‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ – Mission: BREAKOUT! Reviewed

“Guardians of the Galaxy” – Mission: BREAKOUT! officially opened on May 27, 2017, at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, and the immense crowds immediately indicated its popularity.

Minutes after the Disneyland Resort theme park’s 8 am opening, the line of people queued up to ride the new attraction already stretched from Hollywood Land all the way back to the Buena Vista Street entrance plaza.

On its first day, wait times peaked at 300 minutes (a whole whopping five hours), which is impressive for a ride that is not entirely new.

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In fact, “Guardians” was previously “The Twilight Zone” Tower of Terror—another beloved attraction that I was also in attendance for on its initial May 5, 2004, opening.

I was huge fan of the original attraction—itself the second iteration of a ride first built at Walt Disney World. And as cool as I thought the renderings looked for the “Guardians" overlay—revealed when I was at the Comic-Con International panel—that was to come, I honestly lamented the demise of the classic. (My wife and I even purchased special admission to its 13th Hour dessert party on January 1, 2017, to be some of the last to ride.)

--Be advised, spoilers aplenty are ahead.--

Remarkably, in just five months time, we witnessed the exterior of the building transformed from a 1939 art deco hotel into the futuristic Collector’s Fortress, with mixed results.

Any time an existing building is repurposed, the bulk of its structure is sure to remain, and a number of architectural features are still familiar. However, its wild color palette and tubular augmentations definitely converted it as much as physically possible without a complete rebuild.

The resulting exterior is certainly striking and works very well on its own. The only criticism I have is that it sticks out a bit like a sore thumb from the rest of the park—especially contiguous with the thoughtfully-themed Red Car Trolley extending back through Hollywood Land to Buena Vista Street.

As it is rumored that the immediate surroundings will soon be redone into a new Marvel land filled with the Avengers, I have faith that the aesthetic will eventually read more harmoniously.

In the meantime, it’s the inside of the attraction that most counts, and it impresses far more than I expected it to.

New thematic overlays of existing rides are not entirely new to Disney theme parks. Disneyland seasonally adds “The Nightmare Before Christmas” to the Haunted Mansion, and permanently applied “Finding Nemo” to the Submarine Voyage. Queen Elsa and Princess Anna also did a fine job making Epcot’s Maelstrom “Frozen.”

However, “Guardians” is easily the most immersive takeover a Disney attraction has seen, at least on the west coast. 

As for “Guardians,” the layout of the queue and core ride is essentially the same as before, but nearly everything else has changed. In typical Disney fashion—overseen by dynamo Senior Vice President Creative at Walt Disney Imagineering, Joe Rohde—the ride is stacked with attention to detail in service of telling its story.

Taneleer Tivan, also known as The Collector, has managed to recently imprison the Guardians of the Galaxy—Peter Quill or Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket and (baby) Groot. He has invited guests (i.e. park visitors) for a VIP tour of his collection where the new inclusions are on public display for the very first time.

READ MORE: Previewing Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Ride

Upon entering the facility’s exterior courtyard and breezeway, a golden statue of Tivan and plenty of his corporate logos await. A massive geared vault door has been raised to allow passage inside where display cases fill the vast volume that was previously the Hollywood Tower Hotel lobby. The now sci-fi venue has plenty to look at, such as Cosmo the Spacedog from the comics and film as well as Easter eggs like Figment from Epcot’s classic Journey Into Imagination ride high above.

At the end of the room, a video displays the Guardians in their own cases, suspended even more precariously deep in the bowels of the building where we will soon be lifted up to see them as well. Their dialogue here is as hilarious as it is in the movies, and even Stan Lee makes a cameo, comically asking, “Hey, do you guys validate?”

The production value only improves upon entering Tivan’s private office where he begins to describe the next process of being seated in a gantry lift to view the Guardians. Except, Rocket has managed to escape and takes over the proceedings in the form of a very convincing audio-animatronics figure enlisting our help to free the others.

His characteristic irreverence is hysterical as always, and all throughout the room, there is plenty else to look at, including Quill’s Sony Walkman and a couple of sneaky references back to Tower of Terror.

The next bit of the queue is mostly the boiler room from the previous ride, unchanged but with some augmentation in the form of high-tech lighting, signage and geometric coverings of former analog dials. Quite a bit more of the collection still to be curated is also on display, including a wonderful piece of theme park history: the original yeti from Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds.

Once finally seated, it’s apparent that the ride system is the same as before, with identical elevator-cars-now-gantry-lifts only repainted some. But the experience is considerably enhanced.

The original forced-perspective hallway scene has been replaced by a very detailed generator room that Rocket knocks out of commission in order to emancipate the remainder of the Guardians. And the former ghostly mirror has been swapped for a super high-definition screen playing back various videos of our heroes as they escape.

All the while, one of six vintage rock tunes plays as riders catapult at high speed up and down the shaft. The ride now feels about 25 percent longer than before with more frequent drops, all maximized for substantial air time. So far I’ve heard Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love” twice and The Edgar Winter Group’s “Free Ride” once.

Each of the half dozen songs comes with its own unique set of ride sequences and character tableaus.

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The two songs alone have been fantastic, and I can’t wait to listen to and experience the variations that go along with “I want You Back” by The Jackson 5, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar, “Give Up the Funk” by Parliament and “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf.

In short, “Guardians of the Galaxy” – Mission: BREAKOUT! is an absolute blast. Even as a huge fan and defendant of the original “The Twilight Zone” Tower of Terror, I can honestly admit, Disney has managed to make the attraction a far better ride—one with bigger thrills, greater repeatability and more immersive theming.

Thumbs way up!

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