Last week, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, changed its admission policy on its sensational new ride, EPCOT's "Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind." Previously, one could only experience the ride by: (i) purchasing a "lightning lane" pass (ranging from about $11 to $39 per ride per person, in addition to park admission! And these passes can be sold out days in advance, with preference given to people staying at on-site hotels); or (ii) by winning a "virtual queue" lottery.
Starting on February 25, like every other attraction at Disney World currently, you now have the option of experiencing the ride by simply getting on a regular "Standby" line. This wait can go over an hour or even two hours, but at least you can be assured that if you go to EPCOT you can go on the ride if you are willing to wait.
And this line, or "queue" in theme park parlance, is one of the most entertaining in theme park history. The idea of the ride is that you are attending "World Showcase" style pavilion sponsored by the films' fictional planet Zandar, so as you advance through the line, you can see endutainment exhibits about "The Wonders of Zandar," including gorgeous ceiling planetarium effects, talking hologram-like characters, city models, and 3-D displays. By no means does this queue have one or two hours' worth of entertainment, but honestly if the line was a half hour, I wouldn't miss it.
There are a couple of pre-show holding rooms, which also feature fascinating effects, and in which the story of the ride is set up. It's a necessarily simple story, but it definitely works about as well as any ride's backstory ever has. Let's just say that your tour of "The Wonders of Zandar" goes horribly awry, and you're suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to help the Guardians of the Galaxy save the universe. It's a fun conceit that actually does add a lot to the ride experience.
The roller coaster itself is a technological marvel. It's the longest indoor roller coaster, and it features what Disney calls an omnicoaster: a fast-moving train in which the individual cars engage in controlled spins to direct your attention to various effects displayed on a giant screen. It's almost like a spinning roller coaster in an humongous OmniMax theater. And it's thrilling.
The coaster is far too big to fit in the building of the "Universe of Energy" attraction it replaced, so that building was used for the queue, and a tremendous structure was built behind it for the coaster. I've heard it said that this show building is out of sight, and it's true that Disney is renowned for cleverly hiding these kinds of behind-the-scenes structures, but this one is far too big for that. They just painted it light blue and hoped for the best.
Another fun thing about the ride is that, in keeping with the music of the Guardians movies, you are randomly assigned one of six 70s and 80s songs that is blasted at you as you zoom around. Adding music to roller coasters is an obvious, cheap way to add thrills to a ride, but theme parks have been slow to catch on to that. Disneyland's (Anaheim, California) "Space Mountain" is greatly enhanced by a really fun score, while Disney World's (Orlando, Florida) is silent, and feels relatively inert.
When I rode "Guardians" last week, we were lucky enough to score Earth, Wind & Fire's "September," and it was a blast. Many in our train sang loudly along throughout and even after the coaster ride, and it really contributed to a party atmosphere.
The spinning (really, it's just turning; I don't think you ever turn more than 90 degrees) and the high speeds can make some riders feel nauseated — I feel fortunate that I'm not one of them and can fully enjoy the ride. But even with some riders disliking the ride for that reason, it still finished in third place as one of TouringPlans.com 's top attractions in all of Disney World for 2024, based on parkgoer ratings. "Guardians" finished with a 4.75 (out of five) rating, behind "Avatar: Flight of Passage" (4.79) (my own favorite as well) and "Kilimanjaro Safaris" (4.76), and just above "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance" (4.73).
Here is a ride-through video:
And here is a very good video of how the ride works:
Previously:
• Tron Lightcycle/Run is the newest, coolest, and most oddly punctuated ride at Disney World
• Disney's amazing new drone show
• Disney World's Haunted Mansion shut down after human remains spotted
• Walt Disney World's newest ride: Tiana's Bayou Adventure
