Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run now follows guests home. As of Sunday, August 16, riders at Disneyland Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios can accept a special mission in the queue that carries over into Smugglers Gambit, a brand new Star Wars island inside Fortnite. Disney announced the connection Saturday at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, and it went live when the parks opened the next morning.
How The Connection Works
Guests opt in through the Disneyland app or the My Disney Experience app while waiting in line for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Accepting the mission unlocks a special briefing from Hondo Ohnaka, additional secrets inside the Falcon’s cockpit, and crates to collect during the flight itself. Loot gathered aboard the attraction can then unlock rewards in Fortnite, including an exclusive Forsworn Trooper Outfit and credits used to purchase and upgrade gear on the game side.
Claiming those rewards requires accepting the mission and linking a MyDisney account with an Epic Games account, or having linked the two previously. Guests who ride but are not eligible to link accounts will instead redeem a code in Fortnite to receive their reward. The experience is included with valid theme park admission at no additional cost, and any guest logged into the resort app can accept the mission. Fortnite itself is free on PC, console and mobile, and anyone under 18 should get a parent’s permission before linking accounts.
A New Planet Called Ord Ryla
Smugglers Gambit itself is set around Mersa Veta Station on the planet Ord Ryla, a brand new corner of the Star Wars galaxy built for this project. The island was developed in house by Disney Games and Digital Entertainment rather than licensed out to a third party studio, and players can take on quests, run cooperative missions, and battle pirates, Imperial remnants and dangerous wildlife while building a reputation across the Outer Rim. Disney Games worked with Lucasfilm on the new characters, locations and stories, then coordinated with Walt Disney Imagineering so the game ties back to what happens on the actual ride.
Sean Shoptaw, EVP of Disney Games and Digital Entertainment, said the project “marks the first time this attraction has reached beyond its physical walls” into a connected game world, describing a story that starts in a queue in Orlando or Anaheim and continues on a screen almost anywhere. James Waugh, Senior Vice President of Franchise Story and Creative Strategy at Lucasfilm, called the link a groundbreaking example of stories flowing across screens, theme park rides and games. Ray Gresko, SVP and Head of Product and Development at Disney Games and Digital Entertainment, said Unreal Editor for Fortnite is what lets the team design for story.
The Falcon Keeps Evolving
The Fortnite link arrives in a busy year for Smugglers Run. The attraction picked up a rewritten preshow and new mission content in May, a project Walt Disney Imagineering detailed down to the 80 page script behind the update. Disney has framed Smugglers Gambit as an early example of connecting what guests do inside its parks with what they play at home, which suggests this will not be the last attraction to get the treatment. It also runs in both directions: the adventure can start on Ord Ryla in Fortnite and pick up on Batuu.
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