The Ride Mistake You’re Making at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (And Everyone Hopes You’ll Stop)

Disney World has lots of rules to keep you safe, just like other theme parks do, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that there are lots of unspoken rules too.

Things like “don’t run” are more obvious, but what about the rule that you can’t save spots when waiting for a parade or fireworks show? There’s nothing there stating you can’t, but Cast Members will inform you it’s not allowed, and the people around you will definitely throw you dirty looks (at minimum) if you break this rule. Over in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, there’s a ride mistake we keep seeing over and over again that we’ve gotta bring up, because believe it or not, by doing this, you could be negatively affecting everyone else’s ride.

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is one of the most unique rides in all of Disney World, because what you do ACTUALLY affects what happens in the ride! There are three different seats you can sit in, and each one has a job to do. The pilots sit up front and are in charge of steering the ship (left to right and up and down), the gunners are in charge of shooting down enemy ships, and the engineers press all the buttons to keep the ship intact.

At the start of the ride, you’ll be told to sit down, buckle up, and press the red button to show the ride that you’re ready. However, if you have no interest in actually participating in the ride, we’re begging you — PLEASE don’t press that button! The ride will continue just fine, but it’s as if there’s no one in the seat (the ride can just run with one person on board in ANY seat, I’ve done it many times), and this way, you won’t be affecting the outcome of the ride.

This is especially true if you know you’d prefer to watch the ride instead of actually participate, or if you’ve got someone sitting in a seat that you know has zero interest in actually following the rules of the game and just wants to push buttons (in that case, just don’t have them hit the red button, but then they can press as many buttons as they’d like throughout the ride and think they’re playing). In any case, if you don’t have an interest in participating, DO NOT sit in the pilot seat, even if you don’t plan on pushing your button — we say that because this is the most coveted seat, and someone else in your party may be really interested in piloting!

If you’re sitting here thinking, “What’s the big deal? Who cares?” The truth is that a LOT of people care about how their journey on the ship goes, and want to get the highest score possible. If you’ve got someone in your party who’s not playing the game or not following the rules, it can throw off everyone’s score. And if you DO have someone in the pilot’s seat who is going to be jerking the ship up and down or side to side randomly and not actually try, not only is that frustrating for other people in the ride vehicle, but it can also induce some pretty intense motion sickness since YES, the ride vehicle will move in the direction it’s being thrown, and shake every time you run into something.

There can also be a point where, if there’s enough damage on your ship, the whole inside will turn black as you “lose power” and fall to the ground. Of course, all of this is safe, but is it really enjoyable? No!

Remember, 99% of people are on vacation in Disney World, not just you and your family, so it’s important to be mindful of others around you. That goes for every situation, but especially on rides such as this. We’ve ridden this ride countless times, and while it’s not the top priority for us to get the highest score, we do prefer a ride where we’re not running into everything possible, jerking all around, or finding ourselves almost going in the completely wrong direction. We do love watching kids get so excited to pilot the ship, though, and if you’ve got a really enthusiastic one who’s also doing the best they can, those are often the best rides!

If you’re looking for a travel agent to help with your vacation, we recommend our friends at Mouse Fan Travel. They’re experts in the field with over 20 years of vacation planning experience, and they can help take a bunch of the stress out of the entire booking process for you!

We’re always here to bring you the latest Disney World news to help you plan your vacation, so stay tuned to AllEars!

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What other unspoken rule in Disney World that you think everyone should know about? Tell us in the comments!

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