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Epcot | Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind | Vekoma Omnicoaster | 2022

Kw6sTheater

Hyper Poster
The first full POV of Cosmic Rewind (queue, preshows, on-ride and all) is now on YouTube!

My thoughts (Spoilers):

Personally, I'm a big fan of the Guardians franchise (and Marvel as well, by virtue), so I've been looking forward to Cosmic Rewind ever since it was announced. While I was hoping Cosmic Rewind would be a bit more intense based on the reviews (or that it could've been a new-gen Vekoma flyer, like the early rumors proposed), the end product does look like pure fun. The long, twisted layout, the highly unique rotations of the cars, impressive projections, jaw-dropping sets and 70s/80s soundtrack combine to make one crazy and memorable-looking experience. Those projections and lighting were especially eye-catching - the "teleportation" scene in the preshow was very surprising, what an interesting effect - and in my opinion, compensate for the lack of animatronics. They improve Cosmic Rewind much more than I expected, continuing the excitement during the otherwise "dull" parts of a layout, like the final brake run and initial launch track. All in all, two thumbs up from me, and I'm so glad that it's finally opening!

Just to clarify for @CrashCoaster, I have NOT ridden Cosmic Rewind - these thoughts are based on the POV footage alone 😛
 
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Ethan

Strata Poster
Hmm, hard to judge from just a POV, only one at that.

Looks pretty soulless though, as expected. Preshow is very cringeworthy although I do think the teleportation effect looks quite good, even if it is clear how it's done. Kids would have their minds blown by that, I imagine.

Also from the video, it seems they've improved the illusion of travelling through space quite considerably since the Space Mountains, which is good. Just a shame it's mostly all screens in the main ride. I don't know if it was just the song choice or it was actually bad, but the audio during the main coaster portion sounded really off? Dull almost. Will have to give it a ride if I can ever drag myself there.
 

Jamesss

Hyper Poster
Watched the POV earlier and it highlights one of the problems I have with IPs being overused.

The ride itself looks pretty cool, but because I don't like GOTG or the Marvel films altogether, I just can't get into it. I would probably ride it once and not again.

It was the same thing with Rise of the Resistance. I don't like Star Wars, so regardless of it being one of the most innovative rides out there, I'm barely interested.

I know these IP rides attract a lot of guests, but the theme park fan in me wishes Disney would go back to doing some original attractions which can be enjoyed universally, without preconceived opinions based on whether one likes the IP or not.
 

cookie

Giga Poster
I mean, I think the Jurassic World movies are kinda garbage, both Tron movies are snorefests (yes, including the original film), and J.K Rowling is doing her damnedest to make me want to spite everything Harry Potter, but that doesn't negate my interest in Velocicoaster, Lightcycle Power Run, or Hagrid's.

I'm more positive to Marvel than most people here, I suppose, but I'm more drawn to the ride itself than the IP, and I like what I'm seeing here. Just my take on the matter.
 
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roomraider

Best Topic Starter
Watched the POV earlier and it highlights one of the problems I have with IPs being overused.

The ride itself looks pretty cool, but because I don't like GOTG or the Marvel films altogether, I just can't get into it. I would probably ride it once and not again.

It was the same thing with Rise of the Resistance. I don't like Star Wars, so regardless of it being one of the most innovative rides out there, I'm barely interested.

I know these IP rides attract a lot of guests, but the theme park fan in me wishes Disney would go back to doing some original attractions which can be enjoyed universally, without preconceived opinions based on whether one likes the IP or not.

It's an interesting question/thought experiment. If this ride had no IP and was called Space Force: Back In Time but the general idea and theme of the ride was identical would the ride be better or worse for it?

What I find amusing is it's a ride that heavily features the Big Bang in such a backwards state as Florida.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
The tech and stuff all looks really good ; but the "acting" in all the pre-show elements - ouch!

Chris Pratt ; almost killing two Orlando attractions (but he was not the worst) :)

(To be fair ; I thought the VelociCoaster pre-show was much better "for real" than when I'd seen it on YouTube so perhaps being a tad harsh here ;) )
 

DeathmetalmikeNL

Roller Poster
i found a new youtube video with an onride pov. seems like they adjustes brightness a bit cause i can see loads more of the details and setpieces in this vid. extra cool is the moment before you launch. seem they added extra lines for the characters in case you have to wait on the next block section to be clear to launch.
 

Nito

Roller Poster
My trip to Orlando had been delayed by two years because of covid. And when I finally could go, it turns out this thing opened just when I was there!
A silver lining indeed.

At this moment, the only way to get on is via the virtual queue and the lightning passes. They are not using the regular queue.
One of the employees advices us open up the app at 6.59 am, and just mash refresh until a button appeared to sign up for the queue. Apparently, during opening weekend, the ride slots of the entire day were gone in seconds! Thankfully, during the week we got lucky and got a spot.

I'm not the biggest Guardiands of The Galaxy fan, but I must admit I didn't hate the preshow. Not at all.
The set quickly changing when they "teleport" you caught me off guard. I quite liked it.

The story itself isn't exactly fresh, nor does it make any sense.
"Oh hey, we are an alien race that come from a world similar as yours. Let's hang out because why not! And as a welcoming gift, let's give you this technology to teleport!".
And also the "bad guy is a danger to planet earth" got really old.

Perhaps I should just stop thinking about those things 😁

I didn't know what to expect from the ride. I only knew it could spin and that this mechanic would make use of sets and screens to enhance the ride experience.
However I did not expect the ride to have this kind of controlled spinning. It was quite a bit of fun!

It turns out the ride isn't a freespin, but a controlled kind of turning. Or better yet: dancing!
Most of the time when you are going through a curve/helix, the vehicle turns along so you are facing inside the turn/helix.
The ride has quite a few of turns and helixes that make full use of this feature. Combining that with Gloria Estefan's song "Conga" made it quite an amusing ride. Not intense, just fun and entertaining.
Apparently there are multiple songs that you can get during the ride, which fits with the Guardians of The Galaxy vibe and might enhance the re-rideability.

There is also some voice acting going on during the ride, but I couldn't understand most of it because of the music.
But since the ride is mainly just darkness and stars, I doubt I actually missed anything ...

This brings me to the part I didn't like as much about the ride. I kind of hoped that there would be sets/animatronics/show elements that would make use of the spinning/directing of the vehicles. Sadly that wasn't the case. The ride mechanic is véry much fun, but visually I found it very underwhelming.
If they were to add actual visual elements, the ride would go from "just fun" to "absolutly amazing!". It's just got so much potential.
If I'd ever go back and the queue time would be +60 minutes, I think I might skip it ...

TL;DR
A rollercoaster with a fun spinning mechanic that makes you feel like you're dancing. It would be perfect for a rollercoaster/darkride combination ride.
But since most of the ride is just darkness and some stars, I feel like a lot of the potential has been wasted.

Quite a bit of fun, but sadly not epic.

To sum it up spoilerfree: a fun ride, very interesting ride experience, but the majority of the ride was visually lacking for me.
Fun, but I feel like there is so much more potential.
But no doubt this will be a hit for many people. Except for the ones that get sick on it I guess 😁 Apparently there were a few people that got nauseous. We didn't experience any discomfort at all while riding, though.
 
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Nito

Roller Poster
U have to see this POV, u will deff see more than just darkness and some stars :
I can confirm that my ride was exactly the same as in that video. So nothing was broken when I rode 🙂

I'll clarify a bit it more by what I meant.

I kept my expectations low to avoid disappointment.
When we got on it started off great. Visually very good, fun, up on the lifthill, followed by an encounter with the bad guy where the cars start turning. To me it felt like they were giving me a taste of what's about to happen. So my expectations rose.

After that section, the majority of the ride, feels like a dark, starry box.
The few screens with small ships flying around and the bad guy popping up aren't really adding anything for me.
Yeah sure I get it, you're in space. But after how it started. I thought there would be more of a that. For example a point where you stop for another encounter, stunning visual effects and more showcasing of the turning mechanic. Like a little Escape From Gringotts moment. But sadly that wasn't the case.

But hey. Chances are that I'm just spoilt little brat that is too demanding. This could certainly be a new hit and favorite of many people.

My husband shares the same opinion, though. But him marrying me might just confirm the lack of good taste 😁
 
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