Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run - Ride/Queue Details and Discussion

[180º]

I figured that. Have you seen the alternate pre-show many times or is the Hondo AA pretty reliable?

Hondo seems pretty reliable! I actually haven’t seen the alternate pre-show in person. But unlike an AA which is best viewed in person to appreciate scale, dimension, and fluidity, a video pre-show translates pretty well to video.

Hondo is an exceptionally fluid animatronic and he has many impressive functions (his face, he can shrug his shoulders, etc) but his staging is akin to a department store mannequin display and his physical acting is stiff compared to the voice acting. It especially pales in comparison to the delightful on-screen Hondo performance.

 

[Steph15251]

Yeah this seems like my experience as well. Is 3 coaxium even possible? I felt like when I got 2 I didn't do a perfect run and yet I haven't seen a video of anyone getting 3 and Hondo's ship seemingly only has slots to carry back 2 so....

When I went on it ,and did it twice the frist time we crashed and when that happened the screen went black and we stayed in there for about a min before we got off it.

 

[thequeuelinelectures]

When I went on it ,and did it twice the frist time we crashed and when that happened the screen went black and we stayed in there for about a min before we got off it.

I’m almost positive what you expereinced was sadly just a malfunction.

 

[peter11435]

When I went on it ,and did it twice the frist time we crashed and when that happened the screen went black and we stayed in there for about a min before we got off it.

I’m almost positive what you expereinced was sadly just a malfunction.

Agreed. Almost positive this was a malfunction.

 

[Steph15251]

I’m almost positive what you expereinced was sadly just a malfunction.

Yup I am starting to think that is what it was

 

[Jones14]

This ride is tons of fun. Not without its problems, but as far as interactive rides go, it easily tops the list.

We rode in all three positions (would rank gunner as weakest, less because it was bad and more because the other two exceeded expectations). The mission itself was engaging, had some good comedy, and the overall experience is different enough from Star Tours to justify having both in the same park.

 

[WDWTrojan]

This ride is tons of fun. Not without its problems, but as far as interactive rides go, it easily tops the list.

We rode in all three positions (would rank gunner as weakest, less because it was bad and more because the other two exceeded expectations). The mission itself was engaging, had some good comedy, and the overall experience is different enough from Star Tours to justify having both in the same park.

It's fun but very uncomfortable with like a family of 4 then a random party of 2. Plus, lots of frustration among adult when kids are the pilot and wind up crashing, etc.

 

[thequeuelinelectures]

This ride is tons of fun. Not without its problems, but as far as interactive rides go, it easily tops the list.

We rode in all three positions (would rank gunner as weakest, less because it was bad and more because the other two exceeded expectations). The mission itself was engaging, had some good comedy, and the overall experience is different enough from Star Tours to justify having both in the same park.

Finally finished my video essay review on the ride (seems like self promotion to share so I’ll just say go to my channel if you’re interested)

I’d push back and say it’s not a bad ride, but it might be a bad interactive ride. So so so much work goes into accommodating the interactive elements ie rendering in real time, developing control schemes, and dialing back the traditional narrative elements to focus on your crews story. It’s disappointing to me then that the ride is literally 100% linear aside from whether you collect 1 container of coaxium or two.

You just have no agency to really change your ride. I understand you can’t crash or go off on extreme tangents, but some subtle tweaks and branches that are responsive to your performance would go a long way to actually make the ride truly interactive and not just a half step above mission space

Imagine if failing to hit the brakes when the train stops meant the whole falling sequence didn’t play out exactly the same and you aren’t guaranteed 1 container of coaxium. Maybe failing to shoot the missle at the train means you have an alternate escape scene when you have to dodge incoming fire from the gunship

Really small variations on a still pretty linear path would make a huge difference and I hope we can get that in future missions

 

[Jones14]

It's fun but very uncomfortable with like a family of 4 then a random party of 2. Plus, lots of frustration among adult when kids are the pilot and wind up crashing, etc.

It’s weird that you say that, because our group was made up of four and put with random parties of two. We just introduced ourselves, asked if they wanted a picture at the holochess table, and that was that.

I also didn’t see anyone getting (actually) upset at bad flying, and the ride’s set up to where the worse one position does, the more the other two get to do.

 

[ToTBellHop]

It's fun but very uncomfortable with like a family of 4 then a random party of 2. Plus, lots of frustration among adult when kids are the pilot and wind up crashing, etc.

Tons of rides force us to suffer with strangers.

And if you are frustrated at children crashing, you’re not an adult, you’re an Alien Swirling Saucer.

 

[180º]

One of my best rides on Falcon was with a awful pilots who kept crashing into things. It made the ride bumpier and a little more thrilling. When you’re riding with strangers, it’s not so bad since the seats are all pretty isolated.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Tons of rides force us to suffer with strangers.

And if you are frustrated at children crashing, you’re not an adult, you’re an Alien Swirling Saucer.

I like doing activities with children. It's so easy to beat them!

 

[trainplane3]

I like doing activities with children. It's so easy to beat them!

Can confirm. Had a Nerf battle last week. Kid didn't know I modified my guns until after "the war". On that note, they can't wait to come back over so I must be decently enjoyable to be around.

 

[PorterRedkey]

Finally finished my video essay review on the ride (seems like self promotion to share so I’ll just say go to my channel if you’re interested)

I’d push back and say it’s not a bad ride, but it might be a bad interactive ride. So so so much work goes into accommodating the interactive elements ie rendering in real time, developing control schemes, and dialing back the traditional narrative elements to focus on your crews story. It’s disappointing to me then that the ride is literally 100% linear aside from whether you collect 1 container of coaxium or two.

You just have no agency to really change your ride. I understand you can’t crash or go off on extreme tangents, but some subtle tweaks and branches that are responsive to your performance would go a long way to actually make the ride truly interactive and not just a half step above mission space

Imagine if failing to hit the brakes when the train stops meant the whole falling sequence didn’t play out exactly the same and you aren’t guaranteed 1 container of coaxium. Maybe failing to shoot the missle at the train means you have an alternate escape scene when you have to dodge incoming fire from the gunship

Really small variations on a still pretty linear path would make a huge difference and I hope we can get that in future missions

I have not ridden the ride, but I agree. Maybe the other scenarios will have more path options.

It weird that you only get the extra astroid field scene if you do bad. There should be an extra scene if you do really well too, instead of padding the end of the ride.

 

[MisterPenguin]

It weird that you only get the extra astroid field scene if you do bad.

Anecdotal evidence is that the asteroid scene is just filler in case your pod isn't ready to disembark. Has nothing to do with how well you do.

 

[danlb_2000]

Anecdotal evidence is that the asteroid scene is just filler in case your pod isn't ready to disembark. Has nothing to do with how well you do.

I timed out two versions on YouTube, one with and one without the Asteroid scene and they are the same length. The one without the scene had filler at the end to make up the difference.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I timed out two versions on YouTube, one with and one without the Asteroid scene and they are the same length. The one without the scene had filler at the end to make up the difference.

What kind of filler?... Aw heck, now I'm gonna have to research recorded versions, too...

 

[danlb_2000]

What kind of filler?... Aw heck, now I'm gonna have to research recorded versions, too...

It was just some extra time in the docking bay at the end.

 

[danlb_2000]

What kind of filler?... Aw heck, now I'm gonna have to research recorded versions, too...

You can see the two videos I compared here:

Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run - Ride/Queue Details and Discussion

So I was wondering if there were differences in the ride experience based on how you do. I took a look at some of the videos of the ride and already found one difference... Hyperdrive fails and you end up in the middle of an asteroid field: Hyperdrive works and you exist hyperspace at the...

forums.wdwmagic.com

 

[thequeuelinelectures]

You can see the two videos I compared here:

Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run - Ride/Queue Details and Discussion

So I was wondering if there were differences in the ride experience based on how you do. I took a look at some of the videos of the ride and already found one difference... Hyperdrive fails and you end up in the middle of an asteroid field: Hyperdrive works and you exist hyperspace at the...

forums.wdwmagic.com

I'm 99% sure it's not performance based. While there are a lot of variables so it's hard to say for sure but my best evidence is that in the POV you posted the asteroids sequence is about 24 seconds long. In this POV it's 56 seconds long. Obviously that doesn't completely rule it out but I really think it's just being used to stall in certain sets of circumstances