Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Review
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is the first attraction to open in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. In this ride review, we’ll share photos, video, where it ranks in terms of all-time Disney greats, and how the attraction compares to other interactive rides. (Note: this Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run review contains spoilers.)
Courtesy of the Star Wars Land media preview, I had the chance to meander through the queue and jump into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon several times, playing all three roles along the way. Each of these experiences was different, with my overarching impression being consistent throughout.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is, in a word, transportive. Both figuratively and literally. In this sense, it succeeds in a way that two recent very high profile rides (and arguably top 10 worldwide Disney attractions) have arguably failed, which alone makes it very compelling. That’s before we even get to the ride experience, itself…
The Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run experience begins in the land itself, as soon as you see that famous starship from ground level. Obviously, the queue does not lead directly into that large and elaborately detailed (prop) ship–it leads into a gigantic show building.
Accordingly, it requires some effort to suspend the disbelief of guests, and convince them that they are entering a spaceport on Batuu and boarding the Millennium Falcon. My first time through, I was overcome with excitement and emotion, and didn’t actively think about this. It just worked.
I think this is how most guests will approach Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, and will experience comparable results. It’s difficult not to be blown away by the detail and buy into the conceit that you’re inside an authentic port from the Star Wars universe, and subsequently, the Millennium Falcon itself. It’s very convincing, and ample to achieve suspension of disbelief.
On subsequent ride-throughs, I did actively think about the transition from the land to the ride while walking the queue, and still found myself buying into it. Of course, there’s always the potential to nitpick and tear apart the experience with insignificant little things or supposed “plot holes,” but Disney and Star Wars fans are not known to do such things, so I think we’re fine there.
For me, this is where Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run succeeds. Above, I mentioned two other superlative attractions that don’t do this as well, and those are Radiator Springs Racers and Avatar Flight of Passage. In the case of the former, you leave Radiator Springs (the setting of Cars Land), enter an entirely outdoor queue, and then emerge on a ride…that’s also set in a different Radiator Springs. It’s still a truly great ride, but the suspension of disbelief there is a bit wobbly.
Avatar Flight of Passage is another exceptional ride, save for the interminably long pre-shows. The Flight of Passage queue itself is a masterpiece of transportive themed design, but the wheels fall off once you begin the pre-shows. From my perspective, this is because so much of the attraction is a narrative contrivance to explain away why you just went from the mountains of Pandora to a room consisting of what are very clearly simulators.
Once you’re seated on that ride, I think you do suspend disbelief, but the gymnastics of the Alpha Centauri Expeditions and Pandoran Research Foundation, coupled with the link chairs and so on…gets a bit exhausting and is unnecessarily convoluted.
By contrast, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run uses a more straightforward approach, having guests enter a queue, wind their way through a ornately and convincingly-detailed spaceport, and then board the decks of a perfectly-reconstructed Millennium Falcon. It’s richly-crafted but easy to follow, and the end result is that you don’t question a thing. You are on board the Millennium Falcon.
As with Flight of Passage, the transition from the queue to the attraction involves a series of pre-show segments, plus a number of hallways and flight decks. Unlike Flight of Passage, these are not cringeworthy. Instead, you meet Hondo Ohnaka (of the Clone Wars) who explains that he has brokered a deal with Chewbacca to borrow the Millennium Falcon and heist some cargo. It’s a simple explanation that forwards the attraction’s narrative and this next-gen Audio Animatronics figure really impresses.
The ride itself takes place in an interactive Millennium Falcon flight simulator. For many of you, stepping foot in that cockpit is going to fulfill a lifelong dream, and be an emotional experience. As a more casual Star Wars (let’s say enthusiast), this was a goosebumps moment even for me. We’re using Cars Land for a lot of comparisons here, but I’d liken it to seeing the sh-boom moment when the neon flickers on for the first time in Radiator Springs.
No matter how limited your experience with Star Wars–so long as you have some exposure to this cultural touchstone–just entering the cockpit and taking a seat is going to resonate with you in some way. You might not be crying tears of joy…or you might!
In terms of logistics, six guests form a crew and enter the legendary Millennium Falcon cockpit, filling one of three roles: pilot, gunner, or engineer. The captain has flight responsibilities, gunners shoot at targets, and engineers are tasked with fixing damage incurred along the way.
As has been touted by Imagineering, the mission is interactive, with fulfillment of your responsibilities essential to success, and dereliction of duty certain to lead to your failure. It’s not a matter of simply pressing lit-up buttons or having “system override” do it if you fail.
We’ve already heard from some readers who are uneasy by this, either because they don’t want to be grouped with other guests who take it more or less seriously. I can (partially) assuage these concerns. First, there’s an auto-targeting system for the gunners, that essentially allows that one role to opt-out of the interactivity and enjoy the ride from a more passive perspective. So trade for that position if you don’t want a lot of responsibility.
Second, even if you do very little, the ship won’t just sit there. There is some degree of system override that will ‘create’ a ride experience if you want to do nothing. Additionally, no matter what you do (or fail to do!) the journey along the way and end result are interesting and potentially cool.
Here’s where the bulk of my criticism comes into play, and this is not insignificant. My first ride-through, I was pilot. This is by far the most instrumental role of the crew, and I was certifiably awful at it. I had the same complaint with our recent Star Wars Void VR Review, but I wish there were a chance to warm up with the controls before truly feeling their effects.
Not that it would’ve helped a ton, because I was truly awful throughout the whole mission. My piloting was a comedy of errors, overcorrecting each way far too much every single time I had the chance. I’m not suggesting that the controls are too sensitive as, frankly, I lack the expertise to have an opinion on such matters. However, I will say that the best piloting I experienced on the attraction–even with people who had done it before–can best be described as mediocre.
Perhaps the controls offer too much latitude for pilots to bounce the crew side to side in the cabin (serious gamers would probably argue that there’s not enough control), but my result was crashing into…pretty much everything…along the way. On the “plus” side, my terrible piloting gave riders a chance to experience “Star ‘Body‘ Wars.” The end of the mission confirmed the obvious, that my ‘success’ was close to being in the negative.
I wasn’t exactly thrilled about doing terribly, but more than anything I was relieved to be out of the hot seat of the pilot. Were it just me, I would’ve been fine with it, laughing off the experience that would’ve been really fun despite my atrocious performance. And even then, it was, as everyone else with me had already ridden the attraction a couple of times. So it was fine.
Conversely, if we were a group of unrelated riders all experiencing Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run for the first time after waiting an hour or more, I think the feeling would’ve been a bit different. I probably would’ve been embarrassed for causing everyone’s results to be weak. Worse yet, I could’ve caused someone to have motion sickness, putting a damper on the rest of their day. (Someone in our group did feel queasy afterwards.)
For this reason, I personally enjoyed the other roles far more than pilot. If it were just me and a group of 5 friends who had all done the ride before, I’d say bring on the chance to improve my piloting skills, but as it stands, I can’t imagine ever seeking out that role again in ‘real’ daily operations of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
With this said, the ride experience of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run itself is most satisfying when doing the other two roles and paying partial attention to your duties (there is no ‘partial attention’ to piloting), but not being totally beholden to them. From that perspective, it’s a really fun, really dynamic adventure. On subsequent ride-throughs (to the extent those are possible!), get more into the interactivity once and sit back once.
Another criticism here is that while the mission is perfectly engaging as an interactive experience, when treated as a passive, the attraction’s “film” is not nearly as engaging as Flight of Passage or even Star Tours. There are some really cool visuals along the way, but this is absolutely designed to be an actively engaging experience, not something you can just sit back and be engrossed in for the visuals.
When it comes to the overall experience, I’d say that Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is a more ‘gamified’ version of Star Tours meets Mission: Space meets Avatar Flight of Passage. You’ve got the intensity (and obviously, the Star Wars connection) of Star Tours, plus the interactivity of Mission: SPACE, plus the general queue to ride structure of Flight of Passage. The biggest difference is that the interactivity is actually meaningful here, but otherwise, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is the culmination of lessons learned from those three attractions.
As for how Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ranks in terms of all-time Disney attractions, it’s incredibly difficult to say. The queue areas and pre-shows were all better than I expected, and really captivating–on par with the best Imagineering has done.
The ride component of the attraction is not on that level, at least not for me. It’s too rooted in interactivity, and requires the cooperation and skill of a group of 6 people. For some people, that element of Smugglers Run will absolutely resonate, but I’m not one of those people, I suppose. (In our full Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Review, I likened Smugglers Run to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror–the build-up is better than the ride component of the attraction.)
As it stands, I’d consider Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run a really ambitious “wish fulfillment” attraction, and an E-Ticket caliber supporting attraction. On balance, it’s better than the likes of Star Tours or Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout simply by virtue of the whole package. Beyond that, I’m not really willing to rank it, as this is one that will really vary from person to person. It’s arguably in the Disneyland Resort top 10, but probably just outside of that for me, personally.
It’s worth noting that Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was never intended to be the flagship attraction of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. That distinction is reserved for the now-delayed Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which is expected to do some unprecedented things. Smugglers Run, on the other hand, fulfills fan dreams of boarding and piloting the Millennium Falcon, something it accomplishes by iterating upon popular attractions, taking them to the next level in terms of detail, depth of storytelling, and tech wizardry. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s such a sleek next-generation wheel that you might not recognize its wheel-ness.
Overall, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is a solid initial entry for Galaxy’s Edge. Aside from hardcore Star Wars fans, this probably won’t be the new favorite attraction of many guests. However, as the ‘supporting attraction’ in an elaborately-themed land that itself is worthy of spending hours simply exploring, I think Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run does an admirable job of filling its role.
If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. This covers a range of topics from basics about the land and its location, to strategically choosing a hotel for your stay, recommended strategy for the land, and how early to arrive to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to beat the crowds. It’s a good primer for this huge addition.
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
Your Thoughts
Are you excited to pilot the Millennium Falcon, or does the Smugglers Run experience sound intimidating to you? If you’ve had the chance to experience Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, 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!
The ride is a $1 billion dollar stinker. Star Tours was more fun. The themeing was great however such a let down. Wont be back –
Rode yesterday. Unusually bad attraction. It was a secret mission to haul cargo? So they built a billion dollar ride to experience the thrill of being a trucker???
So much is wrong with Smugglers run. I don’t know where to start. The dimly lit screens? The lack of actual Star Wars character? At one point, I paraphrased Dr Malcom from Jurassic Park and actually muttered “will there be any actual Star Wars characters on your Star ride?!?”
Many have compared it to star tours. But I’d say it’s far more like mission space. But without the g forces. Or originality.
Shame on you Disney!
Couldn’t agree more. Very very disappointing indeed. Avatar blows this away. Great looking land. Bad bad ride.
Any insider information on when fast passes might be made available for this ride?
This ride is extremely disappointing, I rode it with my 12 year old daughter and we were assigned as pilots. We spent the whole ride being screamed at by the engineers. The ride itself is not worth the 1 hour wait.
I rode this today and was honestly disappointed. Being a party of 2 my wife and I got stuck filling out the cockpit which already had a family of 4. Since we were the last 2 on we got stuck with the engineer role. The role basically requires you to look away from the screen in order to hit the flashing buttons. This really detracts from the experience and the engineer job overall is just really not fun. If you are a party of 2 I recommend not responding if the crew members ask if there are any parties of 2 as you will be stuck as the engineers. Instead request to wait for a pilot spot
I concur. I was really disappointed in this ride. It’s probably fun for the pilits, but if you get the other roles, it’s just not that fun.
Do you remember how long the ride lasted? I hate that most rides you wait for 2-3 hours for a 2 minute experience. This seems more intense and like it would last longer, so just wondered.
I agree. The ride is absolute pants. Wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Why wait for this ride when you could be at home doing the washing up.Alan Newby
I was fortunate enough to reserve a spot on opening day during the 8 am – 12 pm slot. I did everything in GE l before riding SR, even buying a light saber! Everything was amazing and then came the climax… riding SR. Boy was it a disappointment! I was so distracted by executing my job (engineer), hearing instructions shouted at me on what to do, and seeing the mistakes the others were making, that I couldn’t follow the story line or whatever surprises the Falcon would run into while on its mission. On top of that, the graphics were too cartoony. I hated the ride 2 seconds in and wanted to walk out. Disney made it too interactive. Until the ride is like Star Tours where one sits down, isn’t distracted by anything, and just enjoys the full ride experience, I’ll never get on it again.
If seen the press state this new land cost One Billion Dollars!
I am very dissapointed there are only TWO Rides! They could have done much better! A FOP based style of ride and a coaster like the new Haggerds Motorcycle Adventure at Universal adapted to the space scooter chase through the Forrest of Endor would be two examples that I would have expected for this “Milestone Land”. Very Short Sighted Decisions from the Board of Dirrectors!
Since I dislike simulator and screen based rides like Mission Space, Star Tours, and Flights of Passage plus they make me nauseous, and I am a terrible at video games, I’ll be skipping this and hopefully this ride will ease up the wait times on other favorite DL attractions.
So what happens if someone insists on their child being the pilot with all the pressure that role brings, and no one wants to be the jerk who complains about a child being the pilot, and then everyone is disappointed in the ride experience because the pilot can’t even drive a car?
Completely agree. I have real reservations about the way this is going to work!
My take is that the functionality of the controls is very limited, and hyped to make guests think they have a greater role in the ride experience. The reality is it won’t matter much how you operate your controls once the ride is underway.
single rider line . how does that work ? was it operational when you visited ? do you miss out on any pre show or que show elements using single rider line?
I rode this ride twice yesterday. The single rider line was operational but I didn’t us it. One observation, though: both times I saw the ride assignments handed out in the same order (2 pilots, 2 gunners, then 2 engineers). This was possibly a coincidence, but I assume not. So, my guess is that single riders will always get the last role (engineer) because they’re filling up an empty seat in a crew. If that’s the case, it might beat waiting in a long line, but it certainly isn’t ideal.
Thank you for passing on this valuable information . Kind of a bummer if every single rider gets the last row seeing it seems to be the poorest visibility and function .
Im assuming the single rider line at WDW will be in full operation when it opens as the crowds will far exceed what is currently happening at DL due to no reservations into the land. Im heading there in late Sept.
Im still curious as to whether the single rider line bypasses any of the pre show elements before your seat assignment. I’d hate to miss any show elements or atmosphere before getting seat assignment. That’s the worst part of riding Test Track as a single rider … you miss out making your vehicle and preshow. but get to ride pretty quick .. sometimes in mere minutes on the busiest of days.
I rode this ride through the single Rider line at Disneyland California 4 times & together with my husband in the single Rider line did it once – we were separated although some people were not. I waited anywhere from 10 – 30 minutes each time even though each time the wait times posted for single Rider line actually said it was much higher, about 33 – 46 minutes, both on Disney’s wait time posted & other websites posted times such as Disney tourist guide site. The first time I rode for whatever reason there was a hold up in the regular line and I got moved onto the ride with s group of six out of the single Rider line and I was assigned a Gunner position on the right side. I was told by staff I would have the option of choosing Auto aim and just hitting fire button. I chose manual because I wanted to try it out but really had no more instructions on how to aim, found it a difficult system and wished I had chosen Auto aim instead of manual. Then I assume I could have just kept hitting the fire button and watched what was going on on the screen/window instead. Everyone in that group seemed too busy trying to do their own jobs and no one was yelling at anyone else for not doing their job well. A few people offered some help/advice but everyone I rode with was polite & just trying to help, no yelling, except yells of excitement band some laughter. That’s absolutely horrible that some people experienced people getting angry and yelling at them like that. Lighten up folks, you’re in Disney, on vacation, and it’s a ride!! You really are not given much instructions and I can see younger children or even older people having a hard time with this. Of the four times I rode single Rider I was Gunner the first time when they took 6 people from the single line at once. Second time I was taken from single Rider line with as part of 2 people out of the line. We both end d up engineers which had too many buttons to push and makes it difficult nto watch the screen and what is going on. They should have a manual or auto option for repairs for this job also so you can enjoy the ride more. The third time I rode single Rider there was a family of 5 waiting in line ahead of me and 4 of them got pulled out to ride together leaving just the dad standing at the front of the single line be with me. We lucked out as we were both chosen to join the group of a mom & 3 young kids who were next out of the regular line and the staff member handing out the colored cards for our team gave us 3 out of the single riders line both of the pilot cards (if you get a blue card you stay with blue team, orange card, stay with orange team, etc, your card says what position you play, pilot, Gunner or engineer). I had heard on my previous rides that with pilot jobs left seat pilots stick controls left to right ship movement and with right side seat pilot you control up & down movements. One important factor to remember if you’re the right side pilot is pulling down n moves you up, pulling up moves ship down. Don’t move the stick too hard / erratically unless you have to because there’s a sudden large obstacle in front of you that you need to get over it or under it. Otherwise milder slower movements work fine to stay in your lane where you want to go. Seriously, both the second group I rode with and the last group also had a real hard time piloting and we’re crashing bingo things and we were all just laughing out butts off, it’s not like it ends the game, you just have some loud noise and bright lights and then carry on, it was funny!! I licked out when I piloted, the guy next to me has done it already and gave me a couple tips and we did great, it was fun! Pilot is definitely the most fun position and engineer the worst — you get the back view (but still not too bad unless person in front of you is talk & wide, in which case I leaned out into the middle aisle and looked around them) and you just have too many buttons to push, especially if you’re pilots crash a lot. They should really have an auto repairs option for this job (let the droids do it) and just let the engineers press the button to deploy the grappling hook to catch the cannister you’re chasing after do people by have the option of watching be what’s actually happening On screen/with the ride & their mission instead of always watching for repairs buttons lighting up that they have to push. I took my engineering job less seriously the second time around and just looked over to hit all the flashing repair buttons once in a while and mostly just worried about hitting the grappling hook when it was announced when I was supposed to and just watched the show more. It really didn’t seem to matter much/change the ride & also my last engineer ride, which was my last ride on MF while on vacation, I was placed in a group of 5 family members with varying ages and they were all screaming (not angrily but excitedly) and laughing the whole time & just having fun with it all throughout the entire ride. They were not taking things too seriously but just going with it & having fun and we’re just an absolute great group to ride with. I Had so much fun with them. Even stuck as engineer it was fantastic!! My husband got stuck with a group of men/ kids in varying ages and he was Gunner. I told him about doing Auto aim and just hitting the fire button. His group was easy going and just there to have some fun so he got lucky too. He said the young man across from him was so happy and excited just to be there it was contagious. People need to remember to relax and just have fun with it. The ride doesn’t shut down no matter how many times you crash! Everyone makes it to the end alive!! It would be good if more options were available to put your position on auto if you just want to enjoy the ride. Or if you could switch to auto part way through if you were finding it too difficult. That way each Rider could be as interactive or non interactive bad they’re comfortable with. It would also be good if more instructions were given out. If staff doesn’t have the time to explain it then hand out some pamphlets to explain some things when people get in line. If you’re standing in line for half an hour anyway, you could read up on what to expect for each position and how things work. You want to be surprised, then don’t read it. Leave it up to the riders. But everyone needs to relax and just try to enjoy the ride and not take anything seriously – just go with it, have some fun, If you crash – so what, relax, enjoy it. If someone on board is being a jerk and yelling at people, especially your kid, tell them to lighten up and just enjoy the ride – & quit being a grouch, other people are trying to enjoy their vacations. Everyone paid for their park tickets & some people travelled a long way to get there. We all deserve to enjoy our time there and not have some jerk yelling at us. If they can’t play nice with others – they should go home!!
Did the media preview say how many simulators they have? Also, how long is the ride itself? Or did they give out capacity figures? 6 per simulator seems like the potential for an incredibly long line.
I’ve been wondering the same thing. None of the articles I’ve read say how many simulators they have. There must be more than one because the throughtput of just six people at a time would be pretty bad. Fingers crossed.
This is all hearsay, but looking at forums elsewhere, people in the know have been talking about “turntables.” I saw one poster mention “4 turntables, 7 cockpits each.” That would suggest that:
1. When the CM “takes you to the cockpit,” there are multiple different doorways on the ship that might be.
2. Once you’re underway, you move out of the way so another group can board.
3. You exit the cockpit into a different physical hallway than the one you entered from.
It seems like Disney basically took the “projector carousel” concept from Forbidden Journey and amplified it into a complete ride system.
I am curious to know more about the motion sickness aspect of it. the older i get the worse my stomach is. I did Avatar flight of passage 1.5 years ago and felt pretty sick about halfway through. I didn’t vomit which I usually don’t from rides, just feel so weak and sick that i have to sit down for a while after them. Is it similar to that in terms of motion sickness? I had a patch for avatar, but was on the last day of the patches effectiveness so maybe i just need a fresh patch to be able to handle this one.
Also if there are six seats and only 3 roles there are two people being pilots? Won’t you be fighting against each other to direct the ship?
I’ve read elsewhere that the pilots are split into one doing right/left and the other doing up/down. Which seems really hard to coordinate! I too can’t handle Flight of Passage from a motion sickness perspective, so I’m very afraid that this won’t be any better for me.
I would recommend avoiding the patches, which have their own side effects, and using acupressure bracelets instead, which really do work quite well. We’re going to WDW next week and bringing along some Blisslets (google them), which you can order online.
re: motion sickness
Fortunately I’ve never experienced it on a ride, but my poor wife was sick the rest of the day after Expedition Everest one time. I keep getting ads in Facebook for these glasses but have yet to see anyone wearing them. The reviews make them sound great though. https://eyesonboard.com/
I rode this twice yesterday and have also ridden the Avatar ride. I found Smuggler’s run to be much less sickness-inducing. It’s more like an arcade ride or mall motion simulator. There’s some bouncing around but it didn’t give me any feeling of motion sickness.
You’ve hit the nail on the head. If you have ever played in a disney arcade the aerial combat simulator like War Birds, Top Gun, or Ace Pilot then you realize being a pilot on millenium falcon is really a poor re-boot with a change of scenes; as is being the gunner to a re-visualized Space Invaders….The Imagineers missed on this one….Although the back story is good, as is the queue experience, the WoW factor is absent. Is it worth the inevitable 90 minute line, I think not.
I am THE worst when it comes to motion sickness. I don’t go on Star Tours anymore because it makes me dizzy for the rest of the day. I can’t handle Incredicoaster, Space Mountain or Guardians at all. And I have never been more motion sick on a ride than when I went on the Spider-Man ride at Universal Orlando a number of years ago. I’m a light-weight.
I’ve been waiting for GE expecting that I would never be able to handle Smuggler’s Run. I asked several friends who had gone on the Smuggler’s Run how rough it was compared to Star Tours, and most of them said it’s actually smoother though it obviously depends on who’s flying. A couple of cast members at the entrance of GE said similar things to what my friends said. One said she couldn’t do Star Tours but she did okay on Smuggler’s Run.
My GE reservation was for earlier this week. I took one dramamine tablet before going on Smuggler’s Run figuring I’d probably just do the cue and leave. When I got to the loading area I decided to risk it based on what friends and cast members said. I chose to be an engineer in the back. To be safe I kept one eye closed so that depth perception wouldn’t be as bad. And I admit I did have to close my eyes during rough sections. The motion is sort of rough in spots but I was surprised that I was able to handle it. I actually went on the ride 5 times and opened my eyes more and more each time knowing which sections are rougher. I never kept them totally wide open during the ride, but that helped me get through it. I videotaped the first couple of flights so I could go back and see what it fully looked like.
The roughness of the ride depends on who’s piloting. I rode with several adults who kept crashing. It was really bumpy, and I got a little queasy. I rode with a mom and her probably 9 year old piloting and they aced the flying. That said, everyone’s ability to handle motion sickness is different. But I was pleased to be able to go the ride after seeing it being built for 4 years.
I get motion sickness sometimes too but I just try to take one or two gravol or Dramamine half an hour before the ride and then by the time I get on these types of rides then I am fine. Works for me for all these rides like Avatar flight / Star Wars, except doesn’t work for me on the ones that constantly spin in circles (like teacups). Maybe give it a try one time before / closer to the end of your day at the park so that if it doesn’t work you can leave and go rest till you feel better.
Will this attraction be good for kids? Similar to Flight of Passage? I have a will be 6 year old and a 4 year old for our next visit.
The height requirement is only 38″, so Disney seems to think I’m fine to take my 2-year-old on it…
I would love to go through the queue and see everything right up until entering the cockpit. I have motion sickness and my back/neck can’t take being jostled around. Is it possible to “bailout” just before getting into the cockpit?
Yes, it’s possible to exit from the chessboard room before entering the passage to go to the flight module.
I would explain your situation & ask some of the staff standing out front if you could just bypass the line and just go take a look at the inside of the ship but not do the ride. If you wanted to try the ride: Have you tried taking some Gravol or Dramamine motion sickness medications, one or two tablets, depending on how sensitive you are, half an hour before going on these rides? Works for me! Except with things that constantly spin in circles like the teacups – then it doesn’t work for me with those types, but works for me with Avatar flight & Star Wars, those types. If you wanted to give it a try, I would do it at the end of your day for your last ride of the day so that if it doesn’t work & you still do feel ill afterwards you could just go back to your room and rest anyway. Just a thought. Those rides can be a lot of fun – if they don’t make you feel sick. Good Luck!!
Can we get more on the ride. Does it invert? Seat belts like? etc???
Thanks
*Definitely* does not invert. You’re sitting in a simple chair with a seat belt (look at Tom’s cockpit photo above).
People are saying it’s less intense physically than Star Tours, but that you will get jostled more if your pilot is crashing into stuff.
I doubt that the degree of interactivity would result in the ride not compleating its cycle, it’s designed to give guests the illusion of interactivity, not complete control
It’s supposed to bang into things, adds to the fun!
In my opinion, the complaints regarding the interactivity of the attraction is a blessing in disguise. Introverts and extroverts alike, all crew members have to learn to be tolerant towards one another and just enjoy the fun and be supportive of one another. I think that will take some time to land among the guests but I would heavily suggest Disney to set the tone and mood of support and love between the crew members to tell each other that, whatever happens, we’re here for the fun.
Plus, Star Wars was always about a family formed through individuals who barely knew each other on spaceships especially the Millennium Falcon ( A New Hope’s crew of Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker ). It’s very much in the spirit of the franchise’s values and guests will have to apply this to themselves.
That’s a lovely thought, but the internet is already filled with accounts of people getting yelled at by strangers for piloting the ship poorly (and that’s with limited crowds keeping the line under an hour at all times).
Just imagine in a couple months, when some aggro jerk has waited in line for 4 hours, and then has to sit in the back while some kid spends the whole time crashing into stuff. There is going to be some negativity…
Oh really? Wow already huh
I’d agree with Andy–I’d expect something to change about the ‘gameplay’ of the ride experience. (Hopefully some adjustments can be made before WDW’s version opens.)
Changing the gameplay is a lot easier than expecting to be able to change human behavior and emotions.
I foresee a future where roles are assigned by a castmember. I don’t envy that castmember, but it may be better than having a group of strangers negotiate amongst each other.
They have seatbelts. You only get jostled around a bit. I have osteoarthritis and found it was fine, it didn’t cause me any extra pain. They don’t invert/turn upside down. Crashing is fun, a good laugh. People need to lighten up & just enjoy themselves. No matter how bad your team is you still complete the ride and the mission. Cast members hand out your cards that designate your team group by color & they designate your position, such as pilot, gunner, engineer. It’s on the color card they give you. You don’t get to pick try your position. I never saw them put a little kid in the pilot seat the four times I rode it. On that note I’ve seen a lot of young kids that are excellent pilots on video games. Ended up by pure luck that I tried all positions. Pilot was my favorite & I was nervous at first but soon found its not that hard and I’m a 52 yr old Mom who doesn’t play any video games. You just have to pay attention & remember on the right side, where I was, pilot pushing stick up moves ship down and pushing stick down moves ship up. Relax, enjoy yourself, laugh at crashes/mistakes. It’s just a ride! Dont take it too seriously. If you get assigned to gunner You can put gunner on auto aim if you want to do that so then you just have to hit the fire button. I wish I had done that so I could have spent lass time pushing buttons & more time watching the ship’s window/screen watching what was happening. It would be good if there were auto options for the other positions as well so if you want to be more interactive with the ride you can & if you’d rather sit back & watch the mission unfold you could do that. It would also be good if you could switch back and forth between auto or manual also, so you could try it and then, if you found it too hard, you could switch it to auto!! Engineer has way too much button pushing going on for repairs, they should have an auto button option for that and just let the engineers work the grappling hooks so they could still watch what’s going on outside of the ship. It would also be good if Disney would hand out some info or instructions pamphlets to people when they get in line. You’re going to be in line for ,30 minutes or more maybe, why not let people learn about operating the ship. If you want to be surprised then just don’t read it!! And if you’re a jerk who can’t play well with others & takes things way too seriously then don’t go on this ride – stay home!! People pay lots of money to get in these parks, some have to save for years to go and travel far to get there. Lighten up! Don’t ruin some kids/familys vacation because you’re a jerk!
I just got back from Disneyland. My family and I always chose to go in the single riders line since the actual wait time was usually over an hour. As such, I was always given the gunner or engineer role. I obviously never yelled at anybody, but I will say that it is very frustrating when you don’t have a good pilot. I think that experience is universal for any video game where you have to depend on another player to win (and this ride really boils down to a more immersive, 3-minute video game when you think about it). It really took me out of the experience because I would get low-key frustrated that the pilots sucked (and again, I never said anything because that would be rude and most of the time it was little kids). Also the gunner and engineers have to look away from the screen to know when to push their buttons….which completely defeats the purpose. Honestly a huge miss by Disney, I don’t know why they thought this would be a good idea.
As an introvert, the idea of doing this with a team of strangers, especially the possibility of negotiating role swaps, fills me with dread.
I’m a bit of an introvert myself but Im a huge Disney fan and a huge Star Wars. fan so I really wanted to try this ride and didn’t have anyone to go with me for the first 3 days I went to Disneyland. My husband was working and joined me later from Canada for my last day there and despite his not being a huge Disney fan or Star Wars fan he came out to experience a bit with me for 1 day before we flew to Vegas for a little holiday there. I didn’t see anyone negotiating any role swaps with anyone on this ride. Pretty much the cast member at the actual MF ride entrance gave you your card that placed you in your team color and gave you your role/assignment and that seemed to be it!! You go in and have a few minutes ago look around the lounge/cargo area of the ship before you get your team called to go into the cockpit where your mission begins. I think it was all great fun.
The only exception I saw was with one of family members where a couple of siblings traded roles & they were family members who swapped between themselves. I didn’t see any strangers trying to negotiate assignment trades on my trip here. All together it was a hoot!! I loved Galaxy’s Edge. There was a lot to see and do. Wish Ride of the Resistance had been operational but – something to look forward to for next time!!
Hey Tom, thanks for another great review. Can you tell us how is it decided who ends up assigned to be sitting where on MF (rush seating?) and do they or will they have single rider lines to fill in seats with odd numbered groups??
In the second pic we can see three entrances, the one on the right is marked as Stand by. One will be for Fast Pass (10 years from now when crowds will die a little bit), the third I think will be a single rider line. It would be foolish not to do it. Yet, not sure how faster it will be to board as a single rider, 6 allows a lot of combinations of groups to be mathed together (4-2, 3-3-, 2-2-2). Possibly only groups of 5 could create space for a single rider, if they load multiple bays at the same time (plus the occasional leftover).
when you get assigned your color group you get a card that apparently assigns your job on the mission
I suppose that means you can ask for a specific task if they have the card available for a certain color group (like asking for front row on coasters)
http://rebelscum.com/gallery/galaxysedge/image147.asp
I rode this ride twice this week. The single rider line was operational but I didn’t us it. One observation, though: both times I saw the ride assignments handed out in the same order (2 pilots, 2 gunners, then 2 engineers). This was possibly a coincidence, but I assume not. So, my guess is that single riders will always get the last role (engineer) because they’re filling up an empty seat in a crew. If that’s the case, it might beat waiting in a long line, but it certainly isn’t ideal.
On a scale from 1-10, how potentially claustrophobia inducing is the queue experience? 10 being most likely to cause some anxiety. Thanks for any info.
I would personally want to pilot, and honestly if I wasn’t piloting and the designated pilot didn’t run into a few things and cause some turbulence, it wouldn’t be as much fun.
How many separate cockpits are there? (Did the Millennium Falcon even have six seats? I’m pretty sure Han and Chewie did fine with just the two of them)
Thanks for the details!
I watched a full walk through of the queue on you tube and I felt pretty claustrophobic just watching a video of it let alone actually in it. I felt like the actual ride was claustrophobic too, not as bad as Mission Space but bad enough I will be taking a hard pass on this one.
Thanks for the honest review. It sounds like a nicer version of some truly awful ones I have read that focus on the same points you bring up. And you didn’t even contort yourself into a pretzel to criticize this attraction. Even if you didn’t intend it, your words are strong enough for me to believe this is an attraction for gamers and people who need constant stimulation (the kind who spend all day at a theme park looking at their iPhones) and geeks who dreamed of piloting this ship. The fact you can’t even put it in your Top 10 in Anaheim is telling. … Well, this was always intended to be ‘the other ride’ … it’s very telling that this will not be in the Paris version.
The move MF cockpit had two pilot stations (Han and Chewie). There were other seats (for back seat drivers?) and for pointing out small moons. The gunner stations were in the center of the ship (top and bottom) and R2-D2 and others would roam wherever needed for repairs.
So there were extra seats (2 pilots plus at least two others) in the cockpit, and the roles existed but were primarily elsewhere in the ship, the ride just combines the extra cockpit seats with the roles that were performed elsewhere?
Definitely excited to fly the Millennium Falcon:) Yeah the ROTR looks like it will be way better but won’t be open on my trip this year so will be excited for MF. We are a family of 5 so one poor person will have to deal with our probable lack of skills but not at all worried about that. I definitely expect that there will be angry guests though that don’t get the job they wanted or anger at another guests performance.
that’s why I dread the idea of it. Tom you rode it 3 times. for most of will be 5 or 6 hours waiting only to be assigned engineer?
I see first fights on the falcon.
how are they going to manage roles? or deal with hijackings?
you can apparently ask for a specific task when you are handed your color-coded group assignment as the cards specify your role on the mission.
http://rebelscum.com/gallery/galaxysedge/image147.asp