Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - Reviews, Media, & Spoilers

[shiekra38]

This is the closest comp I could think of for the coaster part: a bigger, faster, more controlled, less rickety, darker Cobra's Curse.

and we LOVE that

 

[sjago13]

Rode yesterday and really enjoyed it. It feels like what you would expect if you were going to build a ground up space mountain with 50 years newer technology. Personally I'd say it's my favorite coaster at Disney, which is extremely low bar to clear. I can kinda see the comparison to cobras curse, maybe a ride on that that isn't super spinny because there is way less "spinning" than expected. Honestly, I wouldn't even call it spinning, more like gentle turning as most to the time it's turning +-45 degrees to orientate you towards the screens with only two backwards portion being the launch and right before the jump to the milky way scene. Very smooth and just overall fun. Launch felt like a slinky launch that just keeps on going and going until you are up to speed, or like a mach launch for those that know how those feel. The only forces I remember is a decent pop of floater at the top of the hill after the launch and 5he helix around the moon. There was also one unexpected drop somewhere in there which was nice. I was in the back row and did notice that the perspective shifting of the screens was noticeable and awkward from my perspective. Not sure if it was programmed to look correct from the front or center of the train, but since the train is so long the screen perspectives will not be consistent across the train. The story also post launch is basically non existent and the visuals are just there as background fluff. I was impressed with how dark they were able to keep it and the starfield and physical props were nice, with the projection being the weakest aspect. Overall I might put this as my 3rd fav ride at the resort after tower and rise but obviously need to feel it out more and see how it holds up on repeat rides. But I see this as a people pleaser.

 

[darkridelover]

Loved the preshow. The ride made me sick. The story made no sense and I have no idea how we "defeated" the bad guy or whatever. It was mostly flying past planets sideways. It wasn't so much the spinning that got me sick it was the completely unnecessary sideways lateral movement with things zipping by that did it. I probably will never ride that ride again without dramamine. It wasn't very fun and I think it's Disney's weakest coaster experiences. It was completely unpleasant for 3/4ths of the ride for me. Strong preshow, terrible ride. 2 out of 5 stars for me. Rock n Rollercoaster and Mummy are much more coherent rides.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Loved the preshow. The ride made me sick. The story made no sense and I have no idea how we "defeated" the bad guy or whatever. It was mostly flying past planets sideways. It wasn't so much the spinning that got me sick it was the completely unnecessary sideways lateral movement with things zipping by that did it. I probably will never ride that ride again without dramamine. It wasn't very fun and I think it's Disney's weakest coaster experiences. It was completely unpleasant for 3/4ths of the ride for me. Strong preshow, terrible ride. 2 out of 5 stars for me. Rock n Rollercoaster and Mummy are much more coherent rides.

So I'd say yours is the first really negative review of the attraction. Was there any redeeming aspect in your eyes?

 

[SailwiththeTide]

So I'd say yours is the first really negative review of the attraction. Was there any redeeming aspect in your eyes?

If the ride made the OP sick then it sucks but that is a reality. Seen stupid articles posted online how the ride is making people sick. I would love to see what happens if they ever ride X2.

 

[Nick]

So I had my preview today. I avoided any and all spoilers that I really kinda could beyond what I had known from rumors and things Disney confirmed. I'll start by just saying I really enjoyed it. The queue outside is going to be ridiculous once Lightning Lane is in play and considering they decided not to spend any money on building a proper outdoor queue.

I basically walked on the ride without stopping until the pre-show so while I took my time, I didn't get to see everything. Using the Walt EPCOT video in the queue seemed a bit try-hard. I enjoyed the two preshows, although I wouldn't have complained if there was a Groot or Rocket AA in the second preshow. Speaking of the second preshow, when the power goes out and the wall lifts up, that definitely gave me some RotR vibes (sort of like when the door opens from the transport vehicle and you see the room full of storm troopers).

As I said, I really enjoyed it. I'll say, I was never a huge fan of EEA (I never got to ride the original UOE), despite loving The Great Movie Ride which utilized the same ride system, so I don't really miss what it replaced and i'll certainly ride this way more and as will the average park goer as it will undoubtedly instantly become the most popular ride at Epcot for the foreseeable future.

The ride is sort of like a greatest hits of a lot of different coasters. The Backwards launch (Revenge of the Mummy), On-Board audio/music (not really all that unique, but reminded me most of RNRC), Controlled Spinning (Cobra's Curse), Cutouts/props (RNRC) and that first lift hill reminded me exactly of Disneyland's Space Mountain. I guess the best way I can describe the ride is Disneyland's SM, but beefier and with elements of Cobra's Curse.

I need more than just the one ride to fully judge it (especially since there's six songs), but I had a good time. I should mention the song we had was "Conga" and out of all of the songs on the list, this one seems like it would be the most fun for the ride, but i'm interested in how other songs change how I feel about the ride or if they have no effect on how I feel.

I will say my mom and sister both absolutely loved the ride. I believe the words out of my mom's mouth were "Best Coaster Ever"... which I would disagree with intensely. Maybe best family coaster? Probably not even. Either way, my mom and sister are actually probably a great example of who this is exactly aimed at, though. My mom is slightly over 50 and still loves coasters like The Hulk or most of BGT's coasters, but when I had her try Velocicoaster, she did not like it at all. So for people who just want a fun coaster experience, but not overly thrilling, I think this ride hits the sweet spot. My teenage sister conversely loved Velocicoaster, but also loved this ride too.

 

[UNIrd]

Had my preview yesterday. Spinny Space Mountain is what it is. Not sure why anyone is trying to sell it as anything else. It's not that different from say... DL's Space Mountain/Hyperspace Mountain.. in the fact that it would be REALLY easy for them to add different programming for this for whatever occasion (but likely won't). The projections made it feel like a layover, which is what I feared.

The queue was great, preshows were fantastic although AAs were missed. Loved how grandiose a lot of moments felt leading up to the ride. Chalk me up to another rider who experienced motion sickness on this one. Had the ride been a few seconds longer, it would've been over for me. Overall, a great experience overall but no, not my favorite new ride or anything. I was offered a repeat ride as we child swapped and I politely said no please thank you. Only one ride per park visit for me.

Also, I had I Ran (So Far Away) on this ride. AWESOME.

 

[Nick]

Had my preview yesterday. Spinny Space Mountain is what it is. Not sure why anyone is trying to sell it as anything else. It's not that different from say... DL's Space Mountain/Hyperspace Mountain.. in the fact that it would be REALLY easy for them to add different programming for this for whatever occasion (but likely won't). The projections made it feel like a layover, which is what I feared.

The queue was great, preshows were fantastic although AAs were missed. Loved how grandiose a lot of moments felt leading up to the ride. Chalk me up to another rider who experienced motion sickness on this one. Had the ride been a few seconds longer, it would've been over for me. Overall, a great experience overall but no, not my favorite new ride or anything. I was offered a repeat ride as we child swapped and I politely said no please thank you. Only one ride per park visit for me.

Also, I had I Ran (So Far Away) on this ride. AWESOME.

Yup, it's very, very similar to DL's Space Mountain with just a slight bit more oomph to it (the spinning and launch being the added "oomph"). Even the load station looks almost identical to DL's SM. It definitely does make you wonder if the TDL SM is going to basically be this ride, just without GotG. It also makes a ton of sense now why Tron ended up in TL instead of GotG. GotG is too similar to go next to SM whereas Tron is a very different type of coaster in comparison.

 

[UNIrd]

I do have to say... paying attention throughout the queue and on the ride, you could tell they heard all the critiques that this attraction has no business being in Epcot and really worked hard to make it feel like THE most Epcot attraction ever. Loved hearing Peter say he couldn't wait to ride Horizons and see the "Energy dinosaurs" again. The self-referential awareness was great and totally in line with GOTG's humor.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

If the ride made the OP sick then it sucks but that is a reality. Seen stupid articles posted online how the ride is making people sick. I would love to see what happens if they ever ride X2.

X2's not so much a sick ride as much as it is a concussion ride.

 

[Nick]

I do have to say... paying attention throughout the queue and on the ride, you could tell they heard all the critiques that this attraction has no business being in Epcot and really worked hard to make it feel like THE most Epcot attraction ever. Loved hearing Peter say he couldn't wait to ride Horizons and see the "Energy dinosaurs" again. The self-referential awareness was great and totally in line with GOTG's humor.

My favorite homage is at the beginning of the ride. If you pay attention close enough to the guitar solo at roughly :40 below, you'll hear the instrumental to the Universe of Energy theme song. Also, immediately after the launch, you can hear Drax ask "Was that the Ding Dang?" in reference to EEA. Peter yells "THE BIG BANG!". Drax faintly responds and says "I've seen bigger". Easily beats out some of the corny humor in the preshows.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I do have to say... paying attention throughout the queue and on the ride, you could tell they heard all the critiques that this attraction has no business being in Epcot and really worked hard to make it feel like THE most Epcot attraction ever. Loved hearing Peter say he couldn't wait to ride Horizons and see the "Energy dinosaurs" again. The self-referential awareness was great and totally in line with GOTG's humor.

References don’t make it fit.

 

[Nick]

References don’t make it fit.

I wasn't personally a fan of that segment of the queue for a few reasons. The acting (probably because Pratt was just saying words that and had no idea what he was referencing) along with the fact that it continues the whole "Peter Quill visited Epcot as a kid" thing that's always been pretty lame since the beginning.

Also though regular guests have no idea what they are referencing in regards to those old attractions and to the loyal Epcot Center fanboys they seem to be appealing to with that, they're going to roll their eyes and cringe. So one group simply won't understand and the Epcot diehard will hate it. Where's the upside of putting those references in? References like the one I mentioned (the UoE guitar riff and the ding dang joke) are more solid in my eyes because regular guests can enjoy it, while fans can appreciate a *subtle* nod that isn't shoving old attraction names or Walt imagery in your face.

 

[belloq87]

Yeah, the explicit references from Peter I don't really like. It's just kind of annoying to me that things I enjoyed are now punchlines. I also think it's odd for Disney to essentially draw attention to the fact that "We sure mangled that park, didn't we?"

The rest of that section of the queue, from what I've seen, I quite like and does feel like they tried to justify being in Epcot.

 

[Nick]

The rest of that section of the queue, from what I've seen, I quite like and does feel like they tried to justify being in Epcot.

That part of the queue is legitimately really cool. Lots going on around you and idc if the Xandar model is trying to tie itself back to Epcot by reminding people of the model that is on the peoplemover it’s still really cool and I’m a sucker for models/miniature scale stuff like that.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Yeah, the explicit references from Peter I don't really like. It's just kind of annoying to me that things I enjoyed are now punchlines. I also think it's odd for Disney to essentially draw attention to the fact that "We sure mangled that park, didn't we?"

The rest of that section of the queue, from what I've seen, I quite like and does feel like they tried to justify being in Epcot.

Kind of reminds me of the "Disneyland? That's thematically inconsistent," joke. Yeah no duh you're the ugliest building on the whole Disneyland campus.

 

[belloq87]

Kind of reminds me of the "Disneyland? That's thematically inconsistent," joke. Yeah no duh you're the ugliest building on the whole Disneyland campus.

I know some people really like that joke, but I think it's really too cute for its own good (as the Peter-EPCOT Center stuff is in Cosmic Rewind), and if I cared about the thematic integrity of California Adventure the way I do about the Florida parks, it would probably bug me.

Drawing attention to something and then trying to lampshade it with humor does not excuse the initial decision.

 

[JonsMovies]

I had a chance to ride a couple of times during the D23 preview, which was awesome btw & for $40 the cheapest Disney event I've seen in years, but have to concur with the comparisons to Space Mountain and RnRC. I'd rank it above those rides in terms of smoothness and re-rideability, but I think it falls short in the theming, story and overall ride experience compared to RotR or FoP. As a rollercoaster it also falls short of being at the level of a Hagrids or Veloci. How this ride cost half a billion is baffling to me, but I'll still ride it everytime as it's definitely fun.

 

[shiekra38]

Kind of reminds me of the "Disneyland? That's thematically inconsistent," joke. Yeah no duh you're the ugliest building on the whole Disneyland campus.

No it's beautiful and misunderstood cause Joe Rhode did it

 

[HandsomePete]

How this ride cost half a billion is baffling to me, but I'll still ride it everytime as it's definitely fun.

Granted I'm guilty of saying it was a $4XXM coaster back when I was ranting about no shade structure, but reality is once you peel off the things that have nothing to do with building the ride (or even anything Epcot-related), I'd peg the actual cost at around $325-330 inclusive of the WDI overhead charge.