Walt Disney World Resort faced operational challenges this week as Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT ceased operations, leaving thousands of guests without access to the popular Marvel-themed roller coaster. For many, the sudden closure disrupted plans, sparking frustration among parkgoers.
A Sudden Halt at EPCOT’s Star Attraction
On Wednesday morning, Walt Disney World Resort guests who had secured Virtual Queue and Lightning Lane Single Pass reservations for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind were disappointed when they arrived at EPCOT. The ride, which had already been operating at half capacity earlier in the week, did not open alongside the rest of the park.
Redditor u/mickyrow42 shared a screenshot of the My Disney Experience app, which showed the ride’s status as unavailable throughout the morning. Guests expecting to ride found themselves unable to access the attraction despite having valid reservations.
Guardians has yet to open today.
Guardians has yet to open today.
byu/mickyrow42 inWaltDisneyWorld
“I knew me being able to join the VQ AND get a LLSP for today was too good to be true,” commented Redditor u/spamgoddess.
Another guest, u/meinmyownhead502, wrote: “Threw a wrench into my opening day plans but this happens.”
Operational Struggles Earlier This Week
The closure followed days of reduced operations at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Earlier in the week, only one side of the dual-track coaster was functioning, causing significant delays. Early Boarding Groups were called late into the evening, with some guests waiting up to two hours to ride. Others, whose groups were never called, received messages informing them they could not be accommodated.
Lightning Lane guests faced delays of up to 90 minutes, an unusually long wait for the expedited access option.
Behind the Scenes of Cosmic Rewind: What’s Going On?
According to a Disney cast member who spoke with a guest, the breakdown may have been caused by a part overheating. The guest explained that technicians were working late into Tuesday evening to diagnose and resolve the issue, adding:
“They have been able to keep the ride running by sending out fewer cars at a specific interval until the part arrives and is implemented and fixed. (Hence running only one side right now, and how slow groups are being called).”
While Walt Disney World Resort has not issued an official statement on the matter, the cast member expressed optimism that the issue could be resolved by the end of the week.
“Of course, who knows if what he said was the full story or actual situation, but he seemed knowledgeable and hopefully time will show he was on point!” the EPCOT guest said.
As of this writing, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind remains closed, and there is no official reopening timeline. Follow Disney Dining for updates on this developing story.
*Editor’s Note: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has reopened.
Has a ride breakdown impacted your visit to Magic Kingdom ParkDisney’s Disney’s Hollywood StuDisney’s Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park? Disney Dining would love to hear from you in the comments!
Same happened with Rise of the Resistance on Thanksgiving. We had planned to ride around 10 am. Waited around doing other stuff until 3, but finally decided we needed to leave because we had a dessert party at MK that evening. I had our LLSP refunded –the ride opened about 4. Guest experience in person and on the app’s chat wouldn’t do anything but give the refund (I was told that WAS my compensation) or give us a LL for something else to make up for the wasted time—EXTREMEMLY FRUSTRATING!! Just the time of waking up early to secure the RISE LLSP and lingering around when we could have done something else put a very sour task in my mouth! My daughter and husband on the said it felt less magical from CM’s.
It’s not unusual to have RIR operating at low capacity with all sorts of broken set pieces, TOT operating at half capacity with intermittent breakdowns and Rockin Rollercoaster closed. At the same time Slinky Dog is breaking down. At MK you can have Space Mountain experiencing intermittent daily breakdowns, Tiana’s operating at low, low capacity and still having breakdown’s, Haunted Mansion at half capacity, and intermittent breakdowns of Seven Dwarves Minetrain. Add to that Tron and Peter Pan having issues as well.
Our first day of our Disney vacation was on Wednesday December 4th. We scheduled that day around our favorite ride Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind. Not only did we get into the first virtual queue at 7:00am, with a group boarding of 15, but we also paid for the Lightening Lane so that we could ride it twice that day! We spent hours waiting to see if Guardians would open. We finally decided we had to go to a different park since there was nothing else we wanted to do. We were able to have a nice couple of hours at Hollywood Studios. We then saw that Guardians was running so we spent the time to go back to Epcot. We used our paid Lightening Lane and got in line. We were maybe 3 cars away from being on when they made the folks in the car get out. We waited about 30 minutes to see if it was just a temporary thing. After seeing no signs of coming back on we left. Our bands were scanned and we were told that we could come back the next day. I saw the redemption Lightening Lane on My Disney Experience, but by the next morning Disney had taken it off. I complained to our resort front desk and given the Lightening Lane back to use that day, which was Thursday 12/5. We were able to use it and we rode the ride three times during the duration of our trip. I understand things happen and I never got mad at the cast members working (they would rather be up and running then have to disappoint guests). My problem is with Disney and the attitude that “we can’t control problems and we can’t guarantee that every ride will be working, deal with it”I mean we spent so much money and saved all year long to go to Disney. We deserve better than wasting hours on a day that cost us over 1k on a ride that continuously malfunctions. I lost some of that Disney magic on this trip. On the same day we experienced Tiana’s Bayou, Haunted Mansion and Rise of the Resitance down. That’s a big disappointment.