'More like a traditional video game' Unreal Engine 5 and The Mandalorian and Grogu have transformed Disney World's Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction inside Galaxy's Edge

Date:
Wed, 03 Jun 2026 23:00:00 +0000

Description:
We went hands-on with Disney World's overhauled Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run now featuring The Mandalorian and Grogu and powered by a custom
multi-GPU build of Unreal Engine 5 and spoke with Disney Imagineering about the tech that makes it the most replayable attraction in Galaxy's Edge.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Yes, Star Wars has returned to the big screen with The Mandalorian and Grogu , and on the same day it hit theaters, it landed in two Disney Parks Disneyland in Anaheim, CA and Disney World in Orlando, FL.

Disney Imagineering and Disney Experiences used the new film and the fact it was made with the help of Unreal Engine to rethink and retheme Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. It's now really, really fun, even after more than a dozen rides, and the addition of The Mandalorian and the irresistibly
adorable Grogu gives the attraction a shot of energy it genuinely needed.
It's not a one-to-one adaptation of the film, and it didn't require any physical updates to the Falcon itself or the attraction queues. You'll still board the Millennium Falcon and join The Mandalorian and Grogu for a mission the three roles of pilot, gunner, and engineer remain but the engineer role has been completely overhauled and is no longer the least exciting seat in
the cockpit. Latest Videos From Watch full video here: That's because the engineer now picks the planet; Bespin, Endor, or Coruscant three distinct environments, and guests actually choose where they're going. That
variability was the central goal of the entire rethink, according to Morgan McDowell, a senior software project manager for Walt Disney Imagineering.

"We now have three different planets that our guests can fly to and fly through, and all the different variability within the planets that they go to," McDowell said. "It's more like a traditional video game if I want to go right, I can go right. If I want to go left, I go left." You may like Disney World transformed Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin with new tech We went inside the Magic of Disney Animation before it opens at Disney World Exclusive: The tech keeping Disney Magic Kingdom's most iconic rides running night after night

All three roles still have a variety of buttons and controls to interact
with. Pilots get a noticeably smoother experience and the chance to make the jump to lightspeed. Gunners have a critical role in collecting the bounty, with blaster fire that now visibly tracks targets.

But the engineer is the one driving the planet selection and gets near-constant access to Grogu throughout the ride there's a dedicated button that triggers cutscenes with the character, and taking care of Grogu is woven into the mission from start to finish. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. (Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol) The view outside the cockpit has been upgraded too. It runs at 4K , 60 frames per second an improvement over the original and across all three environments it's smooth and vibrant, with none of the jitter or visual inconsistency that can break immersion in a motion simulator. A big part of making that possible is the move to Unreal Engine 5, new show game computers, and all-new Nvidia GPUs powering the attraction.

What makes the technical setup particularly interesting is that Disney Imagineering doesn't run Unreal the way you would at home. Unreal Engine is typically designed to run on a single GPU but this attraction demands far more than that.

"We're running all-new Nvidia GPUs powering the graphics, as well as powering the new video game running on Unreal Engine 5," Morgan McDowell, Walt Disney Imagineering So Imagineering built their own custom version of Unreal Engine capable of running across multiple GPUs simultaneously, which is what allows the attraction to render everything in real time: the main screen, the individual position screens, the lighting package, the audio, and up to six inputs at once during a four-to-five minute ride. That's a tall order. What
to read next The Mandalorian and Grogu review: not even Baby Yoda can save Star Wars' return to the big screen Disney Store brings BDX Droid figures and Mandalorian toys for May 4 The Mandalorian and Grogu: release date, trailer, cast, plot, and what else we know about the new Star Wars movie

"We're running all-new Nvidia GPUs powering the graphics, as well as powering the new video game running on Unreal Engine 5," McDowell explained. She wouldn't share the specific GPU model or configuration, but confirmed it's a highly custom setup and that Disney's version of Unreal, currently tracking alongside the publicly released 5.7 and 5.8 builds, is meaningfully different from what's available off the shelf.

"I think I have some of the smartest people on my team who own and innovate and update our build of the Unreal Engine, and that unlocks so many different things that we're able to do that Unreal offers, but then we can do it in a multi-GPU setting," she said. (Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol) The Lucasfilm partnership was central to making the day-and-date launch work. McDowell described teams from both sides working through the Florida install together around the clock, riding the attraction, flagging issues, and iterating on builds in real time.

"We had a lot of our Lucasfilm partners, or their QA lead, out here working with us day and night getting the new builds on the new hardware in the attraction, and then actually running the game with them, and them doing tweaks, and us doing tweaks all together," she said.

The result is an attraction that feels genuinely fresh. The random events spread across three planets, the role-specific interactions, and the Grogu moments give it a choose-your-own-adventure quality that holds up across multiple rides in a way the original never quite managed. There are also secret modes to unlock, including a Grogu-specific one, and easter eggs that vary depending on which planet you visit and which path you take through it. There's even a trench run moment that, for what it's worth, had me thinking back to flying a Lego X-Wing on the Sphere in Las Vegas high praise for a theme park ride.

A post shared by Jake Krol (@jake31krol)

A photo posted by on While Rise of the Resistance had arguably eclipsed Smugglers Run as the centerpiece Star Wars experience at both parks , The Mandalorian and Grogu update doesn't just close that gap it reframes what
the attraction is. Less a set-piece ride, more a chance to live your own Star Wars story differently every time you board.

More broadly, rolling out a real-time video game experience across two parks on the same day a film releases speaks to what Unreal Engine is making possible for Disney Imagineering and how quickly that capability is moving. Smugglers Run isn't even the only attraction running it Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin at Magic Kingdom is already powered by Unreal and it's clear Imagineering is thinking about where it goes next.

"We are always looking at the new features that are coming, and we do work with Epic on upcoming things," McDowell said, "and we start to think of how
we can use that technology to bring the best guest experience in our parks." (Image credit: Disney Experiences) Today's best Disney Plus, Disney+ Bundle and Hulu deals Disney+ Monthly Standard With Ads 4.99 4.99 /mth View We
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/streaming/entertainment/more-like-a-traditional-vide o-game-unreal-engine-5-and-the-mandalorian-and-grogu-have-transformed-disney-w orlds-millennium-falcon-smugglers-run-attraction-inside-galaxys-edge


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