Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run to Get ‘Choose Your Destination’ & Baby Yoda Babysitter Role
Disney has revealed more details about the new mission featuring Mandalorian and Grogu for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Star Wars Land at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This shares concept art & info about the 4 new destinations, how the engineer will have the most important job in the galaxy as the Baby Yoda Babysitter, and everything we know about the changes to what sounds like a totally redone ride sequence.
This news was announced during the Disney Experiences Panel at Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Japan. Joining host Ashley Eckstein on stage were Asa Kalama and Anisha Deshmane from Walt Disney Imagineering, as well as Michael Serna from Disney Live Entertainment and Matt Martin from Lucasfilm. This revolved around how Star Wars comes to life at Disney theme parks around the world, with WDI and other creative minds offering a glimpse at Star Wars projects and attractions.
The Star Wars Celebration panel built on the announcement of a new Mandalorian and Grogu mission for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run originally announced at last year’s D23 Expo in Anaheim. Just last month at SXSW, Jon Favreau, director and producer of the upcoming Star Wars film, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” who was joined onstage by Imagineers Leslie Evans and Asa Kalama to talk about what’s coming soon to Batuu. They revealed during SXSW that Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run would have three new destinations: Tatooine, Bespin and Endor. Today in Tokyo (technically tomorrow), Imagineers revealed another location: the city planet, Coruscant.
Starting May 22, 2026 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will allow guests to control the iconic ship like never before. For the first time ever, the crew will be in control of their own destination, leading to potential adventures on Bespin, the wreckage of the second Death Star around Endor, or the just-announced bustling city-planet, Coruscant. Another new gameplay addition allows the engineer positions to care for and communicate with Grogu during the mission.
This ‘choose your own destination’ update debuts on the same day as Lucasfilm’s upcoming title, “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” However, the storyline of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will follow a different path than the upcoming film.
In this new ride storyline, Hondo Ohnaka has gotten wind of a deal going down on Tatooine between ex-Imperial officers and a band of pirates. There’s a generous bounty for their capture, so you’ll borrow the iconic ship and team up with Mando and Grogu to track them down and explore the galaxy. Meaning that the mission will depart Batuu bound for Tatooine, and the crew will choose from one of three destinations–Bespin, Endor, or Coruscant–from there.
According to Imagineering, none of this would be possible without its partnership with Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). With their help, you are in control of your own destiny on the attraction. This technology is all built on Unreal Engine 5 by Epic Games which are the same tools ILM uses on the Disney+ show, The Mandalorian.
Here’s a look at some of the new Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run scenes in Bespin, Endor, Tatooine, and Coruscant:
Previously, the big unanswered question was whether the “new story” featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu would be all-new gameplay and a mission built from the ground up, or just recycled assets and a brief scene for the sake of marketing.
It’s still possible this will be a Star Tours-style change, with a new segment with Mandalorian and Baby Yoda spliced into the current story. It’s also possible that an all-new mission will be developed, but it’ll somehow be worse. After all, this is a interactive attraction that guests of all ages and backgrounds need to be able to pick up quickly and play without a lengthy tutorial or learning curve.
While pessimism is never a bad idea given Disney’s recent track record, it’s sure sounding like this is a pretty ambitious overhaul to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. That Imagineering is essentially taking guest feedback and the biggest complaints about the gameplay loop and attraction experience, and fixing those faults.
Personally, I think there’s a pretty high likelihood of this being a major upgrade over the old Smugglers Run mission. Having a ‘choose your destination’ element has shades of Star Tours or Horizons (IYKYK) and fan consensus is that engineer is far and away the weakest role. So Imagineering is making the visual experience more akin to Star Tours and enhancing the engineer role so it doesn’t feel like you get “stuck” with it if you’re lucky. That’s addressing two of the most glaring shortcomings of the attraction!
Since the Grogu & Mandalorian mission was announced, we’ve been optimistic and excited about the updates to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Our perspective has been that this almost assuredly going to improve the attraction, potentially by a considerable amount. With each new update, I’m more optimistic about the direction of this ride reimagining (has it risen to the level that we can now call it that?!).
Readers have been far less enthusiastic. Whenever Smugglers Run comes up, fans bemoan how boring it is when you’re in any role but pilot–especially engineer, or if kids are pilot. I disagree with the last part. If anything, I think the current experience is so boring that the thing that makes it most interesting is a truly terrible pilot that just smashes you around into everything.
I’m not even kidding–aside from my first time as pilot, all of my favorite ride-throughs have been sitting in the back with kids charting our course. Every time I’m assigned the pilot role and there’s a kid in the crew, I ask their parents if they’d like to switch with me. (Not to go on too much of a tangent, but I find it odd how many Disney Adults are anti-children. They’re getting more out of the experience than you! If you can suspend disbelief in a fake mission on a fake spaceship, surely you can do the same with that mission not going flawlessly and the fake spaceship crashing into stuff.)
In any case, most other guests don’t seem to agree with me. And it is true that engineer is the most boring role in a boring mission, even if it is more fun when things are going off the rails and you can just sit back and watch the trainwreck (err…spaceship-wreck?) unfold.
I also agree that the trainwreck should be more fun to watch unfold. The visuals of the mission should be sufficiently compelling to watch passively, without ever even touching the controls. Hopefully that’s what these new destinations add, giving the ride shades of Star Tours that can be enjoyable without the gameplay.
Accordingly, having a new mission that actually appears to be engaging and an engineer role that isn’t an afterthought are both good things. It would be “unfortunate” to make the gameplay loop actually fun and enjoyable, and have the gap between pilot and engineer grow even further, defeating my “argument” above and making engineer truly feel like missing out on all the fun.
Expanding the engineer role to allow them to interact with and care for Grogu, or having greater control over the mission as a whole, is a smart change. My guess is that the role still won’t be as robust as pilot or gunner, but there are a lot of people who would happily jump at the opportunity to babysit Baby Yoda. It’ll be interesting to see how this is integrated into the experience–presumably via a screen feed of Grogu, and perhaps with the ability to feed him and have other cute interactions.
The gunner role will almost certainly improve with the Mando mission update. As we’ve said before, the current asteroid field delay scene is the best gameplay loop in Smugglers Run–and that’s not even part of the main mission. Even the pilot role could be upgraded with better environments.
The gameplay could even be simpler and better, just offering the satisfaction of seeing cool settings and familiar characters, blowing stuff up, and beating the bad guys. I don’t think it needs to be more complex or challenging to be good. It can be simpler and more satisfying. They’re not mutually exclusive.
In our view, Smugglers Run is a story of squandered potential. There’s a reason why Imagineering is revisiting this ride roughly 5 years after it opened, far sooner than comparable screen-based attractions like Avatar Flight of Passage.
Smugglers Run is arguably the third-best Star Wars ride. Or, stated differently, the worst. Rise of the Resistance is the clear #1. And every time I do Star Tours, I’m reminded of how good it is. I’ve really enjoyed all of the additions over the years, which keep it relevant and fresh.
I love Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and think it’s a better overall experience from start to finish, but the ride portion of Star Tours blows it away. Imagine how great Smugglers Run could be if it combined the settings of Star Tours with the interactivity and complete package of the Millennium Falcon?!
Instead, Smugglers Run is the Star Wars equivalent of working for UPS. I know some hardcore fans enjoy the coaxium story, but the fetch quest gameplay is just not very compelling for the bulk of guests. And as a passive attraction for those who aren’t into the gameplay, the plot and visuals are less engaging than even the original Star Tours. It’s just too niche and tedious.
Point being, Smugglers Run has so much unrealized potential. The complete package of the attraction around the gameplay is fantastic and there’s a lot to be said for the wish fulfillment of stepping inside the Millennium Falcon cockpit, pulling the lever to jump to lightspeed, etc. But then there’s the mission itself, which falls flat.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run could be a 10/10 attraction–one of the best on both coasts–and a more compelling mission would get it there. Suffice to say, the addition of Mandalorian and Grogu along with the 4 new destinations and an elevated engineer role could be a complete game changer for the attraction.
Now that we know when the new mission will debut in Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, the big unanswered question is what else will change with the attraction?
Let’s start with Hondo Ohnaka or Ohnaka Transport Solutions, his smuggling operation that ‘borrows’ the Millennium Falcon. Hondo has a wry sense of humor, is a lovable scoundrel, and the Audio Animatronics of Hondo in the pre-show is truly impressive. It seems increasingly likely that his dialogue will change, but we wouldn’t expect any physical changes to the figure or pre-show scene.
It’s hard to see how Hondo’s existing dialogue can be weaved into a mission with Mandalorian and Grogu, so it’s safe to assume the script will be rewritten. But swapping out the AA and scenery in the pre-show would likely be way too expensive, ballooning the budget and timeline. I guess they could throw a helmet on Hondo and give him new threads to make the AA look like Mando, but I doubt that.
Who knows, though. Change this scene to one with Audio Animatronics of Mandalorian and Grogu and Smugglers Run could have wait times rivaling Rise of the Resistance. Just look at the crowds for the walk-around characters, now imagine Baby Yoda as the most adorable AA ever. I doubt this will happen, though, given that Hondo is still going to be part of the attraction in some capacity.
Beyond that, it’s unclear whether the new Mandalorian mission will necessitate a closure or be done overnight like the added scenes in Star Tours. As a more elaborate attraction, my hope is that Smugglers Run will go down for at least a few weeks for minor changes to make the queue and pre-show mesh with the mission.
My guess is that this will not be the case. That instead, the new mission will be framed in such a way that no pre-show dialogue needs to change, let alone any physical features of the ship. I could see a few easter eggs being added to the queue pulled from the Disney+ series or the movie just to give fans something to look for and talk about, but I wouldn’t count on that.
Again, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is still new (by Disney standards) and the attraction has ‘good bones.’ So as much as I might like to see a comprehensive reimagining, there’s also a sense of “don’t fix what isn’t broken.” In this case, the only thing here that needs changing is the gameplay/mission, and that element can probably be swapped out overnight.
When it comes to a closure, there’s also the question of timing for the Disney’s Hollywood Studios version. As discussed in When Will Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Close?, there’s the consideration of not having multiple headliners down at the same time. With RnRC now looking like it might be reimagined sooner rather than later, this probably isn’t a major concern at this point.
Ultimately, all of this Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge news is fantastic. It really feels like Imagineering is setting the table to finally ‘break the rules’ and give up on the sacred timeline in Batuu. My hope is that there’s still more to come, and we’re essentially getting a soft relaunch of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2026.
It’s great that Imagineering had the opportunity to take a big swing with Galaxy’s Edge, but ~6 years later, it still hasn’t quite lived up to its promise. It feels like that’s starting to change, first with the introduction of the walk-around Mandalorian and Baby Yoda characters, and now this plus the BDX Duckling Droids and (hopefully) Luke Skywalker and more.
Imagineering getting the change to reimagine Batuu into a vibrant canvas for adventures that comport more closely with guest expectations would be a huge win. The land could feel alive and exciting, even if it becomes less coherent from a storytelling perspective. It’s only a matter of time. Casual visitors hear “Star Wars land” and expect to be able to see Darth Vader, Yoda, C-3PO, and other characters they love. A soft reboot of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge could be exactly the shot in the arm that’s needed. It could also be the marketable addition that’s needed on both coasts in 2026, with no new attractions on tap. That is, unless this new mission goes so far that it counts as a reimagined ride!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about the expanded engineer role? Excited to be Baby Yoda’s babysitter or choose from 4 new destinations? Are you excited to see the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda in Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run starting on May 22, 2026? Do you hope the new mission is actually exciting? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? Any questions? 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!
The current ride is not Imagineering’s fault, Kathleen Kennedy insisted they change their original plans. Also, don’t forget that the choose your own adventure option will provide data to the company on the most popular storylines, important for merch, etc.
One of my biggest complaints are the pilot controls. It would be nice if the pilot and co-pilot positions had full control with the pilot starting with full control and during the mission the pilot’s control “malfunctions” and the co-pilot takes over. I love that they are updating the ride because it needs a solid reimagining.
“And every time I do Star Tours, I’m reminded of how good it is. ”
Very much so, and why Smuggler’s Run has been a big disappointment. I agree, the bones are good here; it was awesome going “into” the Falcon the first time, and every time since, but the ride itself relies on the abilities of the riders for the experience and that’s where things go haywire.
The ability to switch things up ala Star Tours is something that might only scratch the surface of how this ride can evolve over the decades to come.
As many of my trips are as a solo traveler, I will do smugglers run as a single rider, and therefore end up in the engineers seat.
The problem with the ride is that if the pilots are no good, the whole time you will scraping one wall or the other. And most of the time, the pilots are no good. Yes usually the youngest members of the group are given that slot, and its too much for them. They commonly cannot reach the controls, when they can they treat them as binary far left/right, up/down, and just don’t understand how to fly the ship. The parents are then focusing on their children rather than the ride.
When adults are in those seats, its not always better – I had one father just film his kid the entire time on his phone, and didn’t touch the controls.
The game engine needs to be able to make a pretty quick assessment of the quality of the crew, and switch into “spaceship earth mode”, where the controls don’t really do much, and it becomes a ride along rather than a simulator.
Maybe for the gunner and engineer roles, rather than having you spam a button, make them spectators, except for when the narrator asks them to be ready to do something that involves watching listening to the action, rather than waiting for the button to flash. This would bring them more into the flight of the craft, than staring at the wall to find the right buttons to hit.
I agree with every word you wrote.
As a 57 year old Star Wars nut who’s been In love with the franchise since I saw the original as a 10 year old boy In ’77, I was so excited about getting to fly in the Millennium Falcon when it was first announced. And then after it opened, I got even more excited as I saw the Falcon in person and went through the amazing queue. And then I rode it….. Sigh.
Honestly I haven’t rode it now for 2+ years, despite being a Southern California DL pass holder who travels at least once a year to visit Disney World.
Pretty unbelievable for a Star Wars fanatic. That’s how bad that ride is.
And it’s the mission itself which blows.
This news gives me great hope.
Adding Mando+Grogu now, maybe Ashoka in the near future, still sounds compatible with the Batuu timeline to me…especially if they break the Ren-centric depiction of First Order dominance (which is creepy and won’t age well anyway, a big problem for RoTR’s future relevance to guests) and focus on the non-adjacent periphery where the interesting stories of the post-Empire series have been!
Controversial take: I love being the Engineer – I get to sit back and chaotically press buttons. I still don’t totally understand what the Engineer buttons even do (open and close clamps for the cargo?), but I love pressing them when they’re lit up.
I enjoy watching the story and the pilots – I like sitting back and just enjoying the fun. It’s no pressure.
A Grogu update is an obvious win that will hopefully draw crowds away from Rise, or perhaps even draw new people into Star Wars land!
(sidenote: the Disneyland version is my fave version – idk, it feels more lived in, with the set-up & the trees)
The UPS comment cracked me up! I’d love to see different storylines and the ability to pick the destination.
I am looking forward to the change. This ride really stinks as it is. We have ridden it about five times and only one time have we had a good experience
In general, it is such a waste to wait and get put on the ride with kids, or even adults, who have no idea how to use the flight controls.
Two words: Wookie mode.
I rode smuggler’s with just my daughter and as a family. I think the group experience totally elevates it. It’s a kot harder to hoot and holler as a team with strangers. I think the team element, not gameplay, is what makes this such a unique and wonderful ride.
I actually liked Smugglers more than Rise. Granted the preshow was down on Rise, but I found the animation on Rise to look especially cheap and it really took me out of it. I also found the overall experience way less immersive and surprising than other rides with similar systems like Remmy and Micky and Minnie.
I agree with you about the group experience, and would highly recommend trying to make a quick ‘connection’ with your fellow crew members after being grouped and while waiting. I’m an introvert who is terrible at this, but my go-to is simply: “you ever done this before?” and seeing where things go from there. It’s often enough of an ice-breaker.
This is the way.
I find it really interesting that you (and, from what you’ve mentioned in your post) and some others are so harsh on this ride! For what it’s worth, my family and I loved it (and none of us are small children, either). Admittedly we live in another country, so we (sadly) do not have the opportunity to go to Disneyland on a regular basis, but when we visited a couple of years ago, we did this ride a few times in various roles, and thought it was great fun. It’s clearly not Rise of the Resistance, but then most things aren’t. I do think it is cool that they are giving it a Mandalorian-themed story makeover for a while (presumably this is not permanent?), and the addition of Grogu Babysitter to the engineer role is sure to be popular. Just wish we could be there to experience it (and the duckling droids)!
I assume this *is* a permanent change. What they’ve described thus far will actually be very expensive to develop, so I cannot see it being a temporary thing–especially when the current mission isn’t particularly popular.
BDX Duckling Droids are more likely to be temporary–that all depends on guest response and labor costs (last I saw, they were not controlled by regular frontline CMs).
Why keep the awful Hondo Ohnaka character that no one knows who the heck he is? The problem is lack of familiar characters and storylines. That’s why it’s boring.
I’m from the Original Trilogy generation, and Hondo is still one of my top 10 Star Wars characters! He’s Star Wars’ Jack Sparrow!
Hondo is a great character even if you’re coming in cold off the street (as I am). He has tons of personality that’s well conveyed by the attraction.
Jack Sparrow is an excellent comparison. Almost makes me want to watch Clone Wars. (Almost!)
I used to feel this way until I watched Clone Wars. Now I really enjoy his presence.
Watch Rebels (The best animated series). The comparison with Jack Sparrow isn’t bad, Hondo is a lovable pirate with unfortunate luck. You can’t trust him to be fair with any loot, but he will save your life.
Tom – you need to add Clone Wars to your watch list. I put off watching it until recently, and I wish I hadn’t waited so long. It’s far better than I had expected – truly some of the best Star Wars content out there. The movie was terrible, but the series is excellent, especially the later seasons. Well worth the time.
I’m 60 and I adore Hondo! He’s so fun, charismatic evil! To be fair, I was a “never animation because it’s for children” Star Wars fan until I watched Clone Wars followed by The Bad Batch. I was amazed at how much better character development seems to be in many of the animated series versus live action with the exception of Andor (and let’s face it, the movies are action and quirky fun, hardly character development). Anyway, there are plenty of Hondo fans out there and many of us want to see “new” characters included in Disney theme park offerings!
I used to be a little underwhelmed by Smugglers Run. But twice now I’ve been there with 5 good friends of mine who have never ridden it before, and both times it was a BLAST – just chaos and panicking and yelling and laughing. It’s now a must-do attraction when I am bringing friends who are new to Disney World.
I hope the new version of the ride preserves that chaotic fun. If it’s too streamlined to allow things to get ridiculous, that would be a shame.
Oh, and hopefully they keep Chewbacca Mode – haven’t tried it yet but it’s high on my list.
“…just chaos and panicking and yelling and laughing.”
This is the way.
(Even with strangers.)
I appreciate your optimism, and I have no doubt any changes will be an improvement over what is one of our family’s least-favorite attractions in all of Disneyland. That said, I have a hard time believing that a more compelling mission could make this a 10/10 attraction. It’s always going to be a screen-based attraction with at least some learning curve, so for infrequent visitors like us (every other year) I can’t see a world in which new missions vault it above many other quality attractions on both coasts. I think this attraction is the #1 reason Galaxy Edge is pretty disappointing. The land desperately needs a people-eating attraction (or show) that’s enjoyable for most. The wait times for RotR are too long and Smugglers Run just isn’t that compelling. I guess I’ll hold out a little hope that this is a huge improvement.
I guess to each their own, but I think the bones of MFSR are fantastic. Stepping into that cockpit is a big wish fulfillment experience, and being crew of the Millennium Falcon on a mission could be awesome. This is doubly true if the new mission is fun to enjoy passively, so you don’t need to go all-in on the gameplay element.
This could be an instance of a screen-based attraction (and one that is necessarily screen based) done really well thanks to the complete package.