Disney Reveals New Poster & Details for Millennium Falcon Baby Yoda & Mandalorian Mission

There’s a new Mandalorian & Grogu mission coming to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios and Disneyland in less than one month. Ahead of that, Walt Disney World has revealed details and shared the new attraction poster for MFSR. Here’s the latest.

Starting May 22, 2026 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will allow guests to control the iconic hunk of junk like never before. One highlight of this is a new gameplay addition that allows the engineer positions to care for and communicate with Grogu during the mission.

The attraction will also have a new storyline, in which 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.

The mission will depart Batuu bound for Tatooine, and for the first time, the crew will be in control of their own destination. Guests will choose among adventures on Bespin, the wreckage of the second Death Star around Endor, or the bustling city-planet, Coruscant.

This new mission with gameplay updates 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. Again, both debut on May 22, 2026.

Here’s a look at the new poster for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run:

Thanks to Walt Disney World’s recent calendar updates, we also now know that Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run will continue to participate in Early Entry beginning with its opening day, May 22, 2026, opening to on-site hotel guests starting at 8:30 am. It will then be available to everyone else for regular rope drop at 9 am.

Aside from that one day (and maybe even that day), it’s expected that Slinky Dog Dash and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will remain the top priorities for Early Entry at DHS. You might want to make it over to MFSR as your second stop (it’s convenient from both headliners), but it’s not going to be the #1 rope drop priority for summer.

It’s expected that Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run will continue to participate in Extended Evening Hours (ExEH) the next time that perk is offered at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as it’s listed on the eligible attractions page. Note that ExEH is only available to guests of select on-site resorts, which excludes Values and Moderates but includes a couple of third party hotels, plus all Deluxes and DVC. The only ExEH on the calendar for DHS is May 11th, which is prior to the new mission debuting. Don’t be surprised if there isn’t another until September or so.

Additionally, Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run will be available for After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios starting May 30, 2026. This is the first After Hours following the debut of the Mandalorian, so there’s no delay in the new-look attraction joining the ride roster for this hard ticket event.

Finally, there’s no reason to believe the Lightning Lane status of Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run will change.

It’s already Tier 1/Group A, and it would be unprecedented for a ride refresh–or even a fully-fledged reimagining–to cause an attraction to move up to Lightning Lane Single Pass. That’s doubly true given that another Star Wars attraction, Rise of the Resistance, already has LLSP status.

The most likely scenario is that MFSR moves up a spot in the LLMP rankings in the short or long-term. Even this summer, we would not expect it to surpass Slinky Dog Dash, which is the most popular Lightning Lane Multi-Pass in all of Walt Disney World. That would be difficult to dethrone.

What will be interesting is whether the new Mandalorian & Grogu mission for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run along with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets induce more purchases of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. (We’re more inclined to buy it this summer as a result of those rides!)

The refreshed/reimagined rides could equalize demand among the top tier headliners…or increase sales, which in turn will increase competition for second tier selections and ride reservation refills. Disney’s Hollywood Studios has become the best park for Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, and we hope that doesn’t change.

It’s also possible that demand for Lightning Lane Multi-Pass does increase, but Walt Disney World ‘solves’ that by distributing more Lightning Lane selections. In which case, the guests most impacted will be those who don’t buy LLMP, by virtue of wait times increasing. It’ll be interesting to watch what happens there.

We’ve been optimistic and excited about the updates to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run since this was first announced nearly 2 years ago at D23 Expo. I’m optimistic that this ride refresh is going to improve the attraction, potentially by a considerable amount.

The need for gameplay updates and destination changes are clear. Whenever Smugglers Run comes up, fans bemoan how boring it is when you’re in any role but pilot–especially engineer. Fans also complain if children are pilots. I disagree with the last part. If anything, the current experience is so boring that a truly terrible pilot that just smashes you around into everything makes it more engaging and amusing.

No joke. 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. The experience will be more memorable and meaningful for them than me, and I still enjoy the ride just fine.

Honestly, it’s odd how many Disney Adults are anti-children. 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. If children having fun isn’t your cup of tea, perhaps Disney is not the destination for you.

Where we can all (probably?) agree is 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, it’s still boring, and the interactivity is somewhere between minimal and pointless.

I also agree that the experience should be more fun to watch. The visuals of the mission should be sufficiently compelling to take in 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 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.

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.

Between the astro field delay scene and the recent gameplay updates to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin at Magic Kingdom, I’m confident that Imagineering can get MFSR right with the mulligan. This is almost assuredly going to be an improvement–the big question is how much better the attraction will get.

The bottom line is that Smugglers Run is a story of squandered potential. There’s a reason why Imagineering is revisiting this ride roughly 5 years after it opened (and was rumored to have plans for updates for even longer), 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. Hardcore fans might enjoy the coaxium story, but the fetch quest gameplay is just not very compelling for casual 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.

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. And that mission itself is what’s changing, while the ‘good bones’ of the overarching attraction remain.

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has the potential to be a 10/10 attraction–one of the best on both coasts–and a more compelling mission would get it there. The addition of Mandalorian and Grogu along with the 4 new destinations, an elevated engineer role, plus a more engaging gameplay loop could really improve the attraction.

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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? 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!