With Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind now open for Annual Passholder previews, we were able to spend a few hours enjoying Disney World’s newest ride yesterday and we caught some Cosmic Rewind Easter Eggs along the way!
Walt Disney
We’ll start at the beginning – not the beginning of the queue or of the ride, but the beginning of EPCOT…or at least E.P.C.O.T. and a look at Walt Disney himself. In the Xandar Gallery section of the queue, a video plays that talks about the similarities of Xandar and the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow vision that Walt Disney had. Of course, you can’t talk about city planning and not have a photo of Walt Disney in front of the original EPCOT schematic.
Alex Trebek and Ellen DeGeneres
We’ll skip ahead now and showcase probably the hardest Easter Egg to find – names of the stars of Ellen’s Energy Adventure: Ellen DeGeneres and Alex Trebek. If you don’t remember Ellen’s Energy Adventure (you’re forgiven, it’s been 5 years), here’s a video of the attraction!
With that as context, here’s a look at the names as seen on some pipes below a guest walkway that passes over the ride path.
The pipe on the left reads (from top to bottom): ELN E=MC
The pipe on the right reads (from top to bottom): ALX DINO
Universe of Energy Song
Another tough-to-find easter egg is the Universe of Energy theme song both on the ride and in the queue! A guitar riff of the original theme song can be heard coming from the Milano ship when the Guardians of the Galaxy are initially contacted by the Nova Corps and also in the ride in the room before the backward launch. Here’s our video of both Easter Eggs! Note that you may have to disable adblockers to watch the video below.
VIDEO (disable adblocker)
Universe of Energy Logo
Another nod to the Universe of Energy can be found in the circular logo placed throughout the queue. In our photo below, it’s seen to the far left of a series of logos.
The Ding Dang?
Keeping with the theme of nods to former attractions, we have an Easter Egg for Ellen’s Energy Adventure and some of the world-class show writing that guests enjoyed. As we launch backward, we can faintly hear dialog between Star-Lord and Drax where Drax asks “was that the Ding Dang?” – a nod to one of Ellen’s names for The Big Bang. Star-Lord corrects Drax, saying “the Big Bang”, to which Drax quips “I’ve seen bigger”.
You can catch the exchange and the Easter Egg in our video below. Keep an ear open for dialog in the backward launch tunnel.
VIDEO (disable adblocker)
Horizons, “Veggie Veggie, Fruit Fruit”, and More Extinct Things
In an interview with Good Morning Xandar, Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) is asked why Terra was chosen for the Wonders of Xandar pavilion. Quill excitedly responds that he choose Terra, and specifically EPCOT because he visited as a kid and loved it. In the short clip, which you can watch below, Quill says that he is excited to return to enjoy Horizons (demolished), hear “Veggie Veggie, Fruit Fruit” (gone), and see the “energy dinosaurs”. Of course, like many EPCOT fans, he’s living in the past and those things are distant memories. As a matter of fact, the Cosmic Rewind attraction took over the space formerly occupied by Ellen’s Energy Adventure.
Here’s the segment:
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Hidden Mickey
It wouldn’t be a Disney World attraction without a Hidden Mickey, right? Officially, Cast Members said that there are no Hidden Mickey’s at Cosmic Rewind, but pictures tell another story. I mean, how can this not be a Hidden Mickey?
Turkey Leg
As we learn about what Worldmind knows about Terra, we get to spot an iconic Disney World snack – the turkey leg!
Three Suns of Xandar
Finally, we have a peek into the ongoing translation efforts at BlogMickey HQ as we comb through hundreds of photos from our preview opportunity. In this first translation, we can find the names of the three suns that light up Xandar as introduced by Worldmind in the Galaxarium.
As seen in this photo of a screen on the Nova Cruiser, there is Xandarian text on the bottom of the screen.
The three suns, which actually exist in outer space, are represented below, although the image is reversed:
- HD 222155
- HD 13931
- HD 5583
It’s GUNNa B Gr8
For those with a Xandarian language cipher, there is plenty of text around the queue to translate once you’ve made your way onto the Nova Cruiser. While we haven’t found out everything that there is to find yet, we did find a possible nod to Guardians of the Galaxy writer and director James Gunn.
Circled below reads: “Its Gunna B Gr8”, which is an incorrect spelling of “gonna”, but possibly in reference to James Gunn.
1982
Going back to the ship schematic, we can find a reference to 1982 – the opening year of EPCOT and of the original version of the Universe of Energy attraction. The text in the middle of the circle reads:
Action
82
Action
Keep EPCOT Weird
And now for a complete guess. On the ship schematic is a partial look at the Xandarian alphabet. As you can see in our photo below, there are three letters highlighted – ‘K’, ‘E’, and ‘W’. We would love if this stood for “Keep EPCOT Weird”, but who knows.
We’ll keep looking for Easter Eggs as we get more chances to ride! Did we miss something? Let us know!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!