10 Out of This World Secrets of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic rewind is an exceptional indoor roller coaster that gives Guests the experience of a lifetime. On this ride, Guests are tasked with the mission to travel between space and time to save the galaxy. This exciting ride provides experiences that have never before been available at Walt Disney World, making it extremely unique and special.

When speaking about such a ride, there is no shortage of fascinating information that surrounds it. The Disney Imagineers did not hold back when they were designing this ride.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is filled with many easy to miss details, secrets, and fun facts. Today, we’re going to go over just ten of these facts and secrets with you.

1. Hidden Mickey

When it comes to secrets about Disney attractions, one of the most common are Hidden Mickeys. Hidden Mickeys can be found all throughout Walt Disney World Resort. You can find them almost everywhere – hotels, restaurants, landscaping, and attractions! While Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind doesn’t seem to have too many Hidden Mickeys, there is a very obvious one located within the queue.

When you enter the Zandar Gallery, you’ll see a model of a Zandarian city. Towards the center of this model, is a grassy area located within the city. In the grass, there are three blue domes. These domes perfectly align to make an undeniable Hidden Mickey!

2. Omni-Moving Ride Vehicles

While roller coasters in general are extremely common, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind uses a very special and unique ride technology. Rather than having a train of ride vehicles that all face the same direction for the entirety of the ride, the trains on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind are made up of nine omni-moving ride vehicles. This means that the ride vehicles are able to rotate a complete 360°, allowing Guests to see the different sights all around them throughout the entirety of the ride.

Even though the vehicles are able to completely rotate, they don’t do this freely. You won’t need to worry about being relentlessly spun during your time on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Instead, the vehicles are programmed to move exactly when they’re intended to. This allows the Disney Imagineers to point Guests in the direction that they want them in and to see what they want them to see.

While the spinning of the ride vehicles is controlled, some Guests do suffer from a bit of motion sickness. If you’re prone to motion sickness, ask a Cast Member to place you in a ride vehicle that’s in the front of the train. Since the end of roller coaster trains tend to experience the most motion, you’ll have a better experience riding towards the front.

3. Record Breaking Length

One nice thing about Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is the length of the experience. With the immersive queue, multiple pre-shows, and the ride, you get to experience this attraction for quite a bit of time. The ride itself also lasts a fair amount of time. Even while hitting top speeds of 60mph, the actual ride portion lasts for about 3 minutes.

However, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind isn’t only long in regard to length of time. It’s also long in the aspect of physical measurement. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind holds the title of the longest indoor roller coaster in the world. Measuring at 5,577 feet, the length of the track actually makes it one of the longest roller coasters in the world overall – both inside and outside.

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4. The Show Building is HUGE

Currently, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has the largest show building on Walt Disney World property. Considering the size of the track, it makes sense that an extremely large building would be necessary to house this attraction. For perspective, the show building is longer than a full-size football field. In regard to volume, the massive building could house up to four Spaceship Earths inside of it.

5. Many Songs Were Tested For the Perfect Ride Experience

There’s no way that Star Lord would allow us to take a flight through space without some good tunes playing. The Disney Imagineers, however, were more concerned with how the songs aligned with the actual ride. Over 100 different musical tracks were tested with the roller coaster. The Imagineers wanted to find songs that fit the notorious Guardians of the Galaxy style, but also flowed perfectly with the movements of the coaster.

While many different songs were tested, they eventually narrowed the selection down to six tracks.

6. You Never Know What You're Going to Get

We all know that the soundtracks to the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are an awesome mix of classic bops and straight bangers. When it comes to this attraction, you can expect the same thing. However, there’s no way for you to anticipate which song you’ll be listening to during your ride.

While there are six songs in total, you’ll never know which one you’re going to get. The song selection is completely randomized, making the surprise of the song just one of the many fun aspects of this ride.

7. Nods to Past EPCOT Attractions

Another common thing to include on a Disney attraction are nods to past attractions. Whether that be to the attraction that they replaced or to others around the park or property. On Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, there are MANY nods to now-extinct Disney attractions. While most of these are located within the queue, there’s at least one that can be found on the actual ride as well!

A large portion of these references happen during a conversation that we see Star Lord having while we’re in the queue. During this segment, he reflects on his time at EPCOT as a child and starts listing all of the things that he looks forward to doing again when he returns. He says that he can’t wait to ride Horizons, see the Energy dinosaurs, and hear “Veggie Veggie, Fruit Fruit”. Unfortunately for Star Lord, all three of these things won’t be possible for him to experience again since they are now all part of EPCOT’s past.

Horizons, the ride that he wants to go on again, was replaced by Mission: SPACE. The Energy dinosaurs that he mentions are the audio-animatronic dinosaurs that could be found on the ride Universe of Energy. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind now stands where Universe of Energy used to be. He also won’t be hearing the “Veggie Veggie, Fruit Fruit” song. This song was part of the Kitchen Kabaret which was once located where the Soarin’ queue now stands.

8. Tributes to Walt

Not only are there references to past Disney attractions, there’s also a tribute to Walt Disney on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. His image is even used, which is very rare among Disney attractions. In a portion of the queue, we’re shown how a Zandarian city was designed with a radial pattern. It then continues to show how Walt used the same style pattern when he was designing EPCOT.

The model of the Zandarian city, where the Hidden Mickey can be found, is also a reference to Walt. The model was inspired by Progress City, which was Walt’s original forward-thinking idea for EPCOT. While the model for Progress City was actually quite large, a small portion of it can be seen while riding the PeopleMover in Magic Kingdom. The similarities between the Progress City model on the PeopleMover and the Zandarian city model on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind are uncanny.

9. Take a Peek Backstage

After you’ve saved the galaxy, become an honorary Guardian, and your ride comes to an end, you’ll be brought to the unloading area. This portion of the attraction is meant to mimic the appearance of backstage areas that only Cast Members generally have access to.

Before walking out of the exit, you’ll notice a mirror hanging to the right of the door. This is something that truly exists in the backstage areas at Disney Parks. The mirrors give Cast Members the opportunity to take one last look at themselves prior to going onstage. This allows them to see if their clothes need straightened up, if they have hair out of place, or if there’s anything else that needs fixed before they enter the park.

10. Many Firsts For Disney

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was an exceptional accomplishment for Disney. The ride holds the title of many “firsts”.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is the first:

• Roller coaster at EPCOT
• Ride with a reverse launch that Disney has done
• Ride at Walt Disney World Resort that features Marvel characters
• OmniCoaster that Disney has ever done

When attempting something for the first time, it often ends up being a matter of trial and error. However, in the case of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, all of these firsts were a huge success.

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