Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Finally Opens at EPCOT

1,749 days after the Universe of Energy Pavilion closed at EPCOT, its replacement has finally arrived. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind finally opened for regular guests this morning after years of anticipation. This attraction marks the first rollercoaster at the park after nearly 40 years of operations. To celebrate the opening, Disney released this video of the filming of the ride footage with the cast of the films.

Cosmic Rewind is a high speed rollercoaster attraction with the Guardians themselves. You travel to the Wonders of Xandar Pavilion, where you get thrown right into the action and get sent back all the way to the Big Bang. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Dave Bautista return to reprise their roles in footage filmed by James Gunn himself.

Reviews for the new ride have been very positive. Many guests feel it is a great E-Ticket addition to EPCOT in a park that greatly needed it. It is one of the world’s longest indoor rollercoasters and incorporates both giant high quality screens and even a few giant set pieces. However, some guests feel that the ride does not fit with EPCOT’s mission statement and is not a worthy follow-up to Ellen’s Energy Adventure, which was beloved by many EPCOT enthusiasts. Another complaint by some guests has been that the ride causes major motion sickness. Since the ride contains a new ride type, a moving “omnicoaster”, the spinning motion has caused problems with some riders. A POV video from Blog Mickey has been linked below but be warned, it may not capture the full ride experience.

Although a new attraction’s opening is always exciting, frustration among guests is also likely. The only way to access the attraction is through the controversial virtual queue system as well as paying for an Individual Lightning Lane. This means you cannot wait in a standby line for the attraction and must secure a space in the virtual queue. Virtual queues are offered on the Walt Disney Experience app at 7 am and 1 pm. You may only join the 7 am virtual queue if you have a park reservation for EPCOT.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is the newest attraction in the continual transformation of EPCOT. With plans recently being unveiled for World Celebration, it seems that EPCOT is finally moving ahead in its plans.