Smugglers Run: Grab the Pilot Seat, Skip the Wait

Published July 31, 2026 · Updated September 9, 2026

Here’s the thing nobody tells first-timers about Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run — your experience is basically decided before the ship even launches, by which of six seats you get assigned. Land the wrong one and you’ll spend the whole flight pressing a button when a light blinks. Land the right one and you’re flying the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. So the real strategy here isn’t just “skip the line” — it’s skip the line AND get the seat you actually want. Let’s do both.

The 30-second version

Smugglers Run is a Lightning Lane Multi Pass ride, not a Single Pass headliner — so you book it in advance as one of your Multi Pass selections, not à la carte. Aim for it early via rope drop or a morning Multi Pass slot, push for a Pilot seat if you care about the experience, and keep Single Rider in your back pocket when you care more about time than role. Waits on this ride swing hard — from near walk-on to well over an hour depending on the day and time — so the move is to watch the live number rather than guess.

Book it as Multi Pass — don’t confuse it with Rise

This trips people up constantly. In Galaxy’s Edge, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is the à la carte Single Pass ride you buy separately for the top headliners. Smugglers Run is not — it lives inside Lightning Lane Multi Pass along with most of Hollywood Studios’ other attractions. That’s good news for your wallet and your plan: if you’re buying Multi Pass for the day, Smugglers Run is one of the selections you line up in advance and refill through the day, not an extra charge.

Because it’s a Multi Pass ride, availability moves throughout the day as other guests redeem and slots recycle. If your first Multi Pass window for it isn’t ideal, don’t assume it’s gone — Multi Pass inventory refills, and a better return time often surfaces later. SupaPark’s refill and sell-out forecasting is built exactly for this: it tells you when a Multi Pass selection is likely to loosen up so you’re not refreshing My Disney Experience like it’s a slot machine.

Your seat is the whole ride — fight for Pilot

Six people crew the Falcon each flight, split into three jobs: two Pilots, two Gunners, and two Engineers. They are not created equal.

Pilot is the best seat, full stop. You’re actually flying — steering left/right, up/down — and it’s the only role where what you do visibly changes what’s happening out the windshield. If your group has one Star Wars fan who’ll remember this ride forever, this is the seat they want.
Gunner is the fun middle option — you’re firing on targets and it’s genuinely engaging, especially if you’re chasing a high score (more on that below).
Engineer is the weak link. You’re mostly hitting panels when they light up. It’s fine, but nobody’s dream Falcon moment is “I pressed the repair button.”

Seat assignment happens as you’re grouped before boarding, so a friendly, clear ask to the Cast Member handling your bay — “any chance we can pilot?” — costs nothing. Traveling as a party of two or four also gives you better odds of keeping your group together in the roles you want.

Single Rider: the sneaky time-saver, with one catch

Here’s a trick most families skip: Smugglers Run offers a Single Rider line, and on a lighter day it can flush you through dramatically faster than standby. On a lot of rides, single rider is a mixed bag — but Smugglers Run is interactive and continuously loading, so the core experience barely changes whether you queued together or not. That makes it one of the better single-rider plays in the whole resort.

The catch, and it’s a real one: single riders are frequently slotted in as Engineer — the least exciting role — and your group gets split up. So the honest trade-off is time versus experience. If you just want to say you flew the Falcon and bank the saved minutes for something else, single rider is a great lever. If your kid’s entire trip hinges on gripping those pilot controls, take the standby wait and ask for Pilot. Check the posted standby time first, too — when the main line is short, single rider isn’t always worth breaking up the group.

How to actually score — and Grogu Mode

If you’re a Gunner (or Pilot flying clean), the flight quietly grades your crew, and there’s a hidden layer most riders never trigger. To unlock Grogu Mode, both Gunners have to work together: each presses the outer white button first, then the flashing button — and it only fires if both of you do it in sync. So call it out before launch: “white first, then the blinking one, on my go.” It’s the kind of thing that makes a repeat ride feel completely different, and it’s exactly the sort of secret a casual once-through never finds.

When to ride: mornings, late nights, or whenever the number craters

Smugglers Run is a classic “first thing or last thing” ride. Its wait tends to spike through the mid-day and settle at the bookends of the day, so rope drop (get to the park about an hour before opening) or the final hour before close are your friends. If you’re eligible for Early Theme Park Entry as an on-site guest, that head start is genuinely useful here — but only if your group is actually at the gate early, not “around opening.”

Don’t marry yourself to a fixed time, though. This ride’s number bounces around all day, and it periodically dips toward walk-on for reasons that aren’t obvious from the ground. That’s where SupaPark’s live waits and best-time forecaster earn their keep — instead of guessing, you get the read on when it’s usually shortest, and a walk-on alert can ping you the moment it craters so you can pounce.

Bonus: make it your Rise-goes-down backup

Rise of the Resistance is a complex ride, and it goes down. When it does, the rookie mistake is hovering by the entrance, refreshing and asking Cast Members for a promise they can’t give — and burning half an hour standing still. The veteran move: leave, keep the day moving, and let something reliable soak up that time. Smugglers Run is the perfect pivot — it’s right there in Galaxy’s Edge, it loads continuously, and single rider can make it near-instant. Grab a Ronto Wrap or something from Docking Bay 7 on the way and you’ve turned a Rise breakdown into a win instead of dead time.

The one thing to remember

Smugglers Run rewards planning that goes one layer deeper than “ride it.” Book it as a Multi Pass selection, ride at the bookends of the day, ask for Pilot if the experience matters and lean on Single Rider if the clock matters — and never let a Rise outage leave you standing around when the Falcon is sitting right there. Play it that way and you’re not just riding the Millennium Falcon; you’re flying it.

Go deeper — the full guides: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train’s Queue: Where to Snap Photos · Will Your Kid Hate Soarin’? How to Decide (And Where to Sit) · Why DINOSAUR Is Disney’s Most Intense Ride for Kids (And How to Know if They’re Ready)

SupaPark tracks live wait times and crowd forecasts, and pings you the second a hard-to-get reservation opens or a ride goes walk-on — free to start at supapark.com.

Keep planning: Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run · live wait times · is Lightning Lane worth it