Smuggler's Snooze

[Nvrgrowup]

My dh ds and I were so looking forward to riding Smugglers Run. Who wouldn't want to fly the Millenium Falcon?
We were there after getting our BG. We were in line for about 45 min.My ds and I both got the pilot card . We were thrilled!! my Dh a gunner.
Well for the 3 of us it was disappointing. Not sure what we were expecting.Maybe we like more rides that are not so hands on and just go with the flow.
To be honest we rode Star Tours later the same day with the newer story from the movie and we decided that for us that was a better experience.
Now ROTR !! an unbelievable experience.!

 

[yulilin3]

My dh ds and I were so looking forward to riding Smugglers Run. Who wouldn't want to fly the Millenium Falcon?
We were there after getting our BG. We were in line for about 45 min.My ds and I both got the pilot card . We were thrilled!! my Dh a gunner.
Well for the 3 of us it was disappointing. Not sure what we were expecting.Maybe we like more rides that are not so hands on and just go with the flow.
To be honest we rode Star Tours later the same day with the newer story from the movie and we decided that for us that was a better experience.
Now ROTR !! an unbelievable experience.!

Your post is kinda contradictory. You say you were excited to fly the falcon but then wanted a more passive experience. Many people have expressed their desire to just be a spectator, this is where the imagineers are taking chances and providing new experience.
The great thing is that there are so many different attractions that you're sure to find one or two toy line
As for the people that say they don't like the need to focus on ther buttons, I've never had that problem, i use my side vision to see the buttons light up, press them while looking forward. Is falcon the best attraction ever? Not in my opinion, but it is quiet revolutionary in the fact that each person on board has a direct effect over the attraction, and that's pretty cool to me

 

[TravelandLeisure]

We were also very disappointed with this ride. We only waited about 20 minutes standby, and I don’t feel it’s worth any more than that. My daughter and I had the engineer positions, which ultimately felt like we were pointlessly pressing buttons(it takes away from what’s happening on screen). I had no idea what was going on, and to make matters worse, we were in a vehicle with a family with two small children, one of which was afraid. The mom (a pilot), spent most of the time consoling the little girl versus piloting.

Needless to say we performed poorly on the mission. I probably won’t even bother trying to ride this next time—your ride experience seems to be too dependent on who you are grouped with and what position you are assigned. I actually prefer Star Tours to this ride.

 

[BobbidieBoo]

Pilot is where it’s at, the others are like watching someone else play a video game.
Single riders do seem to get put with families, and I wouldnt be surprised if CMs get a kick out of that by giving the youngling a pilot card.

 

[Sjm9911]

What I didn't like about it was that as a gunner or engineer, I felt like I was constantly looking at the side to see the buttons light up (I didn't experience pilot but I'm assuming they are facing forward). I felt that by doing that, I was missing all the cool scenery in front of us. So when I rode it the 2nd time, I just looked forward, and didn't pay attention to the lights. My fingers were on the firing button and I was repeatedly pushing it without looking. I'd glance over every now & then to see a different button lit up. But I want to SEE the things. Not just look at flashing buttons.

Pam

I agree 100 percent and posted as much a while back. Star tours is so much better, and older. But at least it was fun. I got off this ride disappointed. And i had 0 wait, was a walk on during the last extra early moring hours. Not fun at all. The line and scenery was much better in my opinion.

 

[yulilin3]

Pilot is where it’s at, the others are like watching someone else play a video game.
Single riders do seem to get put with families, and I wouldnt be surprised if CMs get a kick out of that by giving the youngling a pilot card.

The positions are assigned in order, if kids get pilot it's because they're first in line or the parents swapped with them. The cms would rather kids that don't know what they're doing not be in the pilot seats

 

[Jennasis]

I'm not sure why they didn't design the ride so that the buttons you need to push are in FRONT of the gunners and engineer? That seems like a no-brainer. A joystick for the guns attached to the back of the pilots seat or on a console. How did imagineers botch that design?

 

[yulilin3]

I'm not sure why they didn't design the ride so that the buttons you need to push are in FRONT of the gunners and engineer? That seems like a no-brainer. A joystick for the guns attached to the back of the pilots seat or on a console. How did imagineers botch that design?

I agree, I think they were going for more accuracy of what the Falcon really looks like inside, when you see the characters pilot and control they are pushing buttons left right and above, along with the controls in front. But I think it woudl've been better to just have the buttons in front, the Falcon only really has 4 seats

 

[treygn]

Didn't ride it, but your description appears to be in the majority based on what I've read and seen. I'll go you one further and post an unpopular opinion. ROTR is not worth the hype. Good? Sure. Detailed? Yep. Exciting? Meh.

I agree. It is over-hyped. With all the amazing reviews, I couldn’t believe I got off the ride feeling a little disappointed. I had the unique experience of having a FP at Avatar FoP right after riding this. This was my 3rd time to ride FoP. I like it better. And that’s coming from someone who loves Star Wars and could care less about Avatar. It’s not that RotR is at all bad, it is super well done and can’t wait to ride it again some day. But the hype is too much...the thousands of people daily praying for a BG, the getting up and 4am, the TV specials, I had literally not heard a single remotely negative comment. Nothing can live up to that sort of hype.

 

[GrumpyGal43]

I have to agree that it's all about your role in the ride...luckily both times I rode it was a great experience but then again I was with 5 of my best friends so it was the 6 of us - which automatically made it fun for me...I also was the left pilot and loved it...but all of us were yelling and screaming...whether it was to shoot something or for my friend and I to go left or right up or down...we all participated...so I really think the ride is all about who sits where and how many people are in your party (although I do understand it's not likely that all families are a party of 6 and most times it will be mixed groups ) - I'm just sharing MY experience...

 

[teach22180]

I enjoyed each of my 7 rides in October. Some were single rider and some were standby line. (No steps!) It was a combo of gunner and engineer. Just fun to be in the falcon for me. My last ride was with a family. Mom and 7 year old were pilots. I offered some hints and when she saw the ride Mom insisted I pilot. I said no as single rider I did not expect it. So glad she insisted. I crashed a lot but also teared up some. Different strokes for different people.

 

[sleepydog25]

I agree. It is over-hyped. With all the amazing reviews, I couldn’t believe I got off the ride feeling a little disappointed. I had the unique experience of having a FP at Avatar FoP right after riding this. This was my 3rd time to ride FoP. I like it better. And that’s coming from someone who loves Star Wars and could care less about Avatar. It’s not that RotR is at all bad, it is super well done and can’t wait to ride it again some day. But the hype is too much...the thousands of people daily praying for a BG, the getting up and 4am, the TV specials, I had literally not heard a single remotely negative comment. Nothing can live up to that sort of hype.

I couldn't agree more with your last sentence. And, like you, I find FoP to be a much more stimulating and enjoyable ride. Sure, RotR has an awesome scale to it, but FoP has the sensations I crave, the excitement. I described it this way to my older daughter today. With RotR, you're expected to be at least a little convinced that you are part of the Resistance, that it's real even as you stand around a lot and you see typical CMs (trying earnestly to look mean but not succeeding). With FoP, it's more of a fantasy which is easier to pull off, at least for me.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

I was very unimpressed with smugglers run but I figured it was because I have zero interest in Star Wars. I then rode rotR and was very impressed so I apparently just think smugglers run sucks. .

 

[PendingPeril]

I thought you could ask a CM to automate a position if there was a younger kid?

 

[TarotFox]

You can, but plenty of people don't know that.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

Im a fan of the ride. I love the queue, i looooove the holding area with the space chess table, I have been on 3 times, twice as engineer, once as pilot, and I found being the pilot waaaaaay too stressful hahaha. I am terrible at video games, and we crashed into everything. It might be less thrilling to be an engineer, but way less pressure. I haven’t been the gunner yet, but I agree, the gunner chairs should move around.
i do love the ride tho. Even if they assign a little kid to pilot and your engineer job is insanely busy, I’m in the cockpit of the millennium falcon going into light speed, it’s like everything I ever wanted as a kid.

 

[yulilin3]

Im a fan of the ride. I love the queue, i looooove the holding area with the space chess table, I have been on 3 times, twice as engineer, once as pilot, and I found being the pilot waaaaaay too stressful hahaha. I am terrible at video games, and we crashed into everything. It might be less thrilling to be an engineer, but way less pressure. I haven’t been the gunner yet, but I agree, the gunner chairs should move around.
i do love the ride tho. Even if they assign a little kid to pilot and your engineer job is insanely busy, I’m in the cockpit of the millennium falcon going into light speed, it’s like everything I ever wanted as a kid.

you sound like me. I have been given the Pilot card and I have traded it almost every time cause I wanted less stress I once went with a family that didn't speak English and I knew they would need my services to fix the Falcon they had no clue on what to do, which is why I think they should have monitors through the queue showing people what they need to do, people just think this is like any other Disney ride but you ACTUALLY have control over the outcome what's not to love about that?

 

[drcmk]

I rode MFSR twice last week, both times as an engineer and single rider. The first time I rode with people who must play a lot of videogames because they were excellent and the ride was smooth and fun. The second time, my pilots were much less experienced with technology and it was a very bumpy ride. There were definitely moments when I wished I could just focus on the action and stop checking for buttons to push. For me the thrill is BEING in the Millennium Falcon. While I love Star Tours (and it is still my favorite ride), the setting isn't quite as steeped in Star Wars lore as the Millennium Falcon is. I have no problem with Star Tours being repetitive. I watch the movies over and over and still enjoy that.

 

[PetePanMan]

I was pleasantly surprised how good it was given the negative / luke warm reviews from many

 

[Glide_Path]

Went on the ride for the first time 4 days ago with an open mind. As a life long video gamer... it felt more like an "OK" video game than a ride. Our party of 3 were assigned as 2 gunners and 1 engineer. As others have stated, it felt like we were randomly smashing buttons most of the time. After reading this thread before the ride, I even made an active and conscious effort to look more at the screen than at the buttons on the side... but still felt like the weird position of the buttons took away from what was happening in the screen. Rode ROTR and Star Tours later in the day.... the entire family agreed both rides were more enjoyable than SR.