Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run

Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run is a motion simulator attraction, based on the Star Wars film series created by George Lucas. Located in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the attraction opened on May 31, 2019 in Disneyland, and opened on August 29, 2019 in Disney's Hollywood Studios.

For the racing video game, see Smuggler's Run.
Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run
The Millennium Falcon at Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland Park
Disneyland
AreaStar Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Coordinates33.8141725°N 117.9218758°W / 33.8141725; -117.9218758
StatusOperating
Opening dateMay 31, 2019 (2019-05-31)
Disney's Hollywood Studios
AreaStar Wars:
Galaxy's Edge
StatusOperating
Opening dateAugust 29, 2019 (2019-08-29)
General statistics
Riders per vehicle6
Rows3
Riders per row2 (2 pilots, 2 gunners, 2 engineers)
Height restriction38 in (97 cm)
Ride hostHondo Ohnaka (voiced by Jim Cummings)
Single rider line available
Must transfer from wheelchair

Park guests are seated in a 6-passenger motion simulator, themed after the Millennium Falcon.[1] Guests go on an interactive "smuggling mission" with each guest on the attraction being assigned a different crew role.[2] The story is set between the films The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).[3]

History

At the Disney D23 Expo in 2015, Disney first announced the creation of a Star Wars-themed land coming to Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios. In 2017, Disney announced that this new Star Wars-themed land would be called Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and it would hold two new attractions. Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's run wasn't officially announced until 2018.

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run first opened at Disneyland on May 31, 2019 and the second opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios on August 29, 2019.[4]

Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run was facing several periods of downtime, compared to Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure at Universal's Islands of Adventure. It had wait times ranging from 30 to 60 minutes upon opening day. The ride benefited from having four slowly rotating attraction turntables. Like bullets in the chambers of a revolver handgun, each turntable had multiple Millennium Falcon cockpits. That meant that the downtime was registered if all four turntables of the flight simulator went down at the same time.[5]

Queue

Smuggler's Run is located in the center of Black Spire Outpost at the entrance to Ohnaka Transport Solutions. The queue begins outside, wrapping around behind a life-size Millennium Falcon parked outside. The queue continues through an engine room/mechanic shop which then leads to the command center where Audio-Animatronics of Hondo Ohnaka and R5-P8 explain what the ride is about.[6] R5-P8, a yellow, red and white R5 unit assassin astromech droid, is one of Hondo's guards. Both characters were first seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars; as in the series, the animatronic of Hondo is voiced by Jim Cummings.[7] After listening to Hondo Ohnaka and R5-P8, everyone is handed a boarding pass which states their role in the ride. Each player can have one of three jobs—pilot, gunner, or engineer. Guests are grouped into six riders (two of each job) and given a color which is then called when ready to board. While riders wait for their color to be called, they get to explore the inside of the Millennium Falcon. Once their group color is called, riders walk down the corridors of the Millennium Falcon to the cockpit where the ride begins.[6]

Ride experience

Riders begin their ride experience by loading into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. The two pilots sit in the front row–the left side moves the ship left and right, and the right side moves the ship up and down. The next row holds the gunners who press buttons to shoot down enemies and obstacles in the way. The back row seats the two engineers who work to repair the ship during the flight.

Similar to Epcot's Mission: SPACE, Smugglers Run is an interactive ride, with every guest having a role in the mission. Lasting four and a half minutes, the ride takes the guests on a mission led by Hondo Ohnaka and R5-P8 to steal precious cargo from the First Order TIE fighters. How well each rider performs determines the success of the mission.[6]

The ride is made up of several simulators mounted on a turntable that rotates periodically.[8] Riders that finish early receive longer messages from Hondo while they wait.

See also

References
  1. "Here's what it's like inside Disney's 'Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run' ride". EW.com. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  2. Figueroa, Jessica (May 21, 2019). "REVIEW: First On-Ride Impressions of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers..." WDW News Today. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  3. Prudom, Laura (June 1, 2019). "The Story of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Takes Place After The Last Jedi (For Now)". IGN. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  4. "Everything You Need to Know About Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run - TouringPlans.com Blog". Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  5. MacDonald, Brady (November 20, 2019). "How does ride downtime compare on Disney's Smugglers Run and Universal's Hagrid's Motorbike? It's not even close – Orange County Register". oc register. MediaNews Group, Inc. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  6. "Everything You Need to Know About Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run - TouringPlans.com Blog". Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  7. "Hondo Ohnaka". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  8. Bilbao, Richard (October 4, 2019). "How it works: Patent behind Disney's Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved April 21, 2020.

Further reading
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