EPCOT's Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind wins Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement

19 days ago in "Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind"

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Posted: Wednesday November 15, 2023 7:16am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has been honored with a prestigious industry Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement – Attraction in 2024 by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA).

Internationally recognized, the Thea Awards acknowledge exceptional achievements in the themed entertainment industry and celebrate the creative teams who bring immersive experiences to life.

Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind Imagineering Team

"On behalf of all Imagineers, I would like to thank TEA for this tremendous recognition of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and for continuing to drive the themed entertainment industry forward," said Barbara Bouza, president, Walt Disney Imagineering. "As our Imagineering teams push the boundaries of creative storytelling in innovative and exciting ways, it's always the highest honor for our work to be recognized by friends and colleagues from around the world."

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind features several "firsts," including the first reverse launch for a Disney coaster and the first Disney Omnicoaster ride system, where vehicles make controlled rotations.

Guests in the loading station at Cosmic Rewind

"Congratulations to Walt Disney Imagineering on this well-deserved recognition," said Jeff Vahle, president, Walt Disney World. "A highlight of our EPCOT transformation, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind combines the Disney hallmark of great storytelling with a ride experience that literally has guests coming back for more."

Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind Imagineering Team

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Epcot82Guy9 days ago

While not confirmed, Tokyo SM is assumed to be the next use case. If true, that will be a really good application of this ride system (and hopefully with a simpler, more effective storyline).

Magicart879 days ago

All the Parks are due a quality Aladdin attraction.

EricsBiscuit9 days ago

I wonder if Disney is going to build this ride at another park. An Aladdin ride with the same ride system in Adventureland would be great but anyways I think Tokyo’s new SM might employ this ride system? Not sure

MisterPenguin10 days ago

I read somewhere that there won't be a Christmas overlay to CR.

Magicart8710 days ago

It should have been more than a song anyway. It wouldn't theoretically be terribly difficult to overlay a Holiday version seeing as how it's mostly screens and projections. Only the exit tunnel would require festive decor. The biggest caveat would be the costs associated with filming a new preshow and lift sequence videos. On-ride audio could be pulled directly from the The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. The post show projection could be tweaked to give The Guardians of the Galaxy Santa hats and other holiday garb. As for a song choice, maybe McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime"? Speaking of preshow: Does anyone suspect they'll be changing it? There's a rumor going around that Disney isn't happy with the way guests respond to Terry Crews's question of "Does anyone know what they call themselves anyway?" with shouted responses of "Drunks" or "Alcoholics!" Has that been a rampant issue? I guess if they were to redo it they'd have the opportunity to record a holiday version too.

DCBaker10 days ago

It hasn't been mentioned in any of the Holiday releases and the song was not playing when I rode this morning.

Bocabear17 days ago

It was amazing...Even the floor changed under your feet....You were in a small pre-boarding room and Flash and whoosh, you were on the deck of the Enterprise and the cast members were all in motion...It felt so believable... amazing attraction....

Casper Gutman17 days ago

It worked beautifully for a lot of reasons CR missed, perhaps the two biggest being that the initial room created a very convincing illusion of being a simulator loading area and that there was a very substantial difference between the first and second version of the room. It was genuinely great.

Rich Brownn17 days ago

Same company (Landmark) but that effect included a ceiling that moved in and out as well. I wish I could have experienced that

Bocabear17 days ago

True dat! I like the ride... It has a few issues, but in general, I think it is a solid attraction...Just needs some tuning....

Casper Gutman17 days ago

I’d sum it up as CR is a vastly better coaster than Gringotts but Gringotts is a vastly better theme park attraction than CR. The really glaring failure of the ride in comparison to other, similar attractions is the changing room. As Boca points out, the effect was done spectacularly at a Las Vegas Hilton decades ago. Even with that model, Disney messed up the effect so badly and at such a fundamental level it actually makes one question their competence.

Bocabear17 days ago

There was a much better version of the flying walls trick used at the Star Trek Experience in Vegas... It really was an amazing effect...Smaller room, and the cast were all fully playing their roles as starship team members....It was really well done... but long long gone now....that opened in 1998.

Rich Brownn18 days ago

Actually the Presto-Chango room (as Landmark called it) was there since Poseidon opened in 1999. Orginally you walked in with the walls already up . When you were rescued by Zeus (Poseidon was the bad guy in this version) the walls dropped down to give the illusion you were back in the previous room/People had trouble understanding it so in the new version it starts with walls down