Star Wars fans LOVE to collect merchandise. Now that Disney has purchased Lucasfilm, you can expect merchandise to be flooding in everywhere! Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios provides no shortage of places to purchase all different types of Star Wars merchandise. This year for Star Wars Weekends, Darth's Mall is split up into two different areas. These areas are called Watto's Grotto and X-Wing Collectibles. Not only is merchandise sold at these two places, but many other locations around the park including, small venders throughout the park, the Prop Shop and as always, Tatooine Traders.
First, let's start with Watto's Grotto. As you may have seen in the description in one of the above images, Watto's Grotto is a store that focuses on official Star Wars Weekends merchandise. If you're looking for mugs, glasses, toys, build-a-droid parts, clothes, pins, phone cases, etc., this is the place to go! Everything sold in Watto's Grotto is related specifically to Star Wars Weekends,
Watto's Grotto also threw in a few other well-known companies to attract people to the store! Ashley Eckstein's Her Universe as well as Official Pix both had set ups within the Grotto. Her Universe specializes in Star Wars clothing specifically designed for women. Ashley's new line is available within the store to the right of the doors when you first walk in. Her new clothing line is displayed on racks for people to search through and try on. Geek girls all over deserve to be able to wear Star Wars clothes and to be able to flaunt their world. In addition to her clothing line, Ashley Eckstein also plays the role of Ashoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. Ashley has a very busy schedule at Star Wars Weekends, but she makes time for fans and even has a special hour at the Grotto specifically for signing at the Her Universe location (3:30-4:30 P.M.). Ashley will be at every weekend this year and will be an official guest for Weekend #4. Ashley will be doing more signings and participating in the shows the week she is an official guest.
Official Pix is also located within Watto's Grotto. Official Pix is a company that produces high quality, officially licensed Star Wars photos. This is the first year that Official Pix has been at a Star Wars Weekends, and if you ask me, they should keep them coming back every year! Up until now, if you didn't bring anything for the celebrities to sign yourself, you were left with a black and white 5x7 for your autograph. Fans can purchase pre-signed items as well as items that you would like to get signed yourself. They even have plastic sleeve covers that are available to keep your purchases safe. If you're looking for exclusives, Official Pix has one! They produced a portfolio (limited to 300 and sells for $89.95) of 15 exclusive images for Star Wars Weekends that relate to all the celebrity guests for Star Wars Weekends 2015. Official Pix will be rotating their inventory out every week to correspond with the celebrity guests for that given week. They are located to the left of the doors when you walk into the Grotto.
If you're like me, shopping can some times be exhausting. Good news! Watto's Grotto has something called "Tusken Fridge Raiders". This is a fabulous snack stand with Star Wars themed items! They have 4 different Star Wars themed beverages, as well as popcorn (provided in a Han Solo in Carbonite or Darth Vader popcorn bucket) and Star Wars cupcakes. The drinks were available in a Boba Fett stein (which sold out for the first weekend like hot cakes) or in a regular plastic cup. The drinks include a Death Star or Millennium Falcon glow cube depending on if your drink corresponds with the Light Side or the Dark Side.
X-Wing Collectibles is located right next door to Watto's Grotto. This store has high end merchandise including: fine art, vinylmations, pass holder merchandise, Dooney and Bourke purses and bags, Sideshow and Gentle Giant pieces, SMS Audio headphones, D-Tech figures, pins, etc. There was some vinylmations that are exclusive to Star Wars Weekends 2015. Biggs Darklighter and Porkins. You have a 90% chance of getting Biggs and a 10% chance of getting Porkins. You can't see what you are getting when you purchase them as the packs are sealed, but Porkins is the rare one. Good luck!
Both X-Wing Collectibles and Watto's Grotto fill up fast! If you want to get merchandise, there is no better plan then getting there early! If you don't get there early, the lines can some times get as long as 2 hours (if not more) just to get into the store. In addition to the stores that make up Darth's Mall, there is Tatooine Traders. This store is open all year (unlike Darth's Mall) and is at the exit of Star Tours. There is generally not a line to get into this store (unless you wait to get on Star Tours first) and it carries similar items as the items seen in Watto's Grotto. Watto's Grotto has a bigger selection and items that are unique to the Grotto, but if you're looking for a quick substitute for finding Star Wars merchandise, Tatooine Traders might be the way to go. This store has items relating to Star Tours, figures, lightsaber building, build-a-droid parts, signed and framed celebrity autographs, apparel, art and more.
Generally speaking, it's not hard to find a place to buy Star Wars merchandise. Venders with little carts are scattered throughout the park. There's even one final "store" to purchase merchandise. This place is called the "Prop Shop". The Prop Shop is definitely geared towards the younger fan. They have toy blasters, legos, action figures, etc. If you've got a little one and don't want to spend hours in line for Darth's Mall, The Prop Shop is a good way to go!
Whether you're into the high-end collectibles, or LEGOs, Star Wars Weekends 2015 has merchandise for every Star Wars fan. If collecting is your thing, make sure to head to the stores bright and early in order to make sure you get what you want. Stay tuned for more coverage of Star Wars Weekends 2015! Twin Suns Outpost will be doing reviews of the events and celebrity experiences!