When To Ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Welcome to our new When To Ride series, where we use data to take the guesswork out of planning your day at Walt Disney World. In each post, we’ll break down a single headliner attraction—when to ride it, whether it’s worth buying Lightning Lane, and what to expect if something goes wrong.

Today we’re talking about one of the most in-demand rides across all four parks: Guardians of the Galaxy – Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT.

Cosmic Rewind Attraction Overview

Cosmic Rewind is EPCOT’s first roller coaster and the anchor attraction in the park’s Discovery neighborhood. It’s indoors, it launches backward, and it rotates you toward the action as you help the Guardians save the galaxy to the tune of a randomized soundtrack. Since switching from virtual queue to standby, it has consistently held the title of longest average wait time of any ride at Walt Disney World.

As of Spring 2025, Cosmic Rewind is the 4th-highest-rated attraction at Walt Disney World according to our post-visit surveys, with an average satisfaction rating of 4.75 on our scale from 1 to 5. It’s the number one attraction for teens and young adults, and number two for adults over the age of 30.

If you’re interested in learning more about Cosmic Rewind, check out our Ride Chicken’s Review and 5 Things To Know.

Cosmic Rewind Standby Wait Time Patterns

This is the most important thing to understand about Cosmic Rewind: the line builds fast, and it stays long all day.

Posted wait times typically ramp up quickly during early entry and immediately after the park opens, and average around 80 minutes for most of the day in moderate crowd conditions. Actual wait times are slightly lower but follow a similar steady pattern, with one notable dip around 10:30 a.m. and a quicker decline starting around 8:00 p.m. when many guests tend to make their way to World Showcase to see Luminous at the end of their park day.

Best Standby Strategy

• Early Entry If you’re staying onsite and eligible, use Early Entry and make this your first stop. Any time you can get here before official park opening, your standby wait will be the lowest of the day. But earlier is definitely better.

• No Early Entry? Be through the tapstiles before official park open and head straight to the line. If you’re in line within 15 minutes of open, you’ll still have one of the shortest waits of the day. But you’ll be giving up some shorter waits at other headliners too.

• Alternate Standby Windows Try around 10:30 a.m. or in the last 30 minutes before park close. But that final window will overlap with Luminous, so there’s a tradeoff.

Cosmic Rewind Lightning Lane Strategy

Cosmic Rewind is an Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP) attraction. And based on our data, it’s one of the best-value purchases in any of the four parks.

Here’s why – LLSP for Cosmic Rewind will cost you between $16 and $19 per person, on average. But it will also save you an average of 53 minutes compared to waiting in standby instead. That means you’re paying $18-$21.50 for every hour of time you’re saving. That’s one of the best cost-per-hour-saved options in any park.

An added benefit? At an average 20 minute wait, it guarantees you a lower wait than any standby users at any point during the day, except for maybe the very first room of guests during early entry. The only time the lightning lane wait spikes above that 20 minute park is between 7:30 and 8:00 pm, when guests tend to flood the line before finding spots for Luminous.

Lightning Lane Availability

If you want to use Lightning Lane for Cosmic Rewind, you’ll need to plan ahead … and likely stay onsite. On moderate-crowd days, LLSP reservations totally sell out a day or two in advance. Even if you book out exactly 7 days ahead, early return times are gone quickly. Most guests booking right at the 7-day mark will get return time after noon. If that’s too late for your plans, you’ll need to book a LLSP for Cosmic Rewind at least 10 days in advance. That means staying on site and booking for an EPCOT day that is at least 3 days into your trip.

On high crowd days, we’ve seen LLSP reservations for Cosmic Rewind completely sell out closer to 7 days in advance, which means that off-site guests (who aren’t eligible to book until 3 days before their park visit) are unlikely to get a shot at booking one at all.

Cosmic Rewind Reliability and Downtime

Good news! As of Spring 2025, Cosmic Rewind is a pretty reliable attraction. It only averages approximately 15 minutes of downtime a day. That’s just 2% of its overall capacity. And 3 out of every 4 days have no downtime at all. When downtime does happen, it typically only lasts about an hour.

So if the attraction is open when the park opens, odds are good that it will stay that way. And if it goes down, you won’t lose the whole day waiting for it to come back.

Touring Plans Tips and Tricks for Cosmic Rewind

• Staying at a Deluxe resort? Take advantage of Extended Evening Hours and wait until the very end of your extra two hours of EPCOT time. Waits can drop below 30 minutes, and you’ll just be extending your park day.

• Want to ride twice? Book an LLSP and also head to Cosmic Rewind first thing in the morning for standby.

• No LLSP? Get in line within the first 15 minutes after official open or aim for 10:30 a.m.

• Skip the evening LL rush: Don’t book a return time after 7 p.m. unless you’re OK waiting longer.

Final Recommendations

Cosmic Rewind is one of the best-reviewed attractions at Walt Disney World—and it earns that praise. But it’s also one of the hardest to fit cleanly into your EPCOT day. Between long standby waits and Lightning Lane demand, your best bet is to go in with a plan. Buy LLSP if your budget allows. It’s a strong value and keeps the rest of your day flexible. If not, prioritize riding Cosmic Rewind first thing in your day, or plan a very late-night ride. Don’t expect a short wait at any other time of day.

Next up in the When To Ride series: Tron Lightcycle/Run! Have questions about Cosmic Rewind that this data didn’t cover? Drop them in the comments below.