Walt Disney World’s new Guardians of the Galaxy attraction is already being called one of the greatest rollercoasters ever by fans. Take a look at how Marvel's favourite gang of misfits worked with Disney Imagineers to create a ride unlike any other:
The 200,000-square foot Orlando attraction is Disney's first reverse launch coaster and its first 'omnicoaster' – a ride where vehicles make controlled rotations to always keep guests focused on the action.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind also brings the franchise's cast along with you for the white-knuckle mission, and creators captured almost a feature length's worth of media with the star-studded cast and a special guest.
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Riders will see Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) back in the Xandarian Starblaster.
The five-year project, which has become one of the longest enclosed rollercoasters in the world and stretches longer than an American football field, opened on 27 May at EPCOT as part of Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
Before even getting on the ride itself, guests will visit the Galaxarium, navigate the Xandar Gallery and enter the Phase Chamber before meeting Centurion Tal Marik – played by Terry Crews.
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While it’s not confirmed that the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star will appear in the Guardians movie projects, his special appearance is already going down well with visitors at Epcot.
Just like the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Cosmic Rewind weaves classic 70s and 80s tunes – or ‘poet sorcery’, as Gamora would say – into the ride.
Once guests are strapped in and ready for launch, they’ll find out which song will accompany their mission.
Designers tested more than 100 potential tracks for the attraction before settling on a mixtape of 'September', 'Disco Inferno', 'Conga', 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World', 'I Ran' and 'One Way or Another'.
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Disney Imagineers, the technical wizards behind the rides, spoke to LADbible for lift-off.
Visual Effects Supervisor Chris Smith said: “There's so much in here that is cutting edge. There's illusions, there's media, there's custom surfaces.
“A lot of what we do in film – where I came from – it's in a theatre, it's a flat screen but walk through that gallery there's not a single flat surface, it's all unique so the challenge that we had developing that with multiple departments was such a fun one and I think it really came out in a way that guests have never seen before.
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“We have almost a feature film's amount of media in this, there's something in every room the whole way through up to the ride that people will be entertained by.”
Fellow Imagineer Daniel Joseph, who works in special effects and illusion development, told LADbible: “I was one of those kids that had a dream of working as an Imagineer at Disney and came out of college to work here.
“To be at this point 15 years later is really surreal, taking an attraction like this form start to finish. It's been over five years which is crazy but it's because of the scale of this attraction, both in story and in physical size, that it took so long.
"The notion when we first started that this was the universe of energy and it's pretty surreal now seeing how big and grand it's all become."
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Click here to find out how you can experience Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind yourself, and here for information on package holidays to Walt Disney World with Virgin Atlantic Holidays.
Topics: Disney, Guardians of the Galaxy, Theme Park
Mason Jones