Disney has given Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run a substantial technical overhaul, and Imagineers have now revealed how the update to the popular Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction was achieved at both Disneyland in California and Hollywood Studios in Florida.
When the refresh was first announced in May, adding new missions, it appeared a welcome but relatively minor change. Details shared this weekend, however, show a far more ambitious project involving new hardware and a fresh game engine.
How Smuggler’s Run Works
The attraction relies on a considerable amount of sleight of hand. Each version of the ride features multiple cockpits that rotate around a large set of plates, allowing more guests to board and disembark quickly. This means there are 28 iterations of the same ride environment inside both the California and Florida attractions.
According to Disney Imagineers Asa Kalama and Angela Jay, every one of those 28 cockpits is powered by five 4K projectors driven by eight graphics cards to make the whole system function.
New Hardware and Unreal Engine 5
The May upgrade added considerable complexity, allowing riders to choose between different worlds to travel to for a unique adventure. To make that possible, all 224 graphics cards were upgraded to new Nvidia Blackwell cards, and the entire game was moved to Unreal Engine 5. This made the platform more flexible and allowed the testing environment to be upgraded as well.
A large part of the Imagineering Pavilion at this year’s event was dedicated to a live demonstration of the developer console used to test the ride and its many new updates. This included virtual buttons to simulate all the cockpit functions, screens dedicated to the readouts seen while riding, and multiple perspectives of the game itself.
Some testing is carried out using virtual reality headsets, so developers can see exactly what a guest would see while seated in the ride. At other times, staff work from an office using a phone or tablet with all the buttons laid out. Nearly all of it takes place on a computer identical to the one in the ride, ensuring everyone gets the same experience.
Zero Downtime and Future Plans
The ride remains extremely popular, with regular queues at both theme parks. To avoid taking a well-loved attraction offline, Imagineers worked overnight for weeks to update both the hardware and software, resulting in zero downtime.
Kalama and Jay indicated in 2026 that more is planned for the attraction. A new partnership with Fortnite will see gameplay in Smuggler’s Run carry over between the two. The ride has now been future-proofed for further upgrades, meaning what first seemed a minor software update should keep the experience feeling fresh for years.
