Song List for Guardians of Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

There are 6 songs on the playlist for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in Epcot at Walt Disney World. This post shares the music you can hear on the ride, how they shape the experience, and our rankings of the roller coaster’s different tracks. (Updated May 17, 2023.)

Before we get started, a couple plugs for other resources about this blockbuster attraction at Walt Disney World. Experiencing the new ride is a bit complicated, so if you want to experience it (and you should!), check out our How to Ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind & Virtual Queue Speed Strategy to improve your chances of success for joining the free virtual queue.

Another alternative is buying line-skipping access via the Individual Lightning Lanes. As of 2023, that costs between $14 and $17 per person, depending upon demand and crowd levels. Those posts explain each option, their pros & cons, and everything else you need to know. Suffice to say, do not just show up to EPCOT expecting to join the standby line–as there isn’t one.

We’ve already had the chance to experience Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind several times since it debuted. We’ve heard every single song on the playlist at least three times, including the dreaded holiday version (more on that below), and each have different favorites that we think work better with the roller coaster. Although the track stays the same with each ride, the motion just feels different thanks to the song selections. It’s almost like the ride dances, for lack of a better term.

Suffice to say, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is an absolute blast. Even though the rides are very different in nature, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! demonstrated just how fun an “Awesome Mix Tape” plus these Marvel misfits plus thrills can be. It’s a recipe for success and, frankly, there should be more rides following this formula.

Getting to the point, Walt Disney Imagineering revealed that during development of the family-thrill coaster, they came up with a list of more than 100 potential songs for the Starjumpers’ onboard sound system.

The Cosmic Rewind ride team rode the attraction over and over again testing how various tracks fit with the spirit of the roller coaster. Per Imagineering, the goal was finding songs with that perfect balance of energy, a flow that matched the major movements of the ride, and lyrics that gave a fun nod to the story of Cosmic Rewind.

Here’s the normal Cosmic Rewind song list, which is played throughout the year outside of the holiday season…

The “Awesome Mix” playlist for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind consists of six songs in their classic versions:

  • “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire
  • “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps
  • “Conga” by Gloria Estefan
  • “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears
  • “I Ran” by A Flock of Seagulls
  • “One Way or Another” by Blondie

You won’t know which track you’ll hear each time you ride until you actually blast off with the Guardians on an intergalactic chase through time and space.

In addition to these 6 songs that did make the cut for the roller coaster portion of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, many more of the 100 tracks that were tested will be played in the post-show and corridor upon exiting the attraction. These also are cycled through at random–I still don’t think we’ve heard them all.

Next, our rankings of each song played on-board Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind…

Sarah’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind song rankings:

  1. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears
  2. “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire
  3. “Conga” by Gloria Estefan
  4. “One Way or Another” by Blondie
  5. “I Ran” by A Flock of Seagulls
  6. “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps

Tom’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind song rankings:

  1. “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire
  2. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears
  3. “I Ran” by A Flock of Seagulls
  4. “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps
  5. “One Way or Another” by Blondie
  6. …Nothing At All…
  7. “Conga” by Gloria Estefan

Seriously, next time I might bring AirPods so I can listen to something else if I get stuck with “Conga” again. I know they wouldn’t be logical fits for the attraction, but I wish Cosmic Rewind could’ve gotten “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” or “Lake Shore Drive” instead.

As mentioned above, there’s also a holiday version of the attraction with different music. Or at least there was last year. During the Christmas season, there’s going to be the Guardians of Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – Holiday Remix ride overlay with different music than normal.

During the Christmas season, the Guardians of the Galaxy trade in their classic hits playlist for a mash-up of seasonal jams at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT. Guests blast off to the tune of an awesome holiday single, bringing joy to Xandar and Terra, too.”

Currently, there are a few big unknowns about seasonal overlays of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in 2023. The first is whether there will be a Halloween version this year. There was not last year, but the ride was also brand-new and Walt Disney World might’ve wanted to give guests more time to experience the normal ride.

There only reason we think a Halloween version is an outside possibility is because there is one for the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Disney California Adventure. Known as Guardians of the Galaxy — Monsters After Dark, the Halloween overlay at Disneyland Resort is actually good. It’s campy and fun, completely keeping in the spirit of the characters. However, Walt Disney World does far fewer Halloween overlays than the California parks, so it’s doubtful.

The next big unknown is whether Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – Holiday Remix will return for Christmas 2023. To each their own, but neither of us cared for this overlay last year. It’s in no way whatsoever integrated into the attraction–the Christmas song just comes out of nowhere. Even with that, the ride doesn’t feel the least bit festive because literally nothing else was done to make it a cohesive or comprehensive Christmas overlay.

Worst of all, the song itself is not very good Cosmic Rewind has fantastic flow and fluidity–thanks to the music and the motion, it normally feels like dancing in roller coaster form. That’s not the case for Holiday Remix, which underscores just how much song selection matters. Here’s hoping that this is a one and done, as the Holiday Remix actually diminishes the Cosmic Rewind experience.

Finally, there’s the question of when the Holiday Remix will replace Cosmic Rewind if it does return for Christmas 2023 at Walt Disney World. Although the holiday season as a whole starts in early November 2023, that’s only the case for Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Magic Kingdom.

The 2023 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays won’t begin until November 24, and will run through December 30, 2023. If past precedent is any indication, Holiday Remix will run for those same dates–not the full Christmas season from the start of November through early January 2024. If you want to know when the current playlist stops and restarts again, sign up for our free email newsletter. We’ll notify subscribers as soon as there’s news about song selection changes for Cosmic Rewind.

As mentioned above, there’s also a somewhat similar music-based attraction at Disneyland Resort. For the sake of comparison, here’s the Song List for Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! On the DCA attraction, Rocket hotwires the lift to play while guests help escape from the Collector’s Fortress and one of the following songs plays:

  • “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar (1980)
  • “Give Up The Funk” by Parliament (1975)
  • “Born To Be Wild” by Steppenwolf (1968)
  • “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5 (1969)
  • “Free Ride” by The Edgar Winter Group (1973)
  • “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley (1972)

Even if none of these songs are your jam, so to speak, they just “hit different” when played during a thrill ride. I don’t know how to explain it, but all of those tracks work really well on Mission Breakout.

Speaking of the Cosmic Rewind ride experience, the attraction’s antagonist is Eson, a Celestial that has been watching Earth for eons. The Celestial makes a startling appearance in the attraction and is looking “to right a wrong in a big way.”

While Eson might be surprising to encounter at Epcot’s Wonders of Xandar pavilion, he’s no stranger to the Guardians of the Galaxy. While the Celestial and the ragtag troop have never crossed paths before, Eson was once in possession of the Power Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, as the group learned in the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Now, he has set his sights on Earth.

The Guardians of the Galaxy–Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot–step in to help save the day. But, they can’t do it alone, so (naturally) they enlist the help of guests to stop Eson from completing his grand plan!

This is a similar story conceit used in both Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. It’s right up there with “and something goes terribly wrong” as a storytelling device on rides.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What are you thoughts on the “Awesome Mix Tape” for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind? Think these tracks are good choices for a roller coaster through space and time? Are you excited for the grand opening of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

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