“This is the way.”
After 18 months in the making, a brand new adventure tied to the release of “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” has made its debut on the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run rides at Disneyland and the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
The new mission made its debut on May 22, and the Walt Disney Imagineers teamed up with the film’s director Jon Favreau and Lucasfilm President and Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni to bring the adventure to life.
Speaking with Variety, Asa Kalama, executive creative and interactive experiences lead at Walt Disney Imagineering, said, “It began with some conversations we had with Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau. There were a lot of conversations around story around how we can connect this to the adventure they were creating for the screen, but obviously adapt it for the theme park setting, which is a very different medium.”
Rather than create just one adventure, there are now three to choose from. “Why go small?” Kalama said. The team went ambitious and enhanced the interactive experience. On the new ride, the crew can join Din Djarin, the Mandalorian bounty hunter, and Grogu on an exciting mission tracking down elusive ex-Imperial officers throughout the galaxy. Hondo Ohnaka has picked up intel about a shady deal on Tatooine between ex-Imperial officers and a crew of pirates. The crew’s mission is to track down three high-value bounties and collect cargo along the way. The pilots still control the ship — determining whether it goes up, down, left, or righ t— and gunners defend the ship. Meanwhile, the role of the engineers has been significantly improved. They now decide which planet to travel to.
