Why did Smugglers Run launch with only one mission?

Reports indicate the other missions were cut due to budget and time constraints during development.

Is Disney adding new missions to Smugglers Run?

Yes. Disney is adding a new mission featuring Din Djarin and Grogu, scheduled to debut in 2026.

Why does mission variety matter for Smugglers Run?

Because the ride is designed to be interactive and replayable, and multiple missions would give guests more reasons to ride it repeatedly.

Smugglers Run Was Designed With 5 Missions

Q: How many missions was Smugglers Run originally designed to have?

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was originally designed to include five different missions, but launched with only one.

For years, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has had one major problem:

It’s fun… but it’s also weirdly easy to “solve.”

After a few rides, you know the beats. You know the mission. You know what happens. And for an attraction built around interactivity, that’s a replayability issue.

Now we finally know why.

According to reporting highlighted by WDWNT — drawing from a recent Wall Street Journal feature on Walt Disney Imagineering — the ride was originally designed to include five different missions, but opened with only one due to budget and time constraints.

And yes… it explains a lot.

Why this matters right now

This isn’t just a “fun Star Wars trivia” detail.

It matters because Disney is finally upgrading Smugglers Run with a new mission featuring Din Djarin and Grogu, launching May 22, 2026.

So suddenly, the idea of “multiple missions” isn’t hypothetical anymore.

It’s a concept Disney is actively returning to — years after Galaxy’s Edge opened.

The key detail: Smugglers Run was designed for five missions

The Wall Street Journal’s reporting (as summarized by WDWNT) states that the Millennium Falcon attraction was designed with five different missions, but ended up launching with only one scenario.

That’s the heart of the story.

Smugglers Run wasn’t meant to be a single narrative loop.

It was supposed to be a modular mission experience — almost like a Star Wars cockpit simulator where you’d get different jobs, different scenarios, and different reasons to come back.

Instead, guests got:

one Hondo-led mission
one coaxium heist structure
one set of locations and beats

Forever.

Smugglers Run feels like a video game… and that was the point

Here’s what makes this so fascinating: Smugglers Run doesn’t behave like a traditional Disney ride.

It’s designed like a multiplayer game:

6-player crew
different roles (Pilots, Gunners, Engineers)
performance impacts outcome
varying degrees of chaos

This is why it has always felt like it should have mission variety.

Because the ride system itself screams: repeatable content.

So learning it was planned as a five-mission framework doesn’t just make sense — it makes the current version feel like a “launch build.”

This also explains why Rise of the Resistance stole the spotlight

When Galaxy’s Edge opened, Smugglers Run was the big interactive headliner.

But the land didn’t feel complete until Rise of the Resistance arrived — and Rise ended up becoming the ride people built their whole park day around.

Part of that is spectacle. Part of it is scale.

But a big part of it is also replay feel:

Rise is a long cinematic experience
Smugglers Run is interactive… but repetitive

So over time, fans tended to treat Smugglers Run like something you do once per trip — rather than something you grind like a game.

Which is ironic.

Because the ride was literally built to be grindable.

What the 2026 Mandalorian update changes

Disney’s upcoming Smugglers Run update is the most important part of this story.

Because it confirms Disney is still interested in evolving the attraction beyond its original single mission.

Based on details shared about the upcoming changes, the refreshed storyline will take riders beyond Batuu to multiple locations, and Disney is also improving the interactivity side (especially for Engineers).

This feels like Disney finally leaning into what Smugglers Run was always supposed to be:

a mission platform, not a mission.

What this means for Star Wars fans (and Galaxy’s Edge in general)

Galaxy’s Edge is one of the most impressive Star Wars experiences ever built.

But it’s also the kind of land that lives or dies on repeat visits.

People need reasons to come back — not just for merch, but for new story moments.

Multiple missions would do that instantly.

It would make the Falcon feel like it has a living job board.

Different missions could be:

bounty runs
spy drops
First Order evasion
escort jobs
cargo recoveries
“things go wrong” scenarios where you improvise

Star Wars is built for this kind of storytelling.

Smugglers Run is built for it too.

The takeaway: Disney may finally be building the ride fans thought they were getting

The most interesting part of this whole story isn’t that missions got cut.

That happens. Theme parks are expensive. Timelines get brutal.

What matters is this:

Smugglers Run was designed with five missions, and Disney is now — years later — finally going back and expanding it.

If the 2026 Mandalorian mission lands well, don’t be surprised if this becomes the blueprint:

Not one big Falcon ride.

But a Falcon ride that can keep growing the way Star Tours did — rotating missions, changing destinations, evolving with Star Wars releases.

Smugglers Run was never meant to be a one-mission attraction.

And now it might finally start acting like it.

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