How Are Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Cosmic Rewind Doing?
Two weeks ago, Walt Disney World dramatically shifted its crowd behavior.
Disney switched two of its newest rides, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, to standby queues.
Virtual Queue
Currently, Disney World has abandoned all virtual queues. While I don’t think this is a permanent policy, it’s the situation for now.
So, how are Cosmic Rewind and Tiana doing? Let’s evaluate the first two weeks under the new rules.
About the New Changes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind debuted on May 27th, 2022.
The storytelling roller coaster instantly became the most popular attraction at EPCOT.
Cosmic Rewind Standby Line
Management performed a bit of gatekeeping and crowd control by placing Cosmic Rewind behind a virtual queue.
This process allowed Disney to control the crowds and thereby keep most of the line queue inside Wonders of Xandar.
Disney
That’s the name of the pavilion hosting the roller coaster, and it’s massive. So, the crowd spillover mostly stayed indoors.
The interior of Wonders of Xandar can hold about an hour’s worth of guests.
Photo: Disney
For the body of three years, Disney did a nice job keeping the building filled while avoiding prolonged lines outside the pavilion.
The open secret at EPCOT was that the virtual queue was often available several hours after it opened in year three, though.
Cosmic Rewind Standby Line
Last May, I opined that Disney should end the virtual queue soon. Disney got right on that and promptly shut it down last month.
Why the delay? I couldn’t tell you, but it obviously never made much sense to me.
Photo: Disney
Then, we have Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which surprised observers by never offering a Lightning Lane Single Pass.
Disney slotted the Splash Mountain reboot on Lightning Lane Multi Pass instead, which was to the company’s credit.
Test Track
Guests shouldn’t need to pay for a new variant of an attraction we’ve been riding for many years.
Let’s hold that thought through this summer when Test Track 3.0 debuts.
Virtual Queue
Anyway, Tiana opened last May and used a virtual queue at first.
This era proved brief, as Disney converted the boat ride to a standby queue two weeks ago.
Virtual Queue
So, Disney World switched from two virtual queues to none on February 25th, 2025.
The Hard Reset of Disney Traffic Patterns
Photo: Disney World
Currently, Cosmic Rewind is clearly the most popular attraction at EPCOT.
I’d list Tiana as third at Magic Kingdom behind the still-new Tron Lightcycle / Run and the always-steady Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
While the hard reset at EPCOT matters more, Tiana’s change has tremendous ripple effects throughout Magic Kingdom as well.
That’s why we’re tracking all this as guests decide how to approach a suddenly dramatically different park visit.
As I mentioned after one day, Disney had to modify the exterior at Cosmic Rewind to accommodate the change.
EPCOT added new overhead cover outside the Wonders of Xandar pavilion to account for the new overflow.
Cosmic Rewind queue
The standby queue often lasts more than an hour, spilling hundreds of guests onto the lawn outside the building.
With the blaring sun in this spot, guests would suffer mightily without the cover, just as they did at Slinky Dog Dash back in the day.
That’s the cosmetic part of the conversation. The itinerary change involves guest behavior.
Cosmic Rewind has joined the Early Theme Park Entry lineup, and it’s also the premiere Rope Drop option.
Cosmic Rewind line
Now, the start of an EPCOT day inevitably includes the division of guests into two lines.
The Rope Drop stands on one side, while the Early Theme Park Entry crew stands on the other.
Cosmic Rewind line
Both parties are going to the same place: Cosmic Rewind. It is FAR AND AWAY the top early morning option right now.
I’m not convinced that’s the best idea since this ride is known to cause nausea for a small percentage of guests.
Mission: SPACE
But I guess EPCOT is used to that after more than 20 years of Mission: SPACE.
Anyway, our focus here is how the crowds are adapting to the changes at EPCOT and Magic Kingdom.
Two Weeks of Tiana Wait Times
Photo: Disney
The first thing you should know about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is that it had a weird opening day.
As I mentioned at the time, the ride failed to open with the rest of the park.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Coincidentally or not, crowds never swelled to outrageous proportions, leading to an average wait time of 45 minutes.
I suspected at the time that this was low, at least for the first few months of standby queue.
Photo: Disney
But that kind of wait is also perfectly in line with the history of Splash Mountain.
I hoped that I’d maybe inflated my expectations for wait times on Tiana. But nope!
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Since then, the attraction has only averaged a wait of less than 50 minutes on three of 14 days.
Conversely, Tiana averaged an hourlong wait on eight of those days and more than 50 minutes on the other three.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Basically, the data suggests that A) Walt Disney World crowds have increased since then or B) the delayed opening deflated crowds.
I suspect it’s a little of column A and a little of column B.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Whatever the explanation, Tiana’s average wait thus far is about 66 minutes.
That is a LOT more than I would’ve guessed two weeks ago. Really, it’s about 25 percent more.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
As I mentioned last time, we’ll check back again after the rides have been using a standby queue for two months.
Thus far, Tiana has proven more of a draw than I’d guessed, though.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Please remember that this attraction has massive throughput. It’s consistently packed to claim such consistently long waits.
And that brings us to…
Two Weeks of Cosmic Rewind Wait Times
Cosmic Rewind Standby Queue
On its first day in operation, Cosmic Rewind averaged a wait of 69 minutes.
At the time, I mentioned that it was “30-50 minutes less than I’d expected.”
Cosmic Rewind
So, that statement implies I expect average waits in the range of 100 minutes for this roller coaster.
I’m thrilled to inform you that we’ve only hit that mark once. A couple of other days were close, but that’s it.
On 11 out of 14 days, the wait at Cosmic Rewind was significantly shorter than I was braced for.
To date, this thrill ride has averaged a wait of 82 minutes. And it’s still demonstrating some of that behavior I mentioned.
Inside Cosmic Rewind
After crowds have stood in line first thing in the morning, there is still a bit of drop-off. But it’s not as severe on day one.
Now, Cosmic Rewind’s crowd patterns remain more consistent throughout the day.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
I suspect that the word is out that it’s a standby queue now, and that’s altered the patterns a bit.
As expected, Cosmic Rewind has deflated the wait times of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure a bit.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure’s Single Rider Line
One day last week, Ratatouille’s wait fell under 50 minutes, which is RARE. Well, it had been rare.
I expect that we’ll see more of this during the slow times on the calendar now that Cosmic Rewind is clearly the top choice.
Photo: Josh D’Amaro on Instagram
Over the past 14 days, Ratatouille has averaged a wait of about 64 minutes.
During the same timeframe in 2024, it was 92 minutes. But these are small sample sizes.
We’ll know more in a few more weeks. Thus far, Cosmic Rewind is definitely siphoning traffic from other EPCOT rides, though.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
