New Disney patent shows how the Millennium Falcon ride works

A new patent filed by the Walt Disney Co. gives us a look at how the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride was developed for Disneyland and Walt Disney World and how they resolved the issue of personalizing each ride.

Now, none of this information is new for those who have been keeping an eye on how the ride works, but we are now seeing the idea behind the patent.

The Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run allows guests to pilot the legendary ship in the newly opened Star Wars: Galaxy Edge lands that opened in Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios this past spring.

After going through the pre-show area and you accept to ride from Hondo Ohnaka, you enter the Falcon via an access hatch. Once aboard, you spend time in the ship’s main hold and lounge before going to the cockpit.

Notice that you don’t really spend a lot of time waiting before entering the cockpit? That’s because when you enter the cockpit, you are entering a mini-theater that is on turntable to create a simulated experience.

“Simulations can include, for example, a simulation of operation of a vehicle such as a car, an airplane, a boat, or a spaceship,” according to the Ride system: motion base on a turntable/segmented turntable patent.

The idea was to create personalized experiences. “While the simulation theaters can provide a high quality user experience, simulation theaters present problems. Specifically, simulation theaters are not easily adapted to passenger throughput and specifically to high passenger throughput,” the patent states. Meaning, it’s tough to create a simulator where you need a lot of people to enter and exit the chamber.

The solution is placing these “simulation theaters” inside a “wagon” where there will be some movement to “simulate motions, accelerations, or the like.” In some regards, this is a personalized version of the Carousel of Progress at the Magic Kingdom. You are placed in a moving theater.

So, when you do feel movement in the cockpit, the vehicle is actually rotating. Here, the patent image shows what the turntable looks like.

Above you can see there seven capsules on the turntable. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has four turntables and each capsule holds six people. This is why it doesn’t feel like you are waiting around in the lounge area for an extended period of time.

It also explains why, you don’t see another crew ready to enter, or a crew exiting the ride. It also explains why the exit area can be different after each ride, depending on how the crew does.