Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run

Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run is a motion simulator attraction, at various Disneyland parks worldwide. Set in the Star Wars universe, it offers guests an immersive experience, allowing them to pilot the iconic Millennium Falcon spacecraft on a critical, interactive mission. This attraction is housed in the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge themed area of the parks and opened first at Disneyland, California in May 2019, followed by Disney+'s Hollywood Studios, Florida in August that same year.

This attraction’s narrative places it between the events of "The Last Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker" films. The adventure begins when guests are enlisted by Hondo Ohnaka, a charmingly untrustworthy smuggler, to transport contraband cargo. In groups of six, players are assigned different roles: two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers, each with a unique set of responsibilities within the interactive environment. This teamwork gaming aspect helps make every ride a unique experience.

The queue area of the ride is also an immersive element. It winds its way through Ohnaka Transport Solutions, Hondo's shipping and receiving facility filled with artifacts, ship parts, and props that will thrill Star Wars enthusiasts. This allows plenty of time to absorb the atmosphere and storytelling before reaching the pre-show room for a mission briefing with Hondo and Chewbacca

One of the ride's most impressive technical achievements is the use of real-time rendering technology, which means the CGI imagery reacts instantly to the pilots' control inputs. Hence, if the pilots fly the ship into an obstacle, the on-screen graphics will portray that action and the entire cabin will shake accordingly. All these elements combine to create a compelling and realistic interactive Star Wars experience.

Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run is an experience that provides fans a chance to live out their Star Wars fantasies. It's an ambitious project that fuses interactive gaming experiences with a motion simulator ride, set within an entirely new planet in the Star Wars universe, Batuu. The appeal of Smugglers Run lies in the balance it strikes between delivering new, exciting technology-driven thrills and the timeless appeal of the beloved Millennium Falcon.