Earlier this year it was confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy would be getting their second Disney theme park ride in the form of a roller coaster at Epcot, inside Walty Disney World. Now, we know more about how the ride will be themed. Documents have come out that describes the queue area, as well as the ride itself, which means we know how the ride will be related to the existing Guardians of the Galaxy movies. The ride will apparently connect to Xandar, the planet that featured prominently in the first film, will include appearances from at least some of the Guardians characters, and might also include a reference to the Infinity Stones.
Walt Disney World documents that have come to light reportedly include a basic walkthrough of the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster. Guests will first enter where the previous attraction, the Universe of Energy, was located, which will now be the queue area. This queue is broken into two parts, the first being simply called the Welcome Gallery. This area will move the crowd upward into what's called the Xandar Gallery. While it's not clear what specifically guests will see here, based on the name it will likely contain pictures or items relevant to Xandar. As such, one could easily surmise that the ride itself will take place on Xandar.
The queue will then move into a pair of pre-shows, the first is being called "singularity." As Walt Disney World News Today points out, that's the same word The Collector used to describe the Infinity Stones in the first Guardians film, so it's possible this show will reference one or more of the stones, though there are no details that confirm that. The second pre-show includes guests watching a screen which includes Rocket and Groot and the Milano. Concept art shows the Milano to also include other Guardians characters, so its possible that the entire Guardians of the Galaxy cast will make appearances, in the same way they do in Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission - Breakout at Disney's California Adventure.
From there, guests get loaded onto the coaster in a new building which is 133 feet tall. The coaster itself contains tight turns and long straightaways, but, somewhat surprisingly, no inversions of any kind. This will make the coaster a bit more accessible as coasters that go upside down traditionally have height requirements that keep smaller guests out. Since it's an indoor coaster that doesn't go upside down, it sounds a lot like Space Mountain, which is far from a bad thing, because, all these years later, Space Mountain is still awesome.
The new Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster is still a long way off and has no official launch date, beyond the fact that it will be open in time for the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World in 2021.
