WDW Radio # 678 – Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind Review, Easter Eggs, Tips, and More!

Lou Mongello: [00:00:00] When Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced in 2010, that a guardians of the galaxy movie was in development. There was this overwhelming collective reply of who like core at the porcelain were in, in guardians of the galaxy, replying to CoStar Lord saying that he's star Lord, but little did we know that?

After just a few minutes into the film that we would be all in and little. Did we know that we'd instantly fall in love with star Lord a very angry raccoon, a tree with an admittedly limited vocabulary and a vibe that continues to remain unlike anything else in the MCU. And now 12 years later, we have the second attraction built around these characters and stories and the.

Uh, a few firsts in Walt Disney world. And so this week put on your legwarmers and your Z Cavariccis as we take a trip. Dare I say a little bit of a wild ride around the galaxy with some of our favorite super ish heroes. As we look at guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind in Epcot center and speaking of a couple of far out space.

Please, let me know if you'd get that reference. I am joined once again this week by Becky Mankin from MEI and mouse fan travel

Beci Mahnken: and, and you know, that very angry raccoon is my spirit animal. Right. Just wanting to have that.

Lou Mongello: And once he did, there's a, there's a little town back there once again. Uh, I am welcome.

I want to welcome back my friend, Jeremiah. Good from laughingplace.com.

Jeremiah Good: Uh, I'm putting it on some Drakkar Noir right now, as we put our Z Cavariccis to that's scary. That's scary.

Lou Mongello:

[00:02:00] I want to welcome you both back to the show and thank you by the way, because the only thing that could have made guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind better was being able to spend the day and the night and the second day and night, uh, with you and full disclosure, we were all invited by Disney, uh, to a preview of guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind.

I will say this at the outset, we will remain somewhat spoiler free ish, but it's really hard to, so if you don't want to be spoiled, go ride, come back. But I think even you can listen to this with a little bit of spoils, because we also want to make sure that we point out some of the things that you absolutely need to pay attention to and look for in an out and throughout the attraction.

And. This really is a long time coming, not just this podcast, but this attraction, because if you remember, this was first announced back in 20 seventeens, D 23 expo. When they mentioned that there was going to be this massive overhaul of Epcot center. And it was later that year that Elon's energy, adventure crisis was closed.

And then it was about two years later that they finally reveal the name, which was going to be cosmic guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind. Um, let's talk just for a second about this announcement itself, because if you want to make Disney fans lose their mind, tell them something is going to change. So, uh, Becky, and then Jeremiah, give me your thoughts about the announcement and the loss of LN and the idea of.

Bringing in a new coaster to Epcot center and we have to address sort of the Marvel doesn't belong in Epcot conversation. That was very quickly brought up on most places. It's a salute to most social media networks, but mostly. [00:04:00]

Beci Mahnken: Uh, pretty much for me, I was excited because I, you know, I'm one of those that doesn't really get torn into the tornado of we're losing something and screaming about it.

I always look forward to what's coming while your Ellen's was fun. It did actually have a little bit of this Dahlia, but I was looking so forward to what could possibly take its place because technology has kind of changed since that first made its way onto the Epcot stage. And, you know, guardians of the galaxies always been one of my favorite groups within the Marvel universe.

So knowing that they were going to bring this new flavor into Epcot, it was weird for me though, because I was thinking, how could they possibly make this fit into the Epcot story? They figured out how, and it. Brilliantly. So personally I was all for it. I was excited to see what it was a rollercoaster for me.

However, it is sometimes it can be something that I'm excited about something sometimes I'm not because sometimes they're a little intense, so I'm really glad we're having this conversation because I think it'll clear up the mystery for some people who might be concerned about it.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah. I, I could not agree with you more Becky, for me, guardians of the galaxy.

Lou, you touched upon the intro when the movie was first announced. I, you know, I think you and I may be some of the only people that knew how much fun they could be. We never thought that they would become what they did. Like those movies. If I had to put in a movie of the MCU right now and watch it, it would be there one or two for the guardians.

So I was lucky enough to be at San Diego. Comic-Con when they announced mission breakout. And that was, you know, you, you talk about Disney fans and the change San [00:06:00] Diego, Comic-Con had every aspect of fan there and the overwhelming cheer coming out of Southern California, which Disney world fans and Epcot fans, her, you know, the diehards, but you say something's changed.

And in California you can almost plan for a riot right there. But the cosmic rewind when it was first announced. And the funny thing was when I was looking back at the history, it was announced what, two months before the attraction close, like it was done done, and they didn't give us time to go, oh no, how dare they?

I appreciate how quickly it closed. I would have appreciated opening it a little bit quicker, but you know, we had a pandemic and that kind of stuff, but I love this attraction and we'll get into more of the details of what I feel like it later on.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. I think there were, there were a few sort of sentiments and feelings at play here.

Right? There's. The quote, unquote, loss of Ellen's energy, adventure. Look, I don't think there was a lot of people chaining themselves to the fence that they didn't want Ellen's energy, adventure to go. I think for a lot of people, it was, Hey, we have two hours to kill. I need a little air conditioning, my baby let's, let's call it what it is.

But you know, it's what I call it's the same thing that maelstrom had. Right? It's the ex-girlfriend effect. You want to make some, right? Like, no, no, don't leave me. I love you so much. Yeah. But you never came over. Like that's what happened with maelstrom. It's what happened with Ellen's. I think it was also interesting that some people are like, well, wait a minute, why are we putting a rollercoaster in Epcot in future roll that doesn't belong.

But it really was this Marvel doesn't fit in Epcot. No, look, a lot of us who are Marvel fans were very happy to see anything Marvel coming, but it was the, how do we connect the dots between Marvel and this Epcot [00:08:00] purism sentiment that we feel and whether it was. Designed from the very beginning or if it was something that was OMG, how do we sort of satiate the feelings of these Epcot fans and make sure it fits in the fact that they're calling this the very first other world showcase pavilion is like the guardians it's cheesy and it's brilliant.

And I love this twist that you're not coming to world showcase to visit another country. You're coming to future world to visit another planet, which is Zandar.

Jeremiah Good: Uh, you were coming to world celebration and world discovery to celebrate Zandar nomenclature is key. Mr. Mandela.

Lou Mongello: I'm still, I'm still getting used to just not calling it a future world.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah. But I think that that's the brilliant part of it is that they turned it into, um, a showcase, a place to come in and visit the Zen Dorians and learn about their, their world. I, I think that that spin on the theming and the story was pretty much brilliant.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah. I can remember it. Sorry to cut you off the, the announcement.

Really. We knew three things coming in announcement. It was going to be in world show or in future world, it was still a future. Well, then it was taking over Ellen's energy, adventure, and the main reason behind it was Peter Quill when he was a child, went to Epcot and loved Epcot. So of course it makes sense.

And those things were all we knew. And I think going into it, that's all you really need to know. Is it just fits so perfect in that

Lou Mongello: location? Yeah, it makes sense. Once you get into the attraction and obviously we're going to have to sort of walk our way through it before we enter into the Oso glorious air conditioning, that is this pavilion.

It was interesting to watch, especially being local, [00:10:00] watch the building come together and the same words continually be used for this show. Huge massive mammoth. Like you cannot get a sense of just how big that show building is until you get next to it. And because it doesn't just take over the original universe of energy pavilion, but in case you haven't missed it, there's this giant show building that covers more than 200,000 square feet.

And the statistic that Imagineering uses that you can fit four spaceship earths inside this building. And when you get up close to it, and I know Jeremiah, we had a chance to sort of walk into a very small section for a preview a number of months ago. And you even saw the size of those support structures.

You really get a sense of just how large this building and it pays off because of the length of the attraction, how long and large it really is.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah, I, when we walked in, I can remember the pure excitement of walking back there. And you really don't have a concept of how huge that building is. And one of the things that we experienced was the first day of this, or the morning of the event, they dropped this off and we had to walk underneath it and just, you know, walking.

I, I figured, I feel kinda like I'm in New York for the first time and you're walking next to a skyscraper and you're just, you have to lean back and almost hold to look all the way up. And that's how the building feels to me.

Beci Mahnken: I was watching it as it went up and of course the paint on it to blend into the sky.

Amazing. But I usually come in from international gateway, so I saw it from afar. So the building's like, yeah, that looks pretty big. It wasn't until I first came in the front entrance of Epcot [00:12:00] where you could see that building right next to spaceship earth and realize just how huge that show building is.

And obviously after writing it, you realize why.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. So I want to, I want to take you through, and I think this will help maybe, uh, if you're listening and haven't seen it yet. And I, and it's so hard, right? Because I, I, in a perfect world, you want people to see these things with their own eyes first, as opposed to watching a video or the understanding to that video has helped get you excited.

But I do want to give you a little bit of an idea of what the Q experience is like. And I, and I really do think it is an experience because. There's a lot to it. And I want to talk about everything from the design to the story, and then to the sort of this virtual kind of step-by-step walkthrough through the many elements and then talk a little bit, or a lot of it.

Cause there's a lot, um, you know, top 100 Easter eggs in the queue of, of guardians of the galaxy. And as soon as you walk in you, you get the sense that the first thing I thought was I almost got this feeling in this vibe of like test track in terms of the modern lines, the color, the lighting. Um, and one of the things that I find interesting about the queue, and again, as we sort of break it down, section by section is this integration of queue areas that you walk in sort of the, the line areas and then the.

For lack of a better word. Like it's like going to the doctor's office, like there's the first waiting room and then the doctor will see you now. And then you come into the second waiting room and they go to the third one. And then finally you see the doctor, that's sort of how it is there, but the thing that strikes me most, and the thing that I can't wait to touch on too, when we get to some of the Easter eggs is the, the love and the respect and the acknowledgement of Epcot.

Um, Jeremiah, you touched on this idea of Star-Lord [00:14:00] visiting Epcot as a kid, um, and why this all sort of ties in and make sense. And we'll talk to about the villain that we were first introduced as we go through this. I'm also going to touch on my, I have one, I have one issue. I have one issue and we will get to, and I'll see if, if the two of you agree or, or, or saw or felt the same thing that I did.

Gimme a first-year thoughts in terms of when you turn that corner, when you first walked into the, the first section of the queue, and we'll talk about the, the galaxy Miriam, what your initial impression was, uh, Becky and John.

Beci Mahnken: Honestly, it did have that modern line. It was sleek. It's it's um, it's very shiny because of course that's what you think of when you think about going into outer space for some reason.

But honestly, the first thing I thought of was is it going to be a laser light show for pink Floyd or something? It really did have that whole planetarium type feel to it when you first walk in and you're, you are immediately drawn to the projections that are happening above you. And I do love the design of it that just has that sweeping, um, ramp that circles its way up as you make your way through that, that initial room.

Um, but that's, that's all you wanted honesty. That's exactly what I thought. Was it some, somewhere along the line, we're going to have a laser.

Jeremiah Good: For me, uh, I have a couple of different thoughts on this one. Initially, when you walk through that door and how you were saying, you feel the test track, I almost felt more of a universe of energy feel with that wall right in front of you.

And one of the things Mack, the person who was traveling with me, I'm pretty sure almost every time we walked in there, when I walked in, I wanted to go to the left because it's essentially the old entrance where you walk in [00:16:00] and you can go left or right into the old pre-show area for universe of energy.

So I'd always keep going left because nobody ever went to the left. As the old story goes and I run into the wall. I didn't literally, I may have literally run into the wall once or twice, but when I turned the corner and you see the galaxy area and Lou, did you get a chance to hear much of the audio in that area?

Lou Mongello: So I did. And it was going to touch on that because not only is it wonder it's SU it's like a 30 minute long loop.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah. 32 minutes is what the imaginers had said to us. And, um, I was only able to sit there for about 12. So I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to jump to one of your Easter eggs right away for me.

And both of you may have this feeling also to me, it was almost Tron light cycle run type feel to how the modern new lines. And then the other thing, what really hit me almost more than that is the images I am. I'm a huge world. Fair nut. So I look at the 64 65 New York world's fair. And the Fords magic Skyway, which just so happened to be where the dinosaurs originally came from.

And that Q how wound around and you saw the different scenes. To me. I never got a chance to see the original Q, but the photos I've seen, it almost feels like that's what they kind of based it off of. And now I wish I could go back and ask them engineers, like, was this one of your inspirations, but that the galaxy Nerium just beautiful with the winding curves and everything.

And of course the screen, which will now go into loos, Easter egg talk.

Lou Mongello: Well, and I think it's a really smart, um, and I loved her, the connective tissue from Ford's magic Skyway because there is a lot of there is going to be a lot of, of [00:18:00] those Easter eggs and things like that in there. So you almost have to believe that it was.

Deliberate. And the reason why you're in this planetarium is it helps to set the stage, not just visually put in terms of story, because there is this Zen Darian supercomputer called the world mind, which provides the narration in this 30 minute long loop, which takes place in this screen above your head, like a planetarium or like flight to the moon mission to Mars and this super hold, all of the collective knowledge and information and experiences and memories of the people of Zandar.

So. If you listen and watch very carefully, not only are the visuals stunning, but this is where you start to get some of the insertion of the guardians of the galaxy, the Peter Quill story, and his shared memories hidden sort of shared, um, uh, time that he spent in Epcot center.

Beci Mahnken: I'm really glad that you guys are filling in the blanks because every time that I went in, I didn't get the audio.

They had it shut down for different interviews that were going on. So please. Talking about it because I got just the visual watched the sequences that were going on. I did hear though, that that loop was going to be 30 some odd minutes, but like you, I stood there for a while. Caught it for a bit. There was no audio.

So just kept on

Jeremiah Good: going. No, it was one of those things. When we walked in, I was lucky enough to be one of the first people everybody's kind of going in and doing different things at the media event, I asked Ryan, I was like, can we go on? And they said, oh, absolutely. So cut right in and stood there for a couple of minutes.

But then later in the night, when everything was back to normal, I probably stood there about twenty-five minutes watching that loop and they do an [00:20:00] amazing job of explaining world mind and.

And getting the, that the Peter quilt touches like world mine talks about how Peter was teaching her things. And it plays on those little puns of parent talk versus Zan Darian talk. Um, but it was, that was one of those things like I'm ready to be in that queue, at least in that area for an extended amount of time to watch it

Lou Mongello: more, uh, spoiler Jeremiah, when you go back, you will be in that queue for an extended period of time.

And we'll talk about the throughput and then the reason, but look, the, the reason why these things are there. And I think the CR. Itself is a very, very well-designed because again, we obviously understand that we have the privilege and opportunity to see it in a way that most guests don't, but I understand why it was designed the way it was.

And I imagined myself being able to spend time. And that's why I sort of walking in and talking our way through it. But it's from the galaxy. That that's central planetarium. You go into the second phase of the queue, which is the Zandar gallery, where you can learn more about the Zen Darian people. And it's a, it's a history and cultural lessons through vignettes and these holographic type projections and models, and, uh, a, a wonderfully cheesy, as much as the guardians are, um, nod to good morning America with a little good morning.

Zandar and this incredibly it's this wonderful combination, like Epcot of being both entertaining and educational, right? In terms of this, this fictional world of Zandar, um, there's this amazing model of Zandar that uses that projection [00:22:00] mapping technology and this narration, as you sort of walk around the model, really making you feel that Zandar is.

Was a real place and talk about everything from the industrial aspects to the environmental aspects, educational, et cetera. There are models of the star blaster and the model in there as well. And I love the fact that the Imagineers literally went to the set of guardians of the galaxy to film. I think w what they said, like 75 minutes of original content, just for this attraction, including interviews with some of the guardians of the galaxy, uh, that,

Jeremiah Good: that area, uh, again, when I was lucky enough to run in there the first time, because I've been waiting five years for the subtraction we ran through and the cheesy interview part that you talk about the good morning Zandar, which if you look at any of the photos or when you go through off to the left hand side, underneath the person who's doing the interviewing, one of the logos.

Very clearly a nod to ABC, like the round logo with the three dots. And I was just staring at, um, I, do you mind if I had talked about what Peter Quill says during that time? So,

Lou Mongello: you

Jeremiah Good: know, again, we, we all heard the story of why Kara and Epcot was chosen for the first other world showcase. And one of the things that people have been kind of laughing at also calling it a little over the top was during the interview when they're talking to Star-Lord, he goes, I can't wait to get back to Epcot and, uh, ride horizons and see the energy dinosaurs and here veggie, veggie fruit, fruit.

And that was really the only part of the cue that I noticed. And throughout the [00:24:00] entire day, I was just giggling nonstop about that. Like, I'm glad that the Imagineers and I'm sure Kevin 5g has a lot to do with this. Cause he's a diehard Disney fan also that nod and that kind of like just jab at us. True Disney nerds is what's needed.

You know, we need to be able to laugh at ourselves much more than we do. And I think that was a perfect setup for it.

Lou Mongello: This is where we don't want to say too much or spoil too much because one, you will be spending some time in there. And I want you to spend time like, like Jeremiah, like you, I went back later on in the evening to do nothing, but spend as much time as I possibly could in that queue.

I wanted to watch, I wanted to listen. I wanted to learn and pick up as much as I can because. Even going through the first time. You're so almost like giddy with excitement and proving you have your head on a swivel. You're trying to take it all in. It's like watching a Marvel movie, right. You're not going to pick up on all of the nods and the tributes and the Easter egg.

So you're going to spend some time in this and our gallery and there's a lot to see and there's a lot to do. And in terms of that as well, I think it's really, really well done from there you go into the phase chamber and it sort of where the relatively short first pre-show starts. So your, the, your tour of the pavilions sort of concludes here in this phase chamber.

I found like, as soon as I walked in, I was looking around at just sort of the cool decor inside. And this is where you teleport from Epcot to the Nova Corps star charter cruiser, which is this brand new, massive, very cool looking ship. That's orbiting earth. You start to learn about the cosmic generator, which is this piece of Sandara and technology that creates those jump points that you've seen in things like guardians of the galaxy, which are these sort of wormhole, [00:26:00] like tunnels that allow you to travel 2 million miles or whatever it is across long distance.

We're greeted again by, uh, the Nova prime or Ronnie rail who is Glenn close, who looks like she literally just stepped off the screen of guardian one. Uh, she's the leader of the O Zandar and the commander of the Nova Corps. And we're also introduced to the commander of the star charter Centurion Talmeric, who is played by Terry crews.

Do you know him? Probably as the old spice guy, he was also an NFL player. Who's been in a number of, uh, movies and T who is fantastic by the way. And from there we get this incredible. And again, I don't want to spoil too much this reveal moment that reminds me of how I felt in. Rise to the resistance. The first 10 times I saw it the first time I felt when I was in flight of passage.

In terms of you think you are one place seeing one thing and all of a sudden that entire room changes,

Beci Mahnken: it was amazing that feeling, you know what it took me back to, not a lot of people may have ever experienced this, but if you

Lou Mongello: ever did

Beci Mahnken: star track experience in Las Vegas, which was the first time I've ever had that kind of reveal where my jaw was on the floor to where one of the cast members walked over and said, are you okay?

Because I was just like, what does happen? How did I get here? How did that happen? It was so amazing. And it really had that same feel on, on that reveal

Jeremiah Good: here. Yeah. I walked in. So Lou, you were talking about the pre-show is there there's the first. With the videos. Um, and to me, that was almost, and I don't think this is a complete

Lou Mongello: throwback to Ellen.

I agree with you. I know exactly what you're saying. [00:28:00]

Jeremiah Good: Yeah. The kind of movements of how that worked and then you walk into the transport room. And as I walked in, I just kind of paused and it turned to my friend. I'm like, this is the star Trek experience. Like, this is exactly what that is.

Lou Mongello: Halfway to that first room where we.

The video of Irani rail, two things struck out three things. One, you know, Glenn close officers reprising her role too. I caught the same thing because the video screen is not eye height. It is up above you. So you have to look up the same way that you had to do in the pre-show for universal energy slash Elon's energy adventure.

But the other thing that, that struck me here too, was the technology, because it was almost this dimensional effect to the screens. There was almost a sort of depth of field, not quite this sort of off-putting 3d, but however, they designed those layers of screens, almost like, you know, a modern multiplane camera really, really paid off well.

And the quality, the quality was exceptionally high. Unlike ads. I

Jeremiah Good: exactly. Um, that was one of those ones. The first time I was in there, I. I don't even remember what they were talking about because I was paying attention and it does look multi-layer. And then when they talk about the big bang, again, definitely screaming back university of energy time, but, and how her head would jump from side to side.

I just kept wanting her to go talk about some of these hair or them being late at one point, just for that nod. But that room for a pre-show that is probably one of the best pre shows that I can think of. I mean, yes, right. Is the resistance that that room has something, but this one to continue the story and to keep everything going at a [00:30:00] steady pace, just very fun.

And of course, uh, the comedy is there.

Lou Mongello: And when will you, you go and generate them into it, mean to cut you off because we need to do. And you are sort of on the star charter. Um, and again, to give quick reference to Terry crews who I love his performance, um, there are a couple of moments that literally force almost everybody in the room to laugh out loud in terms of just the way he's able to change his, his tone and his facial features.

But it's also where we are. Um, we're introduced to the celestial named the bad guy, the antagonist of the attraction who steals that cosmic generator. And you might not know Issaquah, but you've seen him before. And he is a celestial who has been monitoring earth for eons and. He wants to sort of use this cosmic generator to not travel long distances, but to travel back in time and change the course of humanity.

You may remember Issaquah from such movies as the original guardians of the galaxy, because when the collector is talking about the infinity stones, he is the celestial who Moes down that entire planet with the power stones. He has this, uh, staff with the power stone on it and sort of bangs it on the ground and, and wiped everybody out.

And the collector even talks about how the stones can only be brandished by, uh, being from that, that, that has extraordinary strength and is able to mow down entire civilizations like wheat in a field. And I know Jeremiah, you know, probably way more than I do about the comics, but even in the comics east on the, the.

Was he's given that name because his task was to go and seek out and heat to [00:32:00] had been to earth before and in the comics, he went to Florida.

Jeremiah Good: So this is one of my all time favorite things. When I was going nerd, dive into this, um, Isaan appeared in Eternals nine. I bought it just so I could have it. I don't have it near me.

Um, and you know, he's a Celeste steel. We learn more about them in the internals, but doing the deep dive into it. And I find out that when he was honored, he oversaw an underwater civilization and Miami. Those were like his base was that. So when later in the day I had a chance to talk to some of the WDI folk and I was asking them different questions.

You know, those times where you, you get lucky and you get to talk to the man behind the curtain and just they'll share everything with you. And I say, so, was it you guys? Or was it, you know, Kevin FYGI Marvel that said because of his tie to Florida and Miami and they, it was three of them and they all gave me the look like I just spoke a different language, not a clue in the world, which again, makes me on that nerd level.

I feel like I, my inspiration of Lumon jello has kept, I, I out nerded a WDI group.

Lou Mongello: I love that I heard the nerd alert go off. I didn't realize it was you that was setting it off in the queue because those poor matchers, like, come on, dude, just go ride the ride. Like,

Jeremiah Good: but yeah, it definitely the Eastern part was it's. It's interesting. And I feel like, I don't know if this is where you are going to go with your one thing, but they don't give Esau enough story or background to kind of go, oh, now I understand all of this. [00:34:00] This is definitely on our side of, we need to do the research.

If we want to care why this is a villain. You know, they, they give a two second summation during the ride, but there isn't the whole background of the celestial.

Lou Mongello: How does you, how do you sort of connect the dots quickly? And in a way, because I think the goal has to be every book. This is a family attraction, but it's also one that's not like you don't have to show your Marvel nerd card to ride.

You need to be able to enjoy this attraction without having seen every single movie and read comics from the eighties and nineties. And I think

Beci Mahnken: they did that well because I recognize the character, but I didn't, I didn't go full on nerd there. However, I knew that something has gone wrong. So I understood that there was a difference in the tone of what was going on around us and that something was horribly going wrong and we would have to save the universe

Lou Mongello: well, and, and, and that moment that something goes horribly wrong.

Is there, there's a couple of things about that. So one, when. Drax points out that there's this giant being outside the ship, something is going horribly wrong. He steals this energy source so that, you know, something's going to happen, uh, with a great Pepper's ghost, like effect, by the way, in, in this section, um, here is, and I'm not sort of picking nits, but I noticed it the first time I experienced the attraction.

When I had no phone, I, I, I was doing nothing but wanting to enjoy it as a guest. And I heard a voice and I didn't know who it was. And as I look closer to the screen and the dialogue continued, I came to know that it was rocket's voice, but it wasn't rocket's voice. And I. I say, look, I am a I'm I bleed Marvel red.

Right? Like I, but the voice was so [00:36:00] off that it was somewhat disruptive. Like I had to sort of forgive and forget and move on. And in my mind, I'm going to come on, Bradley Cooper. It takes you 10 minutes. And I just get in there. I don't know why or how it didn't happen, but that loss of his voice and a little bit of disconcert in the voice actor who, you know, credit to you, it's a hard voice to replicate, but it did.

It was a little, it was a lot of. It

Beci Mahnken: was totally off for me. And it actually started with the, the commercial that they have been putting out there for the guardians of the galaxy, where we know we don't have Chris Pratt because he's behind the, um, his face mask and rocket throw something at him and he just like moves.

So there's no voice there, but it's, I don't know if the same actor that's doing that commercial and in the ride itself, but I'm right there with you, everything that works so well in this attraction, that is the one thing that was so far off that it made me go, huh? Wait a minute. This there's something not right here.

And it took me out of story for a second because I was so distracted by the difference in the rocket that I know in love.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah. I, I very much felt that way. It was, it was jarring. I feel like rocket is at the point in our lives where that voice is almost if there was Mickey mouse,

Lou Mongello: we know,

Jeremiah Good: but you know, going from mission breakout, which I don't believe is Bradley Cooper either, but that voice is close enough where you kind of go, is that Bradley Cooper?

Could that be, this one is. So far out in left field, didn't even register it. If I was walking in with my hands or my eyes, I would not have been able to go, oh, that's rocket. And again, I don't know if that's the same voice that does any of the cartoons or any other voiceovers, but that one is [00:38:00] definitely one of the only nitpicking

Beci Mahnken: points.

Okay. And you bring up Mickey, that was the example I was going to give. It's like, if you walk into a room and you hear hi, you pal, and rather than the Mickey mouse voice, you go wait a minute, wet.

Lou Mongello: Well, it's comparable in that when it's off, it's off. And if it's really off, it's really off and even more so because all of the other actors were there.

It's like, which of these things doesn't belong here. I'm thinking Sesame street in my mind or electric company, whatever it was because it was, and it's fine. Like you're able to move past it and we'll clearly not, but I was able to move past it and continue to enjoy. But. Before we get onto the attraction itself.

I literally had to break this out separately because I was so enthralled and excited by the Easter eggs that were in here. And I was pleasantly surprised at just how many we have found and heard and saw just on the first few passes through. So wait, Jeremiah, how many times did you ride?

Jeremiah Good: 12 times.

Lou Mongello: Wow.

Becky, how many was for you? Three? I come in, I think it was five, five or six, maybe six. Well, I want to, maybe I think it was six. It doesn't matter, Jeremiah, clearly you win. And we'll talk about that rewrite ability in a number of different aspects later on, but there were so many great Easter eggs that I found myself smiling about.

Right. Obviously we're in Epcot, there's the star wars connection universe of energy, but there were things in there. So even like in the galaxy, Miriam, when. The, the world mine starts talking about Turkey legs and this fascination with why Taron culture has such fascinating. And like, it was almost like a Seinfeld bit, like why only the leg, what about the rest of the creature?

Like, and there's this giant Turkey leg in this planetarium in the first part of the queue. [00:40:00]

Jeremiah Good: Okay. That explains a lot. I saw that one of the times we'll walk through without the sound, but I never heard it with the sound now. It makes sense. All other thing. Yeah.

Lou Mongello: Um, the other thing that, that one of the others that, that I loved, um, that you can hear more than once was the reference to the old joke.

I think originally sort of probably created by cast members is that when you are being welcomed to Epcot and then later on, you'll hear. As the attraction concludes, um, Drax talks about whether Epcot is even a word and somebody says, well, yeah, it just means every person comes out tired. And I loved, loved, loved, and busy sort of being able to poke fun at itself and allow that one to go through.

Well,

Jeremiah Good: that one, so that one of the things that I learned in my 12 different rides, which I am very thankful that I got the chance to do that, it will never happen again ever. But the, the audio cues, there are six different songs. And I think what I've narrowed it down to is there are three different audio tracks that go to each of the two songs has the same audio track.

So there's different little bits that we may get into later on, but the, every person comes out tired is only on the, uh, one way or another. And. Uh, how one of the other songs that I apologize, I can't think of it, but the other one, the one that's on conga, which out of my 12 times I had seven times. So if I never hear that

Lou Mongello: song and I'm fine, the Miami sound machine he's wearing the concert shirt right now.

So, uh,

Jeremiah Good: when you're pulling in to the end and Gomorrah says you're back at Eckhart and then yeah, of course it's [00:42:00] Epcot and then rock. Who names these things. And I just laughed. I was like, where's where's Walt, when we need

Lou Mongello: him. Oh, we'll get to Walt. We'll we'll get, we'll definitely get to, um, we'll get to all want to, you know, as long as we're talking about music, there are some great musical Easter eggs in here as well.

You mentioned when, uh, the guardians were being interviewed on good morning Zandar and Star-Lord talks about how he can't wait to get back to Epcot because he wants to ride horizons and the dinosaurs from universe of energy and kitchen and cabaret. And I love the fact that he mentioned veggie veggie, fruit, fruit, by name, like you hit, if you look like I posted a quick video on, um, on the blog and my Instagram stories.

But when he says that there's not a lot of people in the queue, but you hear this, like you can't help, but contain your life.

Jeremiah Good: I think that's one of those songs, you know, there are many things in Epcot history that it takes a nerd level like us to catch or something like veggie veggie fruit. For that. I think anybody that has ever listened to any Disney music knows that song.

So that's, that's the tie that's going to bind every Disney fan nerd, Uber geek, like us together.

Beci Mahnken: I'm so bummed because I'm hearing all this wonderful stuff. And I want to go back now because all the things you're talking about, the audio was off. Every time I went through the queue, so I didn't get to hear any of this.

So now I gotta go back

Lou Mongello: and w and we'll talk about things like lightening, but, but this is why you have to go and spend time in the queue. Other things very quickly to listen to, for example, as long as for my music on ride, when the guardians fly into frame, at one point, if you listen carefully, There is an electric guitar version of the original universal energy theme song.

And you can hear that the celestial says, [00:44:00] yeah, let's, let's just say something like, what is that noise? And if you listen carefully, it sounds a little bit like the original university of energy theme song. I think you mentioned earlier before the, the mention of, uh, the big bang and not just in the pre-show, but later on ride, there's a mention of the big bang.

And then, uh, Drax talks about it being the ding, dang, like on bill Nye and universal of energy. There's also not just what you see in the queue and what you hear in the queue, but what you see, uh, written in Zen Darien, which is this Andrei language, there's a lot of. Translation. It's like Indiana Jones and Disneyland.

You should go and try and translate because there are a couple of columns on the ride where you can see the name, Ellen and Alex and dyno and E equals MC squared spelled out. There is a one 13 in the queue on one of the video screens that I just had me smiling ear to ear there's references to spaceship earth.

Um, there in the, um, in the galaxy Miriam, the, the narrator talks about thanking this end Ariens and says something to the effect of if you're able to read the text, thanked us and Ariens. And I'm like, I love the fact, the Phoenicians reference.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah, one of the other Easter eggs. I don't know if you caught it, but when you leave, when you're aboard the, um, the ship after you transport, they have a ships map, much like every ship does, and they have the different logos of the universe of energy, starting with the circling going out.

And then it even has what was in the queue area. The original universe of energy, when is on the cubes, how it formed different logos. And we were told that ends and Darien on that there's many different references. But one of the things that we did confirm is they're not going [00:46:00] to put out any type of translator card.

There won't be a translation, good luck on that. We've been working for the past few days to translate as much as possible. So we've got a couple of the words and it's one of those things of, I took pictures of just about everything. So I know when it does come to this. I can read, write

Lou Mongello: Google translate.

Can't quite do it. Well. I mean, Google translate can't quite do it overseas someplace either, but, um, it would be interesting to be able to spend some time and go through. Cause there's gotta be countless more Easter eggs in there as well. Two other things I want to quickly, the three other things want to quickly mention is, uh, there is a one 13 in one of the video screens.

There's also the mention is there's a reference to maelstrom. There's a, uh, in the energy schematic. There is this, um, you're, you're watching a video of some of the weather patterns of Zandar and it says right underneath that it is a maelstrom. I have to think that it's obviously very, very deliberate that Zandar Zen's our in model clearly is meant to be attributed to.

The Epcot model, but I love, love, love, and appreciate. So very much that on one of the large video screens, what Disney comes up and I don't want to spoil it for you, but they talk about Walt Disney and his progress city and Epcot, and how this all connects and sort of the, the great man and visionary that Walt Disney was.

Um, I love, love, love that for all of the reasons.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah. The connections they did and the tribute. I mean, this not only, I know we're kind of crossing the line, but connections cafe has that same type of thing with the map of Epcot. So what they've done, you can tell as accurately and the Imagineers that are on the Epcot project care more about Walt Disney than.

I don't want to say the people that created Epcot did, [00:48:00] but they, they have the they're so far removed from wall. They, they see him as he is to us, the person who created everything and made everything magical. So them just putting that little extra effort in helps. And it definitely is something, you know, the Q video you're talking about with the energy, that one is, I want to say about 13 minutes, cause I only sat for about half of it.

So again, the time you're moving, you're not going to be able to see the entire video. Something more to see every time you go back something different.

Lou Mongello: And very quickly because I know, and I'm not a big hidden Mickey guy, but I did see there is one hidden Mickey that I found in that Zen Darien city model.

You'll see off to the left-hand side. There is a grassy area and there are three illuminated blue domes that form a hidden Mickey in the grass. So I liked the fact that they made sure they were able to sneak some of those things in as well. Uh, our let's talk, I want to talk about the on ride experience, because this is obviously, uh, and, and, and we'll talk about the.

Hopefully, we've convinced you that even if you don't want to do the ride, you at least do the queue, but in terms of the on ride experience itself, in terms of what to expect, the first thing I noticed was the two identical load areas, which obviously gives the opportunity for a lot of throughput. We don't know how many guests per hour, but I know Jeremiah, you and I were talking about.

And I think that you were told that at any one time there's 10 trains or so going on at once. And I think each train carries 20 people, or is it 20?

Jeremiah Good: Or they can have, uh, I think it was nine trains on the track and one for backup. Cause the Casper was saying that there 10 trains total, it could only be eight.

I know when we were there, they had eight, but two of them were dedicated to the on ride video. [00:50:00] And I want to say, is it five seats? So yeah, it probably 20, 20 people per view. But it was the amazing, like I've been on coasters around the world as you guys have, and the load, the quickness there, wasn't a delay.

Um, there is no over the shoulder. There is no seat belt. There is pull down in your lap bar, hang on for the wildest ride in the galaxy.

Lou Mongello: And, uh, I talked to a number of people about the seats, right? I'm not the biggest guy on the planet, so I can only refer to myself. There is room for you to put your bag down in between your legs.

But I talked to a couple other folks who are both taller and. Wider and a couple of larger folks I talked to said they were accommodated very, not just accommodated, but very, very comfortably. Um, there was a lot of room to maneuver for them in the seats. And I was really happy to hear that because I know that some other attractions, sometimes in, in other parks there where they're not able to ride at all, the fact that the vehicles were were purpose-built to make sure they could accommodate as many different human and other size creatures.

Um, w it was really nice.

Beci Mahnken: What was really nice too, is that each seat has its own lap bar. So you're not restricted to the size of the person sitting next to you. So for someone who's a larger and you have someone sitting next to you, this kind of small, it's difficult when you're sharing a lap bar, because someone may fly out.

Why not? But there is a lot of, there's a lot of leg room. There's a lot of space to put your bag, like you said, It's very comfortable and it's easy to get in and out of as well, especially for those of us who have a little mobility issues, when we're trying to get in and out of, uh, out of a chair, there's things to hold onto.

You can pull yourself up easily. So [00:52:00] it's really well-designed

Lou Mongello: right. It's like when you're in rocket rollercoaster, you're in there pretty tight and there is only a certain amount of tolerance at that seat. We'll have for certain size guests and even your head, you have a limited sort of movement by design, but it being so open.

There's no sense of claustrophobia in terms of your forget about your head space, but even just your body space

Beci Mahnken: as well. Exactly. And as being the resident clause claustrophobic on this panel, I didn't feel that way at all. And some people do have that enclosed feeling on these types of attractions, but I did not even have one inkling of feeling that I was being too enclosed.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah. As somebody who's taller, it's, I've been on a similar attraction in a park, down the road, and that is uncomfortable to get into difficult to sit in. You know, it has, you have to deal with that locking, like, are you going to fit that, that pressure and something that I talked to even before, when I, when cast members had gone, one of my main questions was the size constraints.

Uh, my boss is a bigger man. So he questioned would he be able to write it? And I didn't hear anybody from cast members to us that couldn't ride. And one of the other things that we didn't get a chance to touch upon, I feel, I don't know if you did Lou, but the disabled. Vehicle the back of every car has a special door that opens.

So if a guest can transport from a wheelchair or an ETV, they can get right on this ride. It's not going to be one of those. Oh, you have to go through 20 steps to get in it's door opens you, climb in your on good luck.

Lou Mongello: Well done. Good luck. Hey, well,

Jeremiah Good: Becky's talking about people flying out.

Lou Mongello: The other thing I noticed too, it's a [00:54:00] simple little design element, but they have, if you want to ride and we'll talk about sort of the optimal place to ride, but they had this sort of little waiting area and sort of almost like a little mini queue.

If you want to wait for row one, which I really liked is there sort of being sort of pushed off to the side and sort of huddling somewhere. They have this neat little designed wait, waiting sort of space, right by the, uh, again, beginning. But you notice from the outset that this attraction is very different.

Remember when this was called, um, imagined originally called this a storytelling coaster, and I think it very much is applicable and fits into this. And again, I don't want to spoil too much, but from the very beginning, and that there's almost sort of multiple launch sequences, right. You sort of go out from a loading area, you go up a ramp and then there's sort of an, a little mini sort of pre-show scene.

And then you have this backward law. Which is just exhilarating. I will tell you now, the only way to describe my first ride is my face hurt my face hurt because I was smiling so wide. I, by the way I was riding by myself, I was smiling. I was like a crazy person. I was smiling. I was laughing out loud. I was singing along well, we'll talk about the music, but it is this incredible.

First of all. The inside of the attraction itself is pitch black, which I love. There's no sort of light intrusion, like the Walter's world space mountain. You can see sort of elements of light. It's completely black inside, but there is this wonderful combination of both screens and physical objects. And there's, it's not like sort of riding in a dark coaster where you just, if you sit with your eyes shut, it's [00:56:00] fine.

Or even rock and roller coaster where there's a few physical elements. There are both projections. And like I said, Physic large size physical objects, planets inside this attraction and the thing, then the reason why I think storytelling coaster is the appropriate term is because your vehicle does move.

I think to say that your vehicle spins, it gives almost a false impression. Like I was trying to initially define what it was and I found myself misspeaking. I'm like, well, it's not, you know, it's not a tilt a world. Like that's not what it is. It's like a doomed. Right. It's like an Omni mover and that you are directed towards what they want you to see and focus on.

Even as you go down and sort of this spiral helix, it's so wonderfully thoughtful in its design and intent, and it's it. It is just non stop for like mission breakout in California. It is nonstop fun from the time you walk into the door until the time you walk back out,

Beci Mahnken: let's go back to that launch for a second, because for people like me, that launch.

Thoughts. It causes great anxiety because for some people you're on these rollercoasters, you know, you're going to be from that standing start. And you're just going to go where you have to practice your, um, your airline pilot grunt to make sure that you get through that G-Force this was not that this was amazingly smooth.

And when you started turning around and I started getting nervous, my Palm starts sweating and I was thinking, okay, I just got to get through the next few seconds because it'll be okay. All of a sudden I'm going. We're going backwards. And there was no feeling like you were going to get hit with massive amounts of GS that make you feel uncomfortable.

You were just going backwards, smoothly. It was amazing how smooth that transition was. And all of a [00:58:00] sudden, like you, I found myself giggling and laughing and singing along. Um, as soon as I realized that, oh yeah, first of all, we're not going upside down. So there's no worries about that. I've heard a lot of people, um, be very afraid that it's going to go upside down, that there's going to be some versions or some people are also very fearful of scary drops, especially in the dark when you don't see it coming.

And that was not an issue with this. Um, like you said, there was there's one moment where there is a helix that for people with a little bit of motion issues may have an issue with that, but there's ways around that. We'll talk about that as well, but there was nothing that was scary or overly intense on my body.

Um, I didn't feel like I said, I didn't didn't really feel massive GS or, or feel like, um, I was being moved in a way that wasn't comfortable. Uh, I do agree with you that the motion of the cars is much like haunted mansion going 65 miles an hour, but it's still, you have that very purposely direct you here.

So you can see this really cool planet or direct you there. So you can see part of the story. Um, I will say the first time I wrote it. I literally forgot there was a story because I was so into the motion and the feeling and the excitement in the giddiness, much like the very first time I rode mission breakout, so into the music.

And so to things that were happening around me, I forgot what we were really doing there, except for having a good time on this attraction.

Jeremiah Good: Oh, I absolutely agree. It was, uh, my first time, I, I'm not ashamed to say this. I definitely shed a tear of how much fun I was having it. It really is just overwhelming joy.

Uh, the launch, as you guys had said, you don't really feel a launch. I, I did a test in my, I hate to say this 12 times I wrote this. Um, I wrote just about every vehicle [01:00:00] and the launch. You know, on a normal rollercoaster. If you sit in the back, it's the most intense. If you sit in the front, it's eh, if you sit in the middle, it's fine for this one.

If you sit in the back for the launch, it's very unexciting, but the front, because you're in the back of the car, you really feel that takeoff. And one of the other pull back the curtain moments when I was talking to the Imagineers, that launch is the part that takes you from the original university of energy building out into the anti-gravity building.

So that, that quick launch and the beats to it just fits so perfect. I really cannot think of another attraction that I've gone on. And like Becky said, she forgot. There's a story you just get so tied up in it all. And it's so. Much fun. You forget what's going on. It wasn't until the second time, or actually started picking up on the audio cues, which I'm sure we'll go into in a little bit, but the coaster for scene, like Lou said earlier, where we walked in, saw some of the inside of the building, seeing that coaster at that time versus writing it this time, two separate things.

Like I never, if I'd never seen the inside, I wouldn't have guessed how high up, because stir is and how far down below it goes, because you don't feel even the helix. I think at times you, you pick up on, but it's not, it's not too drastic. Um, the one thing I will say. Well, we'll go into the motion sickness and a little bit, but I have one piece of advice for that also later.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. And I think we sort of need to sort of, I think it's very important to touch on the intensity and the potential for motion sickness, because I know right out of the gate, there are people who have motion, sensitivities, get [01:02:00] motion sick, or just, you know, a fear of the unknown, you know, afraid of, of getting sick or afraid of what this might be.

Again, Disney being very purposeful in calling this a family thrill ride, trying to sort of allay some of those fears that yes, kids can ride families can ride. And it probably isn't as tense as your fears may be telling you, I think you both use the word smooth. It is an incredibly smooth attraction, which I cannot say for things like the Matterhorn.

Like I have a real tough time as I'm getting up in my years, riding Matterhorn, because it's such a rough ride. I think it's a, I think it's less rough than things like space, mountain. Uh, I think if you're able to ride expedition, Everest, you'll have. This, your mileage may vary, right? Everybody is unique.

It's a very subjective thing, but like you said, Becky, there's no upside down. There's no inversions. The spins for lack of a better word are slow and they are smooth. I think knowing where to sit might help you. I think Jeremiah, to your point, being in that back row is intent more intense for most of the ride.

Just not that initial launch. Um, I think the middle is, is possibly probably your best overall place to be. I think row five, row six, not just for the launch, not just for the motion, but even in terms of what you will see and experience on ride and, and sort of where your view and periphery might see, um, in terms of actually the motion sickness, I can not speak.

As someone who calls themselves or considers themselves very sensitive to it, I only want to help you [01:04:00] judge for yourself. What I will say is that I found myself only being able to ride maybe two times in a row before having to take a break. Like I just started to feel that little bit of sensitivity, motion, dizziness, whatever you want to call it in my head, I did find the trick later on was to try and not allow myself to keep my head on a swivel, but to focus forward at all times, which is very difficult to do because there are things that.

Want to see. Um, but I think that, you know, if you're able to do things like, look, I feel the same way about a mission breakout. Like I can't ride mission breakout in DCA or even tower of terror here anymore, more than two or three times, like saying, all right, I need to take a little bit of, um, a break. I will also tell you too, that if you are sensitive to it, um, something that helps with motion sickness, I think I talked about this on a previous show is peppermint.

Whether it be peppermint oil, like on your temples or under your nose, or even just like peppermint, gum or peppermints does help with some of that motion sickness a little bit. So like when I came off the attraction, I put in some peppermint gum and that dizziness went away from me very, very quickly, but I did find that I needed to, uh, Take a break.

So Jeremiah and Becky, what were your experiences in terms of the intensity and motion sickness? Well, for

Beci Mahnken: me, I am kind of susceptible to a little motion, so there's some things I can do. Some things I can't like, I'm not sensitive to mission breakout. I can do that one after another, after another and be fine.

So that up and down motion doesn't get me, but that little bit of spinning or turning me, or even though I'm trying to keep my eyes forward, sometimes it's just hard not to look up and go, Hey, what's that? So I [01:06:00] took it a little bit farther. I did go ahead and go with the over-the-counter Bo nine, which I take a lot before I get on something like this, or, um, it's like an hour before you take one or two tablets and I had no problem with it that helix on the second time, I'd like you, I wrote it once.

And then I took a break. Um, I didn't want to push it too much. I took, I wrote it the second time. About an hour later had another one of the, the bonuses. Two between the two times. Um, the second time that helix did kind of get to me, I could feel just a tad little bit of a headache coming on from, uh, from doing that.

So before I did it, the third time I waited till later on in the evening before I did that third one. So it does have like, like you, as I get older, my body just can't take it. Like it used to be able to wear, you know, 20 years ago, I'd be like, yeah, let's run it for the 77th time. Let's go. Um, that didn't happen for me this time.

Otherwise I would have been right there with you, Jeremiah and riding with you for the 12 times or more. But, um, I loved it, but realized, you know, for, for my, maybe that a little bit of a headache is telling me something I should probably back away. So to your point about the family coaster, it is 42 inches to get on the ride.

And I could see this being. Really well received for those kids who can easily do these coaster experiences. And, uh, you know, your mileage may vary. Some kids aren't gonna, this is not going to be for everybody. Obviously, if you do have that susceptibility to motion, um, however, they've done a great job with it.

And a lot of people do come back with that feeling of, yeah, I can't do, um, uh, matter horns, so I can't do this. No, it is so smooth and so easy and you can breathe through the entire thing with on matter on, I feel like, um, you know, being. Jarred [01:08:00] right. And left in my neck is being thrilled, thrown around and I didn't feel it on this at all.

So I think it's really worth trying once, uh, with precautions to see if you can do it and then, you know, don't do it again. If it doesn't fit you.

Lou Mongello: And I think one, one important takeaway, and I will sort of speak to this as an absolute one thing you cannot should not, must not do. Do not under any circumstances, drink around the world and then go ride guardians.

That is not going to work well for anyone.

Beci Mahnken: I didn't even have lunch beforehand. I decided that I was, I didn't eat. You guys all sat down and like had lunch. I'm like, here's me and my ginger aisle over here. Just it just in case. Cause I, I didn't want to that's, that's something that didn't need to have

Lou Mongello: pictures taken over and then did Rogers too.

To that point. I think we ate lunch with Jeremiah too, and then did ride and I was fine. Like I didn't feel anything.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah. I probably should. I probably could have been fine, but I just didn't want to, I didn't want to attempt the fates there. Lou,

Jeremiah Good: is this where you want to announce your newest sponsor for WW radio, your peppermint patties?

Um, I. I mean, I will say this to no end. I will do anything ever, even if I know that I'm going to get sick, um, I will push myself. I, I was that person after mission space opened when they said, whatever you do, don't lean forward. Don't look around and I'm like on,

Lou Mongello: okay, there we go. I'm fine.

Jeremiah Good: Um, one of the things that Lou you really talked about is the not focusing or just focusing on forward.

I know the person I was riding with, he is also a coaster person like me and can do everything after his third time. He's like, I need to take a break because what he was doing was trying to focus on everything around the stories like, [01:10:00] oh, wait, the ships here now moves over there. And yes, if you're, if your head is focusing to the right and your body is moving to the left, something's going to go wonky in the middle.

And you know, like I said, 12 times I didn't have a problem. I talked to one person who his first time, and he is not a motion sickness person. He got off, he was done. He did it one more time later in the day to see if he could do it. He's like, Nope. Uh, I mean, one of the things that the listeners I'm sure like, oh yeah, sure.

Like we will ever be able to do it back to back.

Lou Mongello: I say, right. Like what we're talking about was never going to be able to happen. So we understand it's special circumstance, but I think Jeremiah, it helps understand what that intensity is like by being able to do it over and over again. Yeah. One

Jeremiah Good: of the questions that I had for everybody who had written it prior to the event, Where would you rank it on the coaster intensity of Walt Disney world rides?

Walt Disney world rides have for me the most basic coaster, the best family is snow white and seven doors mine train. The top is rock and roller coaster from top-down it's rocking rollercoaster, Everest space mountain. Then I would put a cosmic rewind because it is smooth. And then you get into like big thunder slinky dog and my in train.

So that's kind of how I ranked it. It's right in the middle. It's not the, it's not the first family at first coaster for the kid, but is definitely. You know, you're, you're working your way up after you've done big thunder and slinky. This is where you move on to next.

Lou Mongello: I think that ranking is really helpful, Jeremiah, because I think it sort of gives a framework and context for where this fit.

And you [01:12:00] have to determine for yourself where you are on that scale. Um, because I think too, they're like, well, it's in the dark and I can't see anything. And I'm fearful because I don't know what's ahead. I didn't find that to be an issue. It was just sort of the motion. But I think again, we keep talking about smooth being the word.

And I think that that is the operative element. I also think too, that there's something else that plays into the positive accessibility of this attraction is. We mentioned how it's nonstop fund, which is not just because of the coaster aspect. It is very much an elemental part of this experience. It's the music.

It is the music and the song choices. The six song choices that they made it almost is like, they were, you feel like they were written for an army attraction because of those beats. And the six songs are September by earth, wind and fire. That was a late seventies songs. I love the tramp disco, Inferno.

Jeremiah's favorite Miami sound. Machine's Congo, which is from the mid eighties. I love, I didn't get it, but I love, love, love. Everybody wants to rule the world by tears for fears, flock of seagulls. Where are you now with Iran? And Blondie's one way or another. Again, these songs run range from the mid seventies through the mid eighties.

It is right in my wheelhouse. I love this music and this time period, and there's this combination of disco and sort of this more or new wave, um, Rocklin Ron in the eighties. And then you're like, wait a minute. Everybody wants to rule the world is so different, tonally and tempo, but everybody I knew who got it said, [01:14:00] yeah, man, like it just totally works.

And it felt like a completely different experience between disco Inferno. And everybody wants to rule the.

Jeremiah Good: So my first ride, of course I had Congo if I never have to hear that song yet, not that it's a bad song for the attraction. Uh, you know, I grew up in the, the time period of MTV and that video was a non-stop on their, every other video.

Um, so I didn't was never fond of it. And then getting it, you know, the seven times that I wrote it just hit that point where all I really wanted was I ran. But my second ride was every once ruled the world, which was a completely different field. I only got that twice during the entire time. And it is something like the, the, the, the quick snap in your head of wait, this isn't really the rock song.

This isn't the disco song. This is kind of the alt you know, this in Iran are the two that I really wanted. Work so perfectly and the beats on it. And one of the worst things is that the second ride that I got this on, or my second ride that I ended up having the song on was also my writer cam. So you can see me singing along to it, to my writer cam

Beci Mahnken: I had, um, Congo twice go figure.

And I ran where the, where the three songs that I had, I really wanted one way or another. I, I could just imagine how that would feel, uh, as listening to that song because it's one of my favorite songs from that time period. But it, it was, it was a different experience between the two different songs. And, uh, I, I adored Iran, I would say.

When I went through it for the first two, it was almost like the audio, or maybe it's my hearing. I'm not sure, but the song was maybe a little [01:16:00] higher than the, um, than the narrative. So especially the first time I could barely hear what the narrative was going on behind the songs, but in a way I didn't care because I was so into the music, which makes you want to much like, again, mission breakout.

You want to get off and get back on to get a new song, which is such a great part of that experience. So to begin with. It's a party and a ride you get on there, you realize how, how smooth it is. You then just get into the music and the people around you who are giggling. It is an experience from beginning to end and the music is definitely a huge part of it.

So

Lou Mongello: what I'd love, and if you really pay attention, or if you were around the same age as me and, you know, the lyrics to these songs, I love the fact that not only do the song beats, just sort of feel like they match the, the, the story beats of the attraction. But if you listen really carefully or pay attention carefully to the lyrics, the lyrics also sort of tie up that the choices by the Imagineers and these songs has to be intentional because the lyrics also sort of correlate a little bit to the attraction itself.

Everybody wants to rule the world one way or another Aesop, and we're going to find you and we're going to get you, like, I love the fact that they connect those dots for us. And one of the things that the imaginers mentioned was that they literally went through like a hundred different songs. And a lot of the songs that didn't make the on ride playlist are actually found in the exit corridor.

So your exit music is going to be. Going back to Easter eggs. And one of the things too, that we forgot, there's almost sort of a little Easter egg in the exit corridor, because as you exit the attraction, there is a mirror there there's almost like a full length mirror with, um, uh, words written in , which is because you're technically backstage, [01:18:00] much like cast members are before you step on stage.

There's a mirror to make sure your costume and everything is appropriate. I think that tribute is almost really more for the cast members to acknowledge, to, to be acknowledged in the attraction, Jeremiah. Okay.

Jeremiah Good: I'm looking for something.

Beci Mahnken: Oh, I was going to say, I loved that. That was my favorite Easter egg of the entire thing.

When we came down the stairs off the attraction, I'm already giggling like crazy. It's like, wait, look, there's a mirror. And as you remember, for some of us who have long hair, and if you want to look at any of the pictures of me on the ride, I look like cousin. It because your hair is all over the place.

I'm thinking that's really cool. He can stop in and check your hair. And then I looked at the, um, at the writing, which of course needs to be translated. Luckily I had somebody who could translate it for me. So I do have the full translation of that. Um, the, the print that's on there, but it is a nod to, you know, like you said, cast members, when you're, you're going on stage, you stop.

And there's always a mirror before you have those onstage areas. So you can just check your costume, make sure everything is good. So it's kind of set up for those Zen Darien, um, cast members to, to check themselves before they go on stage. But I love. The part of the narrative that's in that translation is everybody neat and pretty, which obviously is a wonderful nod to everything.

But the translation I actually have up on my Facebook page on my Instagram. Um, so Jeremiah, if you need some more letters, I've

Jeremiah Good: got all that. I was actually just looking, um, Mack, our resident, Marvel nerd, uh, beyond me. I know that something's here translated and sent it to me. I can't find it, but that was one of the other, when I cornered the WDI folk, we'll just call it what it is because you weren't meant to go on a ride or you're supposed to just take a tour and then go down.

[01:20:00] When you come back onto the ship in your star, jumpers, your backstage. And that's why before the final pre-show, the font looks different. The colors are more of the basic gray and you're all backstage for that, which. It, it takes, you know, thankfully this is, this is where I really learned to appreciate Lou when he first started with the random talk to WTI WTI.

So we could find out what things were, if not for us and these, you know, random few things, Lou time to write a new book. Um, these stories wouldn't exist. I mean, most people will just walk off and go, okay, this is a new thing. Just like you guys. When I first saw that mirror, I was like, that's something unique.

And then hearing the stories of the backstage and as a former cast member, seeing that mirror and then knowing that everything neat and pretty, it just definitely triggered the, the inner Disney kid in exactly.

I

Lou Mongello: love that as I, I, my hand to God, I'm not kidding. I literally. A Facebook message from my friend, Angela, who says in all caps, which means she's screaming this and Epcot pure joy.

OMG. That was amazing. I'm sure she's referring to cosmic rewind and not the waffle in the cafe, which we will get to on another show. But I also have another message from Imagineering. And it's specifically for you, Jeremiah. It says, come on, shake your body, baby, do that conga. I know you can't control yourself any longer.

Come on baby. Shake your body. I know you can't control yourself any longer.

Jeremiah Good: Thank you so much if you

Lou Mongello: didn't get it enough, but this is again, it goes to that rewrite stability factor because now it's, it's, it's a quest, a quest for fun. It's a quest for, I want to get the song at the same thing that we have over in mission breakout and just works.[01:22:00]

So, so.

Jeremiah Good: Yeah, I, you know, one of the things I made a joke early on that I was going to write it 20 times I, as the day started to go on. I knew that wasn't possible because work. Um, but by the end of the day, I just wanted the other two songs. That's all I really cared about. I ran and disco Inferno, and I'm not even a big disco Inferno fan, but that, I feel like that will be a different feeling than everything else.

But Iran was the one that I called out as this is the one song that I want.

Beci Mahnken: So can I ask a question for those of you who did 12 and or many more than I did? So are the audio tracks, the narratives? Are they different for each song as well? I think you alluded to that, but I want to make sure that I know that because I couldn't hear them.

Jeremiah Good: There are six songs with three audio tracks. Um, Conga and every once ruled the world one way or another. And what's the other song I'm thinking of flu September, which September. Thank you. Uh, those are the same. And then I'm guessing Iran and disco Inferno have the same one and there isn't a lot of difference.

Um, you know, the digging dang big bang seems to be on all of them pulling into the exit. That video does not have any association with the song, but there are different bits, including probably the one thing I laugh more than anything when you're going around the Milky way, Drax has a comment and both I heard.

Made me laugh till I was leaving the building. I won't spoil that. That's a fun one. It does seem like, um, [01:24:00] when you're pulling into the end and it's, you know, every person comes out tired or who named that, those, those two are the difference. And then of course, around the planet, around the

Lou Mongello: Milky way, Jeremy, I also got another follow-up text message from miss Imagineer who says, burn baby burn mother down, burn, baby burn, disco, Inferno satisfaction.

Kate attempted to sing. I'm not going to sing satisfaction came in and you can do it. Wait, you know, one thing we didn't mention too, that was a huge surprise to me is. We are not getting like very tiny snippets of these songs. This is a very long attraction, like subprime in it. The longest and Disney does not, you'd like to use the purlative, but it is one of the longest superlative, one of the longest indoor roller coasters ever built.

And it feels like a long experience, which I loved. I was expecting it to be over a lot quicker and it wasn't. And I dig that and appreciate it.

Beci Mahnken: Isn't it like four minutes?

Jeremiah Good: I think, I think it's three minutes. I mean, I took notes. Um,

Beci Mahnken: that was, it was, it was a pleasant surprise that we've gone on some attractions where you start and it's like, oh, it's over so quickly.

And I kind of thought that would

Jeremiah Good: be it three minutes from the time you leave the load station to the time when you pull in. But again, that can vary. Um, one of the other funny things that w. I love WDI in there. Hey, we're going to tell you a great story. You will never experience it, but you're going to, I'm going to tell you a great story.

Apparently, if there's a delay, when you're on the attraction, um, Carrie Cruise's character comes up and it has some very funny and Easter and new things just say,

Beci Mahnken: so now we want it to break down. And that we're saying I

Jeremiah Good: was on it. And if we'd launched and as we were launching, for some reason, the audio on [01:26:00] the, the, the lay audio was still playing.

So I'm like putting my head down next to the speaker, trying to hear anything couldn't, but you know, again, this attraction has it all there. I don't think there's a single bad part of this attraction. I

Lou Mongello: do want to quickly mention without going too far into it, because I did post photos and a short video.

But when you exit the attraction, you don't exit into a gift shop, but you do pass one along the way. You need to go into the treasures of, Zandar not just because those amazing retro vibes continue, but I love how, again, according to story, the broker from the original guardians of the galaxy, he is the one who was offering up these guardians of the galaxy themed.

Clothing items, costumes, toys, collectibles, home decor accessories, and the stories that the hired him to open up this new merchandise location on Tara. And there are all these different product lines, including what if the guardians were rocks were, were rockstars, which was inspired by concert tees of the seventies and eighties.

There's the heroes of Zandar collection, which allows you to imagine you were one of these galactic, not like a bus later, but I collect a hero. There's um, the, the, through the eyes of Quill collection has that. Peter Quill going back to the eighties, nostalgic vibe, there's the honorary guardians collection.

So you can sort of be, and sort of show off your rank as if you were a honorary guardians of the galaxy. And there's the group through the years collection, lots of different toys. There's also some things that weren't out yet. Like the Yondu fin that lights up and has the, the, the arrow. Like [01:28:00] there is a lot, they are going to pay for this attraction in the first week because the Merck is so super cool and I could not help, but smile at that retro Epcot map.

T-shirt that said spaceships on it. And it's just so smart. And that coffee mug with the catalog really, really well done. I

Jeremiah Good: go ahead, Becky.

Beci Mahnken: I was just going to say my only thing is who thought it was a good idea to bring Fanny packs back. That's

Lou Mongello: what he thought.

Beci Mahnken: That's just showing my age because I went through that through one, you know, time period.

And we're going back to that. Okay.

Lou Mongello: And I stopped wearing Fanny packs. Now find, stop getting beaten up

Jeremiah Good: with the chains around it too. You hang out with the rock, right?

Lou Mongello: I've got like a PCOC and my cavalry cheese and my hyper colored t-shirt but oh my God. Hyper color.

Jeremiah Good: That's what they need.

Beci Mahnken: Oh, don't get my, well, no, it's probably on the way

Lou Mongello: sitting on it right now for a hyper colored.

T-shirt they'll say

Beci Mahnken: they're probably just sitting out on a boat, um, waiting

Lou Mongello: to be,

Jeremiah Good: talking about hyper color. Did you get a chance to see the other mug that they have. Um, they have a guardians galaxy mug and on the front has the logo and on the back, it has the picture of Peter and Meredith from their trip to Epcot. And it lights up when you put hot water in it. Yeah. And there's also, um, I think it was one of the notebooks or something has the same photo on the inside and you have to warm it up by rubbing it and then you can see the photo.

So it really hyper color is. There

Beci Mahnken: we go. And then, and Peter Cole's jacket too. I know that that's going to be something that everybody is going to

Lou Mongello: we'll snug. I tried went onto the live video. I had [01:30:00] to, I had to bump up a size it's

Jeremiah Good: and it's Florida. We don't need that test today.

Lou Mongello: Um, yeah, the merchandise is, is super, super cool.

And like the attraction there's, there's something for everyone. Uh, there is a unique photo pass. There's a couple of unique photo pass opportunities, including getting your picture in a photo pass. Passport, uh, that you can have on your, my Disney experience app. Obviously the attraction opens on May 27th.

It is one of many firsts, right? It's the first coaster at Epcot. It's the first reverse launch for Disney coaster. It's the first they're calling it an Omni coaster. And it's the first Walt Disney world attraction that we get to feature guardians of the galaxy. And what I think it really is not a first though, but continues to demonstrate is the remarkable imagination in Imagineering in being able to seamlessly integrate so many different things into this attraction.

And you were talking about sort of how this attraction ranks Jeremiah in terms of intensity and accessibility. The question that I found, which was being posed and continues to be posed, I think will be for a long time, is. Where does this attraction rank overall in Walt Disney world? You know, is it the best coaster in Walt Disney world?

A lot of people were a resounding yes is the best coaster in any Disney park. That's another conversation, but it's tough not to get caught up in the initial hype when you first get off the attraction. But where does this rank for you in terms of Walt Disney world attractions? And I know you can compare guardians of the galaxy with, you know, a slow moving boat ride, but in terms of whatever, [01:32:00] sort of how you qualify this and define it, where do you sort of rank this attraction in overall Disney attractions?

Jeremiah Good: Um, so this was a tough one for me and I have to go a little bit of backstory. I had the chance to ride pirates and Shanghai came back. And the first thing I said to a friend was that is the best attraction in the world period. His response was you haven't written mission breakout yet. And I will admit when I wrote mission breakout that for being a basic drop, not even tower here.

Good. The addition of the guardians made that attraction easy in that conversation for the top pies, cosmic rewind, I will say top three. I won't say which is which character rise and mission breakout, which is funny because none of those three are Disney properties, but Hey,

Lou Mongello: Interesting. I'm

Beci Mahnken: with you with, I'm going to see in the top five, because I mean, I did too.

I was able to ride pirates and Shanghai and that that's

Jeremiah Good: way up there along, I'm going just Disney world

Beci Mahnken: Disney world. Okay. Cause I was going to say, if I do top, if I'm looking at the entire planet of dizziness, I'm looking at top five because there's, it might, might be up there in the, in the top three. I really have to think about that.

That's a great question because I could, I could easily go to the top three, but I, in all honesty, I mean, it's, it's great. It's an awesome ride. If you're looking at just Disney world and yeah, clearly it's, it's going to be top three. So I'm gonna say top three for Disney world, top five.

Lou Mongello: International. Yeah.

I mean, there were people and I certainly want to hear from you, who's [01:34:00] listening when you get to ride this, where do you place this in the Disney world conversation in terms of how you define what is the best or not? And then again, overall, internationally is, is another, uh, conversation. But what I think this does do though, is, and again, I try not to get caught up in the, the, sometimes the trap of, of and hyperbole, but I think this is a game changer, attraction, and, and I wanted to take time before I said it when I first got off and it's been a few days and I, and I still feel that way in terms of how we define what in quote unquote, easy ticket attraction is.

I think it is one that very clearly raises the bar. Not just for Disney, but for everybody else, which is a good thing for us as guests and visitors. But I think it does. I think calling it a game-changer attraction is, is very much applicable for so many of the reasons that we just touched on agree.

Beci Mahnken: I I'm going to totally agree with that. And also say that it just had that motion for you, you know, uh, th the attractions like rise in and Mickey Minnie's runaway railway that have that trackless system while this coaster is on a track it's moving so freely and so smoothly that it almost feels like that trackless floating.

It's, it's a, it's a game changer in a lot of ways, but the way it made me feel when I was onboard that attraction because of the motion and what it was not doing or doing to my body as we moved around, um, it's really exciting how technology has come forward. And like you said, it raises the bar and makes you wonder what the next bar is.

Jeremiah Good: I, one of the things that I found myself, definitely cha [01:36:00] channeling and Lumon jello in the statement was when people were asking me what I thought of it, it, it goes back. To the original star tours. That was something we never experienced before. Something brand new. It was the game changer and it had the comedy, it had the humor and that is everything that this attraction has.

It, it brings everything into the 21st century of what we need to start looking at, you know? Yes. I'm a big fan of dark rides. The, the track list. That's all something that is great. I love it. But this combined everything like humor, dark ride, coaster, thrill, and again, humor to no end.

Lou Mongello: And it's one that. I am incredibly excited to ride once again, experience it again with, with friends and family, especially watching them, experiencing it for the first time and seeing their reaction when they come off.

Um, Becky, you mentioned, I think that if you're wondering, curious, frightened, if you, if you are able to write it at least once absolutely do it. When lightening lane becomes available. Do it, but make sure, make sure you do the queue at least once so you can experience it.

Beci Mahnken: And there was one other thing in the queue that I wanted to point out too, because you were talking about, um, but while we were talking about the photo pass and the pictures that we ended up with, and again, cause an it picture was going to be fabulous.

But remember when you're moving from the first room to the second room and they had that cube, the QR cube, which, uh, makes sure to scan that so that it automatically connects to your, my Disney experience so that you do get that photo, right? When you get off the, the attraction, um, I loved that ability.

So you stop and it does, it does say it's QRQ, but it does [01:38:00] tell you what it's for. So it's not an Easter egg per se, but stop and get that so that you can immediately see those pictures. So you can take a look at how funny you looked like I did. You

Lou Mongello: wrote it mean Jeremiah and Becky, any last thoughts?

Jeremiah Good: So Lou, do you mind if I do one plug for something that is not our normal area?

Um, when you, the first thing I noticed when they got off the attraction was something that is very unique to only two attractions in Epcot. And one is mission space. And one is this attraction, uh, an open top trashcan. So there's a long story behind the open-top trash cans. It goes back to mission space, but I stepped off.

And the first person I thought of that I had to contact, and this is something that is going outside. The norm of the Disney groups, magical trash.com focuses on trash cans of Disney parks around the world. I'm not saying that I've submitted and probably a featured more trash cans than any other human being in the world.

But that just the fact that. They brought in the open top trash cans. And when I asked the Imagineers about that, they said, oh, well, because this is supposed to be backstage. Those theme trash cans that you see of which there are two different ones throughout the queue don't fit in backstage area. So they just left the open top trash cans.

Those of you that can reboot between the lines, understand why an open-top trashcan on a coaster that does have some spinning factors may be a good thing right there to unload a little, a few

Lou Mongello: tries, a little I'm out of this world. Protein spills. Yeah, exactly.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah. So having said that, I'm going to make sure that people know just what you said that you probably won't have to use it.

Just, just make [01:40:00] sure that you, you give it a try. Don't be afraid of it. Um, it, it really doesn't have the elements that you may have experienced in rock and roller coaster, others that, that make us kind of step back. Um, again, smooth, easy. Doesn't flip you upside down. The launch is easy on your body. Uh, the middle row, I'm right there with you.

I did some, the, the last one, I did something that was a little closer to the front, but it was, it was a little bit more intense. So I would say that row five, six or seven, and you can ask for those rows. So don't be afraid to ask for the rows if you want to. Um, so just give it a try, because I think you'll have a great time a party with your friends and see how many of these songs.

Lou Mongello: And if you can, if you have the opportunity, the only thing that could make you a ride on guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind better is like me. I had the very fortunate, um, occasion to ride with Jeremiah and Becky. So if you happen to see them in the parks, grab them and ride with them because it only enhances your experience.

Jeremiah good from laughing plays, tell people where they can find.

Jeremiah Good: Uh, laughingplace.com laughing, underscore place on Twitter and Instagram. Um, I'm just at Jeremiah. Good on all socials. I'm always in the park. Well, most of the time I'm in the park and, uh, I'm just happy to be here, Lou, thank you for the invite, sir.

Lou Mongello: And Becky Mankin now that I everyone's excited to go and ride guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind, tell them where they can find you and book their trip over at mouse. Well, I'm going to tell them for you book their trip over at Mount Vernon, travel.com

Beci Mahnken: mouse fan travel.com or mei-travel.com. And I am Becky napkin on all the socials.

So

Lou Mongello: I will put links to all of those in that. Wait one, wait a second. The texts are literally coming in and nobody knows where they get. Just hold on. This one says. [01:42:00] I can't stand this indecision, married with a lack of vision. Everybody wants to rule the world, say that you'll never, never, never, never need it.

Only headline. Why believe it. Everybody wants to rule the world. Jeremiah, Becky, everybody at WDI the incredible cast members. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this gift of cosmic rewind. I can't wait to do it again. I know I don't want to, to Jeremiah, cause he's going to end up getting Congo.

Beci Mahnken: I know I don't want to ride with me there because I already got it twice.

Lou Mongello: I want to get one way or another to go and pick whatever song you wanted. Which one would you pick go one way or another?

Jeremiah Good: No. So September was the, I had two that I did not want Amber and, um, conga and September was wasn't bad. But in my head, I only have a September stock from a night at the museum and that's all they can think. I want to hear that. So that killed it.

Lou Mongello: Do you remember the, um, do you remember the 21st night of September love was changing the mind of pretenders still chasing the clouds away?

Our hearts were ringing in the KR souls were

singing

Beci Mahnken: two days before my birthday. What can you say?

Lou Mongello: I almost started singing you should,

Beci Mahnken: you should

Jeremiah Good: sing.