The latest Fortnite tie-in blends theme park thrills with in-game bonuses. From Sunday 16 August, riders who board the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction at either Disneyland or Disney World will be able to earn exclusive extras for their Fortnite account.
Announced by Disney and Epic Games during the annual D23 convention in Anaheim, the promotion lets guests use the official Disneyland apps to accept a special mission on the interactive ride. Completing it allows players to collect crates, which can then be redeemed for rewards on a new custom Star Wars island in the game called Smugglers Gambit.
“Smugglers Gambit, built in-house by an incredibly talented team, is an immersive, high-quality game,” said Sean Shoptaw, EVP of Disney Games and Digital Entertainment. “These experiences reflect our ambition to connect stories and worlds across formats into one converged entertainment ecosystem.”
Exploring Smugglers Gambit
On the new island, players take on the role of a smuggler from the Outer Rim, the region represented by Galaxy’s Edge at the Disney Parks. The experience introduces two fresh Star Wars locations, Ord Ryla and Mersa Veta Station, for players to explore.
Smugglers Gambit features co-op missions, quests, class choices, levelling up and new gear to unlock. Players will battle pirates, along with “Imperial remnants and dangerous wildlife”. The island expands the story of Hondo Ohnaka, the pirate, smuggler and eventual Resistance ally based at the Black Spire Outpost on Batuu. Ohnaka first appeared in the Clone Wars television series and later featured as a shady ally of the protagonists in the follow-up cartoon Rebels.
The island was developed with Walt Disney Imagineering, Lucasfilm and Disney Games. “Building on Epic’s technology, Disney’s Imagineers are shaping the future of interactive entertainment, where an experience goes from the physical world into Fortnite,” said Epic Games President Adam Sussman.
How the Millennium Falcon Ride Works
The Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction opened at Disneyland and Disney World alongside the launch of the Star Wars-themed areas in 2019. It seats six people inside a cockpit replica of Han Solo’s famous spaceship, with two acting as pilots, two as gunners and two as engineers, tasked respectively with steering the ship, blasting enemies and repairing any damage taken during the flight.
As a flight simulator, the ride guides guests through one of several scenarios on screen while the vehicle moves in tandem, and passengers use physical controls to interact with and affect the flight. The most recent Mandalorian-themed missions launched to coincide with the cinema release of The Mandalorian and Grogu in May. The cockpit technology was built on Unreal Engine 5 and developed by Walt Disney Imagineering with Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects studio founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas in the 1970s.
The tie-in it
