There’s a new mission featuring Mandalorian & Grogu coming to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Star Wars Land at Hollywood Studios and Disneyland in a few months. Ahead of that, Walt Disney World updated the attraction description and prematurely renamed the ride…before quickly removing the new name. Here’s the latest.
Let’s start with the new description, which is still up under the heading “A New Mission is Coming Soon.”
Beginning May 22, 2026, join Din Djarin, the mysterious Mandalorian bounty hunter, and his youngling Grogu on an exciting new mission—tracking down elusive ex-Imperial officers throughout the galaxy.
Plus, for the first time ever, the crew will be in control of their own destination, leading to potential adventures on Bespin, the wreckage of the second Death Star around Endor or the just-announced bustling city-planet, Coruscant.
A new gameplay addition allows the engineer positions to communicate with Grogu during the mission.
Along with that, Walt Disney World briefly changed the attraction name to “Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – A New Mission.” Similar to the old one, but (unsurprisingly) even longer than before. This change was pushed live on both the official Walt Disney World website and My Disney Experience app, so clearly it was purposeful–albeit ahead of schedule.
Although descriptive in nature, we are pretty sure this is intended to be the new title of the attraction. That it wasn’t removed because it was wrong, but because it was too early. Note that this is unlike the normal protocol, which appends “- New!” to denote something is new.
For example, if you look at the official page of the new nighttime parade, you’ll see it referred to as “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away – New!” That’s the typical approach, and it usually sticks around for a year or two. (I’m not sure when it happened, but Luminous didn’t drop its “New!” for a while.)
In this case, I can kind of understand why Walt Disney World is renaming Smugglers Run with the appended “A New Mission.” Technically, the attraction isn’t new, so adding that would be a bit deceiving. This is clearer, even if cumbersome. I’m nevertheless surprised they didn’t opt for a more meaningful change, like “Millennium Falcon: Mandalorian Mission” or something like that.
If I had a nickel for every time Disney gave a new attraction with “mission” in the title two punctuation marks, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
The other, of course, is “Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!” at Disney California Adventure. That is probably the high water mark for Disney’s comically-bad naming convention, although the dueling Little Mermaid dark rides (Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid vs. The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure) comes pretty close.
And who can forget Astro Orbiter at Magic Kingdom versus Astro Orbitor at Disneyland?! (Read both names carefully if you’re missing it.) Or any of the Star Wars naming convention, from Galactic Starcruiser (actually a hotel) to Galaxy’s Edge (actually a land).
Before getting the shockingly succinct Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, we half-joked that they should name the new attraction “Splash Mountain ~ Voyage of the Log with Princess and the Frog: New Adventures with Princess Tiana!” That should underscore just how absurd Disney’s naming convention has gotten.
Honestly, the only reason I’m posting this new name for Smugglers Run in the first place is to underscore that again. Walt Disney World and Disneyland have several opportunities in the coming years to get new names right and wrong.
I fear there’s already a committee that’s a dozen deep workshopping the names for the land that will be home to Villains, and are on the precipice of absolutely overthinking the decision and giving us an 8 word gem with multiple punctuation marks.
I would humbly propose an alternative: Villains Land. Or perhaps Disney Villains Land, if you’re concerned people might think the land in Magic Kingdom (Park) is actually at Universal or SeaWorld or whatever. I’ll defer to your expertise on the matter.
It seems like “Disney’s Committee to Activate Names: A Strategic Disney Naming, Branding, Attractions & Activations Committee ~ Turbocharged!” is satisfied with Monstropolis for the Monsters, Inc. expansion, which is the correct name. Ditto Tropical Americas. Please don’t revisit those and likewise overthink them.
Descriptive names aren’t a bad thing, and have become iconic thanks to their simplicity–not in spite of it. Space Mountain (a mountain in space), Haunted Mansion (a mansion that is haunted), and so on and so forth. The Little Mermaid dark ride is never going to enter the pop culture vernacular in part because no one can remember what it is. (I cover this stuff, and I had to look up the names for the above…and have already forgotten them.)
It’s okay to call Indiana Jones Adventure…Indiana Jones Adventure. Rides can have the same name on both coasts. No need to get cute with it. Your challenge, Disney, should you choose to accept it, is returning to concise 2-4 word names with zero punctuation marks. Big ask, I know.
As for the substance of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – A New Mission, I’m actually really looking forward to it! I’ve written this several times before, but the attraction has a ton of unrealized potential. The bones are good, from the exterior to the queue to the pre-show, wish fulfillment of being in the ship’s cockpit and pulling the lever to jump to lightspeed.
The issue is entirely with the gameplay, which is boring; the Star Wars equivalent of working for UPS. The asteroid field delay scene is better than the actual core gameplay of Smugglers Run, which should say all that needs to be said about the potential for improvement.
The complete package of the attraction aside from the gameplay is fantastic. But then there’s the mission itself, which falls flat. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run could be a 10/10 attraction–one of the best on both coasts–and a more compelling mission would get it there. Suffice to say, the addition of Mandalorian and Grogu could be a complete game changer, elevating Galaxy’s Edge as a whole along with the new mission.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about the new name for the Millennium Falcon ride? Looking forward to being Baby Yoda’s babysitter or choosing from 4 new destinations? Are you excited to see the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda in Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – A New Mission starting on May 22, 2026? Do you hope the new mission is actually exciting? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of Disney’s cumbersome naming convention? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!