Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind
Rock Out On An Intergalactic Chase
“First there was cake, now there is toast. This planet is making me hungry.”
Found in one of the largest show buildings on property–Disney tripled the size of the former Universe of Energy/Ellen’s Energy Adventure housing–everything about Guardians is overwhelming. Subtlety has no place in its game and the pure adrenaline overload of the adventure may leave some guests feeling worn down, if not downright wobbly upon exiting.
The premise of the attraction may be a bit confusing those unfamiliar with the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe, but when all is said and done, the storyline boils down to a high-speed trip through the cosmos as the trusty(?) Guardians and Xandarians use a Cosmic Generator to create “jumpholes” to travel to distant destinations instantaneously, much like folding space-time and/or creating “wormholes” in order to recover the Cosmic Generator from the villainous Celestial, Eson.
All the favorite Guardians are part of the crew: Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, and everyone’s favorite intergalactic raccoon, Rocket. Vehicles are launched and hurtled through the galaxy–including a backward-launch system for ride vehicles that marks a first for Disney Imagineering. These transports are also capable of turning sideways at varying speeds to ensure guests’ disorientation, and because this is a Guardians property, a random retro soundtrack accompanies the chaos as the Guardians attempt to return to Terra (Earth) with the absconded equipment.
Behind the Schemes:
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind sits on the former site of the Universe of Energy/Ellen’s Energy Adventure pavilions, though Disney Imagineers knew that they would need to create an even bigger footprint to accommodate such a large endeavor. An extra show building was constructed to house the ride itself and can be seen from several different EPCOT locations, including as you enter the park from the parking lots.
To create the accompanying soundtrack, Imagineers scavenged through over 100 songs to find ones that fit both the mood and appropriate tempo for the ride itself. The final selections are: “September” (Earth, Wind & Fire); “One Way or Another” (Blondie); “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (Tears for Fears); “Disco Inferno” (The Trammps); “I Ran (So Far Away)” (A Flock of Seagulls); and “Conga” (Gloria Estefan). These songs (allegedly) show up randomly on each vehicle which leads some guests to ride the attraction repeatedly to compare the different experiences. For Christmas 2022, Disney created a holiday overlay for the ride which replaced the six songs with a revamped version of the Chuck Berry classic, “Run Rudolph Run” in a new form dubbed “Run Run Rocket.” It did not go over well, and has not been back.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is another creation of the Dutch amusement ride manufacturer, Vekoma. Known for their family-style coasters, Vekoma is not a company to shy away from pushing their engineers to the limit, Vekoma has also created a super boomerang coaster for Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana–the perfectly named Good Gravy! Family Coaster–which needs to be seen to be fully appreciated.
Reality Check:
Though Drax may crave it, as of this writing, Disney has not taken advantage of offering what could be a hit food item: Cake-Toast. It can’t be too far off the horizon.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind features actress Glenn Close, who at the time of this writing has tied the record for most Oscar nominations without a win, alongside the late English actor, Peter O’Toole, whose Disney credits include a small role in the 1960 Disney film version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, and the voice of food critic, Anton Ego, in the 2007 vehicle, Ratatouille.
Fun trivia factoid: Only one of the six songs on the soundtrack ever hit the Number One spot on the Billboard Hot 100; name it.
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