3 Best Sights in World Discovery, Walt Disney World Orlando

The peace-loving planet Xandar, from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, has opened as the first other-world exhibit at EPCOT. However, Rocket and his pals find the presentation “boring,” so that’s when you’re off on a totally new (in summer 2022) adventure created especially for EPCOT. This attraction, which uses Audio-Animatronics and screens to tell the story, features the first reverse launch of any Disney ride. Like the movies, the direction for it was done by James Gunn. Expect it to have a height requirement of between 40 and 44 inches. There are no flips, and the harnesses are lap only, with guests sitting two-by-two, which can make nervous kids feel more relaxed. For people with disabilities: check with Guest Relations about boarding requirements.   Expect massive crowds, which might mean that this attraction will become one of EPCOT's few that offer individual Lightning Lanes.

It took five years for Disney Imagineers, with the help of 25 experts from NASA, to design Mission: SPACE, the first ride ever to take people "straight up" in a simulated rocket launch. The story transports you and co-riders to the year 2036 and the International Space Training Center, where you are about to embark on your first launch. Before you board the four-person rocket capsule, you're assigned to a position: commander, navigator, pilot, or engineer. And at this point, you're warned several times about the intensity of the ride and the risks for people with health concerns. After many guests became sick after riding, Disney created an "orange" and a "green" mission. The Orange mission heads to Mars and has a height requirement of 44 inches. A spinning motion creates the feeling of a rocket launch and weightlessness (the effect is also cumulative, so stick with one go-round unless you have a particularly hardy constitution). The Green mission on Earth, with a height requirement of 40 inches, is still plenty bumpy, but doesn't use spinning to create special effects. Pregnant women and anyone with heart, back, neck, balance, blood-pressure, or motion-sickness problems shouldn't ride either version.

For those who can handle the intense spinning, the sensation of liftoff is a turbulent, heart-pounding experience that flattens you against your seat. Once you break into outer space, you'll even feel weightless. After landing, you exit your capsule into the Advanced Training Lab, where you can play some very entertaining space-related games. For people with disabilities: This ride requires a transfer from wheelchair to seat. Service animals aren't permitted to board. Video-captioning devices can be used on the ride; assisted-listening devices can be used in the postshow Training Lab.  Both lines move swiftly, and people rarely ride this more than once, so if you see long wait times, give it an hour and try again. Don't ride on a full stomach.

The white-knuckle finale of this fan favorite is as thrilling as ever. Create a custom concept vehicle at an interactive design station, and then buckle up in a six-person SimCar to put the design through its paces in a neon-splashed, futuristic setting that surrounds the attraction's original hills and mountain switchbacks. Everyone can create their own designs and see how they compare to everyone else's—first in their car and then at the end of the ride.

The High-Speed Test is last: your vehicle bursts through an opening in the Test Track building to negotiate a steeply banked loop at a speed of nearly 60 mph. At the special effects–laden postshow, you can see how your custom car performed and create your own car commercial. The speeds and some jarring effects can be unsettling, so this ride isn't suitable for pregnant women or guests wearing back, neck, or leg braces. For people with disabilities: Visitors in wheelchairs are provided a special area in which to practice transferring into the ride vehicle before actually boarding. One TV monitor in the preshow area is closed-captioned. Service animals aren't permitted onboard.   This ride won't function on wet tracks, so don't head here after a downpour. Also note that the Single Rider queue has been eliminated here.