Disney Experiences chairperson and soon-to-be Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro was instrumental in experience updates to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, coming soon to Disneyland Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

D’Amaro and Smugglers Run

Marcus Buckingham of Harvard Business Review shadowed D’Amaro for a day at the parks, interviews at his offices, and Walt Disney Imagineering design sessions. He joined a meeting between D’Amaro and 30 Imagineers talking about Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.

Regarding the existing ride, D’Amaro said, “Guests like it, but they don’t love it.” He pointed out that the ride’s pilots mostly controlled the experience while the gunners and engineers were more passive.

So the Imagineers planned an update that will give each rider more agency and the chance to influence the story, all part of The Mandalorian and Grogu mission launching May 22, 2026.

“Disney is a delicate brand,” D’Amaro told Buckingham. “Anything I can do to help more guests say they love Disney is a valuable use of my time.”

Buckingham described this approach to leadership as “experience intelligence, or the ability to read and shape the human experience.” It’s what makes D’Amaro beloved by guests and employees, which Buckingham saw first hand in the parks. He said cast members “felt seen, trusted, capable and proud of what they were a part of.”

Beyond employee interactions, experience intelligence also means recognizing that the “most powerful experiences are those which the person says they love—not ‘like,’ not ‘respect,’ not ‘learned a lot during,’ not ‘really enjoyed.'”

What do you think of the upcoming Mandalorian mission on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run? Let us know on social media.

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