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First Look at the Updated Smugglers Run Preshow at Galaxy's Edge: Hondo Ohnaka Is Just Straight-Up Stealing the Falcon This Time, with the Mandalorian and Grogu Mission Opening May 22
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First Look at the Updated Smugglers Run Preshow at Galaxy's Edge: Hondo Ohnaka Is Just Straight-Up Stealing the Falcon This Time, with the Mandalorian and Grogu Mission Opening May 22

Michael Travels
·
Published

The Falcon is getting stolen, and Chewbacca is the last one to know. WDWNT published the first detailed look this morning at the rewritten preshow for the Mandalorian and Grogu mission overlay on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, which debuts at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in twelve days (Friday May 22, 2026, at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland). The footage came from a Disney's Hollywood Studios filming on May 8 and surfaced on Instagram this weekend.

The plot pivot is the fun part. In the original 2019 preshow, Hondo Ohnaka had a Chewbacca-approved "win-win" deal: Chewie lent the Falcon, Hondo used it to retrieve coaxium for the Resistance and kept the profits. In the new version, Hondo and droid R5 are in the cockpit, Chewbacca cameos, and Hondo's framing has shifted from "agreement" to "I am leaving with this ship and my friend should not worry about it." The Reel caption gets to the point: "Hondo is just straight up stealing the Falcon this time."

Hondo Ohnaka and droid R5 in the updated Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run preshow at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
Hondo Ohnaka in the updated Smugglers Run preshow. Image: WDW News Today, via @writing.rides on Instagram.

What is new in the preshow

  • Hondo Ohnaka and droid R5 in the cockpit; Chewbacca makes a cameo rather than headlining the heist.
  • New dialogue from Hondo declaring "speed is profit" before reassuring Chewbacca the ship can be left at the spaceport.
  • The closing line: Hondo gleefully tells the boarding guests, "I found you the perfect ship!"
  • Ship loadout still wraps the Smugglers Run cabin sequence (the actual ride mechanics are unchanged in the layperson sense).

The Mandalorian and Grogu mission framing

The new mission briefing comes from Din Djarin aboard the Razor Crest. Disney Parks shared the setup on its Instagram account on May the 4th: the bounty crew is chasing two Imperial officers and a pirate on Tatooine, and Hondo's intel is what put them on the scent. Per the Disney Parks Instagram reveal, Din's briefing reads in part: "Listen up, crew. Our bounties are two Imperial officers and a pirate. Our goal is to capture them and collect any crates they're transporting. Thanks to Hondo's intel, we know they're on Tatooine. Grogu and I will meet you there."

It is the kind of overlay that does the most with relatively limited ride-system change. The mission, the briefing voice, and the in-cabin video are different. The track and the cockpit interactivity are not.

The Mandalorian and Grogu mission key art for the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run overlay debuting May 22, 2026.
The Mandalorian and Grogu mission key art. Image: Disney Parks Instagram (@disneyparks).

Why May 22 matters

Friday May 22, 2026 is the kickoff of Memorial Day weekend (Memorial Day falls Monday May 25). It is also the same day Disney's live-action The Mandalorian and Grogu theatrical film opens. Pairing a major Galaxy's Edge attraction overlay with a Star Wars theatrical release on the same date is unusually tight cross-promotion, even for Disney.

The demand reflects it. WDWNT reported on May 7 that Annual Passholder park reservations for Hollywood Studios on May 22 are completely booked. If you are an AP holder counting on a same-day reservation that day, plan a different park or a non-AP reservation.

A still from the new Hondo Ohnaka dialogue in the updated Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run preshow.
Hondo dialogue from the May 8 filming. Image: WDW News Today, via @writing.rides on Instagram.

The 2019 to 2026 transition

Galaxy's Edge opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2019 with Smugglers Run as its opening-day attraction. The preshow has been Hondo and Chewbacca for seven years. The rewrite is the first major narrative change to the ride since launch, even if the ride mechanics stay essentially the same.

For Disney World guests who have done Smugglers Run a dozen times, this is a real reason to ride it again. The cabin video is different. The mission objective is different. The character pairing in the preshow is different. If you have only done it once, the difference might feel subtle. If you are a regular, the rewrite is a meaningful refresh on a Galaxy's Edge anchor.

Quick planner notes

  • The overlay debuts at both Disney World and Disneyland on May 22.
  • AP same-day reservations for Hollywood Studios on May 22 are gone per WDWNT (May 7 reporting). Plan a different park or a non-AP entry route.
  • Galaxy's Edge is busy on Memorial Day weekend regardless, so the overlay launch will compound the crowd. Expect long Lightning Lane returns, walk-up Smugglers Run waits in the 60-plus minute range.
  • The Mandalorian and Grogu film opens the same day. If you want to do the ride and see the movie on debut day, plan an early-morning ride and an evening showing at one of the resort-area theaters.
  • Watch for additional ride and queue changes closer to opening day. Disney typically rolls out subtle Galaxy's Edge updates in the final week before a major overlay debut.

Sources

Image credits: WDW News Today, Disney Parks Instagram (@disneyparks), @writing.rides on Instagram.

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