Walt Disney Chief Corporate Affairs Officer unintentionally announces opening date for EPCOT's 'Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind'

Feb 23, 2022 in "Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind"

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Posted: Wednesday February 23, 2022 8:51pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

According to a now-deleted post on Twitter by a high-ranking Disney executive, EPCOT's Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind will open on Memorial Day 2022.

Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind will be EPCOT's first rollercoaster

The announcement was made by a new face at the Walt Disney Company, the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Geoff Morrell. Geoff has been in the newly created Chief Corporate Affairs Officer role for only a month and reports directly to Disney CEO Bob Chapek.

Posted this evening, the original Tweet said, "Just another day at the office—got to "test ride" the new @Guardians of the Galaxy rollercoaster at @EpcotCentre. @WaltDisneyCo Imagineers designed this one like no other ride you've ever been on. Have to ride it to believe it! Check it out starting Memorial Day weekend!"

The revised post was quickly edited to replace the Memorial Day weekend comment with "Coming soon!"

Just another day at the office--got to "test ride" the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster at @WaltDisneyWorld EPCOT. Walt Disney Imagineers deigned this one like no other ride you've ever been on. Have to ride it to believe it! Coming soon! pic.twitter.com/PjSityLjUb
— Geoff Morrell (@MorrellGeoff) February 23, 2022

A May 30 2022 opening date does not come as a surprise. Disney has often used Memorial Day weekend as a key date in its summer marketing drives. The company will be expecting the new rollercoaster to push attendance at EPCOT and Walt Disney World throughout the summer and beyond.

Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind concept art

Assuming Geoff Morrell's original tweet was accurate, we should expect an official opening announcement very shortly. If the opening pattern of Remy's Ratatouille Adventure is repeated, we should also expect various levels of previews before May 30 for Cast Members, Annual Passholders, Disney Vacation Club, D23, and Club 33 members.

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Epcot82Guy3 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).

Magicart873 days ago

All the Parks are due a quality Aladdin attraction.

EricsBiscuit3 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

MisterPenguin4 days ago

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

Magicart874 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.

DCBaker4 days ago

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

Bocabear11 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 Gutman11 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 Brownn11 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

Bocabear11 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 Gutman11 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.

Bocabear11 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 Brownn12 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