Smugglers Run Gets Its Best Mission Ever, and Summer Just Ignited

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Becomes a New Attraction Overnight

There are upgrades, and then there is what Walt Disney Imagineering just did to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. The attraction at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, now running a brand-new mission featuring Din Djarin and Grogu at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort, represents a technological leap built on Unreal Engine 5, new Nvidia hardware, and a creative process that started with Imagineers sitting down with Jon Favreau and Lucasfilm's Dave Filoni to figure out how to extend the story of The Mandalorian and Grogu beyond the screen.

According to Disney Experiences, Asa Kalama, Executive of Creative and Interactive Experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering, described the philosophy clearly. "Before we got into any real technical development or detailed experiential design, we spent a lot of time just talking through story," Kalama said. The goal was to build something that felt like it could be happening just off camera, an adventure that exists in the same narrative space as what audiences see in theaters.

The timing is deliberate and unprecedented. Disney Experiences notes that for the first time ever, a major attraction update and a theatrical release launched on the same day, May 22. Guests could watch The Mandalorian and Grogu in the morning and pilot the Falcon alongside both characters that afternoon. That kind of cross-platform storytelling has been a Disney aspiration for years, and this is the first time it has landed with this precision.

The technical details matter here. As Kalama explained to Disney Experiences, the jump from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, paired with next-generation Nvidia compute hardware, allowed Imagineering to push visual fidelity far beyond what the original attraction could achieve. The upgrade also enabled a rethinking of how the adventure unfolds, moving past the largely linear path of the original mission. MickeyBlog reports that Disney altered the pre-show with Hondo Ohnaka and changed the job assignments, making Engineers, the guests in the back of the cockpit, the best seats in the house because they can now interact with Grogu directly.

That last detail is the kind of small, brilliant design choice that separates good Imagineering from great Imagineering. For years, Engineers felt like the consolation prize, but now they have arguably the most intimate character interaction on any attraction in the parks. Disney even added a choice mechanism so flight crews can select which adventure they take, a feature Kalama described as important for increasing replayability.

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Early fan response, according to MickeyBlog, suggests the updated attraction is landing even better than the film itself. This is a remarkable sentence to write about any theme park overlay, and it speaks to the quality of work Imagineering delivered here.

The Parks

Smugglers Run is the headline, but it is only the opening act. Walt Disney World is in the middle of what might be the most packed launch week in recent memory, with several major new experiences arriving on or around May 26.

BlogMickey reports that Jessie's Roundup opened early at the Diamond Horseshoe in Magic Kingdom, ahead of the official Cool Kids' Summer start date of May 26. The Toy Story-themed activation runs through September 8, 2026, transforming the classic Frontierland venue into an interactive space with games, dancing, and live character moments featuring Jessie, Woody, and Bullseye. BlogMickey describes two distinct show moments: a sing-along led by a guitarist performer named Dusty Strings alongside Bullseye, and a high-energy dancing and yodeling contest with Jessie and Woody that features a jump rope crew performing with young guests deputized as Jr. Deputies. Attractions Magazine, which previewed the experience, notes it feels specifically designed for busy summer crowds, offering air-conditioned family fun in Frontierland. The games along the perimeter are first-come, first-served with no reservations required.

Over at Disney's Animal Kingdom, TouringPlans reports that a virtual queue returns to Walt Disney World for Bluey's Wild World, the new experience that officially opens May 26. MickeyBlog notes this means there is no guarantee guests will get to experience it during their trip, a frustration the virtual queue system has always carried. However, the reasoning is sound. This is a children's experience, and managing crowd flow protects the audience it is built for. WDW Prep School warns that massive crowds will hit the parks this week as the May 26 openings converge.

At Disney's Hollywood Studios, the Muppets are settling into their new home. Disney Parks Blog published a deep dive into the Easter eggs packed into Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, and the level of detail Imagineering embedded in the reimagined G-Force Records queue is staggering. Multiple props from the beloved Muppet*Vision 3D have been relocated into the space, including Statler and Waldorf's balcony chairs, shipping crates from the original building, Gonzo's stunt airplane, the cannon the penguins used to aim at Swedish Chef, and pizza boxes from PizzeRizzo. Disney Parks Blog notes that Kermit's original banjo was recently donated to the Walt Disney Archives, and Imagineers recreated it for display in the queue's gallery case. Both Floyd and Janice's guitars on display are originals from The Muppet Show. For longtime Muppet fans who mourned the closure of Muppet*Vision 3D, this queue is a love letter.

Meanwhile, EPCOT gets a celebratory treat. MickeyBlog reports that the S'morin' Across America Milk Shake launches at Sunshine Seasons on May 26, timed to the official opening of the reimagined Soarin' Across America. The s'mores milkshake comes topped with a toasted marshmallow, chocolate bar, graham cracker, and a Soarin' hang glider decoration. It is a small, fun touch that connects the food and the attraction in exactly the way EPCOT does best.

At Disneyland Resort, the parks remain open and operating normally despite a hazmat emergency in Orange County. Disney Tourist Blog reports that a chemical tank at risk of exploding forced evacuation orders approximately five miles from the resort. Disneyland issued a statement clarifying that the parks are unaffected, as confirmed by WDW News Today. Guests with upcoming trips should monitor local news but should not expect disruptions at this time.

In leadership news with implications across multiple Disney parks, Lightning Brain's Cruise Deets Daily reports that Natacha Rafalski has been appointed President of Disney Signature Experiences, the division overseeing Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney. The announcement came from Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum, who previously held the role. Alongside Rafalski's appointment, Joe Schott was named President of Walt Disney World Resort. These moves are part of what the company calls "a period of transformative growth," language that suggests significant investment in Disney's premium travel and experience businesses in the years ahead.

The Screen

The Mandalorian and Grogu is performing. According to The DisInsider, citing Variety, the film opened to an estimated $102 million domestic over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, making it one of the biggest openings of 2026 so far. MickeyBlog notes that the film is sitting right at the fresh threshold on Rotten Tomatoes, a precarious position that may shift by the end of its theatrical run. But the box office number tells the more important story: audiences showed up for Star Wars in theaters again, and they showed up in force.

The film's success matters beyond the multiplex because Disney has built an entire ecosystem around it. D23 details the "Disney Blockbuster Summer" campaign, which connects The Mandalorian and Grogu to a wave of consumer products, from LEGO's Ultimate Collector Series N-1 Starfighter to Hasbro's Ultimate Grogu animatronic with over 250 lifelike animations. The campaign extends through the summer's other tentpole releases, including Toy Story 5 and the live-action Moana, positioning Disney's theatrical slate as the engine for a broader merchandising and experience strategy.

That strategy was on full display at Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, held May 19 through 21. The Walt Disney Company reports that Disney Consumer Products anchored its presence around the theme "Icons Unleashed," framing its portfolio as living cultural forces that can be reinterpreted across generations. The expo brought together senior leaders from across the company, including Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Lucasfilm's Dave Filoni, and Frozen 3 director Trent Correy. The showcase also featured talent from the upcoming Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock 3 and West End performers from Frozen: The Hit Broadway Musical. Paul Gitter, EVP of Global Brand Commercialization, described licensing as "a central way Disney storytelling shows up in consumers' everyday lives."

Separately, WDW News Today reports that Disney+ and Hulu are launching a "Summer of Nostalgia" featuring throwback movies, new series, a podcast, and more. Details remain light, but the timing aligns with Disney's broader summer push to keep audiences engaged across every platform simultaneously.

The Vault

The Smugglers Run upgrade deserves a second look through the Imagineering lens, because what happened here represents a philosophical shift in how Disney thinks about attraction longevity. For most of its history, Disney built attractions to last decades in essentially the same form. Pirates of the Caribbean opened in 1967 and received its first significant update in 2006. The Haunted Mansion has been structurally unchanged since 1969. The expectation was that a great attraction should be timeless.

The new Smugglers Run model, as described by Asa Kalama to Disney Experiences, points in a different direction. By building on a real-time game engine and modular mission architecture, Imagineering created an attraction that can evolve alongside the stories Disney tells on screen. The upgrade to Unreal Engine 5 and new Nvidia hardware provides infrastructure that can support future missions, future characters, and future stories without requiring a full attraction rebuild. Kalama's emphasis on choice, on letting guests select their adventure, suggests Imagineering sees replayability as a core design principle going forward.

The Muppets queue at Rock 'n' Roller Coaster reflects a different but equally interesting Imagineering instinct: preservation through transformation. As Disney Parks Blog details, the decision to relocate original props from Muppet*Vision 3D into the new queue means those artifacts remain in active use, seen by thousands of guests daily, rather than sitting in storage. Statler and Waldorf's chairs are still making people smile. Gonzo's cannon is still pointed at someone who probably deserves it. The venue changed, but the Muppets endure.

Sources

Disney Experiences · MickeyBlog · BlogMickey · Attractions Magazine · Disney Parks Blog · TouringPlans · WDW Prep School · Disney Tourist Blog · WDW News Today · The DisInsider · D23 · Walt Disney Company · Lightning Brain