Mando and Grogu Take Over Smugglers Run as Disney Parks Go All In

Smugglers Run Launches a Full Mandalorian Overhaul on May 22

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is getting its most significant story update since the attraction opened, and the timing is no accident. Disney Parks Blog confirmed that a brand-new Mandalorian and Grogu storyline launches May 22 at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort, timed precisely to the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.

The new mission puts guests in the middle of a pursuit across Tatooine's desert, where Hondo Ohnaka has caught wind of a deal between ex-Imperial officers and a band of pirates. You take the Falcon's controls, team up with Din Djarin and Grogu, and chase a bounty through the stars. Disney went further than simply refreshing the framework.

According to Disney Parks Blog, each mission can now route through multiple iconic Star Wars destinations, including Bespin, the wreckage of the second Death Star near Endor, and the galactic capital of Coruscant. The most clever addition is a new interactive feature for the engineer position. Engineers can check in on Grogu throughout the flight and, critically, make the pivotal planet choice that determines the mission's course. This is a meaningful mechanical change. The engineer seat has historically felt like the least engaging role on Smugglers Run, and giving that position narrative agency is exactly the kind of design thinking that turns a good attraction into a repeatable one.

The rollout extends well beyond the cockpit. At Disneyland, a limited-time projection show called "The Curious Child" begins playing after "Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga" at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, featuring Grogu using the Force to recall memories of his adventures with Mando. Disney Parks Blog notes that new food and beverage offerings are arriving at both coasts, including Grogu Cookies at Galaxy's Edge, Sweet-and-Spicy Puffer Pig Pasta exclusively at Walt Disney World, and a Mandalorian and Grogu Jetpack Sipper and BDX Droid Bucket at both resorts.

Disney is treating this film launch the way it once treated major park expansions: full ecosystem activation across attractions, dining, and merchandise, all synchronized to a single release date. For a franchise that began as a streaming series, the level of park integration signals just how central Mando and Grogu have become to Disney's storytelling ambitions.

The Parks

Over at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Imagineers are proving that you can honor what came before while building something entirely new. Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets officially opens May 26, and the early details trickling out reveal a team that cared deeply about the attraction's 27-year history. BlogMickey reports that Imagineers tucked at least two deliberate Aerosmith easter eggs into the new Muppets pre-show. The first is a black Gibson Les Paul guitar sitting in the background behind Scooter's audio-animatronic figure. Longtime fans will recognize it instantly. In the original pre-show, guitarist Joe Perry would ask a Cast Member playing "Chris" to grab that exact guitar and carry it out through a nearby door. It was one of those interactive details that rewarded repeat guests. Now it lives on quietly inside G-Force Records under new Muppets management.

The second easter egg is subtler. BlogMickey spotted a mug on Scooter's desk reading "Hey! Hey! Hey!" and "#1 Studio Manager," a direct callback to the original pre-show dialogue when actress Illeana Douglas, playing the band's frantic manager, burst into the recording studio with that exact phrase. Meanwhile, WDW News Today reports that Statler and Waldorf from MuppetVision 3-D now heckle guests aboard the attraction itself, carrying the spirit of those two beloved grumps from one Hollywood Studios classic into another.

Elsewhere in Magic Kingdom, aerial photography from WDW News Today shows that the Mike Fink Keel Boat Landing has been removed as Piston Peak construction continues to reshape Frontierland. The same outlet also reports that Disney has filed permits for something called "Project Fedora" at Hollywood Studios. No details beyond the name exist, but Disney permit filings with evocative codenames have historically preceded significant projects.

At Disneyland Paris, Disney Experiences published an extensive behind-the-scenes look at how the resort trained more than 350 Cast Members to become "villagers of Arendelle" for the World of Frozen opening. The process began nearly 15 months before opening day and involved an ambitious recruitment effort including internal mobility, targeted recruitment, and a European casting tour. Disney Experiences reports that more than 1,200 Cast Members joined new roles and opportunities as Disney Adventure World took shape. Each selected Cast Member received what became known as the "letter from the village," an invitation written in character from Fredrik, royal emissary of Queens Anna and Elsa. Cast Member Dorine Hermier described being chosen for the opening guest flow team as a "heart-stopping surprise."

The DisInsider reports that Bluey and Bingo are officially heading to Disney's Animal Kingdom beginning May 26 as part of Walt Disney World's "Cool KIDS' SUMMER" celebration. According to the report, this could become one of the hottest family offerings at the resort this year, though details beyond the characters' arrival remain limited.

Saturday's park conditions across Walt Disney World told an interesting story. Lightning Brain data shows that Magic Kingdom finished the day at a 4/10 (Moderate) with a median wait just under 15 minutes, essentially flat against its 30-day average, a surprising result for a May Saturday. Hollywood Studios ran the busiest at 5/10 (Average) with a 37-minute median, while both Animal Kingdom and EPCOT landed in comfortable territory. The afternoon brought real disruption at Hollywood Studios, though. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance went offline for nearly an hour around 6:00 PM, and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway closed twice during the day. When Runaway Railway's second closure overlapped almost exactly with the Rise outage, it left Galaxy's Edge and the adjacent area short on premium headliners simultaneously. EPCOT's Flower and Garden Festival continued drawing its characteristic mix of food-booth grazers without hammering attraction queues. Temperatures hit 91 degrees with 74% humidity.

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The Screen

James Cameron wants to make Avatar movies twice as fast at two-thirds the cost. During a recent appearance on The Empire Film Podcast, Cameron confirmed he is actively working on Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, according to MickeyBlog. His approach will shift significantly from prior installments. "We're gonna be looking at some new technologies to try and do them more efficiently, because they're hideously expensive and take a long time," Cameron said. "I want to do them in half the time for two-thirds of the cost, that's my metric." He noted it will take about a year to figure out the technical path forward, during which he will be writing and working on other projects. Avatar: Fire and Ash earned nearly $1.5 billion globally, a significant number by any standard, but its $400 million production budget raised questions about diminishing returns relative to the first two films' record-setting grosses.

The Avatar franchise's connection to Disney parks runs deep through Pandora at Animal Kingdom, which makes Cameron's commitment to continuing the saga meaningful for Walt Disney World guests who have walked through the Valley of Mo'ara and flown on Flight of Passage. The filmmaker's push toward efficiency rather than escalation is a pragmatic acknowledgment that the industry's appetite for half-billion-dollar productions has limits.

On the fashion front, D23 published a look inside the Walt Disney Archives' role in The Devil Wears Prada 2, which has topped the global box office for two consecutive weekends and earned nearly $440 million to date. D23 reports that filmmakers pulled items directly from the Archives, including signature wardrobe pieces from the original 2006 film, to serve as both inspiration and a direct connection to the first movie. Walt Disney Archives Director of Operations and Business Strategy Joanna Pratt noted that "costuming is quite literally the fabric of the storytelling, helping to capture the world of high fashion while also revealing the personalities and transformation of the film's starring characters."

Early Cast Member previews of Soarin' Across America are generating mixed reactions, according to Attractions Magazine. Many fans are praising the attraction's scenic visuals, emotional tone, and classic Soarin' feeling, while others say some transitions still feel uneven. Attractions Magazine notes that Disney did improve one common fan complaint, though specifics on what was addressed remain limited in the early reports.

The Vault

Disney CFO Hugh Johnson laid out the company's pricing philosophy at the MoffettNathanson Media, Internet and Communications Conference this week, and it was remarkably direct. Disney Food Blog reported Johnson's comments on what the massive Walt Disney World expansion projects, including Piston Peak and Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, Monstropolis at Hollywood Studios, and Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom, mean for future ticket prices. "It actually offers some ability to charge more because essentially, you're offering something new that wasn't there before," Johnson said. He then went further: "Yes, we have the ability to grow attendance as we expand capacity. I would expect to see both pricing and attendance growth over any 3- or 4-year time frame."

The statement is notable for its candor. Disney executives rarely frame pricing strategy this explicitly in public settings. Johnson is essentially confirming what most Disney fans have long suspected. The expansion projects currently reshaping three of Walt Disney World's four parks aim to create the justification for a higher price floor rather than simply adding capacity. When Piston Peak, Villains Land, Monstropolis, and Tropical Americas all come online, the argument will be that guests are getting a fundamentally different product than what exists today, and the pricing will reflect that.

AllEars also covered the pricing discussion, noting simply that Disney Parks are going to continue to get more expensive. For families already stretching their budgets to visit, the expansion era presents a paradox: more to do than ever before, at prices that will keep climbing to match.

Sources

Disney Parks Blog · BlogMickey · WDW News Today · Lightning Brain · MickeyBlog · D23 · Attractions Magazine · Disney Food Blog · AllEars · The DisInsider · Disney Experiences