Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
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Overview
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is a fully indoor roller coaster at EPCOT that combines high-speed coaster track with ride vehicles capable of rotating independently as you travel.
Your visit begins as a tour of the Wonders of Xandar pavilion before the Cosmic Generator is stolen and the Guardians recruit you to help chase it across space and time.
Once aboard an evacuation shuttle, the attraction starts by sending you forwards towards a jump point before suddenly launching the train backwards. From there, the individual ride cars rotate throughout the journey to point you towards characters, enormous screens and other parts of the action.
The result feels quite different from a conventional roller coaster. You may be travelling forwards along the track while your seat is facing sideways or backwards, and the direction you’re looking can change repeatedly during the ride.
There are fast turns, drops and heavily banked sections, but no inversions.
A different song from the Guardians’ mixtape plays during each ride, turning the whole thing into something halfway between an indoor coaster and an intergalactic dance party.
Guests must be at least 42 inches / 107 cm tall and wheelchair or ECV users need to transfer into the ride vehicle.
Queue Details
The queue can begin outdoors when the attraction is busy, but most of the route is inside the Wonders of Xandar pavilion.
Once indoors, the queue gradually slopes uphill before eventually flattening out on the approach to the first pre-show.
The first pre-show lasts around three minutes.
Guests then move into a second pre-show room for approximately another two minutes. This section includes dramatic lighting effects and periods of darkness before the doors open towards the final part of the queue.
After the second pre-show, the route slopes uphill again before descending towards the loading platforms.
The transition out of the pre-show can become busy as a large group moves towards the boarding area at the same time. If you use a wheelchair or ECV, there is no need to rush with the crowd, as the route remains accessible.
The standard exit route includes stairs. A step-free route is available using an elevator to the left, followed by another elevator later in the exit route to return to the lower level.
Transfer Info
Wheelchair and ECV users must transfer completely into the coaster seat.
Cosmic Rewind has an adapted transfer row in the rear car of the train.
At the loading platform, your wheelchair can be positioned directly alongside the stationary ride vehicle.
The side of the adapted row opens much farther than on the standard vehicles, creating a wider access point beside the seat and reducing the amount of vehicle wall you need to transfer across.
This allows the wheelchair to be positioned close beside the seat for a sideways or lateral transfer.
There is no wheelchair-accessible ride vehicle, so your mobility device does not travel with you.
Once you are seated, the side of the vehicle is returned to its normal position and an individual lap bar is lowered.
Your wheelchair or ECV is moved by a Cast Member to the separate unloading platform while you ride.
At the end of the attraction, the accessible side can be opened again so your mobility device can be positioned beside the seat for the return transfer.
There is no powered lifting device, so any physical lifting or bodily assistance needs to come from you or somebody in your own party.
If this transfer arrangement is important to whether you can ride, ask specifically for the adapted transfer row rather than attempting to use a standard vehicle.
Sensory Experience
What do these sensory tags mean?
- Backwards Movement
- The ride vehicle travels backwards for a noticeable part of the attraction.
- Darkness
- Substantial parts of the experience take place in darkness or very low light.
- Drops
- The ride includes noticeable downward drops.
- Flashing Lights
- Flashing, strobing or rapidly pulsing light effects are used.
- Spinning
- The ride vehicle or seating rotates around its own axis or repeatedly circles.
- Sudden Movement
- The ride vehicle, seat or platform makes abrupt starts, stops, jolts or changes of direction.
Sensory experiences vary between people. These tags describe elements that may be present, not how strongly any individual guest will experience them.
Cosmic Rewind is a particularly intense sensory experience even though the coaster itself runs very smoothly.
The experience begins before you board. The two pre-show rooms use large projections, changing and flashing lighting effects and periods of darkness. The first lasts around three minutes and the second around two minutes.
The main ride takes place indoors, with much of the track travelling through darkness. Huge projections, illuminated jump points and rapidly changing lighting appear around the vehicle as you move through space.
The ride begins travelling forwards before launching backwards.
From that point, the ride vehicles rotate throughout the journey. This is controlled movement rather than uncontrolled spinning, but the car can turn to face sideways, backwards or towards different scenes while the train continues travelling quickly along the track.
There are sharp turns, drops and heavily banked sections, with moments where the direction you are facing and the direction you are physically travelling are very different.
There are no inversions, although the combination of rotating vehicles, sweeping turns and moving imagery can create a strong sensation of spinning or spiralling.
Music plays throughout the ride alongside dialogue and action sound effects.
The enormous moving projections can add considerably to the sensation of movement. Your vehicle may be travelling in one direction while the imagery around you appears to move in another.
For anyone prone to motion sickness, the combination of darkness, rotating cars, backwards travel, speed and large moving images can be considerably more challenging than the smoothness of the coaster itself might suggest.
Practical Tips
If you need the adapted transfer row, ask for it specifically. The side opens much farther than on a standard Cosmic Rewind vehicle, allowing your wheelchair to be positioned much closer to the seat.
Motion sickness deserves serious consideration on this one. The coaster is exceptionally smooth, but smooth does not necessarily mean gentle on your stomach. Darkness, speed, rotating cars, backwards movement and enormous projections all work together.
If large moving screens contribute to motion sickness for you, concentrating more on the ride vehicle or track direction rather than trying to follow every projection may help, although the rotating car means there is not always an obvious fixed point to look at.
Give yourself a moment after the ride if you feel unsteady rather than immediately rushing to the next attraction.
If you need a step-free exit, use the elevator route rather than following guests towards the stairs. The accessible route involves one elevator up and another elevator later to return to the lower level.
Cosmic Rewind uses Lightning Lane Single Pass rather than EPCOT’s standard Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections.
Saving the galaxy is obviously important, but secretly hoping your song is “September” remains the real objective.
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