PHOTOS: We’re at the Grand Opening of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Four years after it was announced, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is officially open in EPCOT!

Cosmic Rewind is a brand new Marvel-themed indoor roller coaster (in fact, it’s one of the longest indoor roller coasters ever!) and it features vehicles that rotate 360 degrees on the track as guests get to experience all angles of this immersive ride (you can check out our spoiler-free review here). While we’ve been able to get a sneak preview of the ride and check out the new store, we had to visit for the grand opening. Let’s get into it!

Let’s take a look at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opening day in EPCOT!

Virtual Queue and Pay-per-ride

There is currently NO standby line for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, so your options are to join the virtual queue at either 7AM or 1PM, or by paying for the Individual Lightning Lane.

The virtual queue filled up in less than a minute at 7AM, while the Individual Lightning Lane was available until around 7:20AM. If you decide to pay for the Lightning Lane, it cost $17 today, but it could vary depending on the day.

If you miss out on the virtual queue you might have a chance to purchase the Individual Lightning Lane, so keep that in mind. To enter the 1PM virtual queue, you must be inside EPCOT at that time!

Crowds

After we managed to get our virtual queue reservation, we headed to EPCOT this morning. The park opened at 8:30AM today and as you can see, it was BUSY.

There were people pretty much everywhere, and everyone was headed toward Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

You can get a better look at the crowd in our video below!

Good morning from EPCOT on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opening day! 💫 pic.twitter.com/tUzjOFFn8R

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) May 27, 2022

Although there’s no standby line for the new coaster, there are other reasons to get to EPCOT early for the grand opening! After we maneuvered through the crowds, it was time to go shopping.

Check out more photos of the Cosmic Rewind opening day crowds here!

Merchandise

Exclusive opening day Cosmic Rewind merchandise is now available at Creations Shop, so we got in line to enter the store.

Yes, there was a line just to get into Creations Shop. Would it be Disney if there wasn’t a line?

We saw lots of new Guardians merchandise, including clothing, toys, accessories, and lots more. You can take a look at all the new goodies by clicking here!

There were a LOT of people in the store but we were surprised by how many new items were available. You can check out all the new merch by clicking here!

The Treasures of Xandar store, which is attached to the exit for Cosmic Rewind, was closed for most of the day.

Toward the end of the day, however, we noticed that it had opened! With a long line, of course. This shop is located near the exit of Cosmic Rewind.

There were quite a few people in line when we walked by, so you might have to wait if you’re hoping to shop there. The shop is REALLY small so Cast Members can only let a limited number of people enter the store at a time.

According to a Cast Member, everything you can get in Treasures of Xandar is also in Creations Shop — with the exception of one exclusive collection, which they did not identify. We’ll keep our eyes peeled!

Here’s ALL the exclusive merchandise you can get for EPCOT’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind!

New Lens

There’s also a new lens (aka a filter) available in the My Disney Experience app!

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In the app, you can access it by tapping Disney PhotoPass Lenses.

The Cosmic Mission lens will be available for free only in EPCOT through June 7th, 2022!

Don’t forget to use it in EPCOT — you can’t use it at home!

Eats

Yes, there’s a special food (er, drink) in honor of Cosmic Rewind opening! Joffrey’s released the Awesome Drink for $6.49. We found it at the Joffrey’s near Mission: SPACE and Cosmic Rewind.

It’s made with frozen lemon ice with a splash of lemonade and desert pear syrup, topped with chewy green apple jelly stars. You can add vodka to it for $13.99.

Getting on the Ride

We entered the virtual queue at 7AM, and our boarding group was called around 12:30ishPM. We had until 1:16PM to get in line!

There were lots of people hanging out around the Nova Corps Starblaster. It’s a great place to grab photos!

The lines are marked accordingly, with this line for the virtual queue. Cast Members scan your MagicBand (or your ticket) and off you go!

If you purchased the Lightning Lane or qualify for Disability Access Service, you can scan in at this location.

The queue for Cosmic Rewind is incredibly detailed, with lots to see to keep you entertained in line. First, you enter the Galaxarium, where you can experience the Wondermind supercomputer’s narration about Xandarians and Terrans (aka Earthlings).

In the Xandar Gallery portion of the queue, there’s even a model of a Xandarian city! If you look closely, you may see a hidden Mickey.

After waiting around 33 minutes total after entering the queue, it was time to ride!

Here’s our spoiler-free review of Cosmic Rewind!

We’ll be updating this post throughout the day as we get the FULL Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opening day experience, so keep checking back for more news and updates!