EPCOT Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind attraction confirmed for Epcot

[HauntedPirate]

I like them too. But they only work for certain rides. I think people would have much better preferred a speederbike coaster than ROTR.

Who would have preferred that, the fans of those old, tired movies who have money to spend or the execs that brought you a stunning, exciting NEW TRILOGY(!!!)?

Put me in the camp of the former.

 

[Professortango1]

Who would have preferred that, the fans of those old, tired movies who have money to spend or the execs that brought you a stunning, exciting NEW TRILOGY(!!!)?

Put me in the camp of the former.

I'll take Old Man Luke and Kylo over Luke and Vader. Rey and Finn mean we get to have live actors record their stuff vs CGI de-aged monster versions of Luke, Tarkin, and Solo. The visual language and characters are pretty much the same and changing the era of the Star Wars wouldn't affect much in the ride experience.

I just want our Old Man Luke Jedi show like the Olivander's show. Give me a surly CM character giving the side eye to some kid moving things with the Force and I'm there.

 

[James Alucobond]

2) If you want to use the trackless features... its a big open floor
3) If you don't want a open floor, you can't use the full extent of the trackless features (like the elevator/escape pods on ROTR).

I mean ... that's kind of the point. It allows you to seamlessly transition between more traditional movement in narrow corridors and free movement in open spaces. If that doesn't feel natural within the context of the ride, it's a failure to design spaces and scenarios that make sense in conjunction with the complementary movement types.

 

[UNCgolf]

For sure, the second DAK attendance rebounds, Passage will surge. Though particularly since it does have meaningfully lower capacity than the other two.

I wonder how much capacity actually affects wait times, at least as a measure of ride popularity. Obviously it has some effect, especially when it comes to very low or very high capacity rides, but at some point it just becomes are people willing to wait more than an hour (or whatever number) to ride this. A ride isn't going to get a 120 minute wait just because it's low capacity; it has to be really popular for people to be willing to get in a line with that posted time.

And yes, of course if you could change a 1000 per hour capacity attraction to 3000 per hour it would have a lower wait simply because there are a limited number of people in the park -- it's unlikely you're ever going to have 6000 people waiting in any single queue on an average day -- but I still think that once the wait time hits a certain number it's essentially a measurement of popularity regardless of capacity.

 

[BrianLo]

I wonder how much capacity actually affects wait times for the most popular attractions. Obviously it has some effect, especially when it comes to very low or very high capacity rides, but at some point it just becomes are people willing to wait more than an hour (or whatever number) to ride this. A ride isn't going to get a 120 minute wait just because it's low capacity; it has to be really popular for people to be willing to get in a line with that posted time.

The Soarin and TSMM third theatres helped give us a clearer answer. TSMM went down 38% and Soarin was initially 19%, but that was confounded from new film demand.

I’d say it’s a ~2/3rd impact of capacity and ~1/3rd impact of guest psychology. All else being equal.

 

[UNCgolf]

The Soarin and TSMM third theatres helped give us a clearer answer. TSMM went down 38% and Soarin was initially 19%, but that was confounded from new film demand.

I’d say it’s a ~2/3rd impact of capacity and ~1/3rd impact of guest psychology. All else being equal.

I edited my post as you were quoting to address increasing capacity!

Also interestingly enough, it actually doesn't seem like adding the third theater did that much to reduce wait times at TSMM. The average wait for TSMM only showed a major drop after they opened Galaxy's Edge; there was a smaller drop after the third theater opened but the big one was post-GE. I think building the third theater instead of a new attraction was a mistake.

Who knows if these numbers are accurate, but I'm seeing the average wait as 73 minutes in 2015, and 62 minutes in 2018. Then it drops to mid 30s after GE.

Regardless, I suppose that's part of the issue with the whole conversation. There are just so many other factors at play.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Even all these years later it is insane to me that they spent an unfathomable amount of money on this ride and it just does not show. The queue is mostly bare walls, some screens, and RGB lights. The ride itself is some kind of cross breed between Aerosmith and Space Mountain for theming. Did the box and gut/rebuild of UoE really eat THAT much money? Agree with others that it seems like one of their goals was to design it not for Guardians but for whatever the next theme ends up being.

GotG is a “good ride”. That would still be equally “good” if all the theming and effects were removed and it was just the coaster in a black box with the music. Heck, you could probably take the box, too. Which all means that while it’s a “good ride,” it’s an absolutely awful theme park attraction.

 

[Disstevefan1]

For Today's Disney, GotG just needed good enough to SELL LLs!

 

[Casper Gutman]

I like the trackless ride vehicles... but it really has 3 major flaws.
1) reliability
2) If you want to use the trackless features... its a big open floor
3) If you don't want a open floor, you can't use the full extent of the trackless features (like the elevator/escape pods on ROTR).

I still think Universal got the best dark ride tech in the kuka arm... does anyone know when Disney is allowed to use it? I think Disneyland is using it for the smaller Marvel ride.

I’d argue the best dark ride tech is either the classic omnimover or the SCOOP and that it’s not particularly close.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I like the trackless ride vehicles... but it really has 3 major flaws.
1) reliability
2) If you want to use the trackless features... its a big open floor
3) If you don't want a open floor, you can't use the full extent of the trackless features (like the elevator/escape pods on ROTR).

I still think Universal got the best dark ride tech in the kuka arm... does anyone know when Disney is allowed to use it? I think Disneyland is using it for the smaller Marvel ride.

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a trackless, but not a true trackless, ride that doesn’t have big open floor spaces and is focused on its elevators. Fully tracked roller coasters like Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure features switching to different tracks and a drop element. The big thing true trackless is really good for is not having to make a decision and commit to a ride path(s).

 

[BrianLo]

I’d argue the best dark ride tech is either the classic omnimover or the SCOOP and that it’s not particularly close.

I’m also positive on the SDL POTC boats. Very high capacity, dynamic, timed scenes (if you want), can’t overtly see the ride path. It seems to operationally run well. We just don’t have enough installations.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

I'll give you that preshow 2 and the load area are nice. Everything else (including the exit, almost forgot about that one!) is bare walls, screens, and lights. A couple glass display cases in 10% of the queue don't make up for the unthemed 90% to me

The entrance, queue areas with displays and pre shows all felt futuristic to me. The load area also feels highly themed to me. The only thing that feels lacking is the exit which they have an in universe explanation of it being backstage. A cop out? Maybe so, but the rest feels futuristic to me.

 

[HMF]

If GOTG popularity goes way down in 20 years, at least it will be easy to re-theme

I certainly hope so but how would it be made to actually work within EPCOT's theme?

 

[HMF]

Agree with others that it seems like one of their goals was to design it not for Guardians but for whatever the next theme ends up being.

To be honest I really hope that is indeed the case for when Iger and his IP mandate are hopefully gone.

 

[HMF]

Well the same thing is gonna happen to the attraction that happened to the Universe of Energy. We had 90s Bill Nye and Ellen, which made the attraction seem so outdated.

Yes, much of the stuff WDI created in the late 90s aged horribly. Honestly the fact that Ellen lasted over 20 years is almost unforgivable even if what ended up happening was an inferior replacement of the inferior replacement.

 

[HMF]

So pretty much like the current Rock-n-Roller Coaster preshow.

I believe the pre-show is already (stupidly) roped off.

 

[James Alucobond]

I certainly hope so but how would it be made to actually work within EPCOT's theme?

It could very easily be made into a generic "learn about and then go back in time to experience the big bang" ride. Using science fantasy (e.g. shrinking to explore the body) is not out of character for the park.

 

[HMF]

Ehhh… not really.

Epcot attendance in 2019: 12.444 million

GotG opened in 2022

Epcot is still at a lower number than 2019 attendance figures. It’s roughly at 2017 attendance figures. Roughly.

It really is depressing how as bad as it was, I would take EPCOT in 2019 over the current mess.

 

[HMF]

It could very easily be made into a generic "learn about and then go back in time to experience the big bang" ride. Using science fantasy (e.g. shrinking to explore the body) is not out of character for the park.

I would go for a stronger premise but it's better than GOTG.

 

[plutofan15]

I believe the pre-show is already (stupidly) roped off.

Yes, I am aware that it is.