The alarms were set this morning to wake up in time to try and get our individual lightning lane purchase and virtual queue (something Disney use for newish rides – you still have to queue but it limits the time and is open to anyone) for the Guardians of the Galaxy – Cosmic Rewind ride. It wasn’t until we signed in that we realised that only hotel guests could purchase the individual lightning lane passes at 7am and everyone else has to wait until the park opens, which today was at 9am. So we tried at 7am for the virtual queue and it was gone within seconds.
We started to wonder if we would ever be able to get on the ride. But they reopen the virtual queue at 1pm so we had some hope. We had also obtained a lightning lane pass for the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventures ride which gave us an entry time of 12:15pm so we knew there was no rush and had a cruisy morning.
Once everyone was up, we decided to head to Disney Springs to continue looking around. But first, at 9am we managed to purchase an individual lightning lane pass to Cosmic Rewind for entry between 2pm and 3pm. Yes! ?. At Disney Springs we looked at the shops and the food outlets.
We headed to Epcot at about midday and headed straight for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride in the Paris pavilion. It is a 4D ride experience, where you join Chef Remy and zip, dash and scurry through the bustling kitchen, dining room and walls of Gusteau’s famous Paris restaurant. The ride was good but I’m not quite sure why it is so popular – it is not one I would stand in line any length of time for.
Next we headed towards our next lightning lane booking, Soarin” Around the World, but not before stopping to try and join the virtual queue for cosmic rewind. Luckily we managed to get a time slot which they anticipated would be between 7:30pm and 8:30pm.
We made our way over to Soarin’ where you soar over some of the world’s most awe-inspiring sights—from the Great Wall of China to Iguazu Falls in South America. We have done this ride numerous times in the past and whilst not a thrill ride, it is always fun.
Now, it was time for food so we headed to the new Connections Cafe, a quick service restaurant. However by the time everyone had decided what they wanted and with only 10 minutes until we could enter the lightning lane queue for Cosmic Rewind (which has been known to make people vomit) we decided we’d order to pick up after the ride was done.
We headed to the queue and watched the pre-show fun. Cosmic Rewind features the first ever reverse-launch on a Disney coaster and is one of the largest fully-enclosed coasters in the world. It rotates 360 degrees so you can focus on the action. You begin your adventure by touring the Galaxarium—a planetarium-like exhibition showcasing the similarities and differences between Xandar and Earth’s galaxies. Just as you are about to reach the culmination of the tour, everything goes sideways, and you are called into action to help the Guardians of the Galaxy on an urgent mission where you rewind, rotate and head towards the action. This is Disney’s newest ride and definitely their most exhilarating. As I mentioned, people have been known to vomit, fall down the stairs and break bones and be completely disoriented after leaving the ride. I didn’t experience any of this and totally loved it! We were excited we got a second chance to ride it today. There is no standby line so if you miss out on either of the available options to ride, you can’t just line up like other rides. In the first photo I am in the back on the left as you look at the picture.
We went and got our lunch, which was very good and then TJ realized he had left his phone somewhere. Thank goodness for Find my iPhone, we could see it was close by and so Mark & TJ went to get it. He had left it near a photographer who had taken our photo.
We had a few hours to fill in so went for a wander around the various pavilions, and checked them out. We stopped at Germany and Sophia got a caramel apple and I got a chocolate coated chewy caramel – soooo good ?. It was onto Japan where the kids got a snow cone and Mark a beer and we sat and enjoyed them for a while. We kept walking and at France, Greer noticed the Beauty and the Beast singalong was about to start so we went to go in but despite saying it was 0 minutes until the next show they would not let us in and it would be it another 18 minutes until the next show … time for a French ice-cream. Mark and I had a croques glace (a pressed chocolate gelato in a brioche sandwich) and Greer a raspberry sorbet. Surprisingly, both Sophia and TJ were full and didn’t want anything … wonders never cease!
We headed back towards Cosmic Rewind as the time for our return was getting close. By the time we had a photo, we were called up. Mark decided not to do it again so the kids and I quickly walked to join the queue. It took us about 40 minutes from entering the ride to getting on the cart. Still the best ride at Disney.
We met Mark at the car and headed to pick up a couple of packages from an Amazon pick up box and then onto Walmart for a few essentials. I was hoping to see some of the usual Walmart “sights” but was disappointed to not really see anything. Perhaps we were distracted by all the amazing deals and how much stuff was there.
