PHOTOS: How Crowded Is EPCOT Now That Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Is Open?

It’s finally happening — after a long journey of construction updates and sneak peeks, the highly anticipated coaster Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has officially opened in EPCOT!

Disney World’s newest attraction has kept us on the edge of our seats for years, and we’re so excited to be bringing you along as we explore what the opening day looks like for this attraction and all that this World Discovery ride has to offer!

We’ve been paying close attention to all the progress on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind since it was first announced back in 2017. From the first glimpse we caught of the Nova Corps Starblaster ship, to the sneak peeks Disney shared, to our preview of the ride, we’ve been taking it all in. And now, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is officially open! But, will this new ride only mean MORE crowds for EPCOT — here’s what we saw today!

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind preview crowds

We arrived in EPCOT’s World Discovery neighborhood and quickly surveyed the scene. It looked like we weren’t the only ones excited about this attraction because there were A LOT of people waiting to get with us!

While there’s no standby line for the roller coaster (guests must either join the virtual queue or purchase it as an Individual Attraction Selection), there was still a reason to be lining up bright and early for the grand opening!

There’s exclusive opening-day merchandise being sold at Creations Shop, and guests were trying to get their hands on it as quickly as possible. And, in true Disney fashion, we all had to wait in a line before being able to enter the store.

Cast Members had quite the line set up for guests wanting to shop to make it easy for guests headed to other EPCOT locations to pass by.

We finally made it inside, and it was a little chaotic to say the least — looks like Disney fans are excited about Cosmic Rewind merchandise.

As we mentioned, Cosmic Rewind is using Disney’s virtual queue system, where guests can join the line via the My Disney Experience app. So, the “crowds” are more behind-the-scenes!

There are two opportunities throughout the day at 7AM and 1PM for guests to try and get a boarding pass.

At 7AM, the virtual queue was filled within a minute, but there were still some Individual Lightning Lane time slots available around 7:20AM, but then those were gone too! You might still be able to snag a Lightning Lane to Cosmic Rewind if you keep refreshing your screen on My Disney Experience, though!

We’ll continue to monitor crowds and wait times throughout the day, so be sure to check back to this post often to see what crowds you might face the next time you head to EPCOT!