A few years ago Disney opened Star War: Galaxy’s Edge including 2 new attractions for the land, one of them being Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Now Disney has announced that it is updating Smugglers Run to include new missions with The Mandalorian and his mini sidekick Grogu.
In this post, will will go over everything we know about the changes to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run including the brand new story, concept art, potential opening dates, and more.
At the “Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase” during the D23 Expo at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, Star Wars creative executive Dave Filoni joined Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro announced plans for a brand-new story with The Mandalorian and Grogu, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
One important part of this news is that the upcoming changes to Smugglers Run are coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and at the Disneyland Resort. And with an upcoming Star Wars film “The Mandalorian and Grogu” also in the works, it makes sense that Disney wants to tie in the two projects together.
Filoni explained, “the Lucasfilm team uses Epic’s Unreal Engine to create some of the virtual sets for “The Mandalorian.” Now, with the expanded partnership between Disney and Epic Games, Epic’s Unreal Engine will help bring to life the latest adventure in a galaxy far, far away.”
“The intersection of storytelling and innovation has always been central to Lucasfilm and we’re excited to see where this collaboration will take us next,” Dave told the crowd. “Just imagine it: you’ll be able to fly alongside Mando and Grogu on thrilling, and dangerous, missions.”
So when is this change coming to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run? Expect to see this new mission jump to lightspeed when “The Mandalorian and Grogu” hits the big screen in 2026.
As far as my commentary, I am genuinely excited for this change to Smugglers Run and it’s something we’ve been hoping a long time for. Let’s face it, though we absolutely love the current Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction, the ride part is a little lacking and gets stale after you’ve ridden a bunch of times already.
Yes, as much fun as it is to pretend to be essentially a UPS driver in space, there is so much they could do with the incredible ride system they’ve created, and it shouldn’t be crazy-difficult to adapt the on-ride video to another story in the Star Wars universe.
In my opinion, Smugglers Run has one of the coolest ride queues and overall atmospheres of any Disney attraction, so if they also create a more compelling story to go along with it, the sky is the limit and it would be a huge draw for guests. The Mandalorian & Grogu character meet has already proved to be a huge success, and there is no reason they wouldn’t work in Smugglers Run either.
Fairly or not, Smugglers Run will always be compared to Star Tours, and one thing Disney has done to keep that ride fresh is by continually adding new scenes to keep guests coming back, so it only makes sense they would also do that here.
The only question in my mind though is will it be a Star Tours situation where the story rotates each time you ride, or will it completely drop the Hondo storyline and only be about The Mandalorian and Grogu from this point forward?
If it was going to only be about The Mandalorian and Grogu, that Hondo animatronic figure in the queue would make little sense in the story and I highly doubt they would get rid of it seeing as it’s one of he most impressive audio-animatronics Disney Imagineering has ever made.
Perhaps they could keep the smuggling storyline, but instead of going on Hondo’s mission you end up following The Mandalorian and Grogu on a mission? Either that or replace the face of the Hondo animatronic with a Mando helmet and Mando’s voice? I’m just throwing out ideas here and I’m very curious to see how they will handle it.
In any event, we are very excited about this change and it’s a solid choice to give guests the two most popular characters in recent memory and be able to spice up an attraction that has lost some re-ride ability. Now if we could only get Disney to drop the whole Batuu timeline and bring the legacy characters to Galaxy’s Edge.
As soon as we know any more info on this story we will update you so keep tuned for more…
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Your Thoughts
I want to know what you think about The Mandalorian and Grogu coming to the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland Park…
- Are you excited for this change?
- What other potential characters and storylines could they add to Smugglers Run?
Let us know in the comments section below!
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My name is Ziggy and I love Disney, everything Disney! I grew up on Disney and it has and continues to be a huge part of my life. I started young when my parents took me to Disney World when I was 18 months old. Little did they know that would be the first of an uncountable number of trips we would take. I have so many amazing memories going to Disney with my family and friends and it has been interwoven into my DNA.