I'm sorry... did you say reverse launch? (Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind thoughts)

     Hey there, friends! I'm back this week with one of my favorite topics, Disney World. More specifically, I'm back to talk about a new attraction coming to Epcot on May 27, 2022. It's a roller coaster called "Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind" which is occupying the space that used to be filled with Ellen's Energy Adventure, and before that, just as "Universe of Energy". While I loved "Ellen's Energy Adventure," I am able to recognize that the ride was getting up there in years and probably had a lot of technical issues that were happening more and more often. I'll just have to keep that dream Jeopardy game in my head for as long as I can, it's a good thing I called the number to get the home version at least! Today we're setting our sights on this new attraction though, and while I must admit that I still don't really like the thought of the East Coast's first Marvel attraction being added to Epcot of all places, I do think the theming is neat, and I like that they're expanding onto the World Showcase, but we'll get into that in just a minute. Sounds like there's a major issue going on at Epcot, so it's time for us to get into the new Omni-Mover-esque ride vehicle and help the Guardians save the galaxy once again!

A Ride with Style

    There is a lot to be talked about with this ride. There are many records being set here for Disney rides, which is a really cool thing to say. This is going to be the first ride at a Disney park to feature a reverse launch, which you may understand if you think about the beginning portion of Slinky Dog Dash or Rockin' Roller Coaster (both over at Hollywood Studios), but in reverse. Not sure how they're going to work that, but I'm pretty sure that Universal Studios, just across town from the Mouse, features at least one reverse launch, and I've heard that it's not as bad as it sounds. I will admit that I'm still nervous about this concept, but I'm interested in trying it once. Another feature of this new ride which I'm much less nervous for is the capability of your vehicle turning 360 degrees, allowing you to turn and look at whatever action is going on in the ride. This also has a pretty substantial potential for unexpected thrills at some point along the ride's duration. This isn't the first time that we've seen vehicles be able to turn, as "Spaceship Earth," "Haunted Mansion," "Winnie the Pooh," etc. all turn, but they're designed to be much slower rides, and I'm definitely interested to see how this technology can improve and change the landscape of what roller coasters can achieve. According to the Disney website for this ride, this is one of the largest fully enclosed coasters in the world which is also exciting in its own right. There's a lot to be excited about for sure, and while I'm still not keen on the Guardians theming here, I think there's potential here to be a great ride, but it all depends on how the story is told.

What's the Threat?

    I don't know the exact threat that is plaguing the galaxy, but I'm pretty sure I've heard something about a celestial wanting to take earth to right a wrong some time ago. By combining what I know with the information on the website, I can give a little synopsis here, so sit back and enjoy! Xandar has created an attraction at Epcot, called the Wonders of Xandar Pavilion (modeled after the classic pavilion structure of Epcot, which is a cute touch for sure), dedicated to showing the people of Earth around the "Galaxarium," which is meant to examine similarities and differences between our galaxy and the one that Xandar is a part of. Everything starts out fine, but then something goes horribly wrong, as you'd expect, and it's up to us as the riders to help the Guardians of the Galaxy save the day and set things right. What goes wrong is anyone's guess, but we do see from the commercial that they put out for this attraction that time seems to be going in reverse, hence "Cosmic Rewind." An interesting tidbit to note is that Glenn Close is apparently making a grand return to her role as Nova Prime from the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and Terry Crews will also be involved in a role in this ride, and maybe even in the MCU at large after this, who knows? The main titular characters the website only mentions Gamora, Groot, Rocket, and Star Lord, though Disney Food Blog released a short elapsed video ride through on Thursday, May 5 which revealed Drax's involvement. Mantis wasn't shown in the short video, so there's no telling if she will be included here and I would highly doubt Thor's involvement, though it does seem like he could be around based on where we last saw him in Endgame. With another attraction based on the Guardians of the Galaxy, we expected there to be a track list, just like the attraction in Disney's California Adventure, "Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout," which took the place of that park's "Tower of Terror." Just like that other ride, we have gotten a track list that we'll be listening to this time around. The songs this time around are "September," "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "I Ran," "Disco Inferno," "Conga," and "One Way or Another," which will all definitely be fun to jam out to while on that ride! I'm personally hoping for September, but all of the songs will be great with the theming and timing of the attraction, I'm sure they did a lot of testing on what songs would work best in what spots. 

    I have to put a little extra paragraph in here, because I don't want to spoil anything too major about this ride, but I did just watch the short video from DFB (Disney Food Blog) and there were a few things to note here. First, it appears that the ride begins with some words of "encouragement" from Rocket, Star Lord, Gamora, and Drax (encouragement is in quotes because you know Rocket and Drax aren't exactly the best at pep talks). If the video is to be believed, the area with the reverse launch seems pretty dark so it's hard to tell exactly what is happening there, but it seems that shortly after that, we see a celestial attacking your group as well as the Guardian's ship, the Milano. After this, we see Nova Corps ships hopping through warp portals, followed by some cosmic imagery, specifically the Moon and Earth, and the video cuts to the end where the riders are being congratulated and welcomed into the Guardians of the Galaxy. It looks like a really cool ride and I'm very excited to check it out whenever I have a chance to go back. 

    I for one am really excited to see what this ride has in store, and I'm very happy that we don't have much longer to wait for it! It's always exciting to get new attractions at any time, but especially when major pieces of Epcot are shut down like they are right now, kind of like how Hollywood Studios was under such heavy renovations before Toy Story Land and Star Wars Galaxy's Edge were finished, especially with the "Great Movie Ride" also closing during that time. Walt Disney himself always talked about the importance of progress, saying that, "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world." Clearly, this principle has spread far past the boundaries of Disneyland, and it exists almost as a justification for things to continue changing at all the parks. As I said at the beginning, I will miss Ellen's Energy Adventure for a long time, but I'm happy that I was able to ride it at all, much less as many times as I did, and I'll do my best to enjoy this new attraction that is occupying the space nearly as much as the much older ride.

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends. Do you have any thoughts on this new ride? I know it's probably still a fairly unpopular concept among some of the hardcore Disney fans, since it is based on an IP and replacing an original attraction, but I'm interested in giving it a shot at least. I wish this attraction all the best, and I hope that the imagineers will continue innovating the ride vehicles in interesting ways just like this one, and I certainly hope this won't be the last coaster that utilizes the new tech to let the cars move. It's an important step into making a more story-driven coaster, which I always love to see! Thanks again for reading this, and I hope you'll all have a good week. I'm Jonathan, your Self-Proclaimed Theme Park enthusiast, and I'll talk to you again next week!