Fans will get a small taste of old EPCOT (and maybe a bit of nostalgic disappointment) when they ride the park’s newest attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
What’s Happening:
- Twitter user @ScottGustin was able to capture the special moment in the preshow when Quill makes reference to having visited EPCOT as a kid, looking forward to being able to visit such classic attractions again. It makes us sad and leaves us wondering…who is going to tell him?
- In the preshow, Quill (played by Chris Pratt) acknowledges his excitement to experience Horizons again, as well as see the dinosaurs of the Universe of Energy, and pop on over to Kitchen Kabaret so he can hear the song, “Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit” once again.
- Horizons, which has been closed far longer than it was open, is a spot of lament for many an EPCOT fan. The attraction, inevitably replaced by Mission: SPACE (which, for the record, has been open longer than Horizons was), served as a sort of sequel to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, and is what many considered to put the “Future” in “Future World” since it was the only attraction that depicted everyday life in the future. The slow-moving ride system took guests past different scenarios, including life in space, undersea, and in desert communities, before offering them the chance to choose their own ending, by majority vote of course. The attraction also spawned a common quote uttered by many Disney fans that is typically misattributed to Walt himself, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
- Kitchen Kabaret was an animatronic stage show that took place in The Land pavilion that opened alongside the park in 1982. The show featured many original characters, including host Bonnie Appetite. The show was composed of singing and dancing food, with all the lyrics and content focused on nutrition and the food groups. However, it was Colander Combo and the Fiesta Fruit that stole the show with the song, “Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit.” While the produce took the stage, Bonnie took a Carmen Miranda-esque look while they all sang together with a catchy tropical tune. In 1994, the show was reskinned as Food Rocks!, and took a more contemporary approach full of song parodies about nutrition based on hits of the era. In the early 2000s, the show was closed altogether to make way for Soarin’.
- And lastly, Quill of course made reference to the pavilion that the Wonders of Xandar pavilion replaced, the Universe of Energy. Originally opened with the park in 1982, the pavilion took a far more serious approach to the topic of energy than other pavilions took on their own subjects. Traveling theater cars (that ran on sunshine!) moved from theater to theater, rolling through a prehistoric dinosaur scene that became iconic to the park. Arguably, the most interesting thing in the building, it lasted through each incarnation of the attraction. In 1996, the attraction took on a far more comedic approach, becoming Ellen’s Energy Adventure (at the Universe of Energy) and hosted by comedians Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Using the premise of a nightmare round of the hit game show, Jeopardy!, guests found themselves inside Ellen’s dream, learning about various forms of energy to help her win the game. The dinosaurs remained, and were still the highlight of the attraction for many passengers. The Universe of Energy permanently closed in 2017 to make way for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
- Interestingly, there were rumors abound that the dinosaurs were marked to be saved in some way, so fans were anticipating seeing them in the new attraction. Early reports and reviews say that the original Universe of Energy is unrecognizable on the inside, and no trace of the former attraction has been found. That means, the dinosaurs that may have been saved have likely made their way to the Walt Disney Archives.
- You can catch this little homage to these classic attractions when Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opens on May 27th at EPCOT.
- Imagineers even mentioned that you can spot some more after re-riding multiple times (somehow, since the attraction will debut with virtual queue in place), and you can hear about those in the video below:
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