1 minute before the release time. Do this constantly until the button changes to allow you to get a boarding pass. Being quick on the draw will be key here.
It is unknown at this time whether this ride opening with individual lightning lane will impact EPCOT's other ILL ride, Remy's. During the summer of 2022, this would make EPCOT the only park with two individual lightning lane attractions, as opposed to the one each other park will have until August (MK - 7 Dwarves Mine Train, DHS - Runaway Railway, DAK- Flight of Passage).
Finally, if you don't mind spoilers, here is a video of the media preview.
Are you looking forward to this ride or is it not for you? Tell us in the comments or over on our Facebook page where you can follow us to see when new articles are posted each week. Until next time...
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