As part of Disney’s Incredible Summer offerings Epcot has a little tribute to Marvel’s surprise hit Guardians of the Galaxy.
In the show at the America Gardens Theatre in World Showcase, Star-Lord and Gamora from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” join forces with a live band visiting from the planet Xandar to take guests on a musical journey through the cosmos.
Check out this sneak peek video right now;
This looks like a really fun live show and I can just imagine how much energy these guys produce. I for one can’t wait to dance with Star-Lord and Gamora.
Back in October it was confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy ride will be a coaster – the first in EPCOT‘s history. WOOHOOOO! ( if you didn’t know, we love a coaster here at OAT) There was rumours back in October of the coaster being a ‘first of its kind’ ride system and will launch guests through a tunnel into a 10-story tall show building but today we have more rumours…
Over the last few days there has been a few rumours flying around regarding who is going to be making the coaster which will give us more clues and room to speculate on what type of coaster it will be. There is 2 manufacturer names that have been floating around the GOTG coaster – Mack Rides and Vekoma.
I’m going to start with what we DO know about the GOTG coaster.. We know that there will be a very cool queuing experience, guests will enter through a doorway that will take them into the Welcome Gallery consisting of ramps leading up through the line – it appears to be on multiple levels and will see guests climbing upwards as the queue progresses to reach the elevated load platform, the second queue room is Xander Gallery which then leads to a ‘merge point’ and the first pre-show. The second pre-show (see image below) will see guests undergo some sort of transformation with projections of Rocket, Groot and the Milano Ship. From there the guests will make way to the load area, the coaster will feature a dual – load and unload meaning 2 trains at a time (less waiting woohoo!) Each train can hold 20 guests. The train will then head to the launch tunnel where they will be shot straight into the building behind the old Universal of Energy which is 133ft tall.
The track looks as though it will consist of many tight turns and long straights with projection effects along the way. It does appear to be family friendly and there will be no inversions (boooo) There isn’t a huge amount of information about the story-line so I guess we will just have to patiently wait for that..
So from what we know (or think we know), it looks as though it will be a launch coaster experience and there has recently been some rumours that it would be a Mack Spinning Coaster. (like Cobras Curse at Busch Gardens which is a Mack ride) Disney chose Mack for Slinky Dog Dash so it kind of made sense to opt for them to make the GOTG coaster too however some sources have revealed that it is apparently going to actually be a new Vekoma coaster.
There has been no confirmation on what style of ride it will be but from my research (well, a browse on Wikipedia) Vekoma have never built a spinning coaster. Some of the Vekoma coasters built in Orlando are; Rock ‘n Roller Coaster in Hollywood Studios which is a LSM Coaster (launched coaster) Barnstormer in Magic Kingdom, Flight of the Hippogriff in IOA, Flying School in LEGOLAND (suspended family coaster) Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom and Freedom Flyer in Funspot which is also a suspended family coaster, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train in Magic Kingdom and they are making Tron which is coming to Magic Kingdom in 2021. This has led me to thinking what type of coaster we could be getting for GOTG…
Vekoma manufacture a lot of Boomerang coasters which we have not seen in a Disney park as of yet. A Boomerang coaster uses the same track multiple times. For example, the coaster may start by travelling backwards up a slope, it will then hurtle forwards, maybe do a few twists and turns and then you could find yourself travelling backwards again, maybe this time down a slope. Now it looks as though the GOTG coaster is going to be family orientated and family or ‘junior’ boomerang coasters look pretty awesome! Take a look at this family boomerang coaster in Paultons Park which was manufactured by Vekoma:
Vekoma have also made many ‘motorbike roller coasters’ which are.. well the title kind of speaks for itself. 😉 Now I don’t think it the GOTG coaster will be a motorbike style coaster due to TRON: Lightcycle Power Run coming to Magic Kingdom in 2021 (which is also manufactured by Vekoma) as the one in Shanghai is already a motorbike style coaster we can assume that the Magic Kingdom one will be too.
As it appears that the GOTG coaster is going to be a family coaster, the only other Vekoma coaster style I can think of is a Suspended Family Coaster like the Flight of the Hippogriff at Islands of Adventure or Flying School at LEGOLAND Florida:
There is loads of different models of coaster that GOTG could be and it has not yet been confirmed if Vekoma are going to be the ones manufacturing it but I’ve got a hunch and sometimes, just sometimes they’re right. :p
There is still no exact date for when the Guardians of the Galaxy attraction will open but Disney have promised that it will be open in time for the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World which is in 2021.
Disney’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (ToT) is currently ranked as the second best attraction at Hollywood Studios as voted for by our customers. Its a classic that has managed to stand the test of time. So I was kind of surprised when I read some rumours circulating on Saturday night that Disney were considering giving ToT a makeover.
Here’s what I’ve heard;
The IP rights for The Twilight Zone which are licenced from CBS are up for renewal soon, it can easily be argued that this IP has lost some of its value since the original concept for ToT was actioned and therefore Disney maybe looking to use some of its copious amounts of owned IP instead of hiring others.
The makeover itself is said to be based around the Marvel owned characters The Guardians of the Galaxy, WDWThemeParks.com are reporting that the new backstory would be that guests are visiting The Collector’s mansion.
As you maybe aware Universal have a long established deal that gives them the rights to use Marvel Characters exclusively in Orlando however insiders seem to suggest that this deal is for some of the more well known characters like Spider-Man, The Avengers, The X-Men and the Hulk for example. Its fair to say that until the film came out The Guardians of the Galaxy were pretty much unknown unless you were into comics.
Now bear in mind this is all just rumour and nothing has been confirmed, personally I’m not even sure that the ToT attraction particularly fits in with the story told by The Guardians but one thing is for sure, Disney are understandably desperate to get Marvel IP in their parks as soon as possible.
