Heading into this summer’s busy season, the key word for Walt Disney World theme parks is “updated.” Several attractions have undergone major changes that rewrite their storylines drastically, while others fall into the needed-enhancements category.
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A couple of mantras may have guided the creative side here. At a recent Disney media event, the term “rerideability” came up multiple times, as well as the user-friendly notion of listening to visitor feedback. Those seem like solid pillars.
New worlds for Falcon fans
There are more things to do and places to see aboard Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, a simulator ride in the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. New are three on-screen scenarios tied to the “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” film that debuted last week.
Up until the pre-show/briefing area right before entering the six-person cockpit, the attraction — animatronics, queue props, etc. — remains the same as when it opened in 2019. Enter the Mandalorian and Grogu (sometimes called the Child, once commonly referred to as Baby Yoda.)
Although all three missions start on Tatooine and end back in Batuu, home base of Galaxy’s Edge, they show off locations and challenges associated with Cloud City, the city-planet of Coruscant, the wreckage of the Death Star and elsewhere.
Update No. 1: One of six passengers is enabled to select the destination. It’s one of the two people assigned as engineer, sitting in the back row of the Falcon cockpit. For years, the engineer slots have been mocked by theme-park enthusiasts as boring tasks — to the point that it was quietly mocked in a stage show at the recent Orlando Fringe Festival.
Now, “the seats in the back actually serve a useful role in the mission, whereas the previous mission they were more observational,” Todd Richins, executive producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, said last week. Observational is much nicer sounding than boring.
The missions’ goal is to collect crates for Hondo, a galactic pirate seen in animatronic form in the queue.
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“We made enhancements to all three of the positions, be it a pilot, a gunner or an engineer. All three have new abilities and new things that they can explore here at the attraction,” said Morgan McDowell, senior software project manager for WDI.
“Pilots have the ability to fly through these iconic Star Wars landscapes, and they kind of have more ability to fly, maybe left, right, up, down, things like that in these spaces,” she said. “Our gunners have the ability to choose between manual and automatic, and there’s updated assets and more variability in what they can shoot and what they can destroy, depending on what planet you’re flying through.”
But wait, engineers, there’s more. In addition to picking the destination, engineers “have the ability to check in on Grogu, which is, I think, my personal favorite, being able to call Grogu and see what he’s up to at any point during the mission,” McDowell said. (Look for an icon to find the screen.)
Sure enough, the characters pop up on small screens in the cockpit and, eventually, larger versions through the windshield area.
“Grogu, don’t touch those buttons,” the Mandalorian scolds. The temptation is real for visitors, too, especially nongamers in the room.
“The buttons mostly all do something,” McDowell said. “At a minimum they make sound, so they’re all interactive, they’re all fun.”
The popular hyperspace lever remains. Pulling it remains the responsibility of a pilot.
“Attractions like the Millennium Falcon are meant to be able to be updated and bring in this additional stuff,” Richins said. “So, hearing the feedback, knowing that we could make this better and plus it up … That was really our intent.”
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Tripling the mission count automatically ups the rerideability level of Smugglers Run. Options currently are a recurring theme at WDW, as riders on the reimagined Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets at Hollywood Studios can hear different music and spot multiple celebrity cameos. Re-ideability was also a selling point for the enhanced Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which reopened at Magic Kingdom in April.
Animation action
A work in progress at Hollywood Studios is the revamped Walt Disney Studios courtyard, previously known as Animation Courtyard. There are two striking visual changes. The big blocky archway has been removed, and one can argue this is more welcoming. And it clears the view for another big sorcerer’s hat (blue, sparkling) that’s over the entrance of the Magic of Disney Animation attraction, scheduled to open later this summer.
The plaza now has seating areas and a triangular “grassy” spot, downright park-like, that’s decorated with various animal figures from Disney animated films.
“Characters will be coming out to play in that area with people this summer,” Richins said. “It’s really an exciting change and transformation for that space, and it ties all of those buildings together.”
That includes the new version of “Disney Jr. – Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live” show. The production was previously seen at Disneyland in California.
The show features walkaround characters – Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and a human named Sam – on stage looking for other characters who are running late. There are songs for each segment, which include Goofy cleaning up, a dark turn with Daisy in a power outage and snowed-in Pluto.
This again is aimed at the smallest walkaround visitors, who get a call to action to help, which usually requires dance or other energy-burning movement in an air-conditioned environment.
The Magic of Disney Animation attraction, under construction in the former Star Wars: Launch Bay building, will feature multiple meet-and-greets, an indoor playground, a character-sketching experience and a short, previously released film titled “Once Upon a Studio.”
Soarin’ and restartin’
Over at Epcot, destinations have changed for Soarin’, which is now called Soarin’ Across America.
The flying-theater attraction has virtually glided around world locations before, but now has multiple visual stops in the USA, part of the celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary.
The new film features crisp images that start with a rocket launch and end with fireworks over Epcot. We experienced smell sensations and an audible gasp as we crested a hill to overlook nighttime Los Angeles. (Also fun, a Hawaiian version of the “Soarin’” music and a sighting of Patrick Warburton — present and past — during the videotaped loading instructions.)
Bouncing and Bluey
Bluey and Bingo, characters from a popular Australian animated series, are now available in the Conservation Station section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The area is accessed by the Wildlife Express Train, a 7-minute journey.
For now, Bluey’s Wild World at Conservation Station requires landing a spot in a virtual queue accessed through the My Disney Experience app. There are two chances daily to join the crowd, 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., but visitors must be physically present at Animal Kingdom to use the latter one.
Also out there: Jumping Junction, featuring kangaroos and wallabees.
“That is the first time that we are letting guests into an enclosure for a barrier-free environment with kangaroos and wallabies together,” Richins said.
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