Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has been one of the major Disney World attractions since it opened at Epcot a couple of years ago, and the thrilling adventure ride stars OG Marvel heroes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña and more, even adding newcomers like Terry Crews into the mix. Plenty of people have gotten the chance to check out the ride in the time since it opened in May of 2022. Yet, even if you've been on the coaster, there are plenty of surprises to be found within Cosmic Rewind, not least of which is a mirror and a sign at the very end of the ride that can actually be translated. I figured out the key, and if you want to know what it reads, I have you covered.
In order to crack the code of the alien language seen throughout the new Guardians coaster, all I needed was some time in the queue,a phone to capture some of the signage and a handy dandy pencil and notebook later to keep a key for which alien letter corresponded with which letter in English. (Though I guess phone notes would suffice in this case too.) So what's up with the alien language?
What The Sign At The End Of Guardians Of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Reads
Let's just cut to the chase. After saving the galaxy and exiting Cosmic Rewind, riders go down a long hallway and a set of stairs leading to an exit. Before you head back out into the park, you'll see a mirror and a message written in the Xandarian language. It took a while to crack the code, but I got there, unlocking both the message by the mirror and the alien language seen on other parts of the ride. To the right of the mirror there’s an arrow with the word “observe” pointing toward the mirror. Then the message says:
Everybody neat and pretty? You are now entering Epcot. Smile. You are representing all Xandarians. Do it well.
I’m a little unclear on the punctuation part -- sorry I'm not 100% fluent in Xandarian just yet -- but that’s the message. When you’re passing the mirror, be sure to give it a smile, as it’s a cute selfie photo opp and the sign is actually encouraging you to show your pearly whites!
How To Translate The Xandarian Text Through The Queue For Epcot’s New Guardians Rollercoaster
It's not just the message above that can be translated, to note. If you are wanting to translate everything from Xandarian text on a trash can to emergency exit protocols, once you have the key it's pretty easy to do. What tipped us off this was the case before we got on the ride? Well, Cosmic Rewind's adjacent-ish ride at Disneyland, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, also has similar messaging that can be uncovered.
So, how did I get started translating the Cosmic Rewind text? First, I figured out the sign above that clearly had letters that were meant to read Epcot (there are several other signs that also have the Epcot letters), which gave me the characters for the letters e, p, c, o, and a t. From there, other signage sprinkled throughout the ride helped me to get enough corresponding English and Xandarian letters in order to translate the full message for those exiting Cosmic Rewind and returning to the Epcot park at Walt Disney World. (Eventually, I actually figured out the whole sign above reads "Now Entering Epcot.") It also helped me to see how even the alien text in the queue is in service of the overall storyline on the ride.
The next thing that really helped me to get cooking was a particular signboard that had a phrase listed both in English and the language of Xandar. That sign reads Treasures of Xandar and gave me hugely necessary letters, like showing me what the s, and the u and the r look like. It’ll even give ya the x! From there I was able to continue figuring out signs until I mostly had a full key and had enough to translate all kinds of stuff on the ride.
If you want to do this yourself, just start taking pics. You'll find a few letters and be able to get started in no time.
Why It's Fun To Translate The Signage On Guardians Of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
I already helped you out with the longer message, but I really don't want to deep dive too much more for you, because there's alien signage ALL over this queue. I wrote out my own key as I was getting started with this, and if you do the same, you'll see plenty of places throughout the queue where the alien text can be translated.
Some of the signage is there and will help you to work on your alphabet key, though it's worth noting some of the signs have both English and Xandarian but don't say expressly the same thing. For example there's an emergency exit sign that's also written out in the Xandarian language, but that sign reads "safe escape route only" in the alien language. Thus, that one's not gonna help with your alphabet key unless you happen to have this article open.
For me though, the signs that are the most fun to translate are the ones in the alien language only, reading things like "loading airlock" or "evacuation protocol," or in the case at the end of the ride a large painted wall message reads "arrivals." These are great because they are germane to the storyline in the ride, which tells a tale of how those visiting Xandar have to follow a big baddie back in time to both escape annihilation and watch the Guardians save the day. The queue, then, becomes the route to the escape ship. And as the ride ends to the tune of an awesome, Imagineer-created mixtape, not only have you saved the day, but you've arrived at your return destination, Epcot, too.
It's clever, it's fun, and if you got some time on your hands when in the ride queue, this should give you and your party of Epcotians something fun to do!
It's been a big summer for coasters in the midwest, actually, in 2024, but the coasters that opened up at Disney and Universal over the past couple of years have had a lot of staying power in terms of excitement, too. If you've been wondering how the new coaster stacks up to another thrilling newcomer Florida coaster, the VelociCoaster, we have you covered.
