When Will Epcot's Guardians Coaster Open? Here's the Answer

I would expect to see a return of the Boarding Pass system here.

Soft openings confirmed for cast, DVC, and APs. Emails will be going out with info on securing a date/time.

Probably very limited boarding groups. I would expect much of the ride capacity will be dedicated to individual Lightning Lane purchases.

Obviously, the wait times for this attraction and need for Disney to employ the Boarding Groups process will be dependent upon the capacity and efficiency of the coaster. This is clearly a BIG coaster with over a mile of track according to RCDB, so you'd expect there to be plenty of blocks to allow for multiple trains and continuous loading/unloading.

Using the Boarding Groups system, if needed, helps to limit frustration from guests as the attraction goes through its shakedown period. However, with the Park Pass system, guests have so little flexibility that missing out on securing a Boarding Group is a much bigger deal now because you can't simply visit the park on the next day of your trip if you don't have another EPCOT reservation (and park hopping doesn't help either since Boarding Groups are gone long before guests can change parks in the middle of the day). That leaves ILL as the only way for many guests to get a chance to ride this highly anticipated attraction.

Hopefully, this coaster will work out its kinks quickly, and the throughput quickly gets to optimal levels by mid-summer so Disney can go to a normal standby line.

I think what has me so intrigued is the lack of specificity that's leaked about this coaster. The only details that are confirmed are that it's the largest indoor roller coaster in the world and will be the first Disney coaster with a reverse launch. Aside from the spinning cars and the billing of the attraction as a "story-coaster", we don't really know what is going to happen here. Will it be like Gringott's, which is cool but ultimately underwhelming from a coaster standpoint, or will it be more like Mummy and Hagrids that better integrate coaster elements into the experience? You have to hand it to Disney for keeping so much of this experience under wraps (it helps that all of the coaster elements are inside and hidden from prying eyes), and given how well Disney executed the GOTG overlay of ToT at DCA, you have to think this has a good chance at being a home run.

If I had to speculate, it would be more like Gringott’s than Hagrid’s because of it being entirely indoors.

After the Memorial Day opening leak, I booked an extra day for our upcoming summer trip for EPCOT to give us another shot at a boarding group. If I can’t get it on any day, I can always drown my sorrows by drinking around the world.

I think Disney is done with boarding groups. They were created for Galaxy’s Edge assuming the land would always be at capacity and were completely unnecessary. I think Disney wanted some return on investment by using it as a band aid for Rise’s bad reliability and virtual queuing for some new attractions.

Disney seems pretty confident in Guardians’ reliability of there’s going to be passholder previews and soft openings. And then their next attractions, Tron and Runaway Railway are clones that have been already operating.

Aaron, the boarding groups were also used for Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, a clone of ride that had been open for 7 years prior in Paris that also had passholder previews. Since Guardians is Epcot's first coaster, I suspect there will be a bit of a crush in popularity, especially with it opening at the start of the "summer season" for theme parks.

The latest rumor from insiders is that Guardians will open with boarding groups and ILL for at least the first six weeks (likely to get past the 4th of July peak), then they'll decide based on how it goes whether to keep them or switch to a standby line. Provided the coaster is reliable, I doubt there will be a need to keep them going as this ride is supposed to have capacity comparable to Everest (~2,000 per hour vs. the ~1,400 Rise gets), but I could imagine Disney milking it for a while to sell as many ILLs as possible (which will supposedly start at $20).

As for the ride itself, I said it in the other thread, but I really think this is going to be the favorite for best new ride of 2022 and the themed coaster experience to beat going forward. It won't be an uber intense ride, but from analysis of the construction pictures and blueprints, the expectation is that it will have three or four launches/lifts, two or three mid-ride show scenes, and the longest ride duration of any coaster at Walt Disney World. I'm already planning a trip out in August to ride all the new Florida stuff, and as good as I'm sure Iron Gwazi will be, I'm way more excited about Guardians.

@Aaron - I think Disney still needs to use the Boarding Groups system for highly anticipated attractions that are going through their break-in period to manage expectations. The last thing they need is for guests to get into a 4-hour line and then not be able to ride. The Boarding Groups allow for a virtual line to form, and for guests to be paged back to the ride as needed over the course of the day based on performance.

We're also tentatively planning a trip to Orlando later this year with Guardians being one of the primary drivers. However, compared to previous trips, our time at WDW is going to be significantly reduced despite the new additions because of the new operational policies at the parks (park hopping changes, EMH changes, Genie+, and Park Pass, among others). Typically we would spend 4-5 days at WDW on a trip to Central Florida, while I'd be surprised if we spend more than 2-3 days at the Disney parks this time around - we might not even bother stepping foot in Magic Kingdom unless Tron unexpectedly opens this fall.

Info from the latest edition of the Disney Dish (all information from one of their inside sources):
- It will open with boarding groups, but they won't last nearly as long as the BGs that RotR or Remy used them. This is because the ride appears to be more reliable. They gave some of the stats from the previous two weeks, and Remy is down on average 90 minutes per day and RotR about 80 minutes per day. However, according to their inside source, Guardians is anticipated to be down "only" 50 minutes per day at opening. This is due to Remy and RotR being trackless rides whereas Guardians is most definitely on a track.
- Guardians is going to have a huge ride capacity and a show building to hold a lot of people in the queue.
- Much like Velocicoaster, the complex animatronics are in the queue, and there may or may not be any animatronics on the actual ride (and if there are, they will be relatively simple. This part was speculation.)
- Cast members and AP holders will get first crack at the ride starting shortly after the expected media event to be held the first week in May. Assuming all goes well, that is a large group of people that will be able to experience the ride before the large summer crowds arrive, thus negating the need for BGs for a long period of time.