Ever since Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened in 2019 at Disneyland in California and Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida, fans have wondered how Disney might evolve the theme park land over time. Seven years later, we have the biggest change yet coming to both versions of Galaxy’s Edge.
Major changes are coming to what is often considered the weaker ride in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, including a new story, new characters, and upgraded technology. We share all the details on what to expect from this reimagined version of the ride. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including new Star Wars popcorn buckets and Disney Cruise Line sailing from a port near Disneyland.
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The Galaxy’s Edge Timeline is Expanding
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was originally fixated at one specific point in the overall Star Wars timeline: between the events of 2017’s The Last Jedi and 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.
All of the attractions and atmosphere supported this timeframe, with no contradictions. This meant the only Star Wars stories and characters featured in the land were those from the film series’ sequel trilogy.
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Over time, Disney relaxed the strictness of this storytelling device, mostly for character greetings. At both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, characters from other points in the Star Wars timeline, such as the Mandalorian and Grogu, began making regular appearances. This came with the caveat that characters from different generations never crossed paths or interacted.
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Now, an even more dramatic change is incoming. Starting April 29, 2026, the Disneyland version of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will introduce the original Star Wars trilogy into the land. This approach will include character appearances by Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Darth Vader, and Han Solo.
While these timeline changes only apply to the land in California, there is another major addition coming to both versions of the land the following month.
On May 22, 2026, both the Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios versions of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will debut a reimagined version of a permanent attraction, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, now featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu as part of the ride experience.
Let’s get into everything we know about this revamped version of the ride.
The Mandalorian and Grogu Join Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Din Djarin, aka the Mandalorian, and Grogu, aka “baby Yoda,” will permanently join the adventure of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Disneyland and Walt Disney World starting May 22. This is the same day that the new movie The Mandalorian and Grogu will be released in theaters.
This is big news for a few reasons. The film marks the first Star Wars project in movie theaters since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. All the other Star Wars media since then, including the entire The Mandalorian series, have debuted on the small screen via Disney+.
The reimagined ride marks the most significant departure Disney has made so far from the initial, fixated timeframe of Galaxy’s Edge, and the most deliberate investment so far into introducing different stories into the Galaxy’s Edge narrative beyond character greetings.
No changes are being made to the other ride in Galaxy’s Edge, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. That attraction will remain focused on the sequel trilogy with characters such as Rey, Kylo Ren, and BB-8.
New Planet Destinations
In the 2019-early 2026 version of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, the story begins on Batuu, the planet where the rest of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge takes place, before traveling to Corellia. On Corellia, riders are tasked with smuggling coaxium fuel.
In the new version, the ride will still begin on Batuu, but the journey will then take guests to Tatooine. This is famously the home planet of Luke Skywalker, though Disney hasn’t announced Skywalker himself to be part of the ride.
After visiting Tatooine, riders will visit one of three planets:
- Bespin, pictured above, home of Cloud City, as seen in the 1980s The Empire Strikes Back
- Endor, where the wreckage of the Death Star is strewn about, as seen in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker
- Coruscant, one of the galaxy’s busiest cityscapes, as seen in the 1999–2005 prequel trilogy and 2022–2025’s Andor, among other series appearances
The story for the updated attraction involves guests tracking down ex-Imperial officers.
Riders Choose the Path
In introducing multiple possibilities for the planets the ride will visit, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run likens itself to Star Tours – The Adventures Continue. That simulator ride, located outside of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, similarly traverses the galaxy, though with a larger cabin and no interactive gameplay-like components.
The planet destinations guests visit on Star Tours are random. Riders have no say in where they’ll go. On the new version of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, riders will get to choose which planet they visit!
There are pros and cons to both of these techniques. On the one hand, the surprise of Star Tours is fun. On the other hand, it can be disappointing if a guest rides Star Tours twice, hoping to visit a different planet the second time, only to receive the same random result as their first ride. The choice of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run prevents this repeat-ride dilemma, provided you are the rider selecting the planet.
In both situations, Disney has effectively created ways to ride the same attractions repeatedly and experience completely new things each time.
New Roles for Riders
When riding Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, guests are assigned one of three roles. Pilots steer the spaceship, gunners blast the weapons, and engineers anticlimactically press a button when instructed.
Since the attraction debuted, the engineer role has been lamented as the most boring assignment, and understandably so. Disney recognized this and upped the position with a seriously cool new task in the reimagined version of the ride: the engineer is now in charge of communicating with Grogu and choosing the third destination for the crew.
How exactly this happens remains to be seen, but this is a definite improvement to the engineer assignment and could even make the role the most sought-after of the three positions.
Upgraded Technology with 7 Years’ Worth of Industry Advancements
In preparing the new characters and planets for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Disney is also updating the attraction’s software.
Using a system called Unreal Engine and collaborating with video game company Epic Games, Walt Disney Imagineering is creating visuals that render more smoothly in real time as riders control the action.
This process takes advantage of almost a decade of advancements in gameplay technology, seeing as the initial version of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run opened in 2019 and has not been updated since. The new visuals are expected to look crystal clear, cooperating with riders’ decisions better than ever before.
See our previous coverage for a more in-depth look at the technology upgrades coming to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
No Closure Required Between Old and New Versions
When Disney changes a ride as significantly as this, some downtime is often required between the closure of the old version and the opening of the new one. The three-month transition from Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets is a prime example of this.
Straying from usual protocol, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will not require any temporary closure for Disney to install its new story. This is likely because most of the changes involve programming and animation, which can be executed off-site and installed quickly, rather than physical changes to the ride’s set or vehicles, which would necessitate a temporary closure on Disney’s calendar.
The ride will continue operating in its current form through May 21. Overnight, Disney will implement the changes described above. The morning of May 22, the new version of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will welcome guests at both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Hondo’s Role in the Story
The main character of the current version of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is Hondo Ohnaka, best known from the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels.
Hondo appears as an Audio-Animatronics figure in the ride’s pre-show. Once the ride begins in earnest, Hondo’s voice guides riders in their journey.
How big a role Hondo will have in this new version of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run remains to be seen. Given the immediate turnaround of the updated ride, I think it’s unlikely Disney will remove the Hondo Audio-Animatronics figure from the pre-show. Even though that seems like a quick job, it would probably still require a closure period of at least a few days, similar to how Disney closed Frozen Ever After for three weeks earlier this year to install new Audio-Animatronics of Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff.
In turn, that’s also a clue that Disney probably isn’t installing an Audio-Animatronics figure of Mando in the pre-show to replace Hondo.
Timeline-wise, it still makes sense for Hondo to be around in the Mandalorian era of the Star Wars galaxy. His animated appearances took place in the time of the prequel trilogy, and his current Smuggler’s Run appearance confirms he’s still alive in the time of the sequel trilogy. The Mandalorian series takes place between the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy, so the math works out for Hondo to still be in the ride somehow.
More Changes at Hollywood Studios
Disney’s Hollywood Studios has a busy calendar of new and updated attraction openings in the coming weeks and months, in addition to the May 22 debut of the new version of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
On May 26, the park will open Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, permanently replacing Aerosmith as the new resident performing artists on the classic coaster. That same day, a new stage show called Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live! will debut, geared toward preschoolers.
Later this summer, the building that formerly housed Star Wars Launch Bay will reopen its doors as The Magic of Disney Animation. The pavilion-style attraction will include a short film screening, character greetings, and a drawing class hosted by an Audio-Animatronics figure of Olaf from Frozen.
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