Disney just revealed some exciting details about the upcoming Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run upgrades coming to both Disney World and Disneyland in 2026. While everyone’s focused on Mando and Grogu joining the mission, there’s a much bigger story here that most people are missing.
The Changes Shared So Far
At last year’s D23, director Jon Favreau shared a surprise change coming to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The attraction at both Disneyland and Disney World was set to receive a major overhaul to include the Mandalorian and Grogu.
Since then, we’ve learned new details at SXSW, Star Wars Celebration, and on DisneyParksBlog. Here’s a rundown of the changes we’ve heard about so far:
- There’s a new story: “Hondo Ohnaka has gotten wind of a deal going down on Tatooine between ex-Imperial officers and a band of pirates. There’s a generous bounty for their capture, so you’ll borrow the iconic ship and team up with Mando and Grogu to track them down and explore the galaxy.”
- The new mission will feature classic Star Wars locations, like Tatooine, Coruscant, Cloud City, and the Second Death Star Wreckage.
- The mission will start on Tatooine, but then the engineers will get to choose between the other three planets (a choose your own adventure ending that reminds me of Horizons!)
- The engineers will also communicate with Grogu during the ride.
- Imagineering is using Unreal Engine 5 to create the new levels, which allows for greater collaboration with ILM. The visual effects team uses the game engine in their workflow, allowing them to share assets directly with Imagineering.
That’s already a lot of changes coming to Smugglers Run. But the Millennium Falcon news keeps coming.
As reported by IGN, Imagineer Asa Kalama dropped some major new details at Unreal Fest Orlando about changes coming to the gameplay and the graphics.
A Better Looking Hunk of Junk
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is essentially a massive video game running on some seriously impressive hardware. When the attraction opened in 2019, it was already groundbreaking as an interactive experience where your actions as pilot, engineer, or gunner actually affected what happened on screen. According to Polygon, each of the 30 Millennium Falcon simulators in the attraction features 8 NVIDIA Quadro P6000 GPUs and 5 ultra high resolution projectors. The current mission looks good, but pales in comparison to prerendered visuals of Star Tours or even modern generation console video games (6 years is a very long time in the graphics world).
The first major upgrade is all about the graphics. As mentioned above, Disney previously announced they’re upgrading from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 – which is huge for anyone who understands gaming technology. Unreal Engine 5 represents the current state-of-the-art in video game graphics, with massive improvements in lighting, geometry, and animation.
But here’s the kicker that Kalama confirmed: they’re not just upgrading the software. They’re also upgrading the hardware with the latest generation graphics cards.
Per IGN, Kalama said, “We’re upgrading our show game computer, so latest generation CPU graphics cards… And then we’re also moving from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, and we’re really excited about all the additional visual fidelity that that’s ultimately going to unlock for us.”
Think about it – graphics cards have come a long way since 2019. What Disney is essentially doing is giving the Millennium Falcon a complete gaming PC upgrade, from the graphics card to the game engine. This should result in dramatically improved visuals that will make flying through those iconic Star Wars locations feel more realistic than ever.
Multiple Routes Mean Infinite Replayability
The second upgrade might be even more exciting for repeat visitors. The current mission on Smugglers Run is definitely interactive. But it also feels like you’re on rails. You either get the coaxium or you don’t. You either fly in the middle, or (much more likely) crash into the walls. It weirdly feels like the same experience in general, and Star Tours feels much more rerideable with its randomized sequences.
But that’s all about to change.
We already knew that the new mission would take you to iconic locations like Tatooine, Coruscant, Cloud City, and the wreckage of the second Death Star. And we knew there would be a choose your own adventure ending, which will help a lot with rerideability.
But Kalama revealed something that made me extremely excited: There will be multiple routes within each destination.
According to Kalama: “…even within each of the level environments themselves, we’ve worked with our partners at ILM to develop levels that have considerably more branching… So that even if you return to the same destination, there’s a new route or new secrets to uncover.”
This is brilliant design. Instead of just having three different endings to choose from, you’ll have multiple paths through each location. I’m really excited to see how extensive these secrets are, because this could really take this ride to the next level.
For a theme park attraction, this level of variability is pretty unprecedented. Most rides give you the exact same experience every single time. But the new version of Smugglers Run gives the players more control, and giving more of a video game experience where each playthrough can feel genuinely different.
The Unreal Engine Revolution at Disney
Disney seems to be fully taking advantage of Unreal Engine in creating attractions, and it’s unlocking new possibilities.
This Millennium Falcon upgrade isn’t the only place we’re seeing it.
Take the new Little Mermaid: A Musical Adventure show at Hollywood Studios, which just opened this summer. While most guests are focused on the improved staging, there’s some serious tech wizardry happening behind the scenes. The show uses Unreal Engine to create the digitally animated puppets that seamlessly blend with the practical puppets. There are several “switcheroo” moments that left me amazed, where a digital puppet will seamlessly switch with a physical one. That’s thanks to Unreal Engine. When I talked with the creative team behind the show, they mentioned how using Unreal helped them get the timing exactly right (one of the advantages of using a game engine with realtime rendering).
Disney and Epic Games (the company behind Unreal Engine) has deepened their relationship. In early 2024, Disney made a $1.5 billion equity investment into Epic Games, and as part of this they are making an immersive, interactive universe that will be connected to both the Disney Parks and Fortnite. While details are still vague, Disney has teased that the new Millennium Falcon ride may affect what happens in the digital universe.
According to IGN’s coverage, this partnership between Disney and Epic Games represents “a significant shift in how theme park attractions are conceived and executed.”
Will this fix the biggest issues with Smugglers Run?
I’ve touched on the limited interactivity that the first version of the Millennium Falcon ride has. But that has never been my biggest problem with the ride When Smugglers Run first opened, it had one major issue that prevented it from being the home run it should have been: you flew to Corellia.
Now, unless you’re a huge Star Wars fan who loved 2018’s Solo movie (which flopped at the box office), you probably have no emotional connection to Corellia. Flying the Millennium Falcon through a generic-looking industrial planet just doesn’t capture that classic Star Wars magic.
But now you’ll be flying to places you actually recognize and care about from the original trilogy movies. Tatooine from A New Hope, Cloud City from The Empire Strikes Back, and the Death Star wreckage from Return of the Jedi. Plus Coruscant from the prequels. These are locations that have been burned into our collective consciousness for decades.
The Disney Parks Blog confirmed that these new destinations will feature “iconic environments that guests will immediately recognize,” which is exactly what this attraction needed from day one.
The Mandalorian and Grogu Connection
Of course, these upgrades aren’t happening in a vacuum. They’re all timed to coincide with The Mandalorian and Grogu movie, which hits theaters on May 22, 2026 – the same day these attraction updates launch.
Din Djarin and Grogu will be joining you on these missions, which should add some great character moments to the experience. The Disney Parks Blog notes that “guests will join Mando and Grogu on a new mission that takes them to iconic Star Wars destinations.”
But even if that movie doesn’t resonate with audiences, Disney has smartly anchored this update in the original trilogy locations that have universal appeal.
What This Means for Disney’s Future
This Millennium Falcon upgrade represents something much bigger than just an update to tie into a movie. It shows Disney really leaning into the interactive, gaming-like elements – and it’s all powered by their growing partnership with Epic Games.
Imagine other Disney rides where your choices actually matter and where repeat visits reveal new content. Or a situation where your actions in the Fortnite digital universe game at home actually unlock something within the attraction itself at Disney World.
We’ve seen hints of this before, but much of the interactive elements have been relegated to the Play Disney Parks app. Having a Millennium Falcon simulator that ups the interactivity and immersiveness feels like taking the concept to hyperspace, and part of the promise of Galaxy’s Edge: where you can feel like you’re living your Star Wars Story.
And honestly? I can’t wait to see where else they take this technology next.
When You Can Experience the Upgrades
All of these improvements will debut simultaneously at both Disneyland and Disney World on May 22, 2026.
Between the improved graphics, expanded destinations, multiple routes, and beloved characters, the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy is about to become a lot more appealing for repeat visits. The bones of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run were always solid – now Disney is giving it the technological boost it needs to truly soar.
The Bottom Line: What You Need to Know
Here are the biggest takeaways about the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run upgrades coming in 2026:
The Tech Upgrades
- Complete upgrade from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 for dramatically improved graphics
- Brand new graphics cards replacing 2019-era hardware for better visual fidelity
- Part of Disney’s broader partnership with Epic Games
The Gameplay Changes:
- Multiple branching routes within each destination for true replayability
- Every mission starts on Tatooine.
- Choice between three iconic planets for finale: Coruscant, Cloud City, and Death Star wreckage
- Engineers will interact with Grogu and choose the final destination, making each ride feel different
The Characters & Story:
- Din Djarin (The Mandalorian) and Grogu join the mission
- Hondo will still be part of the story
- Timed to coincide with The Mandalorian and Grogu movie release
When & Where:
- Launches simultaneously at Disney World and Disneyland on May 22, 2026
- Same day as The Mandalorian and Grogu movie premiere
Why This Matters:
- Represents Disney’s vision for interactive, choice-driven theme park experiences
- Could be a template for how Disney upgrades future attractions using gaming technology
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