"Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind" is Disney's new best roller coaster

May 12 2022, 10:24 pm

Imagine riding a version of Space Mountain on steroids, and then layer it on with a flair of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, plus the latest advancements in roller coasters and immersive experience technologies.

That sums up the brand new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which provides the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida with its first roller coaster — and much more.

It can quite possibly be considered the best roller coaster at any Disney Park around the globe. And it provides Epcot with a “can’t miss” anchor attraction, in the same way Avatar Flight of Passage strengthened Disney’s Animal Kingdom position among Disney World’s parks.

Cosmic Rewind is one of the largest additions to Disney World during the “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” period, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the resort’s opening.

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The ride, themed after the characters and movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), officially opens to all visitors on May 27, 2022. It is located in Epcot’s World Discovery land, as part of a showcase of the fictional Guardians planet Xandar, replacing the pavilion building previously occupied by Ellen’s Energy Adventure.

Daily Hive travelled to Disney World last week to attend a media event that provided an early preview of the new Cosmic Rewind roller coaster and showcased various other new offerings and updates made in time for the 50th anniversary.

Filmed pre-ride and ride sequences star the original Guardians of the Galaxy cast, including Chris Pratt as Star Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, and Glen Close as Nova Prime Irani Rael, as well as the voices of Bradley Cooper as Rocket and Vin Diesel as Groot.

In an interview with Daily Hive,  Wyatt Winter, a senior producer with Walt Disney Imagineering, said they were able to work with the film cast just as they were regathering to begin filming the upcoming third movie.

Without giving the plot away, made for die-hard MCU fans who have watched both Guardians and the recent Eternals films, the ride’s story follows the heroes as they save the universe, again. The ride takes its passengers through space “jump points,” which is a technology created by Xandar to create tunnels in space that reduce the speed of travel over long distances between galaxies — infinitely faster than the speed of light.

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Joining Close in the pre-ride show, Terry Crews has also been added to the cast, playing a member of the Nova Corps to “teleport” humans for the first time ever, and explain their predicament.

Before arriving at the teleportation room, where passengers can experience a one-of-a-kind teleportation special effect, the various exhibits found along the queuing areas of the ride help set the backdrop of the overarching storyline for anyone who may not be familiar with the relevant MCU plots.

The roller coaster ride itself uses Disney’s first-ever application of the state-of-the-art Omnicoaster technology, which allows for the cars to be rotated 360 degrees in any direction while zooming on the track.

“Omnicoaster is our new ride system where we really is the evolution of the Omnimover,” explained Winter, noting that rides like The Haunted Mansion using Omnimover are programmed to point the passengers towards what they should focus on.

“We now do that on a family-thrill roller coaster type of attraction, so we can turn, point you at it, and it creates all new sensations. That is one of the big new pieces that we have here for new technology.”

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Like Space Mountain and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, the Cosmic Rewind is completely indoor and dark for the jumps through space and time. This roller coaster begins with an innocuous speed before the car makes a reverse launch upon meeting the threat to the universe.

As passengers speed through the steep curves, turns, and twists, one of six songs from Star Lord’s mixtape is randomly chosen to be played through the speakers of the cars of the roller coaster. The song choices are: “One Way or Another” by Blondie; “I Ran” by A Flock of Seagulls; “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire; “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps; and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears; and “Conga” by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine.

But the car rotations are controlled and meaningful, by pointing passengers towards the direction of large screens that fill the void spaces of the vast indoor caverns made for the roller coaster. According to Winter, one of the screens that add to the plot to provide an immersive experience, while being propelled at high speeds, is larger than a football field.

And when it comes to ride intensity, it comes just short of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster as there are no upside-down segments.

“It is definitely one of our faster attractions here. But if you graduated from all of the Magic Kingdom roller coasters like Space Mountain, but not quite ready for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, it falls between those,” continued Winter.

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind epcot disney world

Media celebration for “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” roller coaster at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort on May 5, 2022. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Kenneth ChanKenneth Chan

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