As of late February 2025, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is no longer using a virtual queue during EPCOT’s normal operating hours since it opened over Memorial Day weekend nearly 3 years ago. During those 1,002 days, the ride only posted a wait time and used a standby line during hard ticket, limited capacity parties.
As such, this marks the first time ever that we’ve seen just how popular and in-demand one of Walt Disney World’s newest headliner attraction is during a regular operational environment. Will it be EPCOT’s longest wait time, dethroning Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure? Given the lack of ‘adult’ attractions with Test Track closed for reimagining, could it also surpass Slinky Dog Dash, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Avatar Flight of Passage, TRON Lightcycle Run, or other headliners? We’re about to find out.
Before we get going, we want to reiterate that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind switching to standby will have huge ramifications on step-by-step EPCOT itineraries. This is the biggest change in over a decade for EPCOT strategy, more so than any of the other new rides that have debuted during that time. Not even the switch from Extra Magic Hours to Early Entry/Extended Evening Hours or free FastPass being replaced by Lightning Lanes was as impactful. Those were somewhat lateral shifts, whereas this introduces a new mega E-Ticket headliner with a regular line.
With that said, we also want to caution that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is dropping its virtual queue in the heart of EPCOT’s off-season. There’s a reason why Walt Disney World strategically timed the switch to standby this week. It’s the calm after Mid-Winter Break last week and before the Spring Break storm, and one of our 10 Best Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2025. At EPCOT, specifically, it’s also a brief window between two festivals.
It’s also true that there are tons of bloggers, vloggers, and influencers who want to be the first to do Cosmic Rewind’s standby line, for whatever reason. But it’s not like ordinary Annual Passholders and locals are going to come out of the woodwork, taking time off work, for this switch to standby. This is nothing like a new attraction opening in terms of demand, as should be obvious.
Then there’s the reality that EPCOT operations has very little experience with this ride having a regular queue, meaning that the posted wait times are going to be all over the place, often divorced from their actual waits (in ways both good and bad). They are figuring this out as they go.
What I’m saying is that the first few days of Cosmic Rewinds’s standby line will be nothing like the start of Flower & Garden or heart of Spring Break (Orange County’s recess is right around the corner in mid-March), which will be nothing like mid-May or when Test Track 3.0 opens. If you’re visiting for Easter or this Christmas and want to know how this queue will impact you, it’s too early to tell. The outcomes from February simply won’t be reliable for March through late April.
For those wanting more reliable recommendations, we’ll be field testing strategy for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, but only once crowd levels increase starting with Mardi Gras and continuing with Spring Break in March and April.
There are a couple of things worth noting. The first is that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is open for Early Entry at EPCOT, which explains its higher wait time as of 9 am. It had already been operating for 30 minutes at that point, which is sufficient time for the bulk of on-site Early Entry guests to make their way to the attraction and elevate wait times for the regular rope drop crowd.
The second is that both Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After had sporadic downtime throughout the first day of Cosmic Rewind’s standby line, including in the first couple hours of the day. In theory, this could have increased wait times for Cosmic Rewind. In practice, we’re not sure just how impactful this is (yet). It’s much more likely that one of those rides going down would increase wait times at the other, given their location in World Showcase and family-friendly demographics. Still, Cosmic Rewind could see a slight bump.
Cutting to the chase, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind posted a 35 minute wait time to start the morning, from Early Entry through regular rope drop. Shortly thereafter, it inched up to 45 and then 50 minutes. Without being there, I’m going to hazard a guess that the actual wait at ~9:25 a.m. was not the posted 50 minutes, but rather, much higher. I’m pretty confident in this just judging by photos of the extended queue and knowing what the approximate actual wait is once the line is out the door.
In any case, only a couple minutes later, the wait time for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind skyrocketed from 50 minutes to 170 minutes in one fell swoop. That’s where it stayed for a whopping ~6 minutes, before plummeting to a still-high 135 minutes. That wait time only lasted ~9 minutes, before it was down to “only” 110 minutes.
By 9:46 a.m., Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was down to an 85 minute posted wait time. At the risk of stating the obvious, the previous ~15 minutes worth of posted wait times were wrong. It’s not like you could get in line at 9:25 a.m. and only wait 50 minutes, whereas someone lining up 5 minutes later would wait 170 minutes and someone jumping in another 10 minutes after that would wait 85 minutes. That defies the laws of, I dunno, something. Unless we’re using jump points to travel through time and space. So fitting for Cosmic Rewind, I suppose.
This type of ‘whiplash effect’ with wait times actually happens a lot. A really low wait time will entice a lot of guests all at once, and in response, the posted wait time skyrockets. We’ve pointed out previously that it’s better to anticipate when wait times will drop rather than reacting to it. Otherwise, you’ll be part of the flood of guests all arriving around the same time, rather than riding the wave, so to speak. Regardless, that whiplash effect cannot occur in such extremes–in both directions–in such a short timeframe. That is not possible.
As intimated above, we also know from past experience that the actual wait time is roughly 60 minutes when the standby line hits the front entrance. Of course, this can vary based on the allocation of capacity and inflow of guests through the Lightning Lane (both paid and otherwise), as well as operational efficiency. Nevertheless, it’s a rough rule of thumb and one that we’ll continue to monitor as the dust settles on the standby line.
After 9:45 a.m., the wait time for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind never again hit triple digits. The rest of the day was mostly uneventful, with a wait time range of 50 to 65 minutes for the vast majority of the midday stretch.
There were a couple of spikes to 70 minutes, but it was remarkably consistent after the rope drop rush and those ping-ponging waits. In fact, there were multiple times when we spotted 2-3 other attractions with higher wait times than Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind! (Again, downtime elsewhere in EPCOT played a role there.)
The most noteworthy trend is that Cosmic Rewind’s wait time ticked up in the evening, increasing to 70 minutes at around 5 p.m., 75 minutes by 6:45 p.m., and 85 minutes at around 7:15 p.m. By around 8:00 p.m., it started a slow and steady decline to 50 minutes, which was the posted wait time at park closing. This was almost certainly overstated, as is always the case with wait times in the last hour of the evening, as they act as a deterrent.
From this, we have a few preliminary observations. The first is that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is going to be a great option during Early Entry. This includes guests arriving via International Gateway, and will remain true even as crowds increase and if the holding points for Early Entry evolve (they already have!). Assuming, of course, you’re willing to make the long walk.
What’s more of an open question is whether Cosmic Rewind will be the best Early Entry option. This might be premature after only two mornings, but I’m starting to think it will not. Cosmic Rewind may siphon off enough International Gateway guests that it becomes easier to hit Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After before regular rope drop.
Once Test Track reopens (and the initial fanfare dies down), it may be possible to quickly knock out all 3 with minimal morning waits by mid-2026. Talk about getting ahead of ourselves, though.
We’re also fully expecting there to be a mid-morning lull for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. This is an easy prediction, as there always is for these headliners. The “when” of this is actually the most difficult because it depends on the cadence of rope crowd crowds causing wait times to spike. Thus far through 2 mornings, we haven’t really seen this, but it’s a slow week for EPCOT.
This dynamic occurs as a bit of an accordion effect, as people start seeing the posted wait time imbalance and avoiding the attraction in question. And then suddenly, it drops dramatically. This regularly happened at Magic Kingdom pre-TRON at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train; it would have a 90 minute wait at 9:30 am while almost every other attraction is at 30 minutes or less. The logical guest thus avoided SDMT and does something else. That happens en masse, producing the aforementioned dynamic.
Midday should continue to be fairly consistent, even once Mardi Gras and Spring Break roll around. Wait times will just be consistently higher then. The real wildcards are after work once EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival starts, and on weekends.
Normally, the front of the park starts emptying out later in the day as guests move on to World Showcase. However, we’d expect locals arriving after work will cause a more pronounced spike during festivals (and all day on weekends).
The last hour of the day should be reliably lower, regardless of what posted wait times reflect. The front of EPCOT hollows out as every is getting spots for Luminous: The Symphony of Us. Aside from Early Entry, this is the best time to do any ride in EPCOT–especially those in the former Future World. The only downside is it sacrifices watching the fireworks and just generally enjoying World Showcase at night.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see how long 170 minutes remains the peak wait time for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. My guess is that it will not exceed that high-water mark for the remainder of this month, but will once March rolls around. One thing I am confident in predicting is that we have yet to see the peak wait time for Cosmic Rewind in 2025.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is almost certainly the caliber of attraction that’ll hit 3-hour lines from time to time in peak crowd levels. To be clear, I’m not suggesting this will happen with any degree of regularity (it won’t), but it’ll be something to watch for around Easter and maybe Mardi Gras, first weekend of Flower & Garden, or Orange County’s Spring Break.
It’s also possible this spike will occur earlier, or at a random time if one of the loading stations goes down. On the other hand, it helps that Cosmic Rewind has a very healthy hourly capacity, usually operates efficiently, and is one of the most reliable new attractions at Walt Disney World of the last decade.
At the very least, EPCOT is going to be significantly busier starting next week, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind should pretty easily be able to hit two hours with regularity. I think 120+ minute peak posted wait times throughout March and April are pretty safe bets. The better question is where Cosmic Rewind will rank among all attractions at Walt Disney World. It’s already pretty clear it will not be the #1 wait time resort-wide, but will it be the longest wait at EPCOT, or will Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure surpass it? Should be interesting to see, but in any case, it’s safe to say the worst case doom and gloom predictions are not going to play out.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you predict the peak posted wait time will be for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in March and April? What’s your optimal approach and time of day to ride Cosmic Rewind? What would you recommend to Walt Disney World first-timers? Will you stick to standby at one of the ideal times or buy a Lightning Lane Single Pass? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
