Got to ride yesterday. I didn't bother to try at 7am because I didn't want to get there early in the day. Given reports during the week, there would be ample time to grab VQ at 1pm. Arrived at 12:40, with a surprising (to me) amount of cars pulling in. We had to park back in create 50. Anyways, hopped over to the land for a quick snack. At 1pm grabbed a VQ spot to return at 2:15. Hung around the Land for a bit, then checked out merch at Creations. Boarding time was updated to 2:19. Then, while looking at the Connections Cafe (I was super surprised HALF of the space was a Starbucks facing the central area!), and got notification to get on line at 2:05.
Waited 30 minutes to get to the first pre-show, and were in the cars after 45 total minutes. Some thoughts:
- I really enjoyed the queue and theming. Some have compared it to Space Mountain, to which I say.. yeah OK, but there is way more going on here.
- The best piece of the queue was the "interview" piece where the various members are getting interviewed. The only issue is that you really don't get a chance to watch a lot of it because of the speed of the line... especially when a group stops to watch, leaving a large gap that they need to fill, and everyone fills and you sorta feel obligated to move past it quickly.
- First pre-show, we were way in the front, and that was a bit neck-straining, as you need to look high to see Nova prime
- The second pre-show, we were again near the front (but directed to stand inside the white dots). Given that there were visuals on the ceiling, we turned around. It kind of messed up the BIG reveal when the walls disappear since we were facing the wrong way. A cool effect, but felt Poseidon did it way better.
- Someone mentioned the funnel. Yeah, it's not great, and I also don't like how it is on HM. They really ought to stagger it so the line for the coaster itself ends after the funnel.
- The story... is... pretty bad. The 2nd pre-show set it up well... but I think everything fell apart on the ride itself. The dialogue was hard to hear before the launch and after. The ride itself has so much going on that I was enjoying the RIDE and MOTIONS, and sort noticed that "there are people talking in the background". I've been enjoying the banter on this thread specifically as people try to reason out exactly what was happening.
- The on-ride screen visuals were really good, but I was enjoying the ride itself so much that I wasn't paying close enough attention to parse what exactly was going on. Next time, maybe I'll do better, but I was having so much FUN it didn't matter.
- Yes I was having FUN, but the little planet things stuck out to me as pretty goofy.
- I'm not prone to motion sickness, but I could sense why folks might be done for the day if they're sensitive to it. There are a lot of unusual motions that could throw people for a loop.
Overall, I loved it, and can't wait to ride it again. If I could only ride 1 ride at WDW today, this would be it.... for now. A year for now, my perception may change, but I want to ride it RIGHT NOW. Something I couldn't say about RotR. When I rode that, I was like "Hey that's cool.. what's the wait looking like for Tower of Terror?".
I expect Cosmic Rewind to remain my favorite at Epcot for a long time, though I would probably grow weary of the pre-shows.