Walt Disney World expanded the House of Mouse’s theme parks, aside from its hub in Southern California, for the first time when the Florida resort opened in October 1, 1971. As of this week, that’s fifty years ago, and you better believe Disney Parks is going to celebrate this incredible milestone. One major way they’re doing this is with some help from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, as the franchise’s filmmaker, James Gunn, helped reveal on its big birthday.
Disney Imagineers are currently hard at work on a new attraction called Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is set to open in EPCOT. James Gunn took to his Instagram to share a tease for the upcoming ride, whilst saying he’s “working” on Disney’s 50th birthday present:
The Walt Disney World 50th anniversary celebration will continue for the next 18 months over in Orlando, Florida and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind looks like it will be a major part of it. James Gunn and Walt Disney Imagineering’s Creative Portfolio Executive Zach Riddley confirmed that the attraction will open sometime next year.
Zach Riddley took to Disney Parks Blog to announce the Imagineers' continued work on Cosmic Rewind, which is being described as a rollercoaster experience unlike any other at the Disney resorts. It will be an indoor story coaster that rotates 360 degrees, so guests are always focused on the action taking place on the ride. In addition, it will involve the first reverse launch on a coaster in Disney history and will also be one of the longest enclosed coasters in the world.
This is huge news for Disney Parks and Marvel fans, who want to feel like they’re really part of the Guardians of the Galaxy world that James Gunn created with his two MCU films and will continue in the upcoming Vol. 3. This will be the second Guardians of the Galaxy attraction, as it will arrive five years after Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!. That attraction took over the Tower of Terror in Disney’s California Adventure in 2017.
Over the summer, Mission Breakout became part of DCA’s Avengers Campus. The new land also involves the new Web Slingers ride featuring Spider-Man along with tons of immersive sets like the Ancient Sanctum and Avengers Headquarters, where fans can interact with characters from the MCU films. James Gunn also revealed a cool statue of Rocket and Groot already standing in EPCOT:
This is a seriously exciting “birthday gift” James Gunn and the Disney Imagineers are cooking up, as Walt Disney World reaches 50 years as a theme park. On October 1, WDW also opened its doors (finally) on the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride, and La Crêperie de Paris in the French pavilion area of EPCOT. Cosmic Rewind should really shake things up at the theme park when the ride starts boarding space adventures in 2022.
