Epcot's Guardians Of The Galaxy Roller Coaster Has Debuted Its Holiday Theme, And Fans Aren't Impressed

Footage from ride cam on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind 2022
(Image credit: Walt Disney World Parks)

The newest attraction at Walt Disney World, the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster is a big hit. Most fans love the ride, the new unique ride vehicle design, and the selection of six different pop songs that can play during your ride. So fans were looking forward to the new Cosmic Rewind Holiday Remix, a holiday themed overlay to be part of Epcot’s International Festival of the Holidays. But now it’s here, and people are a bit less excited.

It was surprisingly unclear just what the Holiday Remix would be, beyond some new music for the attraction, but as it turns out, that’s all it is. An original piece of music that remixes some holiday music with a Guardians of the Galaxy twist, which includes inspired lyrics  like “run, run Rocket,” now plays for every ride of Cosmic Rewind, and beyond that, nothing has changed. Fans on Twitter are less than impressed.

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There are no holiday decorations on or inside the show building. The presentation in the pre-show rooms is unchanged, so there is no reference to the fact that it is the holiday season. If you’ve been on Cosmic Rewind before, your experience is completely unchanged until the ride starts and the music begins. And then once the music stops, everything else is also normal. 

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The major issue here is that there’s something of a precedent in place that makes the Cosmic Rewind changes look cheap. Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout at Disney California Adventure has a Halloween season overlay that only runs for the second half of each day. It acts as a sequel to the events of the standard ride, and has not only new music, but a new pre-show, new dialogue from animatronic Rocket, and different screen projections during the ride. It’s basically a whole new version of the experience, and people were likely expecting something similar here. 

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Considering that the video components of Mission: Breakout, both the standard and the Halloween season changes, were filmed with the Guardians of the Galaxy cast during the production of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and the sequences for Cosmic Rewind were filled as part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, there’s no reason they could not have done some additional production for a more holiday-themed version of the ride. 

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It would seem that either nobody considered the idea of a Christmas version of Cosmic Rewind until after the fact, or it was just decided to not spend the time and money to do it up bigger. Considering how frequently cost savings does appear to drive changes in the parks, many are assuming this is the case. Regardless of the reason, it’s leading to a lot of underwhelmed guests.  

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.