GOG: COSMIC REWIND - PLEASE POST YOUR EXPERIENCES & QUESTIONS. I rode May 10 on AP preview

SueM in MN

combining the teacups with a roller coaster
Moderator
Joined
Aug 23, 1999
The attraction is pretty amazing, but this will be my first and last time riding it.
The first 45 seconds of the ride were open mouthed amazement and the rest of it was closed mouth trying not to throw up. Lamaze breathing is good for more than delivering babies!
I was able to get off the ride without help (although I felt shaky and seriously thought of asking a CM at the exit if they had barf bags). I was feeling better about 15 minutes after getting off, but had a bit of a headache for a few hours. It didn’t ruin my whole day, but I’m glad I never have to ride it again!

A little background: I ride the little roller coasters with no problem - Barnstormer, Flight of the Hippogriff at Universal IOA and don’t have a problem with motion sickness in general in rides like Remy, Star Tours, Dinosaur, Flight of Passage, either of the Star Wars Ride, 7 Dwarf’s Mine Train, Forbidden Journey at IOA or Soarin‘ .
I don’t like roller coasters in general, so don’t ride the big ones. I got slightly queasy at the end of Slinky Dog where it has all of the quick up and downs, but was fine by the time the ride ended. Because of that and I have read some did get motion sickness on Guardians, I took a dose of Dramamine about 45 minutes before riding. We had waited to eat lunch until after riding - very glad I did.

The building: We were allowed to take pictures outside and during the preshow/setup for the experience, but were told no cameras or filming after leaving that area.
As you get to the building, the shape of the building looks very much the way it did for Universe of Energy. A large model ship is in front of the building and there was a Photopass Photographer taking pictures. We didn’t wait for that because the line was about 40 feet long (and I did not look very presentable after riding.)
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It seems like most of the old Universe of Energy building is being used for the different ‘waiting areas‘ and preshow. This was the part where you enter the building. It’s a series of long, wide ramps with kind of futuristic music playing and the entire ceiling is a video screen showing space and sky views.
We did tell the CM at the entrance that DD had DAS because it looked like DD would probably be safe to ride it. Even with earplugs, noisy lines are torture for her; since its a new attraction, we didn’t know what the noise levels would be inside. Normally, the DAS user MUST RIDE attractions a DAS Return Time has been obtained for. Since this was an AP preview, we were not getting a DAS Return Time. DD did have a ‘ride appointment’ for it, the same as DH and I, so our riding or not riding it was not connected in any way to whether or not we used the DAS entry.
We were directed to what is probably the unmarked Lightning Lane entrance on the far right and actually entered the building at the same time as the people who had been just ahead of us in line outside.
The information I had read beforehand said the coaster was very smooth and that the restraints were secure, even for small children - she is 5 feet tall, well over the 42 inch height requirement. She has cerebral palsy and can’t walk or stand, but does enjoy rides like Rise of the Resistance and Star Tours, so we thought this might finally be a safe roller coaster for her. We also had several friends who rode in the AP and DVC reviews ahead of us and their reports made it sound like it was OK. We planned one of us would ride and if we thought it would be safe for her, the other would ride with her.
We entered on a ramp at the right of the photo and did not join/go down to the other ramped area in the photo.
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After going thru this part, the main line went thru a ‘museum’ that gives a little background of the Guardians’ story and their planet. This was a major part of the preview that we missed by using the DAS entrance. At some time in the future when it gets a Standby Line, I’ll probably take an early park morning by myself just to see that park, then use the chicken exit to avoid riding.
We bypassed that and the hallway we went thru had 3 or 4 stations like this - the video pictures were clear, but kind of ‘retro’ video appearing and didn’t take good pictures.
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After leaving this hallway, guests were ushered into another very large room where we waited for a few minutes before entering the preshow room. In the case of the AP Preview, the time element was the same/similar. We were held in the hallway and people who were just ahead of us while we were outside the building entered the building at the same time and we entered the next room with that group still ahead of us.
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In the preshow room, we were greeted by a new character, Centurion Tal Marik and Nova Prime who explain they have arranged a transport to take us ‘Terrans’ or ‘EPCOT- terrans’ to their planet.
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But, at that point, things go very wrong. The Guardians appear on the screen and we are either going on an evacuation shuttle to get away (if things go right) or helping to joining The Guardians to save the Galaxy.
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At this point, DD decided this was definitely NOT something she wanted to do. (No pictures after this point). When we got to boarding, we told the CM we wanted to do Rider Switch - the CM asked our DD if she wanted to ride, despite her still looking like she did in this picture. We said she was scared after the preshow and did not want to ride. We explained that because of her disability and us never having been on the ride before, one of us needed to ride to decide if it was safe for her. The one who rode first would decide and talk to DD about it after riding. The CM was OK with that - they don’t want someone riding if it’s not safe; Under normal situation, the DAS user must ride and guests can’t use Rider Switch to avoid the DAS user riding. The AP Preview was not a normal situation; we did not use a DAS Return Time. DD has an AP and had an AP appointment for the ride the same as DH and I did.

DH sent me on first and he was sent with DD to a room just off the boarding area to wait. Because of my not good experience, we decided it was not safe and DD did not end up riding (especially since I was in no condition to help DH load and unload her). After a few minutes of recuperation, I left with DD and DH rode.
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Boarding & Seating
No spoilers about the story

Boarding Area: I don’t know if there is more than one track and more than one boarding area, but where we boarded, the line entered the boarding room on the right side and our path went to the left, parallel with the ride ‘train’. At that point, there were a couple of CMs, asking how many in your party and directing guests into one of 2 parallel queues that went left to right from back to front of the train. It appeared that guests with mobility devices or who needed the TAV (Transfer Assist Vehicle) probably board the last car before guests enter the 2 queues.
CONFIRMED: car 10 of each group is a TAV vehicle.
That ‘asking area’ is also where we told the CM that DD would not be riding until after one of us could ride and see if it was safe. We told the CM we wanted to do Rider Switch and would make a final decision on whether or not DD rode after one of us rode. At that point, we still expected she would probably ride if we thought it was safe for her. DD and DH went out a doorway just beyond where we talked to the CM (probably also the last chicken exit opportunity - we saw several well marked exit signs before that point).
The 2 parallel queues end near the 4th car in line; there another CM asked how many in the group, measured height again for children and assigned spots.

Boarding: there are numbered dividers marking the boarding locations, but they don’t go all the way to the ride vehicle; there is an open area in front of where you board. I don’t know if there is more than 1 track. The one I was on boarded from the right side and exited from the opposite side.
The ‘train’ before the one I rode had guests already seated when I was assigned a boarding spot. They apparently had some issues with the restraints - I saw the guests asked to push up on the restraints, then the CMs talked and the one at the console released the restraints and they started over with guests pushing down the restraints to lock, then pushing back up to make sure all were secure.
I felt I had adequate time to board.

Seating: Each ride car (rocket segment?? ) has 2 rows with 2 seats in each row. Seats are individually molded with a ‘saddle horn’ in the middle of the seat. I didn’t feel the saddle horn when seated. The seat and leg room was comfortable for me (tall, size 10 female with long legs). I couldn’t really tell how low the seat was, but it seemed like a regular or just slightly lower than regular seat height.
There is a small step over the side.

Restraint: The restraint is an individual pull down padded lap bar for each seat. It‘s not just a straight bar; it has integrated grab bars and is sort of slightly contoured and has a small projection on the bottom middle (probably to help restrain smaller riders.

YouTuber Big Fat Panda (who self-identifies as a big man) indicated he felt the seat and restraint were comfortable and he didn’t feel cramped or crushed by the seat or the restraint.
The other guests seated in my ride vehicle were a dad and child who was just above the height requirement (front seat) and the mom, who was seated with me. They said they felt their child was quite secure.

Unload and Exit: Unloading was from the opposite side, so I was first in and also first out. The unload area emptied into an area with a couple of benches where my DH was waiting with our daughter for Rider Switch.
Getting out of the attraction with a wheelchair required a trip in a very large elevator, then a short trip down a hallway into another elevator and another short hallway to the exit door. At each elevator, guests could also use a wide stairway.

These screenshots from a Disney Parks Blog TikTok show the boarding area with the 2 queues, the boarding area dividers
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The boarding area beyond the dividers and 2 pictures of the ride vehicles in the boarding area. The restraints are down in these photos and the yellow markings on the floor are the areas between ride vehicles.
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Ride motions and Experience: No story spoilers.

Experience First: As I mentioned in my first post, the first 45 seconds or so were ‘open-mouth-wow amazing’ tome before I started feeling sick. Even, not feeling well, the experience was still amazing. The building seems huge and the story unfolds around you in projections that feel like you are in an endless space with the story happening all around you. I don’t know how to explain it, but the ride feels both very dark and bright at the same time - you are in outer space; some of the story related projections have dark colors, but explosions or story effects make it seem brighter in comparison to the rest of space.
It felt very fast, but that may have been a combination of actual speed and the moving projections.
On seat speakers play music and story related sounds/voices as you ride - I’ve read you could have one of 6 random songs playing during your ride (retro songs).

Ride Motions: The ride vehicle has a reverse launch, which I had no problem with. The ride is very smooth, with no track noises or jerking, similar to 7 Dwarfs without the swinging car. It’s very different from 7 Dwarfs - there are no slower times and it’s pretty much constant banks, with fairly sharp turns going immediately into a banked turn. Disney has said it has no inversions, but several friends who rode felt like it almost turned over on several banks. I didn’t notice that (but was busy trying not to be sick). Several times I was trying to get my bearings, looked down and could see the track ahead - that wasn’t much help for me since it showed how far banked we were or how tight the next turn was going to be.
Disney has termed this an ‘Omni-coaster’ - a roller coaster that uses the same ‘omni-motion’ used in Haunted Mansion. As your ride vehicle is moving forward, it also turns to face the action. The turns are smooth, no jerky, but some are fast and some turn you completely or almost completely around. Sometimes while you are also on a banked turn. I think the combination of speed, tight turns, banking and Omni motion was what did me in.

This Disney Parks YouTube video shows the ride motion on an engineering trial outside so the ride motion is very visible. If I had seen this before riding, I would not have ridden.

There are people who loved it and really tolerated the ride well.
My DH thought it was great. Our friends had both an AP preview and a DVC Preview and rode it twice.
During the Media Preview, guests were able to ride multiple times. Big Fat Panda posted that he loved it and rode 12 times on the Media Day. A reporter from AllEarsNet rode 10 times that day.
Craig from DISunplugged rode it an amazing 19 times and posted a video of his impressions. NOTE: his video does include on ride video and spoilers.

I hope other people will post their experiences and observations on this thread so we can keep things from getting fragmented.
Please also post questions and answers.
 
How far would you say that the lap bar has to come down before it “clicks” into place?
 


How far would you say that the lap bar has to come down before it “clicks” into place?
I can’t really estimate. I liked it tight, so I pulled it as far down as it would go. The woman next to me had it looser.
This short video posted by BigFatPanda shows him on the ride in video provided by Disney. Preview Guests were not allowed to film inside the boarding/unload areas or ride itself. Media guests had video provided by Disney; other Preview guests didn’t.
He looks comfy and he also posted a video of his observations. He said he felt comfortable and not tight in the ride or restraint (he admits to being a big Pooh-sized guy).

The guests who were on the vehicle while we were waiting to board included a guy who looked at least as big. He was able to click it into place.
 
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Sue would you say it was the movies (I presume there are screens around you on the ride) or the motion of the car on the track or the turning of the car that made you dizzy? Or maybe the combo. I tolerate most coasters except the giant cedar point type coasters and the backward part of Everest fine. I tolerate most motion rides fine (except sometimes simpsons at Universal almost kills me lol). I don’t tolerate teacups but do tolerate remi at Epcot or even the old spinning coaster at animal kingdom (primeval whirl). Just curious if you know what got you. I am trying to avoid spoilers so I know nothing at all about the tide or even the movies lol. We are going to try to watch them before we go this summer
 
Sue would you say it was the movies (I presume there are screens around you on the ride) or the motion of the car on the track or the turning of the car that made you dizzy? Or maybe the combo. I tolerate most coasters except the giant cedar point type coasters and the backward part of Everest fine. I tolerate most motion rides fine (except sometimes simpsons at Universal almost kills me lol). I don’t tolerate teacups but do tolerate remi at Epcot or even the old spinning coaster at animal kingdom (primeval whirl). Just curious if you know what got you. I am trying to avoid spoilers so I know nothing at all about the tide or even the movies lol. We are going to try to watch them before we go this summer
I’ll try to not include any more spoilers than I need to.
I didn’t actually feel dizzy at all or unsteady when I got off, just majorly nauseous and shaky from trying to avoid throwing up. I’m not someone who throws up easily; I had bad all day ‘morning sickness’ when I was pregnant with both my daughters, but couldn’t make myself throw up even though it felt like I would feel better. I can do Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Dumbo and other rides like that, but I need to focus on something during the ride - like taking pictures of DD in her seat or looking down. I can’t do the teacups.
I think it was a combination of everything, including not being able to focus on anything that wasn’t moving. I tried looking at the ride car floor or the track, but there was just too much motion to get any feeling of Focus..
It’s hard to explain the screens - it‘s all around you - above, below and all side. It’s seamless, so there are not transitions from one screen to another really. The best explanation I can give without giving too much away is ‘Space Mountain on steroids’. There are different scenes that pop up and your ride car turns toward the scene the ride wants you to look at. Imagine Haunted Mansion turning you to view different scenes, but really fast track and fast turns. It also seemed like I was sometimes turned backwards with the ride track banking in the other direction. So, there is sometimes a mismatch between which way you are facing and which way the car is going.

Other roller coasters have times when they are going up a hill more slowly to set you up for the next fast part and banking. This ride doesn’t do that - you go directly from one banked turn into another. Some of them are pretty sharply banked and pretty sharps turns.
There is also the music playing loudly thru the ride - we had Disco Inferno for my ride. I think between the music, the fastness of everything and the banking, it was just total sensory overload.

With a perspective of a few days, I’m glad I experienced it once. I’m also glad I don’t have to do it again because I don’t think any amount of anti-nausea medication would have much effect for me.
 


I’ll try to not include any more spoilers than I need to.
I didn’t actually feel dizzy at all or unsteady when I got off, just majorly nauseous and shaky from trying to avoid throwing up. I’m not someone who throws up easily; I had bad all day ‘morning sickness’ when I was pregnant with both my daughters, but couldn’t make myself throw up even though it felt like I would feel better. I can do Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Dumbo and other rides like that, but I need to focus on something during the ride - like taking pictures of DD in her seat or looking down. I can’t do the teacups.
I think it was a combination of everything, including not being able to focus on anything that wasn’t moving. I tried looking at the ride car floor or the track, but there was just too much motion to get any feeling of Focus..
It’s hard to explain the screens - it‘s all around you - above, below and all side. It’s seamless, so there are not transitions from one screen to another really. The best explanation I can give without giving too much away is ‘Space Mountain on steroids’. There are different scenes that pop up and your ride car turns toward the scene the ride wants you to look at. Imagine Haunted Mansion turning you to view different scenes, but really fast track and fast turns. It also seemed like I was sometimes turned backwards with the ride track banking in the other direction. So, there is sometimes a mismatch between which way you are facing and which way the car is going.

Other roller coasters have times when they are going up a hill more slowly to set you up for the next fast part and banking. This ride doesn’t do that - you go directly from one banked turn into another. Some of them are pretty sharply banked and pretty sharps turns.
There is also the music playing loudly thru the ride - we had Disco Inferno for my ride. I think between the music, the fastness of everything and the banking, it was just total sensory overload.

With a perspective of a few days, I’m glad I experienced it once. I’m also glad I don’t have to do it again because I don’t think any amount of anti-nausea medication would have much effect for me.

Thank you. This is a great explanation of it and I am wondering how I will do but I do hope to find out lol
 
There are 2 boarding areas
Thanks.
Do guests load and unload in the same direction as the boarding I used?

We boarded from right side (US car passenger side) and got off from the left side (US car driver side)
 
Thanks.
Do guests load and unload in the same direction as the boarding I used?

We boarded from right side (US car passenger side) and got off from the left side (US car driver side)

It depends on the side. One side boards from the left, the other boards from the right
 
So do you have to buy an ILL if you have a DAS? Since it’s not available for SB
You can purchase an Individual Lightning Lane.
If you don’t want to purchase, guests using DAS would need to obtain a Virtual Queue/Boarding Group the same way as other guests.
When your Boarding Group is called, contact a CM at the entrance to let them know you have DAS. After verifying DAS and valid Boarding Group, you will be directed to enter the Lightning Lane.
This thread has a lot more details/explanation
 
The thing that I find most interesting and have thought about a lot:

Some people who never/seldom have issues with motion sickness are having problems with this ride and some who have problems with lots of rides aren’t having problems. Some have also found their usual medication for motion sickness isn’t working on this and others report it working better than usual.

I think the biggest variable might be what kind of motion causes issues for people on other rides and to what extent/how it is present or combined on this.
For some people, it’s screens. For others, it’s the up and down of roller coasters, the drops or how smooth the motion is. For some it’s spinning, especially being turned in a direction that doesn’t match the direction the vehicle is going. For some, it’s banking or turns. Or how long the ‘problem’ motion lasts.

This is a fast, but smooth roller coaster with pretty much constant banking. It has a backwards launch, which wasn’t a problem for me, but might be an issue/disorienting for some.
It’s pretty much constant banking turn going right into another banking turn. Many of the turns are pretty tight and there are no lifts or slower spots to give a breather between banking. There are screens everywhere you look and the ride car uses ‘Omni-motion’ like Haunted Mansion to point your ride car toward the screen/area you are supposed to look like. Where you are pointed is often not the same direction as the vehicle is traveling.
The difference compared to Haunted Mansion is the speed of motion - it’s one thing to have your doom buggy sideways compared to the track while going slow. It’s very different to do the same thing on a fast, banked turn.

Guests who don’t have issues with those specific elements might not have issues.
And some who haven’t had issues with the elements separately or slowly might have issues with the combination.
 
We got to do our preview this past Saturday. I normally get horribly motion sick on Remy, FOP, Star Tours... pretty much any video screen ride (except Soarin, surprisingly). Spiderman at Universal is the worst for me.

I was very worried that I would be nauseous after this preview (especially after reading so many reviews) but it really was only a bit of shakiness after the ride. No nausea at all but definitely felt "off" after the ride. It cleared itself up pretty quickly once I got outside into the fresh air and had a drink of cold water.
 
I wrote this for a post on the Theme Parks board and thought it was a little clearer than what I wrote previously…

This ride is interesting because some people who normally are not prone to motion sickness got it and others who get it from almost any ride didn’t have any problems. I think it has to do with what individual people have problems with, if they are present in this ride and how they are combined in this ride.
It doesn‘t have:
- drops
- jerking movements
- bumps from going up hill
- extended spinning
- any inversions

It does have:
- a backwards launch
- very smooth motion
- almost constant banking, some of it very steep. Most roller coasters have hills or flat places where you can catch your breath and recover before the next. This one doesn’t
- some sharp turns, often while banking
- the ride car turns sideways to point you at scenes (think Haunted Mansion at high speed)
- some of the ride car turns are almost totally around
- darkness
- screens with something going on somewhere most of the time
- banking while your ride car is turned sideways

For me, I think the issues included the almost constant banking, sharp turns and the ride car being sideways while going forward on the track (often while banking.
 
Although I get motion sickness on some rides, (Star Tours and Everest) I rode this twice on Saturday, 5/28 and LOVED it!

Best ride ever! You feel like you are surfing at some points on this very smooth ride. I was in the front of the 4 person segment of the coaster the first time and in the back the second. I definitely preferred the front because you are a little lower and it feels slower. (Still very fast and thrilling)

This is my family’s favorite ride and we rank from wussy to thrill seeker. :)
 

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