Walt Disney World expanded the House of Mouse’s theme parks aside from its hub in Southern California for the first time in October 1, 1971 when the Florida resort opened. 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, 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. It’s been confirmed that the attraction will open sometime next year by Gunn and Walt Disney Imagineering’s Creative Portfolio Executive Zach Riddley.
Riddley took to Disney Parks Blog to announce the Imagineer’s 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. Additionally, it will involve the first reverse launch on a coaster in Disney history, along with being one of the longest enclosed coasters in the world.
This is huge news for Disney Parks fans 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 upcoming Vol. 3. This will be the second Guardians of the Galaxy attraction, five years after Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! 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 passes 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 looks like it will step up the 50th anniversary an extra level when the ride starts boarding space adventures in 2022.