Disney World continues to update its rides to better accommodate guests while also maintaining certain health and safety guidelines.
Since the parks’ reopening, Disney has added plexiglass dividers to many of its attractions to increase the number of guests that can use a ride vehicle at any given time. Most recently, plexiglass was added to Frozen Ever After in EPCOT, but we’ve also seen it on several Hollywood Studios attractions, including Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Rise of the Resistance.
Now another attraction in Hollywood Studios has seen the addition of plexiglass — Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. Plus, the loading process itself has also changed. There are now colored dots on the floor to direct guests — orange and blue.
The first party stands on the first of a color and the second party stands on the second of that same color. The orange dots go to the left cockpits and the blue dots go to the right cockpits.
Your party is called up by color and then instructed to stay on their respective dots. These dots continue up to the point to where you load — the loading process now ignores the pilot, engineer, and gunner markers on the floor. Instead, there are now the sets of corresponding dots.
And if that sounds confusing, well, it kind of is! Thankfully, Cast Members instruct you where to stand and guide you through the process. There is also now plexiglass in the cockpit, but it’s only around the gunners’ seats, separating the gunners from the engineers. So although there’s a new safety feature in place, it isn’t distributed throughout the cabin and only separates gunners and engineers.
With this new addition, it’s good to keep in mind that these cockpits are pretty small, and you may not be achieving that six feet of distance in between you and the other party sharing the space. A Cast Member explained that this set-up could potentially allow for a group of 1-4 people plus another group of 1-2 at any given time.
Another Cast Member told us that you can specifically ask to be a pilot once you reach the Chess Room. But it’s also good to note that smaller groups now have a bigger chance of becoming engineers.
Although we saw a reduction in wait times with other attractions that have added plexiglass, we still waited 80 minutes to ride Millennium Falcon, which was about what the wait time would have been before. So these new measures here don’t seem to have affected wait times, at least not yet. We’ll continue to keep an eye on other attractions and let you know about any updates!
VIDEO: Feel the Force with this Virtual Ride on Disney’s Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run!
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Ken says
Didn’t really care for the attraction. Went once, don’t think I will ever ride it again.
John says
I would like to now all the plexi – glass the virus is air born it goes in between every thing . I f people just wear there mask properly and stay at least 6 feet away it would make a great difference in the world . Plex – glass is for show you would have to live in a capsule . So the virus could not enter your body . It sound ridiculous but that’s how it is to day . Wear mask stay away from big groups .