Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opened in EPCOT on May 27th, 2022.
Cosmic Rewind opened as and continues to be EPCOT’s first and only roller coaster. It takes you through the galaxy on a mission to save Earth (Terra) from a Celestial named Eson (or Eson the Searcher). You go screaming through space with Rocket, Groot, Drax, Gamora, and Star-Lord to stop Eson from destroying Earth. There is awesome music, twists, and lots of turns through this high-speed roller coaster. As much as we LOVE this ride, there is one change that we are waiting on.
The other day, we were in EPCOT testing out all the new Lighting Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass changes that Disney had just introduced. We were booking Lightning Lanes and riding rides all day long. But of course, we couldn’t miss out on a chance to grab a Virtual Queue boarding pass for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. (Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is available as a free Virtual Queue or with a paid Lightning Lane Single Pass.)
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When our boarding group was officially called, we checked our notification for our arrival window. Typically, the app will show you a timeline that you can show up during to get into the line to ride the ride. But something weird showed up on our notification — we were told we could arrive at any time that day!
This was the first time we had ever seen that show up, and we were shocked! But it did get us thinking — maybe it’s time for the Virtual Queue at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind to go away. Here’s the thing, even though we’ve never gotten this message before, we have been told by Cast Members that as long as we’re not early, it doesn’t really matter when we show up for our Virtual Queue. Many of our readers have also shared that they have been told the same thing!
Plus, when you do show up to enter the ride, you’re not likely to go straight to boarding. There is generally a wait inside the building after you’ve shown up for your boarding group. If they don’t care when we show up to ride, then we’re wondering what the point of having the Virtual Queue anymore is. Over at TRON Lightcycle / Run in Magic Kingdom, the Cast Members are typically very strict about when you show up for your Virtual Queue, but that is not the case at Cosmic Rewind. So why are they still using the system if it doesn’t really matter when we get in line?
Adventureswith_jerry on Instagram commented and brought up the point that since you can only have one Virtual Queue per day per ride, you are limited to only riding that ride once without paying for the Lightning Lane Single Pass. Now that Guardians of the Galaxy has been around for over two years, and they don’t seem to need to stagger riders anymore, is there a purpose to the boarding groups for this ride?
Perhaps the message we received was a glitch or due to the system changes on the big Lightning Lane release day, but regardless, it seems that this ride does not care so much when you arrive. Because of that, it may be time that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind got rid of its Virtual Queue and went to a normal stand-by line. We’ll have to wait and see what Disney decides to do going forward!
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Do you think the Virtual Queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind should go away? Let us know in the comments!
Lucretia Kleinman says
I need this ride to go to stand by line! I don’t have a smart phone so I have to wait in line, which I don’t mind doing. It’s about time Guardians created a stand by line.
Donna Witte says
I’ve rode gotg in the lighting lane and noticed that the LL queue was longer than the virtual queue which was nearly empty. This made me wonder if the virtual queue was still needed. I would hate to think they are keeping the virtual queue to force LL sales. There have been many times I didnt wake up at 7:00 to get virtual and just bought a LL instead because it was the only way to get on the ride . But if there was a stand by option I’m not sure I would feel the need to purchase LL.
Ray says
Do a poll asking what attraction needs to be replaced. For me, its the Tomorrowland Speedway hands down. Noisy and smelly.
Melinda says
My trip last month was the first time I have actually been able to ride GOTG due to late board group numbers and the ride breaking down on previous trips. It was mid-afternoon by the time our group number came up (yes, I snagged it right at 7:00 AM) and I expected at least a bit of a line inside the building. There seriously was no line inside at all for the VQ line. We walked in and went straight to the preshow area. I was a bit disappointed actually as I wanted time to take some of it in. That also makes me wonder why they still have the VQ – they don’t really need it it seems.