Anyone Else Prefer Smugglers Run to ROTR

[Club Cooloholic]

Finally got to ride them both this past trip, twice! While Rise of The Resistance was an amazing ride, I just had more fun on Smuggler Run. My family was laughing and grinning coming off that ride, and it might be my favorite in all of WDW. I know Smugglers is not nearly as technically advanced as ROTR, but I think the interactivity just pushed it ahead for me.

 

[Chef Mickey]

No, Smugglers Run is actually pretty terrible, IMO. It's basically Star Tours 2.0...very disappointing. The interactivity is, as usual, pointless and doesn't change the ride, just like Mission Space.

ROTR is an incredible, new take on what an attraction can be. It's incredible and miles ahead of Smugglers Run and pretty much anything you can name today.

 

[Giss Neric]

Finally got to ride them both this past trip, twice! While Rise of The Resistance was an amazing ride, I just had more fun on Smuggler Run. My family was laughing and grinning coming off that ride, and it might be my favorite in all of WDW. I know Smugglers is not nearly as technically advanced as ROTR, but I think the interactivity just pushed it ahead for me.

One big factor is cause you're riding with your family so everyone will definitely have fun. Riding with strangers will have a 50/50 chance of being fun or horrible.

It's not terrible as I have gotten two containers of coaxium on every ride but still prefer ROTR.

 

[Mickey5150]

No, Smugglers Run is actually pretty terrible, IMO. It's basically Star Tours 2.0...very disappointing. The interactivity is, as usual, pointless and doesn't change the ride, just like Mission Space.

ROTR is an incredible, new take on what an attraction can be. It's incredible and miles ahead of Smugglers Run and pretty much anything you can name today.

Actually the ride does change based on what you do. We can't fly anywhere but within the set area the pilots actually move the Falcon. Depending on how well everyone does determines if you get 1 or 2 containers of coaxium, how much damage is caused to the ship and how Hando interacts with the crew at the end. Mission Space flies exactly the same every time and touching the controls does not change that.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I've only ridden them via videos.
I was not even into the Star Wars franchise until The Mandalorian despite "my man" being in the movies.
I've only seen The Force Awakens in its entirety and eventually I'll watch the rest of that trilogy and the original trilogy but likely not the one in between.
All that said... I don't like Star Tours. I don't like simulator rides very much in general. I am impressed by the detail of Smugglers Run making you feel like you're in the ship but as a whole it seems like a boring attraction.
RotR on the other hand seems much more real as though you are in the movie and once in the ride vehicle you actually move through the scenes which is more the type of attraction I enjoy and watching the videos of it has made me want to ride it despite not being very into Star Wars. To me THAT is what makes an attraction a stand out.
Its like my relationship with Frozen. I watched the movie and was like meh its okay. Then I watched For The First Time In Forever and I rode FEA and fell in love which made me change my mind about the movie and its one of my favorites.

 

[HongKongFooy]

Smugglers Run's strength comes from Hodor. As for movements that dude in the queue is the best AA I have ever seen.

The queue is mighty fine but I'm afraid the actual ride just didn't impress me. I could have walked right on that ride for a 2nd and 3rd time right after its debut but I had no desire. I thought it was a step up from Star Tours but nothing near as good as the banshees.

Rise just has way too much firepower over Smugglers Run.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

No, Smugglers Run is actually pretty terrible, IMO. It's basically Star Tours 2.0...very disappointing. The interactivity is, as usual, pointless and doesn't change the ride, just like Mission Space.

ROTR is an incredible, new take on what an attraction can be. It's incredible and miles ahead of Smugglers Run and pretty much anything you can name today.

Unbiased opinion, huh?

 

[rreading]

Finally got to ride them both this past trip, twice! While Rise of The Resistance was an amazing ride, I just had more fun on Smuggler Run. My family was laughing and grinning coming off that ride, and it might be my favorite in all of WDW. I know Smugglers is not nearly as technically advanced as ROTR, but I think the interactivity just pushed it ahead for me.

I agree that getting to ride with your family helps a lot, and while we've only been to GE twice since it's opened, Smuggler's Run is already less exciting than the first couple of experiences. My impression is that it definitely needs more adventures.

edit to add: the technology to create the ride experience is excellent and really quite an achievement for what it is. Kind of like Star Tours years ago

 

[Chef Mickey]

Actually the ride does change based on what you do. We can't fly anywhere but within the set area the pilots actually move the Falcon. Depending on how well everyone does determines if you get 1 or 2 containers of coaxium, how much damage is caused to the ship and how Hando interacts with the crew at the end. Mission Space flies exactly the same every time and touching the controls does not change that.

I just mean in terms of physical experience...

Even with that technicality, the ride doesn’t compare to ROTR.

 

[Trackmaster]

Smuggler's Run is hot garbage. If it was a halfway decent ride and you had to choose between a boarding group between SR and RotR, maybe the Rise BG's wouldn't run out in less than a second. I'm sorry, but I go to parks for rides, not to play a terrible video game. Why would I want to watch a terrible video game while not even moving? Such a cheap cop out.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Smuggler's Run is hot garbage. If it was a halfway decent ride and you had to choose between a boarding group between SR and RotR, maybe the Rise BG's wouldn't run out in less than a second. I'm sorry, but I go to parks for rides, not to play a terrible video game. Why would I want to watch a terrible video game while not even moving? Such a cheap cop out.

The best part of SR is the animatronic.

 

[Kram Sacul]

They’re both great for different reasons.

 

[Giss Neric]

I hope Smuggler's Run becomes like Mission Space where they have two missions. Two of the four will have one mission and two another one. Maybe they're testing it out first if it goes well. It's only been a year.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Smuggler's Run is hot garbage. If it was a halfway decent ride and you had to choose between a boarding group between SR and RotR, maybe the Rise BG's wouldn't run out in less than a second. I'm sorry, but I go to parks for rides, not to play a terrible video game. Why would I want to watch a terrible video game while not even moving? Such a cheap cop out.

Like I said, thought both were great. Just personally had more fun with my group on Smugglers. Having rode both twice recently already, if I could only ride one tomorrow, we would be on Smugglers(attempting Chewie mode), and trying different jobs on the ship. Now if I was going in 2 years and could only get on one, probably would go ROTR.
One thing since they added the plexiglass, the ride in the back was not as good as the front on ROTR. The glass has a lot of glare and it just takes you out of the immersion more.

 

[Trackmaster]

The best part of SR is the animatronic.

Oh right, I probably should qualify that. I do love the queue line. But I mostly award points based on the ride itself. A great queue is great, but its more icing on the cake for me.

 

[Trackmaster]

Like I said, thought both were great. Just personally had more fun with my group on Smugglers. Having rode both twice recently already, if I could only ride one tomorrow, we would be on Smugglers(attempting Chewie mode), and trying different jobs on the ship. Now if I was going in 2 years and could only get on one, probably would go ROTR.
One thing since they added the plexiglass, the ride in the back was not as good as the front on ROTR. The glass has a lot of glare and it just takes you out of the immersion more.

Yeah, but the plexiglass is how they're bumping up the BG's and getting more people on. Its a fantastic thing really. Its not right to lock more people out when they attempt at 7:00:01 AM just to not disturb some people's vision.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Yeah, but the plexiglass is how they're bumping up the BG's and getting more people on. Its a fantastic thing really. Its not right to lock more people out when they attempt at 7:00:01 AM just to not disturb some people's vision.

Oh I am not saying they shouldn't use them. Just saying the experience is somewhat marred by it. A thought....I realize there are many empty cars when riding and that is probably because they can't fill the ship portion of the ride fully due to limitations, but I wonder if there is anyway to address this at all?

 

[Trackmaster]

Oh I am not saying they shouldn't use them. Just saying the experience is somewhat marred by it. A thought....I realize there are many empty cars when riding and that is probably because they can't fill the ship portion of the ride fully due to limitations, but I wonder if there is anyway to address this at all?

I was wondering about the empty cars too, and never really got an straight answer as to why this was happening. I was almost wondering if social distancing in the queue was causing this, but this is probably debunked by how much the plexiglass helps the capacity (before they could barely get to 100 if they were lucky, and now they're getting into the 160s). I was thinking that it would be pretty messed up if wanting people to get to see the line was causing them to send empty cars, I mean I'd be willing to walk up and ride without waiting in line if they really needed me to.

Maybe the fly bys are why they don't want people in the other vehicles? Its bizarre for sure. They need to do everything that they can to get people on the ride. Tinkering with boarding systems is only putting lipstick on a pig. Throughput is the most important part.

But my anger towards Smuggers Run is mostly because DHS was so starved for rides, and RotR is such a hot ticket, they needed another home run attraction to take some of the pressure off and they completely whiffed on SR. Its almost as if they should just turn the "ride" (that video game thing that you play) should be turned off and they should just make it into a walk-through.

I'm not sure what to make of the popularity. Clearly, for such a new attraction its never been that hot of a ticket, but these posts pop up where people say how much they love it. Its weird. I just prefer my natural effects, and actually going somewhere when I ride a ride. I'm not so into the videos and the screen rides.

 

[UNCgolf]

The actual ride part of Smuggler's Run is not good. You can have a significantly better/more fun Star Wars spaceship flying experience playing a 25 year old PC game.

The Falcon itself is tremendous, though. They should have just made it a walkthrough attraction like Swiss Family Robinson and built another, better ride.

 

[Trackmaster]

The actual ride part of Smuggler's Run is not good. You can have a significantly better/more fun Star Wars spaceship flying experience playing a 25 year old PC game.

The Falcon itself is tremendous, though. They should have just made it a walkthrough attraction like Swiss Family Robinson and built another, better ride.

Or God forbid, they could have just built a halfway decent ride after that amazing queue line. To be honest, I think that going for authenticity for the flying part does not make for a good ride. They could have made it somewhat anachronistic to have made for a better ride experience (I was thinking this on Mission: Space too). Instead of having that small screen in front of you, maybe make the screen completely panoramic (so that your field of vision is kind of like what you see on Flight of Passage or Forbidden Journey), so that everything that you see is movement. Again, a little anachronistic, but its a fictional ride, whatever, bring your suspension of disbelief. Or just made it an outdoor anachronistic coaster. They do that all the time with roller coasters, the theming doesn't have to be perfect. You're just trying to entertain guests.

If they wanted to pour a lot of money into it, they could have done a special system with the robotics company that Universal used for Forbidden Journey where the arm moved you throughout the ride where you were in front of panoramic screens, props, and animatronics. That would have been the home run option, but considering how much money it looked like they poured into the ride, why not just put a little more in and make it worth riding.