By Contributor,Joseph Prezioso,Julie Tremaine
Copyright forbes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opened in 2022. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Since its opening in May 2022, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has consistently been one of the most popular and sought-after experiences at Walt Disney World. On any given day, the attraction has a consistently high wait time. But on Sept. 21, it’s a totally different level of in-demand. Why? Because that one inauspicious date is the single most important day of the year for the ride.
Today, fans are flocking to the ride, which is the only roller coaster at EPCOT and only only backward launch coaster at Walt Disney World, to celebrate a special milestone specific to that one attraction. And it all has to do with the soundtrack.
Like in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, music has an outsized role in the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, playing through individual speakers in the headrests of each seat. One of the most fun components of the experience is not knowing which of the six songs will reveal itself during the ride’s adrenaline-pumping backwards launch. On any one ride, guests will get either: “One Way or Another” by Blondie; “Conga” by Gloria Estefan; “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears; “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps; “I Ran (So Far Away)” by Flock of Seagulls; or “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire.
The ride cars individually rotate on the innovative roller coaster. (Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)
Getty Images
In that last song, the band calls out a specific date, asking, “Do you remember, the 21st night of September?” To celebrate, just for that one day, the ride changes, only playing that one Earth, Wind and Fire track on every run. Walt Disney World announced the move on Sept. 9, 2025 in a social media post that asked, “Do you remember…what’s special about September 21st?”
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It’s the second year Disney has celebrated the date. Last year, it was a huge success with superfans who sold out the park’s reservations for the chance to ride on the day named in the song, per Florida Today. This year is different, though. It’s the first year since the ride opened that it’s had a standby queue. Since its 2022 opening, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has operated on a virtual queue system. Would-be riders would have to use the Walt Disney World app at specific times of day, hoping to snag a spot in a “virtual queue” that would allow them to return at a certain time of day to get in the ride’s physical queue. (The other option, which is still available, is to buy an Individual Lightning Lane pass, which costs between $14 and $19 per rider depending on demand, per Thrill Data.)
As of February 2025, riders no longer have to rely on the luck of the virtual queue draw to experience the coaster. Now, people can simply choose to wait. And wait they do. On a given day, the average standby wait time for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is 75 minutes. Today, the average has been 120 minutes; as of publication, the current wait time is 175 minutes, according to Thrill Data. It’s a long slog for a three-minute ride. But for many Disney fans, it’s worth it just to have been there on that one special day.
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