There's a variety of experiences throughout Disneyland, from high-intensity coasters like Space Mountain to family-friendly shows like Bluey's Best Day Ever, but if you had to pinpoint the area that draws the biggest crowds, it's hard to beat. Star Wars Edge of the Galaxy.
Transporting guests to the distant past and a galaxy far, far away, Galaxy's Edge is in the midst of a renaissance. Launching in summer 2019, Galaxy's Edge takes place 7 years later, expanding its timeline to include the original trilogy and remaking its Millennium Falcon ride to feature the most iconic icons of the Star Wars IP.
Disneyland invited GameRant to take a look at Kids Rule Summer, focusing on everything the Southern California park has to offer this season. While there are plenty of reasons to visit the Disneyland Resort year-round, the parks have something special for one of the busiest times of the year. But the biggest change takes place on Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run.
Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run adds the Mandalorian and Grog
Smuggler's Run was something of an underrated Disneyland ride, playing second fiddle to the extremely popular Rise of the Resistance. The specific roles within the ride aren't as attractive as others, and the theme of the ride doesn't capture the same level of movie-specific charm as the other Star Wars attractions around the park. No longer.
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The Mandalorian and Grogu took over Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run, and with that Disney Imagineering gave the ride a much-needed overhaul in the visuals and interactivity department. What's probably best about the remake is that the ride now uses Unreal Engine 5, allowing for more realistic visual fidelity in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. The original Smuggler's Run didn't look “bad” by any means, but if you're a gamer, you know how outdated graphics engines can look after a while. With Unreal Engine 5, the experience looks sharper, and Disney Imagineers were able to set certain sequences in the sun, a move that shows confidence in the attraction's visuals.
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I spoke with Asa Kalama, Vice President of Creative & Interactive Experiences at Disney Imagineering, about the upgrade to Unreal Engine 5 and what allows Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run to offer visually what it couldn't before. From the more realistic lighting to the highly detailed models, Disney Imagineers have ensured that this is a premium experience befitting of an adventure with The Mandalorian and Grogue.
“We've always wanted people to believe that what they're seeing through the canopy window is real life, and there's no better way to do that than by pushing visual fidelity, both in terms of asset quality and frame rate and resolution.
And so what this upgrade has allowed us to do is go to much, much heavier and richer models. We're working with the Industrial Light and Magic asset library, and instead of having to decimate and reduce the level of detail in these models, we're actually able to keep a lot more. It gives us a lot of new capabilities and capabilities when it comes to dynamic lighting and full-screen visual effects. A lot of these things wouldn't be possible with Unreal Engine 4. It also brought a lot of optimizations that allowed us to increase the frame rate, so it's an even smoother experience.”
Although the bones of Smuggler's Run are still there, in many ways it feels like a completely new ride. The setting of the story involves the Mandalorian and Groga following a group of pirates with some stolen cargo. You must first chase them down on Tatooine before the trio jet off to three separate planets from Star Wars lore: Endor, Coruscant, or Bespin. It's a smart design choice that allows for some variety in the experience, similar to what you get with Star Tours and its random destinations. However, Smuggler's Run also introduces some riding agency into the mix by allowing one of the engineers to select a secondary destination.
There are some fun beats throughout the ride, including plenty of funny Grogu moments. And it feels like more of a thrill ride than before. Seeing the Mandalorian flying next to the ship or in front of the cockpit helps increase the wow factor of the ride. For Lucasfilm, which works with Disney on all of its Star Wars rides, it was an opportunity to showcase some planets in new contexts or during an era (post-Empire) that they hadn't seen before. This isn't the same old Cloud City, Endor or Coruscant you've seen before.
So how is Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run different? The three roles (2 guests per role) are relatively the same, but each has more interactivity than the previous iteration of the ride.
Pilots
The pilots still take the iconic ship through a series of routes, trying not to cause too much damage to Han's ship. The right pilot goes up and down and activates the lightspeed jump, while the left pilot moves the ship from left to right and activates the boosters.
shooters
Gunners keep enemy ships at bay by firing blasters and missiles, with both automatic and manual aiming modes. In auto mode you simply hold down the same button, but in manual you press one of the three vertically oriented buttons to determine which zone of the ship you want to fire from (top, middle or bottom).
Engineers
Engineers repair the ship by pressing buttons and flipping switches whenever the Millennium Falcon takes damage, and press a button to “rewind” the stolen cargo for extra points. Crucially, one of the engineers fires the homing beacons while the other selects the target I mentioned. Engineers also get a special “Grog Button” that summons a cute green guy whenever you press it.
Scoring is still a little loose and vague when it comes to the gamified element of driving, but there's no doubt that everyone can contribute a lot more than they did in the previous version. Where the Engineers felt a bit underappreciated compared to the Gunners, and certainly compared to the Pilots, it's a smart choice to give them more to do and some influence over the ride's story. My son loves an engineer – who doesn't like pushing buttons and flipping switches? – but now he has a lot more work to do, even if the pilots are experts.
If you don't have a full crew, any of the roles will be set to autopilot.
The Mandalorian and Grog Smuggler's Run review
While I wouldn't say Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run is a completely new ride with the Mandalorian and Grog overlay, it's a better version than what came before. The interactivity for the gunner and engineer role is much better, the plot is stronger by bringing two very recognizable characters into the mix (sorry Hondo Ohnaka!), and being able to go to three different planets adds some variety to the mix.
It's rare for a Disneyland ride (let alone the entire country) to get such an upgrade, but it fits the mantra that Galaxy's Edge will be an evolving experience. There's more variety for Star Wars fans of all ages, and now there's a stronger version of the underrated ride to serve as a counterpoint to Rise of the Resistance.
